Remodel Album

[rainyday]

First, wishes for safety for all those in old (or new) houses on the East Coast. We are about halfway through our remodel project and here is a link to a slideshow using Shutterfly. It works best if you use the full screen option, for the brief captions. The challenge, of course, was staying true to the house while really needing to address our lack of heat, rapidly deteriorating bathroom and no place to really cook (no counters!). We are using radiant heat under cork flooring for the kitchen and new laundry room, and under the tiles in the bathroom, as well as a bed-and-breakfast wall insert gas fireplace. The kitchen will become the new gathering place, and I can't wait to have an actual counter and sink. I will say I'm glad we waited 3 plus years to determine what actually needed doing, and would offer that as advice.
http://1897houseremodel2011.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

[letty]

It amuses me that you wanted to remove your "old" bathroom with that sink and clawfoot tub - we want to renovate our bathroom to look just like that! But I suppose for a house as old as ours a c1900 bathroom is a modern remodel...

[downtowndahlgren]

Gosh, you're getting rid of that adorable round sink?

[rainyday]

Thanks for taking the time to view the slideshow! Both comments reflect what I meant about preservation and the difficulty and responsibility of making these decisions. For example, we are reframing the old bathroom window so we can keep the original (the exisiting wood was starting to decay underneath) and reusing all the interior beadboard and exterior siding that is still in good condition. Turning the old bathroom into a closet ended up being the best way to preserve that corner of the home architecturally, and carving space for a small new bathroom from what was the outside laundry shed. We took the tub and sink to our local "restore" where I know someone will appreciate them. BTW, after 3 and 1/2 years of showering under that skylight, freezing, I am counting the days to a subway-tiled heaven

[Don M]

Wow that's quite a project; that bathroom skylight was certainly strange! The roof rafter construction looks pretty light so it's probably a good thing to rework that. Please be sure to post pictures as the construction progresses.

[rainyday]

http://1897houseremodel2011.shutterfly.com
I've added some new photos of the progress, but this will likely only interest those "into" plumbing and electrical- nothing pretty happening yet! We've discovered in the process of taking the house apart, to put it back together again, that this has been done before. Our former kitchen and bathroom annexes were clearly added when indoor plumbing became more affordable and the photos show where you can actually see one wall almost, but not quite, attached. The carpenters have been really interested in the hand cuts they can see. I was touched by the wallpaper revealed- knowing how excited I am to have a real sink and kitchen, and how this former owner would have been just as excited to get the new farmhouse sink. Old houses have stories to tell
If you view the slideshow, it works best in full screen mode so the captions show.

[melissakd]

That skylight is one of the weirder things I've seen around here. Yikes.

I used to have a swanky pipe-mounted, zip-tied showerhead too I'm a bath taker, so I didn't mind too much.

Among the shots of miraculous modern wiring (which yes, we do appreciate around here) I got a thrilling peek at the kitchen sink and faucet! Thanks for letting us in on this.

MelissaKD

Edit: I forgot to mention your fabulous original cupboard!

[rainyday]

Here's more if you enjoy painting and insulation! The carpenter used putty to build up the groove in the only siding (non- salvaged) he could find locally that was the same width before I painted. He used all he could of the original (so many layers of paint, including bright orange!) by the window (the orignal, reglazed and reinstalled) and the new door. He made the trim to match the rest of the house's. Interestingly, our historical association prefers that new additions NOT blend with the old, to better show where it was added- we did not agree and tried to make it seamless. I think once there are some plantings, etc we will have accomplished that as best we could.
http://1897houseremodel2011.shutterfly.com

[Kansas. 1911.]

You live there? Yowza. That really is a construction site. How many additions do you figure there were? Are you re-roofing the whole thing or just the new zones? I've heard it's difficult to match shingles.

I'm glad your old fixtures went to the re-store. It sounds like you are size constrained and a big tub won't fit in the new bathroom. Your stacked washer/dryer will be close to the kitchen and that bathroom, huh? There was a nice thread on this site where everyone talked about where the laundry was.

Your house is so cute from the exterior. Good luck as you finish leveling the floors and begin the "pretty" parts.

[rainyday]

http://1897houseremodel2011.shutterfly.com/pictures/144
Here's some more progress- hopefully another 3 weeks and we will be done. Thanks for the nice comments- after all the demolition, to start to see the actual improvements taking shape is exciting. We reroofed the entire house, the cedar shakes were over 30 years old and can't be found anymore. New versions are lower quality and we were told would only last about 15 years. Besides the new laundry room, the former bathroom was also an addition (both with the advent of indoor plumbing) and we think the main room was also an addition since it has its own door. All pretext of making it easy for us has now been abandoned! The refrigerator partially blocks the old sink (it's going to the Restore) so I am getting water for coffee from the upstairs closet-sized bathroom that has a toilet and small sink. The microwave is buried under sweaty sweatshirts and plans and other stuff although they keep the job site itself very tidy. Albeit very expensive, remodeling a kitchen works if you want to lose weight! I've lost over five pounds since they put the stove in the garage for safekeeping and eat only yogurt and fruit! I'm so pleased that the new addition blended so well with the the original footprint of the house- essentially we enclosed the old back porch and broke through the wall that housed the connected shed where the washer/dryer were.