we've (and when i say WE'VE, i really mean my husband and everyone else working on the house...i haven't been able to do anything there YET..) gotten alot done on the interior the last month or so, which is so exciting AND a little overwhelming to see! every time i walk in there, it just reminds me of how much work this house is going to be...yikes! the trim itself, is going to be a nightmare...there are hundreds, maybe thousands of feet of trim to be restored. i think its fir..which would be gorgeous in its raw wood state. but everything has been painted with several layers of paint through out the years and to strip all of the trim would take years to do. so it'll be painted again, which in itself will be a HUGE job. its obviously original, which is about 150 years old...and with that, its very fragile and dry. so taking it off upstairs has been a challenge. there will be some repair work on some of the broken pieces and we'll have to go to some arch salvage places to find some replacement pieces. we've tried to label each and every piece, so it goes back somewhat nicely...and then bundled each room together...look at this nightmare:
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| this is only a portion of the trim from the upper level...and as you can see it takes up almost the ENTIRE living room downstairs! the big piece on the right hand side, is part of the wainscoting that goes on the main staircase. the rest are pieces of base and crown, door and window trim. AND some longer pieces of lath that we'll need to fir out the walls upstairs, so the sheetrock is flush with the window and door jambs. |
i was hoping we would find some cool things hidden in the attic or the walls...and we've found a couple little things...two signatures (i only have one photographed right now) of possibly the men that built the house?? its a little hard to read...but i think its so cool!! it was under all of the lath and plaster in the exterior boards. i'm thinking if possible, i'd like to cut this board out, save it and frame it!
here are a few other photos of the 'gutting' process. we've already filled up 2- 30 yard dumpsters and just ordered another one today! its crazy how much lath and plaster is in this house! and this is ONLY the upper floor!
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| bathroom, looking into what will be the new laundry room |
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| a wall in the bathroom. have i said how excited i am to have radiators in the house, especially in the bathroom!! i LOVE that i can put my towel on there while i shower and then have a nice hot towel when i'm done! |
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| this is the guest bedroom, looking into the master |
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| this is the upper hall |
in the next post, i'll tell you about two of the MOST exciting things from the 'gutting' process so far!!! it's been so fun seeing whats UNDER parts of the walls, ceilings and plaster!!
stay tuned!!
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