Renovating an 1840’s Home

We were not looking to purchase a home at this time let alone do a historic home renovation. But God’s timing and his plan is always perfect…So, we bought and are renovating an 1840’s historic home!

We had passed by this home many times. A Beautiful Colonial on a hill, with very old millwork around the front door.

Our 1840’s Timber Home

The wide steel siding was supposed to be white, but it had seen better days, and the trim around the windows was so weathered and old that there was no paint left on it at all.

The porches are falling apart, and the inside had not been touched in many decades. Most people probably thought we were crazy. But we saw the potential…

We got the Keys

Don and I closed on our “new” home the first week of July of 2019. I was so excited that I packed most of our belongings immediately. We got the keys about 3 weeks later. And to my surprise we moved into our historic home in October of 2022. I know you are saying my dates cannot be correct…but they are. And that is a story for another day.

The Two Trees are Gone

Even though the beautiful doorway was hidden by two big trees it always caught my attention. One of the first things we did was to cut down those two trees. My friend Deb was so sad, she works right next to the house and always called it the house on the hill with the two trees. I guess not anymore.

I definitely would have kept the trees if they had been a little farther away from our home. When you do historic home renovations, sometimes you have to remove historic trees. We have since planted so many trees, and bushes, and of course, our elegant cottage garden, that I think we made up for it.

What a difference removing the trees made. But as you can see there is much to do! The door was rusty and the seal on the oval window was leaking. The wood trim, if you could call it that, is extremely weathered. The upstairs still had the original windows with the wavy glass. And just look at that old shutter on the top. When my son saw a picture of the house he said “It looks haunted! I guess I cannot blame him.

Historic Home Renovation – New Door and Trim

See this gorgeous millwork that we started adding to the existing front door trim. You will never find this kind of trim detail on a newer home, only on a historic home. I fell in love with this historic home just because of the millwork around the front door.

This doorway is one of the many historic home renovation projects that we will be working on.

You can see how weathered all the existing trim on the house is! And the porch as you can see has a big crack. It is actually pushing into the foundation. So eventually that will be another big project. We have to remove the entire concrete porch. And then we have to decide if we are going to go with concrete again, or a wooden porch. So many projects to do when you buy a historic home.

New Door and Trim Painted

We painted the door trim a soft white, and the 15 lite door black. Very classic! Don also added more trim to the top of the door header. Just to make it more stunning. When you are doing a historic home renovation, you have to take each project one little step at a time. You never know what you may find!

We were testing out a paint color on the white siding. it is called elephant gray. But you are going to laugh, we ended up deciding on a soft white for the house and a bright white for the trim. So now…I have to repaint the new trim on the front door and repaint the new trim on the side porch. I hope I end up liking the new house and trim color. I do not want to repaint the whole house!

Detailed blogs and videos will be coming soon on all the outdoor projects.

Kitchen Before

The kitchen was probably the best room in the whole house. I loved the classic cabinetry from the 1930’s. It had a huge pantry and lots of cabinets and storage. That was the only thing great about the kitchen. The ceiling however was only about 7 feet tall. My husband said it felt like you were in a cave! And that is where our story takes a turn…a very long turn…a little over three years!

Oh, my goodness, I forgot about the hideous ceiling light fixture. The kitchen also had original windows above the sink area. In the winter they frosted up with ice so badly that you could not even see out of them. The floor was a very cheap laminate flooring. And most of the cabinet doors did not stay closed.

Kitchen Attic Area

This is where our story begins. The front part of our home is a colonial. But the middle part of our home was only a ranch with an attic above it. The ranch portion of the home has an attached carriage house.

Well, we no longer have an attic…but we do have ORIGINAL TIMBER BEAMS! You never know what you will find when you are working on a historic home renovation. Just look at those almost 200-year-old beams. You can see the hatchet and chisel marks. They are so beautiful. And now the kitchen ceiling is no longer 7′ but 14′. I guess my husband has plenty of room now.

Kitchen Renovations-In Process

Original Pine Tops

Don removed the old black laminate countertop. The original wood tops were just made out of 2 wide pine boards. And as you can see, completely covered in glue.

Historic Pine Floors

We removed the laminate flooring and exposed the original wood floors. Why would anyone cover this original pine floor? Have you uncovered original flooring while doing a historic home renovation?

Dishwasher

Don removed one of the cabinets to make room for a dishwasher. We are empty nesters and thought it would not be necessary. We decided to get one anyway. I thought at least on the holidays it would come in handy. I am so glad I did decide to get it. When you cook from scratch, you make a lot of dishes. So, it is used every day

Historic Home Renovation – Farmhouse Sink

What can I say about my beloved farmhouse sink…. She is Gorgeous! Should I name her? What should I name her? I know people name their beautiful stoves and even their sour dough starter, so why not my beautiful sink.

It was such a tough choice to decide on a sink. I was worried that a farmhouse sink would not be practical.

Only one big bowl. I was very wrong. The bowl is so big that I can have separate work areas in the sink. I can rinse and drain fruit on one side and add water to a big pot on the other side. The other advantage is that there is so much more room between the faucet and the bottom of the sink so, you do not have to worry, even your biggest stock pot will fit.

So definitely no regrets on the farmhouse sink.

Just Remember:

When you install a farmhouse sink just make sure you add extra blocking it is very heavy and needs extra support. And of course, make sure it is level.

Historic Home Renovations -Kitchen After

Since we were changing so many things in the kitchen, while my husband was at it, I asked if the cabinet to the left of the sink could be turned into 6 drawers instead. I am so thankful he did. You can never have enough drawers. My stove is to the left of the drawers, and I put all my spices in the top drawer. It is so convenient.

Can you believe that this is the same kitchen! My husband and I worked so hard on this room. We took out the drywall ceiling. We vaulted the ceiling to 14 feet and exposed the original timber beams. Don made all new shaker inset doors for the cabinets. We were lucky the cabinet boxes were solid wood and in great shape, we just painted them inside.

He also made new stiles and rails and added solid wood end panels t0 the existing sides of the cabinets. One of the great things about doing a historic home renovation, is that you lovingly preserve the old, but add your own design style on the new.

He also made all new flat inset drawer fronts, and 3/4′ thick drawer boxes, and added full extension heavy duty guides. And of course, cup pulls for the drawers, and old-fashioned latches and hinges for the doors.

Hint: You might need magnets inside of your cabinetry if you choose to go with the old-fashioned latches.

How do you think it turned out? Even though we live in a historic home now, we still wanted the kitchen to be period appropriate, to a certain degree. (Not 1840’s of course) I think it looks like a 1930’s kitchen. I think that was probably around the time frame that the kitchen was last updated.

Historic Home Renovation -Prior Kitchen Layout

We had to completely tear out and build the bottom base cabinets near the dishwasher and pantry area. But on the other side of the kitchen there were no cabinets at all. The fridge was just in a corner plugged in.

We will be going into more details in the future for the kitchen renovation on our blog and you tube channel.

Laundry Area

We designed and built a cabinet that holds a stackable washer and dryer, and to the left of the washer/dryer cabinet, Don built another tall cabinet that holds several laundry baskets and detergent. The refrigerator has cabinetry above and a side panel on the left side. The empty space on the right side of the kitchen has now turned into a beautiful and functional space.

The kitchen beams were the first ones to be exposed. How exciting that was to see almost 200-year-old timber beams. It is hard to imagine all of the blood sweat and tears that went into creating all of these timber beams! So proud to have such a treasure in my timber home. All of the ceiling renovations were definitely a labor of love! But, worth every second or should I say worth a year!

Yard Sale Find: I am in love with this vintage laundry basket, it has just the right patina! About $3.00, just added some faux Queen Anne’s Lace, and Hydrangeas and topped it off with a blue velvet ribbon with frayed edges.

You would never guess that my stackable washer and dryer are behind these doors! We added radiator venting on the top of the cabinet to help give the dryer extra air flow. If you have a historic home, you know you probably do not want to do laundry in THAT basement if possible. Does anyone else have any handy way of hiding their washer and dryer?

Historic Home Renovation – Bathroom Before

The first thing you see is the beige shower when you walk in the door, and I thought, well that is attractive. At least it was not the toilet. The shower had been leaking and was missing the handles. The vanity did not look too bad, but the bottoms of the cabinets were rotting and moldy due to yet another bathroom leak.

I somehow did not get a before picture of the bathroom vanity area around the corner, even the realtor pictures did not have a photo of the bathroom at all. Wonder Why! As you can see, we already started removing the drywall ceiling. As is the case in most historic homes we found a few live wires under the insulation the ceiling area that were hot. The panel box in the basement was new, but upon further investigation we found that only some of the electrical had been updated, and the rest was still knob and tube. Sometimes when you are doing historic home renovations you just have to gut it all and start from scratch! Such was the case with this bathroom.

Time for New Electrical

We knew we were going to install all new plumbing, and heating, but now we had to add all new electrical to the list. We went through a lot of wire! It is hard to believe how much wire you need to rewire an entire home. Especially when you have to take the long way, and route around timber beams! Renovating is so much fun!

Bathroom Tear Out

I think the toilet was the best feature in the bathroom. The shower quickly got ripped out, and so did the vanity and dated countertop with the leaky faucet. We ended up burning the vanity cabinet it was so water damaged. That is what you do in the country. Does anyone else get to burn their trash? Bonus you save money on trash collection.

The bathtub has been repurposed (for now) as a lean-to for our wheel barrel. Kind of handy, you just roll it under, so it does not get rained on. Doesn’t everyone have a fiberglass bathtub in their backyard? Let me know. I hope we are not the only ones! I think we gave the bathroom countertop away. Even the toilet was given to a local church in need.

Old Vanity Location

It is sort of fun peeling back the layers when you are renovating a room. It was so much fun seeing several layers of wallpaper from different eras. The bathroom had been drywalled at some point on all 4 walls, so the wallpaper was not as old as in other parts of the house.

I was hoping to locate a ‘before’ picture of the bathroom vanity area before we removed the original vanity. But we had a large dumpster, and there it went! Wherever there was plumbing, there were inevitably leaking pipes.

Original Bathroom Wood Walls

Just look at this wallpaper! It definitely looks hand painted. We found this treasure while doing our historic home renovation when we removed the drywall in the bathroom. This wall was original. They wallpapered right over the groves in the wood. Originally, I had other plans for the walls in this room. But when I saw this original wood wall, I knew I had to try and save it.

I spent hours scraping most of the old wallpaper off trying to expose the wood underneath. My plan was to keep the original wall. But sadly, the wood was so dry and splintered and cracked that it was not salvageable. Well on to the next option. We bought similar boards and ran them vertically just like the original ones. Trying to honor the style and history of our home.

Historic Home Renovation -Toilet Floor Area

And yes, you guessed it more rotted and water damaged wood! For my renovation lovers how many of you have removed original flooring just to find rotting wood?

The bathroom was definitely a big project.

Historic Home Renovation – Bathroom Floor

You never know what you will uncover during renovations.

Can you believe this? The first layer was the original wooden floor. This is the second layer had painted. Gorgeous! This bathroom was probably very stunning in its day. I can’t imagine how much time these craftsmen put into every hand painted detail.

Unique feature of our 1840’s home is the thickness of our original pine flooring. It was about 2″thick so there was no need for subfloor.

New One-Piece Acrylic Shower

Our beautiful one-piece acrylic shower unit is finally going where it belongs. It was parked in the kitchen and several other rooms for quite a long time. After a while you just kind of got used to seeing it there.

The tub was now going to be to the right, around the corner, in the bathroom where the old vanity used to be. Don had to go about 6″ into the dining room to get the depth of the shower to fit in the bathroom, so that it would not be lining up in the window trim. We have French doors in the dining room, so it was a piece of cake to get this shower unit into the house. We now have 36″ door openings for all or our new exterior doors. But without the French doors there would not have been a possibility of getting a one-piece shower unit, shaped like ours, into the house.

Vaulted 14-foot Bathroom Ceiling Area

There was so much time and labor and money to get us to this point, ceiling installations. We were so lucky that our attic already had blown-in insulation. But if we were going to vault the ceilings that could not stay.

So funny story, we had to get the blown in-insulation sucked out. We had to run new electrical in the ceiling. Then we added o.s.b. to the ceiling area and painted it black, then we cut circular holes in the o.s.b. boards. Then the insulation company had to come back and blow the insulation back in again. Funny but true.

I pre-painted all the pine boards for the ceiling, and then we installed them. The skinnier beams on the bathroom vaulted ceiling area came from the dining room ceiling when we renovated that room.

We hung a huge chandelier! Why not… and covered it with a garbage bag while we worked in that area.

You can see the original bathroom walls that I tried desperately to remove the wallpaper from.

We placed a tarp around the shower unit to protect it during the construction.

Transom-Framing

I was not sure how all the original beams (we had several wood species) and the new pine beams would look once they were all stained. But I could not be happier. They look dark, and rich, and old!

Things are progressing…this is a view from the dining room. We had to shift the shower out of the way. Don framed out the area for the new bathroom door, the transom area and also the back of the shower. He also had to work on the electrical, and plumbing.

I have always loved the look of transoms in a historic home or schoolhouse. In case you do not know what a transom is, it is simple. It is a window that opens above a door. We happened to have 3 windows from about the 1930’s. Don and I renovated an attic area into a bathroom for a lovely young couple. We replaced their old windows with new ones. And naturally they gave us the old windows.

I know these windows are not your typical rectangular windows that are usually used for transoms, but they were big and free!

I painted the pine boards in the bathroom a beautiful soft white color that we just loved and had used on our pine trim in a prior home. It was the perfect shade.

The one good thing about doing the painting first is you don’t have to worry about getting paint on the new floor. It is sad, I am such a sloppy painter. I have paint all over my clothes, my hair, my hands and my shoes! My husband never seems to get a drop on himself. Are any of you sloppy painters like me? Do you get paint on everything but the walls?

Historic Home Renovations – Finished Transoms

The transoms turned out so LOVELY! We already had so many projects to do but, I am so happy that we added this to our HUGE list. They are a functioning transom, so they do open into the dining room side. I want to get some type of fancy hook/pole that will open them up without getting on a ladder. What would a historic home renovation be without transoms? How many of you have original transoms in your historic home? Have any of you added transoms during your historic home renovations?

I fell in love with this chandelier but thought it might be “just” a bit over the top for a bathroom. And then my common sense kicked in and I decided it was perfect. Well almost… polished chrome was the only choice for the finish.

If you look closely at one of the chandelier arms near the flowers on the linen cabinet, you will see gold…

I need your Feedback for the Chandelier

That is a little “rub-buff”, I am trying to talk my husband into letting me change the finish to gold. I think it just pops against the white background. I have a lot of white in the space and I think the gold will really warm it up.

If we were not redoing an entire home while living in another one., (Double the bills) I would have definitely been scouring Facebook Market place for my antique lighting. I adore Facebook Marketplace and my initial intent was to look up antique light fixtures for our historic timber home. I also thought we would be moving in right away, silly me! Who knew it would be about 3 1/2 years before that day finally came.

What do you guys think about rub-n-buff for the chandelier? For reference I purchased a huge painting at the Restore for about $20.00 Just for the frame! It has a beautiful gold frame with so much detail on it. One day soon…we will install the frame on a vintage mirror (good will find $5.00) hanging in the bathroom now. I purchased a french cleat for the mirror installation. The mirror is very heavy and that is a great way to keep it from somehow falling off your wall and onto your new Carera Marble countertop.

Ceramic Floor Planks Install

We are finally getting to the good stuff. So exciting. The floor. When I originally picked out our flooring for the bathroom it was about $3.00 a lineal foot. It was several months before we were able to proceed with this part of the project. When I went back to purchase the flooring it had been put on clearance and was being liquidated. The new price was .99 cents a lineal foot.

Ceramic Tile Floor Planks

I was so thankful that there was still enough in stock. It was so inexpensive that we purchased enough for the two basement landings. (another future project).

Pine planks that were 2″ thick and face nailed was the original flooring material used throughout the house in every room. In our last home we installed a pine floor in the bathroom. Even though it had a clear coat on it, we were constantly wiping the floor dry. I decided at this house that I did not want to worry if the grandkids, or anyone else left a little water behind on the floor.

Historic Home Renovations – Bathroom Floor-After

This turned out better than I thought it would. It was a hard decision. My choices were a mosaic black and white patterned ceramic tile, or the ceramic wood planking. I was wanting to have a bit pizazz in the bathroom.

I am always torn between simple and elegant. Sometimes we struggle with design choices! I think you can have BOTH…that is why I tend to gravitate to the Elegant Cottage Design Style. You get a little bit of “STUNNING” but in an Elegant and Timeless way. So, I ended up going with my original choice for flooring and went “Elegant” on the chandelier.

We are fortunate to have so many construction tools that we own. My husband and I had a family run (that means our kids helped in the business from an early age) remodeling business that specialized in kitchen and bathroom remodeling, and everything in between, from about 1992 till about 2015.

Before that he worked for a custom furniture/cabinet shop in Georgia, as you can see, he has been at this for many, many, years!

Fun Fact About Don: When he was hired as an employee at the Cabinet Shop in Georgia, He had only taken carpentry classes in High School. So, his first position was a broom pusher, constantly sweeping up the sawdust. You have to start somewhere! He worked his way up the ladder to carpenter, and then to Lead Carpenter.

Contact us if you need help

Please reach out to us if you have any questions about any of the projects you are currently working on, we would be glad to help. Sometimes it is just the little things THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW that can change the outcome of an entire project.

Re-painting New Wood Walls

My beautiful soft white paint had a yellow undertone to it in our new home.

As you can see below, we removed a small heater off the wall to paint behind it. You can definitely see that the paint behind the heater area was pulling ALOT of yellow. It was also clashing with the stain color on the beams.

The ceramic floor and the vanity have already been installed, and I am unhappy with the paint color. What do I do now?

I figured if I was going to do this, now was the best time.

We covered the new ceramic wood plank floor with tarps. My husband needed to unhook the plumbing, and with the help of our friend Jim they carry the vanity (with the heavy Carrara marble top installed and glued down) back into the dining room again.

Repainting Wood Walls

Isn’t it terrible to have to repaint something you just painted. Have you ever done a project that did not turn out as expected and the whole job had to be done again? The lighting at the new house, was definitely different than at our old home. Lighting really does play a role in how your paint looks, and of course even at different times of the day.

Hint:

• get sample paints (don’t be cheap like us!)
• purchase several colors
• see how they look on your walls at different times of the day
• if this is a previous paint you have used, double check and see if the formula is still the same

Sometimes you have to re-do something, and that is o.k. It is just extra time, and a bit more paint. You do not want to go through all that work just to walk in the room and feel disappointed. Now we have to talk about re-painting the vanity, can you believe it! But I will save that story for another day. Now, on to the linen cabinet.

Building the Linen Cabinet

I really wanted to have as much storage in the bathroom as possible. We used up every inch of space we had.

We had about 18″ left till you reached the bathroom door trim.

The plumbing for the shower is in between the shower and the linen cabinet. That area is about 6″.

Don built this custom designed (by me-yes, I let me husband know my design ideas and he custom builds them to my specifications) linen cabinet. The linen cabinet is about 12″ deep.

It is really not that complicated.to build cabinets. But experience and tools definitely help. But you have to start somewhere. Sometimes historic home renovation projects can be overwhelming. Even though we have experience and know how, at times we just get Tired and Cranky!

Working long hours on never-ending projects can wear you out. We are trying to learn to just take a “breather”, sit outside for just a few minutes, enjoy the Cottage Gardens, and the fresh air. Feel the breeze (usually a big breeze, we are still working on a “wind break” for our property. Try to relax say a prayer and know things will be o.k.!

Fun Fact: I first heard of a “wind break”, from the Little House on the Prairie books while homeschooling my 2 youngest children,

Beautiful Linen Cabinet

My good friend De shared a quote with me many years ago, when I felt overwhelmed, that I will never forget. “How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a Time”! This quote comes to my mind quite often. Just the visual idea always puts a smile on my face. But this is so true. Some days you will be amazed at what you have accomplished and other days you will wonder ” what happened” and where did the time go?

Sometimes you have to keep things in perspective. As long as you are making progress that is really all that matters.

Now back to my beautiful Linen Cabinet. During our historic home renovation, the whole bathroom was gutted. It was nice to start from scratch and design the bathroom exactly how we wanted. Your bathroom gets so much use, you want it to be practical and functional. But of course, with an elegant twist!

And just like that we are done, well almost. Just a reminder of the before:

Historic Home Renovation – Bathroom After

We still need to install our new crystal doorknob that comes with a skeleton key. We are empty nesters, so just us two. But still a doorknob would be nice. Our granddaughter Haley was coming for a visit at Christmas time. So, we installed a temporary doorknob that we already had on hand.

The new one is kind of time consuming to install, so it just got moved to the bottom of the list. We also need to add the beautiful frame I purchased for the vintage mirror, and I think that room will be complete For Now…

My to do list for the bathroom:

• gallery wall…this one is so fun…find more artwork for the walls!

Is that weird to want to do a gallery wall in your bathroom? Have any of you done that?

If I did not have those beautiful wooden walls, I would definitely be wallpapering in my bathroom. But I will find a spot somewhere in out timber home. Maybe the stair area? Living Room? Bedroom? The possibilities are endless.!

I have spent so much time wallpapering (in my day, about 34 years ago I wallpapered my entire home) and so much time removing wallpaper, but I am feeling the call to wallpaper again, anyone else?

Dining Room Before

What can I say about this room. One of the previous owners had installed plumbing for a washer in the corner of the dining room by the window.

I guess that would be handy, you could eat dinner and wash your clothes at the same time.

The plumbing for the washer was installed through the oak floor and the drain for the washer ran into the basement, and then it ran back out the basement window. The water proceeded to drain into the window well and right back into the basement.

The French doors had been leaking for quite some time. So, there was a lot of water damage on the oak floor. The windows look good but were not installed properly.

It is always cold and drafty on the west side of our house. We had a big blizzard in 2022. The high winds and snow were so bad that it was actually blowing snow under the baseboard and into the bathroom, dining room, master bedroom, and even my office /closet upstairs which are all located on the west side of the property. Crazy Right!

Bonus: They left a green card table that has come in quite handy as a worktable, and it folds nicely out of the way.

Historic Home Renovations – Dining Room

The original plaster had been removed from the dining room walls and ceilings and had been replaced with drywall at some point. This is the driveway side of our home, which was also very drafty. Don removed the drywall to find there was no insulation.

Once he removed the drywall, he ran the new electrical for the exterior porch outlets and the new porch lights. Then he added outlets under the windows for electric window candles that I light up in the fall and winter months.

I highly suggest adding electrical outlets to your porch when you are remodeling. It is great for future decorating; you always have to keep that in mind. Because we know that is the most important thing. The decorating!

Don installed a new door and two new windows. Our friends Jim and Debbie helped remove the oak floor that was in this room and exposed the original pine flooring.

The drywall lift came in very handy. We used it to lift the o.s.b in between the original smaller beams on the dining ceiling. (These smaller beams will eventually be removed and used for support under our larger beams in the living room and master bedroom. There were still several small beams left so these found their way to the vaulted bathroom ceiling. area. It worked out perfectly.

Dining Room- Electrical

We worked at the new house every day and night that he was lucky enough to get off. As you can see in some of our photos it was very dark outside. Don had bought new lights to hang in the basement, so we used some of them temporarily as task lighting in each room.

We also purchased two cordless rechargeable lights that were extremely useful when working in the vaulted ceiling areas. We made sure to keep them charged, well most of the time.

There were very few outlets in each room. Which is usually the case with a historic home. Don has added several outlets and lights to each room. It was much easier in the ranch portion of the house, but in the colonial portion we had to work around the original plaster walls, and of course those beautiful timber beams.

Dining Room Electrical -New Support Beam

We love wide open doorways, so we removed the wall that separated the dining room and the kitchen and added a new solid pine support beam.

We went through so many large spools of 12-2 electrical wire. It took a lot of wire to go around timber beams on the floors, walls, and ceilings. And of course, we had to drill through some of the beams to run the wire.

In the above photo you can see that we have the o.s.b. boards installed on the vaulted ceiling area, and the recessed lighting has been installed.

The o.s.b. served as a temporary floor for us to walk on while we worked on the vaulted areas. You can see the boards were supported by the skinny timber beams that were on the dining room ceiling. These are the beams that get stained and relocated to the vaulted ceiling in the bathroom.

Historic Home Restoration -Installing Solid Timber Beams

Now if something is going to be scary, it is this. But you will never guess that installing these solid timber beams was one of the easiest projects we did. Our friend Eric helped with the three beams in the dining room. They were up in only a few hours!

We laid wooden sawhorses (my husband’s creation) on their sides and laid the beams on top of the sawhorses. We used the cherry picker to raise the beams as high as they would go, and then the drywall lift to get the beams to the appropriate height. Don also made wooden scaffolding and used cement blocks as support.

Dining Room Beams/Wood Ceiling

I can’t believe how dirty the beams were. After I removed all the drywall nails from the bottom of the beams, I had to scrape them with a wire brush, vacuum, and then stain them. It went so much faster than I thought it would. Just lots of stain and staining sponges.

It’s still surprising to see how the various wood species of beams absorbed the stain. The stain color looks consistent on all of them, probably because we went with such a dark stain. The color is Jacobean by Minwax.

It is hard to tell the new beams from the existing timber beams. Of course, the ax and chisel marks give the old ones away.

Staining System

Don clamped a board onto the drywall lift, and I used it as a table (in the air) to hold my stain and staining pads and rags. I basically kept scooting the ladder and rolling the drywall lift to different areas in the dining room.

His system worked great, but I kept having nightmares that I would knock the stain over and it would splatter over the entire room. I was also worried that I would fall off the big orange ladder. Thankfully everything went ok, no spills or major injuries!

Funny Story: In our old house I tripped on our deck carrying an open quart of stain, and the can of stain flew in the air and ended up all over my head and face. I closed my eyes as fast as I could and called for my husband. I am so thankful that my husband was home at the time!

He wiped off my face with a rag and had to hold my hand and lead me into the bathroom (still had my eyes closed) so I could get a shower. (My Poor Shower) I am sure he brought me some sort of mechanics hand cleaner to get some of it off of my face and out of my hair. And of course he asked, “What Happened”! “How did you do that”!

So, I had good reason to be a little worried. I am kind of clumsy.

Dining Room-Transom Area

We worked on the ceiling area in the kitchen, bathroom, and dining room for a whole year! There were so many stages of renovation:

• get insulation removed (sucked out)
• electrical work
• install o.s.b.
• cut holes in the o.s.b. for insulation
• get insulation blown back in
• paint o.s.b. black (so you can see a little definition between the ship lap on the ceiling)
• pre-paint the ship lap boards
• install the ship lap boards
• fill the nail holes with white putty

The one great thing about not living in your home when you are renovating it is …the whole home becomes a workshop. Your tools and miter saw stay set up. You can keep your supplies right at hand and you don’t have to put tools away every night when you are finished.

(Downfall) lots and lots of sawdust, and construction equipment, and for us BEAMS that were definitely in the way! As you can see the newly stained beams are already covered in sawdust. To clean them we use a tall ladder and a shop vacuum.

There are always things left to do…

We still have several little things to take care of in each room. Example: the 12-2 electrical wire on the beam for the chandelier will be hidden in a wooden channel that we will stain, and no one will be the wiser. The chandelier will be mounted under the beam and centered above the antique 1930’s dining room table and chairs that my husband Don and I spent many hours refinishing.

Facebook Marketplace Find: antique 1930’s dining room table and chairs

The upper portion of chimney was in the attic, so it needed washed down, and then I lightly chalk painted it. I used more a dry brushing technique.

Funny story: I bought about $300 worth of wire closet shelving and misc. closet parts that I was going to install in my dressing room/office. The closer we got to being done with many of the rooms in the home, I realized that I really did not want that open concept closet look for my dressing room/closet.

What was I thinking? Of course, that does not go with the era of my beautiful timber home. You are probably wondering why I am talking about my dressing room/office when we are obviously showing the dining room renovations. Well, this is why…

So, the closet materials went back to the store…and I exchanged them for thin brick to re-brick the chimney.

Dining Room Pine Floors

We wish we could have saved all the antique pine floors, but that was not possible. So, we did the next best thing. We made our own Pine Flooring for the whole house. (Except for my dressing room/closet upstairs-we were able to salvage that room by sanding and staining the original floor) We ran the new pine boards through the table saw upright so that we would have circular saw blade marks, and distressed and stained it. Then added clear coat.

You definitely need to have patience when you are working on a project this big. I can’t even begin to tell you how many weeks it took just the make the floors. We were lucky a close friend was able to help us with some of the pine floor staining. He also helped with electrical., painting, and beams. Thank you, Eric!

Unique feature of our 1840’s home is the thickness of our original pine flooring:

The original pine wood floor was about 2″ thick so there was no need for subfloor in our entire home.

Tip: use a router on all the sides of your pine boards to ease and soften the sharp edges if you choose to make your own flooring

Beautiful Jotul Stove

We love this stove. It provides heat for most of the 1,700 square feet of our home, making it our primary source of heat. We also have a beautiful built-in fireplace in our living room for our secondary heat source.

In the right corner, you will see all the boxes of bricks for the base of the chimney that we still need to install. Does anyone else buy things “super early”?

Historic Home Renovations – Dining Room Projects

Don and I have been working on several projects in the dining room.

The 1930’s antique dining room table and chairs were finally refinished. (Boy, that was a labor of love)!

The china cabinet bottom on the other side of the dining room has finally been re-painted. The bottom of the blue china cabinet was “trash picked “, and the top of the china cabinet was a “free” Facebook Market Place find. Nice!

It is now mid-June, and I have been wanting to re-arrange some of my decor in every room for months. I know where I am wanting things to go, but right now the outside/outdoor projects have to take precedence.

Here is a heads up for you:

One of the things on my “to do list” is to put an antique mirror above the beam mantel. Nothing is more beautiful than a mirror above a fireplace! How many of you have mirrors above your mantels? Second choice is artwork. Which do you prefer?

Historic Home Renovation – Living Room

Well, here is the main room of our home, what can I say about it. You know the indoor/outdoor carpet went into the dumpster right away. It is funny to think that indoor/outdoor carpet is in a historic home renovation!

The walls and ceilings had been wallpapered and then painted over. The seal on the front door window was leaking, and the door was rusting.

My friend Deb researched our home and said it was considered gothic revival, because of the corbels under the roof outside, and the interior trim on the top of the windows.

I actually hated the trim on top of the windows. Prior homeowners had tried to mimic the window trim above the windows in the ranch portion of our home. Needless to say, it did not look good!

I definitely would have kept the trees if they had been a little farther away from our home. We have since planted so many trees, and bushes, and of course, our elegant cottage garden, that I think we made up for it.

Historic Home Renovation – Living Room

Now something that I am in love with was the millwork on the sides and front of the door. So thick and gorgeous!

I had never lived in the country before, so my dilemma was trying to not cover my beautiful view. But of course, we need a door.

Funny Story:

I was unsure what type of door style to go with. We had a solid door for our bedroom, another for our kitchen area leading to the basement/garage with glass on the top only, and a completely glass door as well. The doors had not been installed yet…

So, my husband put each door in the opening while I stood outside and tried to make a decision! Originally, I really wanted an old antique wood door, but you know the men…”My husband said, “You know that’s not very energy-efficient!”

Because solid wood doors with glass are quite expensive, and you’d barely see the wood, we decided it didn’t make sense to get one. Instead, we went for a steel-15 light glass door.

Historic Home Renovation – New Door &Trim

The wood trim around the door was already elegant looking, but why not take it up a notch. More trim magically appears if your husband is a carpenter, or just loves wood! Don added more trim on the top, and several more pieces of trim that go in and out to give the door trim even more dimension and show off every little detail of our antique timber home doorway!

It must have been fall outside when this picture was taken, as you can tell from the mums on the porch. Even though we hadn’t moved in yet, I couldn’t resist adding flowers to the front and side porches, hanging wreaths on the doors, and placing seasonal decorations on the side porch. It may seem silly, but I was so eager to move in. So many creative ideas flowing but they would have to wait.

It was definitely stressful having all of your decor, and most of your things packed at the home where you are currently living but can’t decorate the home you have yet to move in to.

Tell me I am not the only one who has packed pretty much everything in their home and did not relocate to the new home until 3 1/2 years later. Anyone? I would love to hear your story. I feel so alone…There has to be other crazy people out there besides just us.

Historic Home Renovations -Timber Beams

If you are doing a historic home renovation, why not add MORE BEAMS!

I cannot tell you how many times we climbed over, laid things on top, and complained about these beams being right in the middle of the living room. We also had a similar stack in the dining room, we even had one beam outside on sawhorses, and under a tarp!

Once these gorgeous southern pine structural beams were installed and out of the way renovations were easier and our moods definitely improved! I would say that after seeing the finished product that I would do it all over again. What a challenge, even for us. What an experience! So, is there anyone out there who wants to try installing solid timer beams?

Fireplace Insert

I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to finally have heat in our home. There was an old electric furnace in the basement that had a central air unit attached, but neither one worked. That’s o.k. We bought our home “as is” and assumed from their appearance that they did not work anyway.

That was actually good news, because for one electric heat is very expensive, and two that meant I could have a beautiful fireplace!

What would a historic home renovation be like without a fireplace and mantel.

Now we just need to find an antique mantel.

Removing Gothic Trim-Re Plastering Walls-Original Windows

During our historic home renovations, we removed the gothic trim around the living room and master bedroom windows. Luckily, we were able to keep five out of the six somewhat “newish” windows in the living room and master bedroom. That was a good thing since there are 22 windows in our timber home. That means we ONLY had to replace 17 windows, 5 exterior doors, and a set of French doors. I say “only” jokingly of course!

Saving my beautiful original plaster walls…My friend Debbie and I spent many hours in the four rooms in the colonial part of our timber home removing decades of vintage wallpaper. It was very interesting seeing how wallpaper styles have changed over the years.

I wondered how many women, from days gone by, had l lovingly installed all the old wallpaper, roll by roll. How excited they must have been as each new sheet brought life and color to their vintage home. I am thrilled that wallpaper is making such a big come back again!

After the wallpaper had been removed then it was Don’s turn. He had to repair and re-plaster the walls. I think he pretty much repaired and re-plastered every wall in the living room, master bedroom, dressing room/closet, and the grandkids room. Lots of plaster repair and lots of sanding…then finally, time to paint the walls.

Historic Home Renovations -Living Room Renovations

Don, our friend Eric, and I ran so many spools of 12-2 electrical wire. When you are doing a historic home renovation you have to get creative. We had so many more options on the ranch side of the timber home since we removed the walls. On the colonial front half of our home the previous owners had left the original plaster (SO THANKFUL FOR THAT) so running electrical in those areas was a bit tricky!

We have timber beams that run all along the baseboard areas, the ceiling areas, and in the walls. Thick 8″ X 8″ solid timber beams. So, we ran most of the wiring through the ceiling area and along the sides of the timber beams. Then we had to add blocking everywhere. Each piece of ship lap on the ceiling had to be carefully ran one by one making sure to avoid any electrical wire.

The walls are finally painted and now let’s get that pre-painted ceiling installed.

Living Room Ceiling -Fireplace

The support beams are in. I am still so surprised how easily that part of the renovation went. The beams are functional as well as decorative. The electrical has been installed for the ceiling fan. Of course, my preference is to have chandeliers anywhere and everywhere. But a fan it was to be.

We decided that this was the perfect wall for our television. I had a vision to add a built-in fireplace, flanked by two floor- to- ceiling bookcases on either side, and the television was to be installed above the antique fireplace mantel.

You will notice as this renovation progresses that you will not see the beam on the wall behind the fireplace. That particular support beam is now hidden behind the wood wall.

Historic Home Renovation – Custom Window Trim

Don and I came up with a plan for our custom window trim. The cove trim below the top of the window header has been discontinued for years. Our local hardware store in town had the cove trim we wanted. Granted it was very dusty and had a lot of patina, which was actually perfect. Just enough pieces in stock to finish all of our windows.

Bonus: with the old “cheap” price tags still attached!

Some yellow wood glue, some nails, and lots of custom cuts, and here you have it, custom window headers. Don built each header one at a time. I pre-painted them. Then he installed them.

Custom Window Trim Installed-Walls Painted

As you can see again, it is dark outside. We worked so many long hours on our timber home. But it has all been worth it. Sometimes it feels so hard when you are in the middle of such a huge undertaking. You are exhausted, and probably a little cranky!

But, as in all seasons of life, this too shall pass. The renovations will not last forever. Try to take a breadth and enjoy the process.

We went with a flat paint. It is true flat paint can hide a multitude of sins! When the walls are viewed from the side with a bright light, you can certainly see that the walls are wavy, however, under normal lighting the walls appear quite smooth. Not bad for almost 200-year-old walls! I love my beautiful white plaster walls!

I could not find a trim color that I liked, they all seemed to lean a bit on the yellow side. So, I, decided to use the same flat paint we applied on the walls but in a satin finish for all the interior trim.

Antique Fireplace Mantel

You have to check for items for your historic home renovations in unusual places…What would we all do without Facebook Marketplace? I found this beauty about 2 hours away for $125.oo. Of course, my husband could make this mantel, but…it would not be an antique, and if we purchased this mantel, it would be one less thing for him to do. So off we went to Amish country to buy an antique mantel.

For some reason the white paint they had used on the mantel made the mantel appear ” sort of plastic looking, as you can see in the photo above, it was very shiny. We used a cabinet grade white paint on it and now it looks like a million bucks! I also lightly distressed the mantel and the wooden applique. Now the details on the fireplace stand out a bit more.

Custom Fireplace Area

Time to start CREATING!

Don built the area behind the mantel for the fireplace insert. I also had him design a little drop-down area for the sound bar and add an electrical plug on the top of the mantel for Christmas garland.

The blue foam placed above the mantel served as a mock-up for the television size we were considering, providing us with a visual reference. We purchased The Frame television by Samsung. The wonderful thing about The Frame television, is that it comes with a one-connect box.

Basically, a single slender wire connects the television to the One Connect box. All other devices, including the DVD player and the Wi-Fi, are plugged into this One Connect box.

Most people install the wire behind the wall if possible. If you look at the picture below you see the beam running vertically down the wall that is where we were ran our thin television wire.

Historic Home Renovations – Custom Mantel Area

We are done with most of the mantel area at this point, except for the television install. Since our television is 65″, we decided to have Best Buy install it for us. The wall mount for The Frame television is basically a flush mount. That basically means that it will not stick out far from the wall.

At this point we were still routing and staining our distressed pine floor. We screwed down the original pine floors so that they would not squeak. Don installed o.s.b.

In a historic home you know the floors are always going to be unlevel. He used several bags of self-leveler and did the best he could.

Frame Television-And Wi-fi

The television is finally HERE! We had our television installed before we moved in and had the wi-fi hooked up. Now that is a long, long, story. In the country you do not have many wi-fi-choices for internet. Just Satellite…

We already had 2 other hideous satellites on our roof when we bought it.

Wi-Fi Installation

The technician installed the third hideous satellite dish on the roof, routed the cable through the carriage house ceiling, across the basement ceiling, down to the back of the basement, then all the way to the front, and finally up through the floor near the fireplace area and into the cabinet where we installed our modem and router. Easy-peasy!

NOW we have 3 very hideous satellites on our roof. But we finally had wi-fi, or did we?

The wi-fi connection was…So Bad!

We could not even watch a You-Tube video. No matter what we tried to watch we would get “the spinning wheel of death”, which is usually referred to as buffering.

We suffered through a whole year of that. Then a miracle happened! The wi-fi company we used to have in town was running cable down our street. We were so EXCITED, to say the least. But in order to hook up the new cable service:

Wi-Fi Installation Again

My husband had to remove the fireplace (the convenient area where all of the outlets and cables are routed)!

Now the cable installer ran the cable from the pole to the house. Don had to drill a hole near a basement window, and the cable guy ran the cable from the window in the basement to the floor just below the fireplace. Don drilled another hole for the cable to go up into the fireplace area, and back into the cabinet with the modem and router.

Who would have thought that it would have been that hard to get working wi-fi? Any of my country folks know what I am talking about?

And just like that, we had wi-fi that actually worked,

Christmas in the New House-Kind Of

Look at that Artwork! If I can’t have a mirror above my mantel then artwork it is. This artwork is from my Samsung Art Gallery subscription.

My husband said she was ugly…but I think she is Beautiful!

All decorated for Christmas. We even went to Goodwill and bought a $25 Christmas tree and put it in the corner of the living room. We just added lights to it, no bulbs. But I HAD to decorate this mantel, how could I not?

We sat in outdoor lawn chairs to relax, and stare at my beautiful fireplace before going back to our other home where we were still living.

In the past we usually hid our box televisions in an armoire or something of that nature. If you ladies love to decorate you know exactly what I am talking about. Sort of like the recliner argument we always have with our men. Who wants that ugly eyesore? The television and the recliner, not the man!

What are some of the creative ways you have used to conceal a television if you own one?

Historic Home Renovations – Living Room Pine Floors

Our floors are finally done. You would not believe how many stacks of pine flooring we had in our garage, and in several rooms of the house. You cannot do a historic home renovation without adding pine flooring.

We actually have several boards left over from the grandkids floor that are behind my sofa in the living room right now.! I just do my best to hide the construction materials, if possible.

We installed the master bedroom flooring first, and then the living room, and dining room, the kitchen was last. It is so nice not to have thresholds. Everything is all one level. Well sort of, we did the best we could with this old house and a lot of self-leveling.

This is another one of the art pieces from my Samsung Art Gallery. Ballerinas, you can’t go wrong. You can add a mat, or you can choose not to have a mat on your art.

It is right in the menu of your television, so very easy to access, even if you are not tech savvy. I only paid for the art subscription for one year. Not that I did not love it, but I am cheap!

I have since figured out how to download art for my Frame TV off of Etsy. It was a little challenging, but I eventually figured it out.

Mantel Area Complete-Almost

The doors are finally made and installed. Shaker doors, with crystal knobs. We used metal radiator sheets and sprayed them black for the door panels. As you probably know electronics need to have air flow. Problem solved, and it looks great too.

I bought several pieces of decorative frame trim from Home Depot a couple of years ago. They have been stained, and then I used a product called “Rub n Buff”, which is amazing. I Highly recommend.

Rub n Buff is more like a wax paste, that comes in metallic colors, such as antique gold, european gold, etc. I wish I had known of this product years ago.

The frame pieces for the television are actually behind my couch as well as the grandkids extra flooring. Kind of convenient, I guess, we use one of the frame pieces to put across the couch so that our dog will not go on it when we leave him home alone. (I am highly allergic to “my husband’s dog”!

That will be the crowning touch on this lovely television, when the frame gets put together and installed…. hopefully before this Christmas?

This photo was taken in the fall of 2022, so around 3 1/2 since we purchased our beloved timber home. We moved in on October 10th. This was our first Thanksgiving in our new home. We are finally all moved IN!

F.Y.I. The artwork on the television was purchased off of Etsy.

Cottage Curtains

We have 22 windows in our timber home! That definitely requires a lot of curtains, and usually a big budget. I knew I wanted them to be white, of course. I also knew I wanted them to “puddle” on the floor. What is a girl to do?

Go buy “twin flat sheets”, yes, I said to go and buy twin flat sheets! They solve every problem!

White, so they go with everything. Long, so now I have my puddling effect, and they are also inexpensive.

I do not even have to sew them. I can just leave them as is, or fold over the top for a “valance look”. Spend your money on some beautiful curtain rods, and rings, and no one will be the wiser.

You can’t have a historic home renovation without cottage curtains.

If you would like to hear more about Cottage Curtains, here are several ideas.

Fun Fact: I purchased this char for $1.00 on the last day of an estate sale. The black antique table was only $10.00 at a local antique shop. I chalk painted it black. I think the table really stands out against the white curtains, and white walls!

Master Bedroom Before

Just look at that stunning millwork on the bottom of the windows. This must have been a “sitting room”, back in the day. This was by far my favorite room in the house. My friend Debbie and I spent many hours removing the wallpaper as is the case in most historic home renovations.

We just applied plain water on the walls with a sprayer. (the kind you use for weeds outside). We also tried using Downy fabric softener and sponges. It seemed like just the plain water in the weed sprayer and a wallpaper scorer worked best.

For those of you who do not know what a wallpaper scorer is, it is round and plastic, and fits in your hand. The underneath of the scorer has several metal rollers with points on them, kind of like a meat tenderizer.

You score the wall first, and then apply the water. The water goes into the holes that you scored and helps loosen the wallpaper. Then you use a 6″ drywall knife to get behind the loosened wallpaper and scrape.

It worked pretty well, although some pieces were stubborn, and you had to go over them several times. There were about 7 layers of wallpaper on the walls in each room. You figure our timber home is almost 200 years old! Thats a lot of wallpaper.

Historic Home Renovation – Master Bedroom Electrical

If you look on the ceiling, you can see the hole to an old pot belly stove. We have several of these in our home. There is one in the dining room, the master bedroom, the dressing room/closet upstairs, and the grandkids room upstairs. It is like stepping back in time.

Don is adding the blocking around all the 12-2 electrical wire that he was running in the ceiling.

I have stained the beams. And Don has been re-plastering the walls. We had several large stress cracks in this room, those are being taped and plastered over. I

Master Bedroom Beams

We installed support beams, since this ceiling was also coming down. He also removed the ugly, I mean gothic trim around the tops of these windows as well.

Funny Story:

I ran out of our good staining sponges for this room, and the master bedroom was the last room that needed the beams to be stained. As you can see, I got stain all over the walls next to the beams, and also puddles of stain on the old floor and my work shoes.

It was awful, I had stain running down my arms, literally, especially when I was staining the beams on the ceiling.

Helpful tip: If you run out of the good staining sponges just, go to the store…it is not worth it!

Master Bedroom Progress

The ceiling and walls are all done. It looks so different from the first day we saw this room. It was so dreary and dark with that “old” and very dirty wallpaper.

The paint on the walls and the pine boards on the ceiling cover up all the stain I got everywhere. Now no one will ever know?

Historic Home Renovation – Master Bedroom Door

Don installed beautiful custom trim above the windows that went all the way to the ceiling in the master bedroom during our historic home renovations. Why Not!

Look at all the ins and outs of the millwork. Don is so talented! He mimicked the same custom trim design on the door and made an old -fashioned door jamb.

Master Bedroom Window Area

Even though my husband completely changed the trim on the sides and tops of the windows. We did NOT touch the bottoms. They already were perfection! He sanded them down, caulked them, and that is all that they needed, besides a fresh coat of paint.

I really wanted the look of old-fashioned roller blinds. I even ordered window shade ring pulls from amazon and spent about $26.oo on this blind to test it out. Don installed it on the west side of the bedroom to help filter out the light. Of course, if you have old fashioned blinds, you need window shade ring pulls. Right?

For some reason this blind will not roll up all of the way! I have adjusted it many times. I am “old”, so I know how these work. Has anyone else used these roller shades, and had any luck? If so, please let me know what brand you used, I would love to add them to the other 2 windows in the bedroom. It looks kind of silly with just one blind and three windows.

Master Bedroom After

I couldn’t be happier with the way my beautiful cottage bedroom turned out.

Funny Story:

This chandelier came from a job site where my husband was working. The electrician lost the bottom finial and plate to it, and a few of the small metal rings that went near the top of the candles.

So, the homeowner asked my husband if he would like to have the one with the missing pieces. Of course, he accepted! And the electrician had to purchase the homeowner a new chandelier.

Price Tag: Free (Retails for $300.00 in the country magazine)

We used a silver round electrical plate on the bottom of the chandelier. (It still has the holes in it for the screws, I need to fill that someday!) The bottom wooden finial came off of a big decorative outside umbrella that had holes in it. But I just loved the look of the worn wooden finial, and kept it, never knowing what I was going to be doing with it. I can’t believe how well the chandelier turned out, no one can tell that it was missing several pieces.

I love the look of a chandelier in the master bedroom, well to be honest, I love the look of a chandelier in every room! You can’t do a historic home renovation without a chandelier, that is a must have.

The big piece of artwork above my bed, is one of my favorite finds. About $5.oo. My nightstands were a Facebook Marketplace find. There is a wonderful Lost and Found story that goes along with it. I will be sharing that when I do a complete blog and master bedroom tour. So, stay tuned so you can hear the rest of the story.

Grandkids Room

In this room as well as the other rooms in the colonial part of our home, we had painted wallpaper, and bonus a border along the top. The border was actually covering a thin piece of wood, and that thin piece of wood was actually covering, you guessed it, more timber beams. I wonder how many of you have found timber beams during a historic home renovation?

The ceiling looks like it had a roof leak at one time. The wood floors were very dry and splintered in some areas.

It was so funny to see that they must have had an area rug at one time, and just painted around. it. Why waste paint, I guess.

We have wonderful tall baseboard in this room, and the windows…wavy old glass!

Historic Home Renovation – Wallpaper Removal-Again

Since this is the grandkids room, why not get the grandkids to help!

Abbey and Maddie worked so HARD!

Dressing Room-Office

Two rooms into one:

What do you do with two tiny rooms. Well, you knock down the wall and make it one large room. Which is what I did. The wall was not original to the home, and you could tell, it ran right into the middle of the window trim.

Sometimes homeowners do strange things when they are trying to do a modern renovation, rather than a historic home renovation.

The wall was just made out of 2 x 4’s and sheets of painted paneling nailed to the studs. So, it was not too difficult for me to remove the paneling and just throw the studs out of the upstairs window. Don carried the big sheets of paneling downstairs and into the dumpster.

Dressing Room- In Process

I think you are getting the gist of things by now. More wallpaper removal, wall repair, and painting. Expose the original timber support beams by the ceiling.

The electrical wiring in ceiling needed to be shifted, now that we had turned two rooms into one room, to accommodate my beautiful black dressing room chandelier.

We have this charming little built in book area, and also an area near the closet door opening where they had originally hung hooks. The three rooms upstairs, now became the two rooms upstairs. Just like the grandkids room this room had the “ole wavy” glass as well.

We were lucky to be able to repair and patch both ceilings upstairs and the one in the upstairs hallway.

Historic Home Renovation – Original Pine Floor

I really wanted to refinish all of the original flooring in our home, but that was not to be. At times you have to compromise on what you want to renovate during your historic home renovations.

The floor in my Dressing Room was the only one that we were able to salvage. Don just had to sand, stain, and clear coat it. I laugh when I say “just”, it still is a lot of work!

Dressing Room-Office After

I hope you enjoyed reading about our journey! Now you can tackle your own historic home renovations too…

If you’re up for a challenge and interested in our renovation journey you can learn how we installed our stunning southern pine structural timber beams in our home from the 1840s!

If you enjoy seeing historic home renovations, then you will love my friend Sarah, from the Blog and You Tube Channel “She Holds Dearly” follow her as she renovates her 1906 charming old farmhouse. She is so sweet and kind I know you will fall in love with her and her home!

I hope you and your family have a blessed day!

Catherine Glowinski

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