Circa 1884 McCuiston House

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Circa 1884 McCuiston House

Post by Lily left the valley »

Going back a bit about the flooding, is there any chance of trying to deter some of it with a rain garden that has a lower footprint instead of just making an outright gully to try to spout water towards? Some communities have workshops about such with local plantings, but you can find loads of general info about them online as well.

This is one of the general ones I had bookmarked: http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/spaces/rain-garden-design.htm

From the image where it looks like the interior floor is lower than the exterior ground, it might need some serious regrading on the outer side to help there. If the slope (however gentle) of the property brings silt and such towards that door, that may be why it built up like that over time. If I were you, I would have at least dug down further before replacing the brick path, moving the dirt elsewhere. I know with the fence not far off, that could lead to some extra work arounding, but in the long run, it would be worth it.

Is there any sort of underground drainage running along that wall there? That could help as well. Full out French or at least various permeable fills could help too.

All of this is something I know about from research I did for the 1860 house I managed as the property overall sloped towards the home, and the basement had lots of moisture problems as a result. I never could convince the owner to take even the not terribly expensive steps to remedy it. I had to wash off the moldy walls monthly as a result. :roll:
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
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Mick_VT
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Re: Circa 1884 McCuiston House

Post by Mick_VT »

SouthernLady wrote: should I just paint the woodwork back to this shade of green, or should I go with faux bois as I was originally thinking about? I feel that the McCuiston's original intent was to have the faux graining, but the green was to get by as newlyweds, so I lean more towards the faux bois.

Thoughts?


You could always restore it to green then do the faux graining later... ;)

Seriously, in my mind either or both are correct so you should choose which you prefer and call it original
Mick...

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Re: Circa 1884 McCuiston House

Post by Texas_Ranger »

One thing occurred to me: if you have any low spot you can direct the water to, why not install/build a channel drain? I don't know how much water we're talking about here but these drains can be custom-built to pretty massive sizes. Google it for pictures!

Now about your paint. Does ist bubble slightly if you aim the heat gun at it for like half a minute and turn slightly rubbery? In that case it's linseed oil paint. Keep it, sand well wen paint over it. I'd use linseed oil paint again, it's not that expensive but non-toxic and very nice to work with AND it gives you a 100% period-correct finish. Oh and I love the smell of linseed oil!

Note that it yellows noticeably, if totally shielded from light (like under another coat of paint) even a lot so your green might actually have been blue at some point. And the ivory was likely white when it was new (modern oil paints do the same, if you've got a wooden exterior door that's white or any light colour compare the outside and the side that faces the jamb when the door is closed! I bet the sides will be much yellower!

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SouthernLady
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Re: Circa 1884 McCuiston House

Post by SouthernLady »

I am sorry for my long absence--my schedule was supposed to slow down a bit, but it's only gotten busier lately.

Drainage problems--Thank you all for the advice and comments! It is in the process of (hopefully) being remedied right now. My friend who is a professional mason came by this past Saturday and worked on repairing one of the two sections of brick walkway left to be done. He is going to raise the section of brick walkway that butts right up next to the "carriage house/garage" with concrete and set the bricks at a slight slope away from the house which should deter water from pooling around the doorway which was what had caused my major problems. He feels that this will eliminate the flooding. Unfortunately, it looks like it might be a while before it's tested out because we are about in drought conditions here in North Carolina. I am roughly two and a half hours away from the Chimney Rock/Lake Lure fires, but the smoke has been fairly bad several times in the past week and a half to the point I had to cancel outdoor work plans around the house.

Paint stripping--It seems that green paint was likely used as a primer for the faux graining, and may indeed be milk paint.

About a month ago I went to the 25th Annual Horne Creek Farm Cornshucking and made some wonderful new friends in the reenactment world. This farm dates to the period of my own farmhouse. The family wasn't quite as financially endowed as the McCuistons judging on the details of the farmhouse. However, there are enough similarities that several visits to this place is greatly going to help me in my restoration.

One of the ladies working in the kitchen making apple turnovers overheard me explaining to my mom about how much better and cozier my kitchen is going to be once I made it look like the one that we were standing in. She asked me about my home, and my mom and I and the two re-enactors in the kitchen got into a very lively discussion about growing up "old school" on a farm. One of the ladies told me that she had heard that oftentimes in our region green paint was used as a primer for faux graining, and when I showed her the pictures I shared here she said that I should entertain the thought that may be a possibility.

Texas_Ranger, That is a good theory on the ivory paint. I think ivory is the actual color, though, because it's identical to the ivory on the backside of the cellar door. Light hardly ever reaches that door, and it's the same shade.


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Fall at the old farmhouse

I have had a hard time finding photographs of period 1880s kitchens to use for reference for my farmhouse, so I was sure to take plenty of the one at Horne Creek Farm. In case anyone else also needs them for reference, here you go:

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This is the dining room. The lady at the table is rolling out pie crust and filling it with the apple filling, then passing it to the kitchen.

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Work table. Notice the apple filling in the bowls and the pies ready for the pan. I love that green dry sink!

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Another work table

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This kitchen also has a fireplace and a wood stove, just like my kitchen.

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The beautiful cookstove

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For now my kitchen has a good way to go yet before it looks like this cozy period kitchen, but it still turns out good pumpkin pies. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

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SouthernLady
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Re: Circa 1884 McCuiston House

Post by SouthernLady »

I finally got those bookcases... only I found out that they're actually a double china cabinet as the shelves have plate grooves.

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Getting it loaded into the truck. I had already removed the drawers and shelves.

The guy threw in a porch post for free.

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Detailed photos to follow!

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Circa 1884 McCuiston House

Post by Lily left the valley »

Woo for bennies thrown in!

Thanks for the update.
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--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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SouthernLady
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Re: Circa 1884 McCuiston House

Post by SouthernLady »

LLTV, the gentleman who runs the salvage yard I got the stuff at is the type of person every one of us would want to work with. If I remember correctly, he has salvaged old house and barn parts for over 30 years. I met him almost two years ago when I just happened across his business. He has things from old homes from up and down the East Coast. It's every restorer's dream. He's a very unique man. He likes to size people up before doing business with them (think old-time dealer. My grandpa was similar. He was a good judge of people's character). I have sensed that if he picks up that you're in it for the money, he rather not do business with you. Thankfully, he considers me an "old soul". When I found a porch post that fit my needs for the kitchen stoop and asked how much he wanted for it, he said he wouldn't sell it to me but to consider it a gift and a donation to the restoration. I look forward to doing more business with this gentleman.

He believes this twin piece of furniture may date from around the 1840s or so. He picked it up at an estate sale in Asheboro, NC. He doesn't normally deal in furniture, but this was his exception since he considered it such an unusual piece.

I really can't tell how old it is. Here's some detail shots. Anyone want to take a guess or add their input?

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When I first saw the double-"bookcase"

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Here is one of the shelves. The handles kind of remind me of the Federal style. I believe the metal is brass. A very, very dirty brass.

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Detail of the drawer pull.

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Detail of the drawer lock.

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Detail of the drawer dovetails. These are not machine made.

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More dovetail details

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Detail of inside of drawer. Note the square nuts.

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One of the cabinets after using Restore-a-Finish and two coats of wax. What kind of wood might this be?

Three of the glass windows are original wavy glass. One appears to have been replaced as the glass is noticeably not wavy like the others.

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Sadly, it lacked under 1" of fitting up my staircase to the upstairs study. So much for Plan A. Plan B includes renting a forklift, tying the cabinets to the lift one at a time, and hoisting them up to the second-story balcony then into the study.

Any tips on cleaning these pieces up?

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Re: Circa 1884 McCuiston House

Post by eclecticcottage »

I don't have the time to read through all of this yet (I will, eventually) and have only read the first page, but wanted to say that it really cool, to find family that had photos and memories of your house!

I am "lucky" that The Bungalow Project is in a small town where everyone seems to know everyone else. I've heard tell that one of the kids that grew up in the house still lives in town. I am going to see about finding him. The town historian also might have photos, the neighbors told me he recently uncovered a stash and gave them an early photo of their house. I'm in NY so I can use Fulton History's site to look up old articles mentioning the address-now I just have to find out what house number it was originally (in the late 50's/early 60's they renumbered all of the houses!).

Facebook groups are also a great resource-I belong to a couple locally that are history/memories of groups (IE Memories of XXX Town, Growing up in XXX town). A lot of old photos and interesting tidbits of info (like the above mentioned renumbering) are posted on them. I haven't posted to the group where The Bungalow Project is located yet since it's vacant and I don't want to attract attention (I have an alarm I'm putting in-it's cell phone based-so no landline needed-so I might if I can't find enough info on my own). I'll probably just refer to it as The Old Brown Family House, since that is the family most folks I've met seem to remember living there the longest.

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Gothichome
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Re: Circa 1884 McCuiston House

Post by Gothichome »

Southernlady, my take. Pine carcass, oak facings. Well built, probably by a cabinet maker I think rather than a general carpenter. The dove tails are most defiantly hand sawn and layed out. I think though Georgen might be a bit early, but do think it may be early Victorian, in my mind the glass seems a bit large for Georgen and the panel panel front screamed early Victorian to me. The fine carpenters here will have a better take. I you did well, realy well in my view.

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Don M
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Re: Circa 1884 McCuiston House

Post by Don M »

Southern Lady I agree with Gothichome's assessment of your nice piece of furniture. My guess is late 1800's date of construction. Victorian most likely as Gothic said. You cold try Simple Green in an inconspicuous place for cleaning. If shellac then (?) alcohol lightly used can clean it off.

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