Hello from East Tennessee!

[CrestwoodCottage]

I have been an avid reader of Old House Dreams for about a year now and finally stumbled across this blog in the last week or so! My husband and I bought our 1925 Craftsman in 2012, just about to hit our two year mark this month! Our house was originally built by a man in the lumber trade business, he bought and sold logs and floated them down the river north of Knoxville down to Chattanooga, TN for 30 years. Our house originally started out as a 40 acre farm until around 1950. As the city limits have grew we are now located right in the middle of the city. The house only had a few owners for the better part of 80 years but since the early 2000s it has been foreclosed, flipped, and just down right neglected on the outside.. Luckily much of its character has been left(I like to think that atleast...) I do believe it might of had a few more built-ins etc. but remains pretty intact. The outside is another story. The lapboard siding has been covered in vinyl, the original dormer has been altered and a giant ugly window put in(it does look nice from the inside...outside not so much), heart-pine front door covered in layers of paint, beadboard ceiling on the porch replaced with vinyl and that's where most of the work has came into play. I'm loving reading the advice on this blog on stripping paint, etc. I am currently in the middle of stripping the paint off the front door, sanding and staining it.

[Kansas.1911]

You're in Chattanooga, right in town?

Welcome to you. I don't know where everybody is. Usually there are a bunch of messages just to say "hi." What did you do in the first two years? (Where did you start on the refurbishing?). Our house was neglected, but occupied when we bought it in 2006. Also, a woman who was married to a lumberman was our first owner. She had good taste in wood, and a good design sense, I believe.

That foyer picture is sure pretty. But I was picturing it with the white paint gone.

[Blue Farmhouse]

Welcome, CedarLane. I love the built-in's! That's the one thing I wish I had here in my house; they add such character. (I also really like the paint color you have in your front room/entry.) Looking forward to seeing more pictures of your house.

[CrestwoodCottage]

Sorry, I didn't clarify. We are actually in Knoxville, TN, not Chattanooga. Since the house had been flipped just a couple years prior to us buying it had been completely "renovated" from top to bottom on the inside. Some of the renovations were nicely done, others eliminated character. The updated electrical, plumbing, new kitchen, and bathrooms are nice but the newer vinyl windows, vinyl siding, crappy job refinishing the wood floors(even completely forgetting to open the door to the half bath and to put on the poly), and painted woodwork(probably painted many, many years ago) wouldn't have been my preference. Most of the work we have done in the last two years has been on the outside. We had a little over an acre of a jungle of yard, over grown/dead trees, no grass, no driveway(only a verbal agreement with the church next door to use their drive), rotten fence, leaking roof, etc. etc. So our attention has been on the outside trying give it a little curb appeal. Since we have now cut down dead trees, hauled off old collapsed sheds, sown new grass, landscaped, put in a driveway, built a new fence, insulation, and put on a new roof in the last year, I have now started to work on the front porch. The front door has been painted many times, at one time the floor, door, and brick foundation had all been painted magenta . I have completely stripped the heart pine door and I'm currently working on scraping up loose paint on the floor preparing for a new paint job. I am also replacing the vinyl siding they have put on the porch ceiling with new beadboard, so I guess this is my first actual renovations of the house. My dream would be to remove all the vinyl siding but I have a very practical husband Maybe, just maybe I can convince him that I neeeeeeed to strip all the paint off the trim and staircase but I won't hold my breath!

Where is your house located, Kansas.1911? What types of wood do you have? When we had a termite inspection we were told our floor joist were made out of some of the hardest wood and termites won't eat it. I didn't get to ask what it was but I'm guessing being a lumber trader the owner might have chosen that type of wood for that very reason.

Thank you, Farmhouse! I cherish those built-ins since they are basically the only built-ins that were left(I'm pretty positive the dining room had a built in also) I just want to scream "Whhhhhhhy?!?!"

[clover]

Oh goodness. I heart that deep front porch so much! It reminds me of my great-grandmother's house, where all the houses on the street had identical porches of the exact same depth. You could sit on your porch and peer waaay down the street through everyone's porches and see who was out and open to chatting. Welcome!

[CrestwoodCottage]

Thank you Clover, that sounds pretty dreamy!

[heartwood]

welcome to wavyglass!

what a sweet little home...the shot of your front porch looks as if the house is glowing from within...who doesn't love a porch especially with the lovely hanging plants a roomy space...

damn, not sure i would have the energy to remove all that paint (and that's what i do for a living on windows)...the first photo of foyer looks quite nice...

see you around the neighborhood.......
...jade

[Kansas.1911]

To answer your question about wood, we have oak on the main level and pine on the second floor. That is normal around here.

For twenty years before we bought it, the series of owners just did half**sed fixes, if they did anything at all. It takes a long time to overcome neglect and dirt. We also had termites, and they did eat both old oak and new oak. I guess termites happen. They're gone now.

Since everything was bad, we didn't feel terrible about having things done new and to our taste. We don't have enough land to be too much work. We are located in Junction City.

[Don M]

Welcome; you have a very attractive home. I love your big inviting front door & the cat on the mat makes it more so!

[CrestwoodCottage]

Thank you everyone! I will hopefully have some pictures really soon of a finished door and repainted porch!