Circa 1884 McCuiston House

[Gothichome]

It's a solid oak 1880s-1890s lamp table.

In the perfect location and doing the job it was designed for. I noticed a set of bed steps, Antique?

[SouthernLady]

The table is circa 1890s, solid oak. I believe it would be considered a lamp table. Should I ever come across another table more suitable for an end table (especially two; one for each side of the bed), I would switch it out and use this table elsewhere.

The bed steps are not antique (sadly), but are reproduction. The top step opens up for storage, which is nice because I can keep a few blankets stored in there.

Currently, I am working on a deep spring cleaning, basic landscaping, and prepping to open the pool next month. I am about two years behind on all the details (I am usually an extremely detailed person), so there's a lot to do. With the COVID-19 pandemic, my work load has drastically lessened, which leaves me more time in the evenings to work on the house. I am averaging cleaning out one flower bed a day, which is nice. I should be squared away in a few more weeks.

The next restoration project is the guest bath. I have removed the toilet, sink, and linoleum flooring. I am trying to decide if I want to remove the old one-piece shower and replace it with a tiled one, or just leave what I have. I am leaning towards tiling, but I am having trouble deciding what would be more appropriate for the house.

For that restoration project, I have the following task list:

Remove linoleum glue from original floor, sand, and poly
Strip woodwork of excess paint, sand, and repaint with original colors
Remove modern lighting and replace with appropriate fixtures
Wallpaper with period reproduction paper
Install new sink and toilet
Replace hollow door w/ period-correct 5 panel
Replace 1940s door hardware with 1870s/80s reproduction

I figure this will be my project for the year, as there is a lot of outdoor cosmetic things I hope to do.

I greatly appreciate any thoughts, opinions, suggestions, and/or advice any of you can give me with this room I am about to start on. With my home being a Colonial Revival Farmhouse of a middle-to-upper-middle-class family, there's a lot of fun I am having in settling in with the particular style of the house, and I want to reflect that particular style.

I find it interesting how my tastes have evolved in six years of this restoration. At first, I was kind of all over the place with Victorian styles, but I feel like the American Empire style with an Art Nouveau influence is where I keep getting drawn to, and the more I talk with the ancestors of the builders of the home, it seems that's kind of what was there to begin with, with late 1700s/Moravian influences as they were heavily connected with what is now called Old Salem.

On a side note, I seem to have hit my stride with Instagram. If you are on Instagram, please be sure to follow me there. I post updates nearly every day, and have somehow amassed a following of around 700 on this restoration journey.

[phil]

lamp table sounds right. I brought mine from storage and put it in the kitchen near the door. Yours is nicer. . I cant' comment much on the style, There isn't too much that old here.

someone showed me a box, it looks like a little set of stairs when unfolded and can serve a bit like a short step ladder. it is also a box to store tools. it folds into a square box shape to store it. I thought it was pretty ingenious.

[Lily left the valley]

The stencils in that room are delightfully subtle. They add a gentle richness that complements all the fine pieces you have in there.

I'm always amazed at the lovely furniture pieces folks here at the District have. I also loved the dual purpose built into the replica bed steps you have as well. I have a soft spot for hidden usefulness.

[SouthernLady]

I didn't realize it's been so long since I have posted an update. Time has a way of slipping away from us.

Not much major has been going on in the restoration, but I have picked up the second-story guest bathroom renovation. I can't call it a "restoration", because my home predates bathrooms and never had any until the early 1940s. This second-story bathroom was added in the mid-to-late-1970s as the fourth-generation owners had two teenage daughters and a son all trying to use the tiny 1940s bathroom and decided they needed to add the second bathroom for survival. So, the larger bedroom had a small section chopped out of it to put a bathroom on the landing. The door is not original to the house, but happens to match the small coat closet door on the first floor.


Bathroom when I moved in.


Broken toilet and broken sink removed; linoleum removed.


Door.


I couldn't sleep one night, so I started removing the ceiling to see what I could see.


2 AM--Ceiling tiles removed only to discover a second drywall ceiling. I went to bed at this point.


A few nights later, I couldn't sleep again and found myself cutting through the drywall ceiling to finally reveal the original ceiling.


This is the one-and-only closet in the entire house. I presume it was used as a luggage closet as it's located in the second-story guest bedroom. It comes hip high. All of the paint is original, dating from at least 1884--possibly earlier.


My inspiration photograph.

I will hopefully be able to pull down the rest of the last layer to get to the original ceiling as soon as I can devote an entire day to suiting up in Tyvek and a full respirator and taping off the room for demo. The label on the drywall is "Gold Bond". While I feel pretty confident it was put up past the point of certain *additives* being commonly in it, I don't want to take any chances on being exposed to things I would rather not be exposed to, so I will be taking full precautions. I also have a HEPA-approved air purifier to use in this room just for kicks.

Fun side note: as soon as I make a phone call to schedule a specific date and time, someone from my state's historical preservation department is coming to do another study on my house. I found the one done in the 1980s by the National Register of Historic Places and found over half of it to be false information. I have since garnered the accurate information, as well as the one original photograph of the house before changes were made, and the director of my district told me he is excited to come and re-study the building. During our conversation, I mentioned that some people in the area have told me part of my house was a log structure which a newer part was built around in the 1800s. I am now beginning to think the kitchen may very well have been a much older home, and I now have information that John McCuiston actually built the front two-story portion on to it when he purchased the place. When I worked in the local grocery store through college, some of my customers told me they were told by their grandparents the old part was built somewhere around the 1790s-1840s. I got different pieces from different folks, but enough to think that maybe some of it may be right. I think that would explain why the room is so huge, and would give a better explanation for the fireplace *and* wood stove hookup in the kitchen.

Any tips or suggestions for this renovation?

[Gothichome]

Southern Lady, good to see your name on the board. Interesting how the history of a building gets lost over time and through renovations. Many years ago we had the same story on a home a few kilometres from Gothichome. They were tearing down a home to make way for a new home and discoverd a log cabin no one knew about dating to early 1800’s just hidden in the additions and renovations. They preserved it and I believe it is now listed.
I think you should work with the bead board ceiling painting it the original colour and keying the rest of the renovation and decoration to it. As far as the water staining round the toilet flange, if there is no rot at the floor floor boards ends you can give it a bit of a sanding to level any swelling of the boards and add a subfloor appropriate to the tiype of flooring your going to use. The floor should be built up to the level of the flange.
Your inspiration picture looks very nice and I can’t see why it would need to overly expensive to accomplish. That style of vanity is available new or even better can be converted from an antique wash stand, probably cheaper.
Ron