Circa 1884 McCuiston House

[SouthernLady]

FINALLY! I got the walls for the library painted a period shade of blue from the Valspar National Register of Historic Places. This room was originally a bedroom. I have nicknamed it "the birthing room", as the descendants tell me they know their mother was born in this room on February 25, 1927. It is safe to assume the other children born in this house were likely born in this room as well. If not this room, it would have been in my bedroom on the main floor.

Here's this room as I first saw it:

This is facing the stairwell, of course. Closets had been added by the great-granddaughter in such a way that they could easily be removed should someone wish to return the room to it's original layout. You can see the ghostmarks on the floor where someone has removed what was once a "closet wall". The great-great granddaughter who had this room for her bedroom tells me she absolutely hated the wallpaper because it had pink roses on it. She was quite the tomboy in her day. I saved a scrap of the paper for her to keep. (We connected on Facebook. She only lives about a mile from me.)


Here is the room not long after I purchased the house. I forgot to photograph before I started painting. For those not familiar with the story, a friend of mine bought the house after it had been in foreclosure and basically abandoned for two-three years. He rented it out for about a year to family, after which I purchased it from him. This room was painted the bright yellow you see here.

I am changing it to historically accurate colors. Originally this room was wallpapered with the woodwork painted a battleship gray color. The original tongue and groove ceilings are behind the glued-on ceiling tiles. It is my plan to restore the ceiling should the tiles test as asbestos-free. Fingers crossed! I plan to send the test kit in this week.


Here's the room as it appeared around 1 AM this morning! Walls are done. I am going to have the closet area on the right and the shelving above the window and the little bench seat under the window removed. They were added around the late '60s/early '70s. A 5' window will be put back where the small one is now once the front porch is restored. That's probably another two years out.

I did finish stripping the door on the floor and plan to sand it tonight and paint it tomorrow night. I will wait to hang it back on the hinges until Saturday, because if all goes according to plan I will be going after these bookcases on Saturday morning:


Beautiful, aren't they? They were salvaged from an old house before it was torn down. They may be from the 1840s, but I need to check them out a little bit more first. It's gonna be a fit to get them up the stairs, but I really think they're going to be beautiful on the back wall of the new "library".

[Texas_Ranger]

Texas_Ranger, that was what I originally hoped to put down, but I have had an issue with that room occasionally flooding. Is there any engineered hardwood that can withstand getting wet like that? I haven't done much research on it, but I would greatly prefer that to something with carcinogens... My family history gives me enough risk of developing cancer one day; I don't want any extra help with it!

Nope, unfortunately I don't think you can do that with any enginnered hardwood. Honestly, if this place is prone to flooding I wouldn't install anything but tile! I've seen laminate buckle so badly you couldn't open doors any more!

[SouthernLady]

Ugh... Yes, I have kinda been leaning towards whether or not it should stay tile, but it looks kinda harsh to me. I was in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, last week on vacation and visited one of my favorite stores to splurge on--Pigeon River Pottery. They have flagstone floors in their building. I love that look, but having to tear out all that tile makes my head hurt!

The room has only flooded four times since I've lived there. We had a really severe storm system come through each time, and the gutters simply could not keep up. Because it's at the bottom of a slope, water came right in through the door. Due to how the building is positioned, there isn't any way I can change the slant of the yard to have any effect on the chances of flooding. It was, after all, a dirt floor originally.

What about staining the ceramic tile? Is this possible? If this were my only option, I could see a sandy brown color, perhaps. Something where the floor doesn't jump out so bad. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations with this?

[Gothichome]

Southernlady, are you the proud owner of a set of library shelves? About this flooding issue, there must be something external to your home to minimize the flooding. Can you dig a shallow ditch around the home giving the water another way around rather than through? Or maybe a small retaining wall or burm directing the water away?

[Old house lady]

I love what youve been doing with this amazing house - youre quite the inspiration! Youre so lucky to have been able to connect with the home's extended family.

[Texas_Ranger]

There are paints made for ceramic tile but I'm not 100% fond of the look of flat painted tile in one uniform colour, grout and all. Besides they're (I think) epoxy based and not too healthy either.

I'd say try to find a way to keep the water away!

[SouthernLady]

I apologize for my long absence... my friend with the dementia and lymphoma has been receiving cancer treatments for the past three weeks, so getting a five-day work week crammed into about 2 1/2-3 days a week has really been keeping me extremely busy. The only reason I have free time today is because I have been lucky enough to get a nasty upper respiratory virus that has kept me out of the office for the past two days. yuck...

Sadly, I have not yet been able to retrieve the book cases... my dad was going to help me retrieve them, but he was called in to work. Every time I get time on a Saturday to get them, he gets called in. Oh well. Hopefully one day soon...

I am afraid I cannot see any good way to divert water from getting into the "back room", as I call it. The floor was originally dirt, and since then a cement slab with the ceramic tile was put down. It is not off the ground whatsoever. A brick walkway was placed around the front of that part of the house, which a bricklayer-friend of mine has been helping me repair. He thinks when he repairs that portion, he may be able to put it at a slight slant which will hopefully divert some of the water away. Here's the problem:





On a side note, I finally got around to painting the kitchen door to match the metal storm and trim. I used Benjamin Moore's Essex Green, which was suggested by the kind fellow who runs OldHouseGuy.com. As I shared earlier, I found evidence that the trim on the house was originally a dark green with the siding an off-white.

Here's the kitchen stoop... still got to replace the support post with a salvage Victorian one:



Oh yeah, how do you like my new porch wall light? Kinda too "minimalist" for my taste, but I have had a fit trying to find something that fits with an 1883 farmhouse in the country. I think I finally found something, but instead of the brass in the picture I would order it in copper which would darken. What do y'all think of this one?

[SouthernLady]

Some of the happenings at McCuiston House...

My favorite season, fall, is almost here! I have had to restrain myself from decorating too early, but I did put some berries in one of my old Ball jars. I also finally got around to hanging the wall bracket oil lamp in my kitchen. I think it really sets the corner off. The cabinet is a recent Craigslist find. It appears to be a White Clad furniture kit that may have been put together in the 1970s or thereabouts. If it's truly an antique, I will be shocked, as White Clad was an icebox company and I have not found where they made furniture pieces. I could be wrong, though. It fits the oak pieces in my kitchen very nicely, as well as the period look I plan to restore the kitchen to completely in the coming years. I purchased a butter mold off of eBay for a couple bucks, too. Although a reproduction, I liked it. It will do until I can convince my gramma to let me have the butter molds she used on the farm to make extra money. There's also a Victorian doily (I have a set of 16 of this pattern) and a clay tart burner I got from Pigeon River Pottery. Love that place... the current scent is "Persimmon & Ginger" from Hobby Lobby, a lovely late summer/early fall scent, for those of us who are about pumpkined-out! It has a nice scent that compliments an old house.



A closer look...


And what can make a kitchen smell better than cookies? I made some snickerdoodles for a friend. I used my ink and quill pen for a label and my 18th Century French seal (which I just noticed matches my house... "M" for my name and also for McCuiston House)



And the patio is finally about done! I got the new hydrangea bush planted, pine needles down, and most of the monkey grass border moved. I still need to move the rest of the monkey grass down the side of the rest of the walkway.

[SouthernLady]

Last night, I got sick of looking at white walls and white woodwork in my bedroom. I knew it had a lovely wallpaper in 1884, I knew it was tan in the 1920s, and at some point the old green paint had been covered with a faux bois woodgrain. So, the heat gun came out until 1:30 this morning. I originally meant to do just one panel, but this happened:



Here's a remaining fragment of wallpaper that this paint coordinated with in 1884:



Sadly, there was no way to save any of the faux bois graining, but there were a few spots where I was able to save a few pieces to do a color match down the road:



I have a working theory and want to see what y'all think about it... I know (according to family history) that John McCuiston wanted to get married, but he wouldn't get married until he had a house to move in to. He married in September of 1884, so based on that I have pinned the house to 1883-1884. My working theory is that they chose to paint this room a teal green shade, then not long after they had faux bois graining painted on. My thought is there was a delay because having this done cost more than just slapping on a coat of green paint on the pine doors. The green may have been to be able to get by with a nicely decorated home, then once the finances built up a bit (or the schedule of the painter allowed) they were able to have the faux graining applied to the publically visible areas of the home. Ivory paint was applied over the faux bois, presumably during the daughter's remodel in the 1920s, and this was the coat that remained until the house was painted in 2013. All of the walls were wallpapered. A lot...

I am assuming the faux graining was popular in the 1880s and went out in the late 1890s. Is this a correct assumption?

Also, this green paint absolutely will not budge with a heat gun. I am beginning to wonder if it is some sort of stain. Does anyone here know what it might be?

Thirdly, as my whole purpose is to restore the house, 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?

[Don M]

The green may be a type of milk paint. That seems to be indestructible.