The Historic District

Since we were (are) working on such a tight budget, we spend LOTS of time on the search for cool old materials we can use. I think our favorite "score" was our front doors.

I happened across an ad on Craigslist before we really even got started. No pictures or detailed description.
Simply said - "Old antique doors... decent shape but needs finishing - $50"

Called the guy up and find out more. Turns out they were solid oak exterior french doors with glass and all the original brass hardware. Then he tells me they came off one of the historic buildings in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle. Had to check 'em out...

Sure enough. Just as the fella said over the phone.

Turns out he used to be a project manager on one of the major remodels in the Pioneer Square district. The building used to be the "Seattle Hardware Company" around 1907. The building entrance had a vestibule with identical set of doors in and out. When they redid the building, they took out the vestibule for more room, took the inner doors and made them the new exterior doors. The original (more worn) exterior doors got put in the basement and forgotten about. He ended up with them and said he'd been moving them with him for over 10 years and tired of moving them around.
"If no one wants them, I was just going to take them to Goodwill."

What?

I don't think I've ever physically thrown money at a person before that moment, but.... 50 bucks?

After refinishing, they were found to be in remarkable shape. A couple of the original Rixson pivots needed to be replaced. After pricing them out (yikes), I refitted some similar pivots that wouldn't break the bank.

We scored all of our interior doors from a local salvage yard in Seattle. The doors were from a 1911 apartment building that was set on being demolished. Grabbed enough to fit all the holes we had. Luckily, we got our hands on these while still framing up everything and ended up sizing all the door frames to fit the doors.

The new roof over-framing did leave us with one heck of an attic though.

*clap, clap, clap*


Wow! That is some radical change!

What a beautiful and innovative way to add an addition on. I'm very impressed with what you have accomplished.

Susan

Very nice.

Adding vinyl windows when the originals are already gone doesn't count! You've done a great job of making the house cohesive. That seems to be the first thing that is lost when houses are significantly remodeled.

Thank you for the kudos! We're doing our best to respect the original part of the house as much as possible.

There is a nice built-in cabinet in the hallway I plan to refinish and we like the exposed old chimney we uncovered from behind the walls. Just tons and tons of woodwork ahead of me. Good thing I love it!

Very pretty. Your ceilings appear low. There's that cabin influence. What percentage is finished?

Welcome to you, Steve.

Kansas.1911 wrote:Very pretty. Your ceilings appear low. There's that cabin influence. What percentage is finished?

Welcome to you, Steve.

Thank you Kansas,

Hmmm.. percentage finished... that's a tough one. I'd say on the outside of the house itself about 90%. The interior is much farther away from "finished" with all the finish wood work I have yet to do. Then of course we have landscaping and outdoor projects lined up as well. Actually, with the way I'm always finding new stuff to work on, I'm not sure we'll ever be done.

The ceilings in the original cabin structure are just over 7' tall (depending on what side you're standing on) The addition has 8' ceilings which made the transition from old to new a bit... er... interesting.

Below is an older picture during drywall in the new section facing the old. You can see the pretty drastic drop in height.