South Carolina Century Home

[Wallis]

Hello everyone,
Several years ago I would lurk on Wavyglass, just reading and thinking about what I would do when I could get my old house with wavyglass. Well, now I have 16 and 20-over-1 windows chock full of the stuff, so now what?



We moved into this 1918 foursquare last October and I had some ridiculously naive expectations about how quickly we could get to work on it. I believe I might have told my husband that surely we will be done with the kitchen and the master bath by Christmas? Wow that's a good one. In that time, we have changed out some dead lightbulbs and installed a smart thermostat.

Now that nearly a year has passed since I first stepped foot inside, we are actually ready to work on the kitchen. The black and red have to go! The kitchen has obviously been renovated multiple times, the most drastic was the one where the whole layout was flipped and the butlers pantry was removed. I think that happened pretty early, maybe by the original owners who were house builders, because the double windows over the sink match other other windows perfectly except for size, but if they were original there would have been a wall from the pantry going straight into them which seems unlikely.



These are relator photos because it is already a construction zone, I started by removing the beadboard to discover some 80's wallpaper. I removed that and it looks like the earliest color on the plaster was olive drab...going to pass on that I think, sorry to the originalists here. I would like to get the moulding closer to the original look, right now there is crown moulding even though the rest of the house just has picture rail.

[Lily left the valley]

Hello, Wallis!
I was not around in the Wavy Glass days, but welcome to the District.

Lovely home, and I know what you mean about expectations versus reality. We're going on our second year in our 1935 bungalow and have barely done anything though we were fairly fortunate in how little remuddling was done.

Thank you for the pictures.

I'm curious, how wide is your front door? (I took a peek at your gallery.) Interesting that the transom has five lights, when the door itself has four vertical divides. I noticed the side porch door is four above, four below with that door being more narrow. Is that typical for homes of the time in your area?

Looking forward to seeing more pictures of that one fireplace you can see through the kitchen door, and of course any others you may have.

[Manalto]

...so now what?

Plan to do one thing and wind up doing another is usually the consequence when I ask myself that question.

...ridiculously naive expectations...

My expectations have always been 100% realistic.

we have changed out some dead lightbulbs...

When did "change" become "change out"? Where was I, vacationing in the South of France? I'm not picking on you; everybody seems to do it now.

... earliest color on the plaster was olive drab...going to pass on that I think, sorry to the originalists here.

This is such a peculiar idea to me - to be held prisoner to a decision some homeowner made 100 years ago. Sure, you can consider replicating the color if you find it appealing and don't have a better idea and sure, it might have been a color indicative of the style of the day, but unless it's a fine high-end house, the architect probably didn't choose the color; it was just an ordinary person like you or me who did. The only exception I would make is with a very early house, and only if the color was pleasing. After all, you have to live in it.

My only reservation is that I think olive drab, with crisp white or mellow ivory trim, would be beautiful in a kitchen.

It will be nice to see your house with the "shutters" removed. I think the improvement will be dramatic.

Great house - I hope you enjoy it and the process of making it your own. I've just gotten started on window restoration and I'm finding it greatly rewarding. Some patience is required and your skills improve from one window to the next, so when you get to that task start on the least-obvious windows.

[Wallis]

Lily left the valley,
That front door is interesting isn't it? It is 42" wide, while the side door is 36". I added a few pictures of them in my gallery. The front door has a Clinton mortise lock that my husband and father have enjoyed taking apart and putting back together so the door knob on the inside would stop falling off. I just got back from a walk around the neighborhood where I didn't see any transoms like it. I'll keep my eyes peeled though.


This is my second favorite in the house. I love the green tile. I think there is tiger oak veneer under the paint, like my favorite in my office:



I added the other two to my gallery. The one in the guest room is a simplified version of the dining room, and the one in my husband's office is . . . Greek Revival for some reason?? His office has some other architectural oddities, like a weirdly thick wall separating it from the rest of the house and double French doors that are slightly larger than the others in the room.


Manalto, I have absolutely no excuse for why those shutters are still there. I clearly recall thinking that would be one of the first things I would do. It would be easy enough to go out there with a chisel, a mallet, and a caulkgun. For the windows, I'm going to start with the pantry window. It is both the smallest and least visible from inside and outside.

[mjt]

I love your wrap-around porch.

As long as your house is weather-tight, it's a good idea to live in it for a while before tackling anything big. You'll learn a lot about the house and how you live in it that will be different than what you thought originally.

It took us 8 years to get to our kitchen. If we had done the kitchen first, it would have been a disaster - we'd have had to destroy the kitchen to run mechanicals for the attic and master bath...

[mjt]

... earliest color on the plaster was olive drab...going to pass on that I think, sorry to the originalists here.

This is such a peculiar idea to me - to be held prisoner to a decision some homeowner made 100 years ago. Sure, you can consider replicating the color if you find it appealing and don't have a better idea and sure, it might have been a color indicative of the style of the day, but unless it's a fine high-end house, the architect probably didn't choose the color; it was just an ordinary person like you or me who did. The only exception I would make is with a very early house, and only if the color was pleasing. After all, you have to live in it.

I'm not a strict originalist either. In our house's "public spaces" we've tried to evoke a period feel, but have not always stuck with strictly historically accurate colors. After all it's a house we live in, not a museum.

My only reservation is that I think olive drab, with crisp white or mellow ivory trim, would be beautiful in a kitchen.

Checkout my blog for a kitchen with a similar palette...

[Manalto]

My only reservation is that I think olive drab, with crisp white or mellow ivory trim, would be beautiful in a kitchen.

Checkout my blog for a kitchen with a similar palette...

I did, and I rest my case.

Wallis, the more I see of your house, the more I like it. You did good!

[Wallis]

My only reservation is that I think olive drab, with crisp white or mellow ivory trim, would be beautiful in a kitchen.

Checkout my blog for a kitchen with a similar palette...

I did, and I rest my case.

mjt, that is a beautiful kitchen. Since we are planning on light cabinets and dark countertops (soapstone?) I see how a warm, organic color can make both pop.

[Castle Rovneyko]

Enjoyed your post, pictures, and enthusiasm.

For me - and my place (Castle Rovneyko - Posted somewhere around your post) - I have a gut-feeling to "do what I want to do." I've read some literature from back when our homes were built and decorated and here is what I've settled on: You do what's safe (electrical and plumbing) and then you think about your lifestyle - (and figure out what's practical) and then you have fun with it and make it a place that you look forward to waking up to and coming home to each and every day that you live there.

For me - the "Victorian era" was an attitude. Put your personality into your home - and enjoy it! Paint it the way you want to paint and disregard the "original colors of the day". I've chipped-down to original colors in my place and found the color olive in the kitchen and blood ruby red paint in the parlor and thought - "I don't want olive in the kitchen - but I have to absolutely find that blood ruby red paint for my parlor! And, I will match the paint chips from behind the radiators and by Fall, my parlor will be blood ruby red. Purists (the few that I entertain) say: "Good God no - you want your parlor to have a warm and inviting color to greet guests." I don't have guests. The parlor will be red.

Someone from the late 1800's and I thought alike. That's what makes my place exciting to me.

Have fun with it and enjoy your home!

[phil]

Your house has a beautiful style. I'd find the red a bit overpowering but hey it's just paint and its easy to paint over or maybe there is some wood hiding beneath. It looks like your house, like mine and many others had a lot of the wood trim painted in, you might try stripping some to see how it goes. If it has shellac still on the wood under the paint then it comes off pretty easily but no mayyer how you approach that it's time consuming. Im doing mine little by little but as the wood comes back it looks totally different.

My ex wife wanted a kitchen like that. I was reluctant but tried to follow what she wanted and built an island, which left really no room for seating in the kitchen but a lot of new open concept condos and high end kitchens seem to favor that. as it were we separated and I cut it in half and arranged it on the wall leaving a lot more usable seating space. My house doesn't have a dining room. Some like having stools for their friends to watch then cook but my personal take is that I hate sitting on stools.

It does have a nice work triangle, the stove sink and fridge are a short walk from each other so they didn't do a bad job of that and the black counters look modern, perhaps high end?

I agree with taking time to think it out. Maybe that counter is nice, it depends what you like and how you use the space. renovating a kitchen is a lot to live through and can be pretty expensive so you'd have to consider the time it will take as well as the cost and inconvenience. a lot of people go to great expense on a kitchen reno and then buy pre made particleboard cabinets. It might be worth talking to a cabinetmaker who is able to build to suit with a more traditional design without particleboard parts. When it comes down to it the kitchen cabinets might have been free standing originally and not so built in and we don't necessarily need to make everything original. Its most important that you like it.
a lot of the new kitchens use stone counter tops. I love the look but I'd hate to own one as I don't like the hard feel when I set things down and it sucks the heat out of any food or drinks. If its laminate it's pretty easy to change the laminate to colors you like. If it's stone then you might want to keep it because it is "high end" so it probably increases the sale value if you flip it.


modern trends go towards open concept so they were trying to achieve that by removing the pantry. You'd have to decide if you like the layout. some do who is to say what is right at this stage. I think it would be nice to do some stripping to show more wood or to replace the painted parts with reclaimed or new wood but that's a huge undertaking and it's only about the visual preference you prefer. some love to strip the paint and see the wood again and to some it is a huge ugly job with a lot of questionable fumes. Sometimes its cheaper to replace wood than pay others to strip it. If you do paint in woodwork it is smart to put shellac on first so it's easier to strip if you ever want to. My living room had crown moldings. I removed them and just went with square corners and a flat ceiling, I plan to do more chair and picture rails or wainscot but for now I chose to just finish the drywall and I can add more in front later. sometimes its best to break jobs down to avoid "reno fever" living in a construction area can be very challenging. Some rooms you can separate out but the kitchen is one area that you always need.

some say that you don't need to try to make your house like it was when it was purchased, some renos are improvements and sometimes it just isn't worth trying to change everything back as if it is a museum.