Circa-1860's Farmhouse in Indiana

[Blue Farmhouse]

Hi, all,

In the past, I've followed the posts on the Old House Web and Wavy Glass websites. I'm happy to have found everyone once again!

Last April, we purchased our circa-1860's farmhouse. We're fortunate that one of the former owner's great-grandsons lives just up the lane from us, and he was able to provide a couple pictures of the house from 1915. The house and surrounding farmland seems to have remained intact until the mid-1950's, when lots were carved out in order to allow for new home construction. The house was sold out of the family and was used (and abused...) as a rental property for many years. The couple we purchased it from bought it and saved it from being a rental property about twenty years ago.

Although we moved in this past July, we haven't had an opportunity to do a lot of cosmetic work to it, which it needs a lot of, because a number of 'unseen' items have needed attention - a new water heater, running a new water line from the street to the house in order to connect to city water, new plumbing, having a number of large trees cut down (one of which had pulled the electrical service off of the house numerous times), etc.

I'll post more pictures as we actually make some progress. Since these pictures were taken this past summer, we've removed the arbor out front, cleaned out the garden, and had a lot of the large trees cut down. We also had to replace the dining room window because, for some reason, it was never replaced when the rest of the windows were. About the only original piece in the house is the banister.

Anyway, we're looking forward to having the front porch re-constructed, replacing the old vinyl replacement windows, and having the house re-sided hopefully next summer. Until then, we're just going to chip away at some projects inside the house.

[mkiehn20]

Welcome! What a beautiful house. I can't wait to see it with the porch reconstructed! How fortunate to have the old photo that shows it in its original glory!

[JacquieJet]

Welcome!
The original porch is gorgeous- such a shame someone removed it! Can't wait to see your progress!

[Blue Farmhouse]

Thanks!

I'm not sure if we'll go back to what the front porch in the picture from 1915 looks like, but it'll definitely be something that fits well with the style of the house.

As you can see from the other vintage photograph, there also used to be a porch on the south side of the house, but that was eliminated when the attached garage/shop space was built. I almost wish the garage addition had been detached.

Here are a couple pictures of the trees going down. We cut down the smaller one next to the garage ourselves but had to hire a tree service to take the larger ones down.

We're both looking forward to actually working on the house, itself, soon!

[JacquieJet]

We had to have a huge maple tree cut down when we moved here as well. The tree was probably about 100 years old, it was a shame to lose it but it was mostly dead already and the falling limbs were becoming a hazard. We decided to keep the wood though, and have been using it in the fireplace all winter! Burns great!
Do you still have your woodburning fireplace(s)? If so, you've got a total score of "free" firewood!

[Blue Farmhouse]

I wish we still had just one of the fireplaces, but we don't.

[Chevygirlalways]

Welcome Blue Farmhouse, looks like a great house with a beautiful staircase. Love the old pictures. Susan

[Blue Farmhouse]

Thanks!

Does anyone have experience and/or tips on painting over wallpaper? We have wallpaper on literally every surface, with the exception of the rooms that have tacky wood paneling in them.

One of my Mom's friends is an interior designer, and she suggested sealing the seams with new glue, priming the wallpapered surface, applying joint compound to the seams, and going from there. This link I later found outlines the process: http://www.ehow.com/list_6550320_tips-painting-over-wallpaper-seams.html.

The other method I found goes in-depth a little more and involves cutting out the seams, patching where the seams were, priming, and applying three or more layers of joint compound over the entire wall. There's a series of YouTube video clips that outlines this process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYZ7HXqhq9Q.

Is there a preferred method?

[mjt]

Does anyone have experience and/or tips on painting over wallpaper? We have wallpaper on literally every surface, with the exception of the rooms that have tacky wood paneling in them.
[...]
Is there a preferred method?

We had a handful of rooms with wallpaper on every surface. We removed it all. Fortunately it mostly came off in large pieces. As in, I slipped a taping knife under a loose edge and the entire sheet fell off the ceiling faster than I could catch it. The only places where it was hard to remove were the places someone had tried to "fix" it in the past.

[mkiehn20]

I would also try removing the wallpaper before I resorted to all the work of painting over it.