Another OHW Transplant and a New-Old House (1851)

[Blue Farmhouse]

Thanks! It needs some work, but I'm planning on living in it 'as-is' until at least late-summer as I compile a list of items I want to/need to change or improve. I love the staircase, too! It's my favorite part of the house.

Today was an adventure in the basement. Over the summer, when the house was inspected, the inspector found a lot of the original windows in a back room of the basement. I was downstairs with him at the time, but I didn't get a good look because he was pointing out some other items while we were down there. I remembered they were there, but I didn't have a chance to get back to them again until today (I tried a couple of days ago but couldn't get all of the lights to work; it's pitch black in that back room without any working lights). So, I ventured back down there again today armed with a flashlight and a broom (for the cobwebs).

Much to my dismay, the back room was wall-to-wall cobwebs. It was not like that in July! There were some cobwebs down there, but it wasn't that bad. I'm glad I didn't try to go back there in the dark the other day because I probably would've had a heart attack. I don't think I'll ever be able to use that broom again.

Anyway, once I was able to carefully inch my way back into the area where the original windows were, I noticed some of them were painted almost a battleship gray rather than white. I had always assumed the original trim color was white, but after seeing that, we got to wondering what color the house really was before its current paint job. We went back upstairs and outside to take a look around. After chipping away at some paint on a couple of trim pieces, we discovered it was, in fact, painted that battleship gray. It looks like the original color of the house was white. Consequently, I had a similar paint scheme in mind as I've always liked gray as a house color, so, this discovery just helped make my decision simpler.





Further discoveries to be continued.

[Don M]

Very nice place; looks in good condition!

[Blue Farmhouse]

Well, we started in on the long, long, long list of [minor] repairs today. The toilet upstairs wasn't working properly. The sprayer for the kitchen sink needed replacing. An electrical outlet in the kitchen needed replacing. The front door needed new weather stripping. The heating duct to the entry hall had its damper closed. Oh, and the entry hall light that came with the house was horrible; it might as well had not even been there...! (It didn't match the house, either.)

You'd think replacing an entry hall light fixture wouldn't be that big of a deal, but it turned into quite the ordeal when we realized the original one was simply screwed into the plaster ceiling (i.e., there was no "box" for the light fixture to actually hang from). Throw in a floor joist for the upstairs in the way of things, and what I thought would be a simple project ended up being two trips to Lowe's and a couple more hours than I anticipated. But, darn it, you can see now in the entry hall and on the staircase!





Starting tomorrow, re-wiring the front room since none of the electrical outlets are grounded.

[Kansas.1911]

I remember you said this was your "downsized" house. It is a beautiful house in a drop-dead gorgeous town. Once that pinky-beige leaves, and the wall-paper bids adieu, it will be stunning inside and out. The only way you'd be even luckier would be if those original windows were still in their original spots. Guess you can't have everything. ha ha

[Blue Farmhouse]

I remember you said this was your "downsized" house. It is a beautiful house in a drop-dead gorgeous town. Once that pinky-beige leaves, and the wall-paper bids adieu, it will be stunning inside and out. The only way you'd be even luckier would be if those original windows were still in their original spots. Guess you can't have everything. ha ha

Well, it's a downsize price-wise at least, lol. It's actually about 550-square-feet larger than our previous house. I've never had to furnish a house with such large rooms before now!

Yes! I'm looking so forward to stripping the old exterior paint. The house had been lime washed and then painted over. I was contemplating which direction to go as far as painting versus lime washing, but we've all come to the conclusion painting would be best. I drug an old wooden window screen up from the basement the other day as it has the old trim color still painted on it (gray, pictured below). I'm going to go back with that and paint the brick a very, very light gray. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon a house in town just this past weekend with a similar paint scheme. It was nice to see an actual version of my idea before trying it on my own house.





This is fun -- but, I think I need to get a part-time job at either Lowe's or the local hardware store now with the amount of time and money I've spent so far at both!

[Kansas.1911]

We have had one family in town ask to use our custom mix color at Sherwin Williams. You can get a custom mix from the grey you have.

We downsized just like you did. The old house was 2,500 sq.ft. and we went to 3,000 sq ft. But we aren't heating and cooling all our new space. We use 1,815 sq ft and the rest is finished storage. If we heated and cooled it, we would have to pay taxes on the improvements. Just like you, we moved to a cheaper place in a cheaper state.

I'm trying to figure out your front door, transom, and storm door. Nice hallway and new light.

[Blue Farmhouse]

The nice thing about this house is the master bedroom and bathroom are downstairs, and there's a door that can be closed leading out into the entryway. Both of the bedrooms upstairs are guest rooms. I have all of the vents closed upstairs except for the one in the bathroom.

Here are some more pictures of the transom, inside and outside.





Thanks for the information on the paint, too! We have a Sherwin-Williams here in town.

[Texas_Ranger]

Uhhh... if you paint over that limewash expect it to flake pretty quickly! Maybe latex would work, but I'm not sure either. Limewash chalks off so it doesn't hold anything else too well.

[Blue Farmhouse]

Wouldn't a latex paint meant for masonry be correct for this application, anyhow? My neighbor didn't use the proper exterior paint on their brick house, and it's literally peeling off in rubbery sheets.

I'd rather not lime wash it for aesthetic and upkeep reasons. On the other hand, I don't want to do something that would make it look worse. I've honestly been going back and forth, and after seeking out multiple people on our Historic Board of Review to solicit opinions and advice, they have all said painting would be the best option; the last person to come out and inspect the brick this past Friday knew it had been lime washed previously. So, I guess the question now becomes, has anyone had experience in a situation like this -- painting over previous lime wash?

The current paint seems to be holding on well in most places; the biggest areas of flaking are on the rear portion of the house and on the south-side upper level. I'm honestly not sure when the house was last painted. I've seen a Google Maps image of it dating to 2005-ish on our local tax assessment website, and it was the current paint color.

Ah, well. As always, further information and insight is appreciated. I won't be beginning the exterior projects until late-summer.

[Blue Farmhouse]

Meanwhile, in the dining room...





The original floor seems to be intact underneath the replacement floor. That's a project for another day, though. I just couldn't help myself to take a peek.