The Historic District

Hi all,
Been lurking and reading for quite a while, but saw a question on the main discussion board I might be able to help with so I took the plunge and joined up.

Our house project is a bit of an odd-bird compared to most of the beautiful "original" homes we've seen on here. It's kind of led a frankenstein-ish "mutt" type of life over it's years and the neighbors wouldn't have been happier than to see the eyesore torn down years ago.

I realize that our home doesn't quite "fit" in here since there's not much left visually from the outside of the original house... we literally built around and over it to end up with what we really wanted.

Now before the lynch mob starts... we didn't take some beautiful old home and strip it of it's character. In fact, the original house didn't start out as a "house" at all. It started as a crude thrown-together logging cabin that was dragged to this property sometime around 1930 when a logging camp was started here to start clearing land for the "real" houses to be built.

Then, in 1951 someone decided to add on a living room and a 2nd room off the back (over the septic tank by the way...grrr) and somehow got it titled as an actual house. Even after those 2 additions, the house was still just over 900 sq. ft.

I bought it in '95 and lived here as a bachelor and then the wedding bells came. And then our 3 pugs. We talked of selling it and getting something bigger, but just couldn't get ourselves to leave here. We love where we live. So we decided to add on to what we already had. From 900+ sq ft to now 2400 sq ft.

So like I said... our house doesn't quite "fit" in here since it's more new than not. I get that. So why am I here, you ask? Well, I have an obsession with the craftsman/arts and crafts era homes. I guess you can say we've been building a new "old" house in that style. Luckily I love doing wood work and have a very understanding wife... lol

~Steve

Welcome, Steve! There are no entrance requirements around here. The only thing that might cause a bit of lynch-mobbiness is someone wanting to pull out original windows that just need a bit of work. (It's in our name, after all!)

Ummm....pics?

We love pictures!

pictures please?

Cheers!
Chaz

WELCOME!!!

you are our 400th member!!!

Welcome! We would love to see what you have done, and any old pictures you have of the phases of construction.
Diane

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Now... I do have a confession I need to make.

The ONE thing we hated to do (for budget reasons) was the disgrace of the dreaded vinyl windows.
I think I hear that lynch mob coming...
BUT in our defense, most of the windows on the original structure had already been changed out long before us. Some vinyl here... some aluminum there... the only wood windows (fixed, non opening) that were taken out and replaced were in the back room because we needed them to a be a different size (it's a bathroom now) and wanted them to open. We kept those windows and will be reusing them when we do the garage/shop next.
There was just no way we could swing the price of new wood windows for the whole place.

The other few remaining wood windows on the side were on walls that were being opened up for the addition. The one wood window on the front of the old house was replaced with reclaimed oak doors that are older than the community we live in (from 1904) so we don't feel so bad on that one.

Here's a before and after shot. I have TONS of in progress shots of pretty much every square inch of the house. I'll post some of them up, but if there's a particular area anyone would like to see a close up of... just ask.

What the????? That sound you hear is everyone putting down their pitchforks. That is one AMAZING transformation! I can't wait to see progress pics!

Some progress shots inside. Here's the room divider unit. Before and after. I haven't applied the poly over the stain yet, but it's next on the agenda.

clover wrote:What the????? That sound you hear is everyone putting down their pitchforks. That is one AMAZING transformation! I can't wait to see progress pics!

Thank you, clover!
We're well aware that re-doing a large part of the house to "appear" old, is not the same as resurrecting a truly historic home, but we're trying to keep true to the era as best we can and having LOTS of fun with it.