Wednesday, August 23, 2006

RENOVATION

No - not of this space, though that is in the works too. This is of the house.

The house was either built in 1910 or 1920, depending on who you believe. The county says 1920. The research Denton has done at the Western Reserve Historical Society has the house listed in 1911 w/the list of residents.

The last owners lived in the house for 26 years - and while they clearly had money, it is questionable if they had taste. The hardwood floors were in pristine condition when we took ownership 15 mos ago. But a kitty getting sick on those floors stripped off patches of stain. There was no sealant on top of the stained wood, so they don't look quite so good currently. ...but the floors are another project.

The walls were another matter (let's not even discuss window treatments! - man that sounded queer!) When we were looking at the house, the first realtor told us how much they thought it would cost to do interior painting.....and no, I'm not telling you how much. But, I about choked! Unfortunately, she was correct. As we get assessments on rooms or floors, it adds up pretty quickly.

Painting is the easy aspect of the entire thing. The wallpaper removal is one. The skimming the plaster walls and ceilings is another. Then there is the trim. Lots and lots of trim. And windows w/multiple panes. Not the kind you can snap out. So costs go up exponentially.

We're doing what we can on our own, but that is turning out to be not a lot. Carpet (a runner going up the central hallway) removal? Not a problem. Wallpaper removal? Easy Peasy..... well.....at least in some areas. But some of the above stuff I know nothing about. I don't know how to plaster, let alone how to fix molding.

And let me tell you - some of the wallpaper was U-G-L-Y. I can't say we haven't grown accustomed to it, but it is not our style. Don't you people listen to Morty - it's not good. It's not even kitsch. It's F'UGLY (that's french, dontcha know). Or was. In a fit a few weeks ago, I started taking down the paper in the main entrance and stairwell. Then Denton jumped in - and it was amazing how quickly it all came down. It completely changed the look of the house.

Of course, then we realized that we really needed to do something about the bare bare walls. Ironically enough, this is of where we are little use. This whole queer/decorating thing doesn't work for me. We don't have that gene.

In the old house, we went with our gut and it worked ok. This house is more substantial and we wanted to take it back somewhat to its historic colours. ...but not in a fussy, late19th/early 20th century way. So we actually sought out a person who works w/these houses who knows what is and is not the correct thing to do. We still have to pick colours, and we are closer to it. We'd better be - as the the plaster guys started yesterday.

Our painter is saying it will take 2-3 weeks for prep to completion. Which is aggressive - or our last guy, who was nice and very thorough estimated 10 days for our bedroom and finished six weeks later. Oy.

To break it down - we are doing the main entrance/stairwell, the hall at the top of the stairs the living room and dining room. Oh - and the 1/2 bath. It sounds like a lot - and it is. But since each room flows into the, it kind of makes sense too. We'll do the sunroom another time.

It does look like the dining room will need to be wallpapered. The walls under the paper that existed before can be fixed, but it would take a lot more time and money. It just means now having to sort through however many books to find THE wallpaper.

Anyhoooo.......I know I didn't do it w/the bedroom, but I promise to post pics as we go along. Promise!

1 comment:

Blobby said...

yes. fifty dollars.