Hey, folks!
It's been over a year since my last update on the house. My "second mom" passed away in May after a 12-year battle with dementia and 4-year battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This last year has been extremely hectic as her needs were dire for that entire time. Now that she's passed away, I find myself with a lot of time on my hands to catch up on projects. I've kept busy, and I am glad I have this house to help me adjust to this "new normal".
The first floor bedroom is now completely restored--except for taking down the drywall ceiling that's covering the tongue and groove ceiling. I plan to do this next year and knock out the ceiling in the parlor at the same time so I don't have to rent a rollback twice. I originally planned to wallpaper this room with a paper as close as I could find to the original remnants that were discovered, but decided to use wall stencils instead so that later I could cover the gap that will be made when the newer ceiling is removed.
Here is the bedroom as it was when I first laid eyes on it.
The house had been empty for quite a time, and the dampness and smell were awful. The plaster walls had long ago been removed and replaced with a press-board paneling from the 1970s. That bright blue bathroom had once been part of the wrap-around porch but was enclosed and turned into a bathroom in the 1940s, when pluming was first added to the house.
Because the paneling had to go, it was the perfect time to reposition the outlets to make more sense and insulate the walls.
A fragment of the original wallpaper was discovered above the door that leads to the kitchen. Sadly, it was too fragile to save.
Also, sadly, the construction guys who removed the old walls and put up the drywall destroyed the original trimwork, although they were specifically told to save it.
Here is the bedroom as it was on move-in day. I didn't do anything to this room for 3-4 years while I worked on other projects.
Here is the restored bedroom. (Just don't look at the ceiling...)
I finally finished the last of it a few weeks ago. The original door hardware was replaced during the 1940s remodel by the builder's daughter, but thankfully there were ghost marks behind the newer hardware that told me what used to be there. House of Antique Hardware had the exact period replicas I needed. Because I knew that the original radiators in the house were gilt and had a very decorative Art Nouveau look to them, according to the fourth generation to own the house (who also had the radiators removed and scrapped), I decided to select door hardware with that style.
The woodwork is painted the original shade of green, which I discovered and color matched during the restoration. This color was put down first, and some time later a faux graining was applied on all of the woodwork throughout the entire house, including the kitchen. It appears that the house originally had a color scheme of four shades of this green. One little tiny luggage closet on the second story still retains the original paint colors, and the four colors on the ceiling pattern are the exact four colors and pattern on the original parlor ceiling as well as the original kitchen stoop.
Joy approves.
I wish we still had stuff of that quality on TV nowadays. That woman is a genius of comedy.