1900s American Foursquare

[GinaC]

\o/ Congratulations! We're all looking forward to accompanying on your old house journey!

[chocolatepot]

Adding onto my pictures from my earlier post ... (most pictures stolen from the listing)



When you come in the door, this is what you see - the hallway into the kitchen. I'm sure the walls are at least a bit straighter than this IRL. (Yes, I'm in Oneonta. The previous owner purchased the house for his daughter, a student, to live in; he fixed the roof and put in a new furnace but didn't do any renovation, which is great.)



I shared a different angle on this previously - anyway, you can see my prized original French doors and staircase. You can also see the original timbered beaverboard ceiling! My father is skeptical but I like it - I like Arts & Crafts and medieval revival.



The kitchen is a very nice size with a wide-open floor. (I would bet the previous owner also put in that nice gas stove.) I'm guessing the cupboards, countertop, and "brick" backsplash go along with the tan stove hood - late 1970s/early '80s? Oh, and the non-acoustic tile ceiling.



And the other side of the room. I'll have to think for a while about what exactly I'm going to do with the kitchen - I want to bring it back to at least the 1920s as much as possible, but of course that's a major renovation. The first step would be to get rid of the standalone counter, take up the linoleum, and put a freestanding pantry cupboard or bureau in that spot. I've been reading about making cabinet doors, though, to replace those Victorian-revival ones!



Oh, the basement. The basement is structurally sound but aesthetically a mess from when it was "finished" - the walls are covered with wood paneling that is horribly warped from normal basement humidity, and POs put in a brick bar and acoustic tile.

Can't believe I forgot the dining room:



It's sizable and open, with a lovely window seat (and an acoustic tile ceiling). The owner has also agreed to leave nearly all of the furniture for me, including this dining set, which is great as 5.5 years of apartment living means I have very little furniture.

On to the second floor ...

[chocolatepot]

I didn't bother to share a photo of the downstairs half-bath because it's very boring - small but modern. (Last PO most likely did that along with the roof, etc.) The full bath upstairs has some more 1970s/80s features, and it will be a pleasure to someday replace that sliding-door shower/bath with, of course, a clawfoot tub, and open up the room to more natural light.



The upstairs hall has linoleum and paneling, oh dear.

The three upstairs rooms:







I might start attempting to make my changes in these, especially the ugly office, since the issues are fairly rote: take up rug, take down tiles, put in/strip baseboards, possibly strip windows. Seems like a good place to start to learn some of these skills!

[Gothichome]

Chocolate pot, your home is move in ready, that’s great. It is highly recommended by many here in the District that you live in the home of a while (maybe a year or so) before making any changes. You will find that your want list may be modified over time. The home will let you know what it needs.

[1918ColonialRevival]

It's got a lot of potential. The 1980s renovations aren't in the best taste, but I don't see anything that isn't reversible. Even the '80s bathroom can be turned back into a 1910s style bathroom complete with original fixtures if you so choose. A lot of us have learned that the 1970s, 1980s, and even the early 1990s were not kind to a lot of old houses.

As Gothichome said, a lot of us seasoned folks recommend you live with the house as-is for several months to a year before tackling anything major. That way you can learn its personality and be confident that you are prioritizing your to-do list correctly. Something that drives you nuts when you first move in might turn out to only be a minor issue or vice versa.

That said, you can start with some of the easy things (such as acoustic tile, paneling, and carpet removal), as this will expose the surfaces you will be working with and will give you a better idea of their true condition. When you do get started, I highly recommend working on one room at a time unless you discover an issue that will require you to open a wall somewhere else, such as repairing plumbing. Get that room the way you want it, then move on to another project. Otherwise, trying to tackle everything all at once can get frustrating really quick, not to mention expensive. You'll burn out, so pace yourself. Old house work isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.

By the way - those cabinets and countertops are an exact match to the ones my aunt had when she re-did her kitchen in 1984! I'd wager that was around when your last major kitchen renovation was done

The kitchen looks like it was either added onto or that another smaller room, such as a pantry or cold room, was sacrificed to make it larger. That started becoming en vogue in the 1960s. I'm still ticked at our previous owner, who demolished a butler's pantry and servant's staircase along with the cold room to make the kitchen larger with tons of wasted space. Her grandson couldn't remember the exact year it happened, but said it was sometime between 1965 and 1969. A sleeping porch that was immediately above our kitchen was sacrificed in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

[Lily left the valley]

The kitchen looks like it was either added onto or that another smaller room, such as a pantry or cold room, was sacrificed to make it larger.

This was my thought as well, that the butler's pantry was sacrificed to make the kitchen bigger, and maybe that alcove where the fridge/shelf is used to also be a direct entrance into the dining room? (...hard to tell from the pics, so just a guess trying to piece together the layout in my head...) It might have also been a small cloak room where the wall that was removed helped keep out cold from the back door maybe?

I'm trying to figure out what the two outlets under the window wall were for. Even if they did have an eat-in table there or what have you. Seems they were using other available counter space for smaller appliances. Oh! Maybe window A/C unit--but still, why two? Plugs for heat pads for seed starter rack/plants? I'm really curious, honestly. Speaking of, knocking down what ever the former wall was does allow the window wall help bring in more natural light to the kitchen if the only other kitchen windows are the ones over the sink.

I'm also curious if the ceiling in that section was always that low. Surely they didn't do that just to put the can lights in, right?

I want to reiterate that the "wait and listen to your house" advice is not about immediate needed repairs! (Especially if you're having to undo Drunken Weasel work from a PO.) Sometimes folks get confused when the advice is given and assume it means don't touch a thing for a year. Totally not the point. It's more a suggestion of reflection, to seek out what the home itself can tell you which might prevent you from doing something you'll regret, or realizing what really, really should be done to remedy an issue--major or minor--from a later change. In our house, we've come to call it "talking to the ghosts", even though we don't hear them speak, as it were. It's more a sort of they point things out we hadn't noticed before sort of thing. Like how well the sightlines were handled so the first floor bath toilet can't be seen by anyone sitting at the dining room table even if the bathroom door is open.

[1918ColonialRevival]

...maybe that alcove where the fridge/shelf is used to also be a direct entrance into the dining room?

I was thinking either that, or if it's against an exterior wall, that it could have been an ice door there originally. Some houses from the 19-oughts up through about the early 1920s had a small door that allowed a block of ice to be inserted directly into the cold room from the outside. I've assumed this was done so ice wouldn't drip on the floors and so ice deliveries could still be made if no one was home.

I'm also curious if the ceiling in that section was always that low. Surely they didn't do that just to put the can lights in, right?

That's tough to say. From the picture, it looks like the ceiling was dropped about the height of the recessed can lighting, so it's possible. Or, they lowered it for another reason and the can lighting was an afterthought. I've got a similar mystery in my house. The dining room ceiling was lowered about 6 inches, I'm assuming in the early 1950s when the first renovation was done. I can't find a reason for this. I cut a small hole and saw it is filled with insulation. Hopefully this was only an attempt to add sound-proofing because there's a bedroom directly above.

I want to reiterate that the "wait and listen to your house" advice is not about immediate needed repairs! (Especially if you're having to undo Drunken Weasel work from a PO.) Sometimes folks get confused when the advice is given and assume it means don't touch a thing for a year. Totally not the point. It's more a suggestion of reflection, to seek out what the home itself can tell you which might prevent you from doing something you'll regret, or realizing what really, really should be done to remedy an issue--major or minor--from a later change.

Definitely. I should have emphasized this. Things like leaky pipes, intrusion of rain water (roof or otherwise), a fuse or breaker that keeps blowing, etc., need attention sooner than later.

[GinaC]

You have the same weird bathroom layout that I do. I've looked at most old floorplans and usually the tub is right under the window.

I hemmed and hawed for a long time about changing it and putting it under the window, but in the end I decided that putting the window in harm's way of water wasn't a good idea. I have an alcove instead of a glass door, but I'm going to just open it up and put in a curved curtain rod. That should help the room look a bit bigger and not be so cramped.

I also have two of the same 15-light stained wood interior doors and I cherish them. Two are missing and I'm still thinking about replacing them with something as close as possible to the originals.

And now that I look again, I see that your staircase newel is the same as mine. I guess here in Northeastern Vermont they were still using styles from 10-20 years prior.

[1918ColonialRevival]

You have the same weird bathroom layout that I do. I've looked at most old floorplans and usually the tub is right under the window.

None of mine were ever under a window. I guess it must have depended on the architect/builder's preference. I did, however, once rent a house that was built in the early 1940s and its tub was under the window. I never understood this design, as in the house I rented, the window and trim had a lot of water damage from 60 years (at the time) of shower spray.

And now that I look again, I see that your staircase newel is the same as mine. I guess here in Northeastern Vermont they were still using styles from 10-20 years prior.

This comment made me think of something. Newel posts in this style were made for probably 45 years. I have catalogs from the 1890s through about 1940 that feature similar newels. For as long as they were made and as many companies that made them, I rarely see this particular newel post in any of the architectural salvage businesses I frequent. You would think they would be all over the place.

[Lily left the valley]

You have the same weird bathroom layout that I do. I've looked at most old floorplans and usually the tub is right under the window.

None of mine were ever under a window. I guess it must have depended on the architect/builder's preference. I did, however, once rent a house that was built in the early 1940s and its tub was under the window. I never understood this design, as in the house I rented, the window and trim had a lot of water damage from 60 years (at the time) of shower spray.

And now that I look again, I see that your staircase newel is the same as mine. I guess here in Northeastern Vermont they were still using styles from 10-20 years prior.

This comment made me think of something. Newel posts in this style were made for probably 45 years. I have catalogs from the 1890s through about 1940 that feature similar newels. For as long as they were made and as many companies that made them, I rarely see this particular newel post in any of the architectural salvage businesses I frequent. You would think they would be all over the place.

Our tub is along the back window wall, and the finish was quite damaged despite the multiple left behind blind and curtain rod hangers that would suggest at least an attempt was made to protect the wood. We use a cut up shower curtain to protect it for now hung from a second rod running along the back wall. That's at least kept it from getting worse until we're at a stage where we can tackle that abundantly defiled by Drunken Weasels bathroom.

The funniest thing about that window is when they removed the trim to add the molded fake plastic tile surround at some point, when they replaced the bottom trim of the window, they installed it upside down which is really obvious when you're looking right at it given the shape of it and the molding depths.


As to the newel post...maybe folks didn't save them when salvaging from a rehab because they were considered common (or easy to reproduce) and not all fancy scrolly victorian?

Our newel post is quite plain. No one would save ours if they had cause to salvage from here.