Well, now they look like this!
We need a few more pictures hung on the walls but I am getting there. All the windows in these rooms were replaced with vinyl windows. Besides the energy savings the real reason I needed to replace them was to cut down on the noise since the house sits on a main thoroughfare and the traffic is constant. I even put an old time light in the one closet that needed it.
And to make life easier on the guests, I found these practical pulls for the ceiling fans.
I preserved the writing on the walls from 1939. The one is covered by the diagonal framed picture above the sconce light. The other will be covered by the dresser mirror after I restore the dresser top which was water damaged. The original top was faux grained plywood. I can replace with a piece of Luan board and try my hand at the faux graining or I may just paint it with a fancy pattern. So now I am in clean up mode around the entire house. Most of the things left to do are minor. Such as replace the smoke and CO2 detectors, get the doorbell to work, buy linens for the beds and get a TV for downstairs.Hopefully within two months we can promote "Helen's House" as a unique Air BnB experience. A step back to a simpler time.
5 comments:
Gary, Gary, Gary, I thought you knew better than to use vinyl windows on an old house! You cannot say you "restored" it any more, because restoring means replicating the original. Interior storm windows would have been cheaper and preserved the old windows. Nice work on the walls, though.
These windows were in bad shape after 116 years. Some had cracked panes. We are not trying to restore the house. To do that would involve replicating the original porch and removing the asbestos siding which would get expensive with regards to disposing of the stuff. We bought this house to preserve our block from out of state investors who would have stripped the house of original woodwork, remuddled it and rented it to whoever? We will use it as a guest house and a short stay rental since we are so close to the University of Dayton and Wright Patt Air Force Base. Since it is just across the side alley, Eventually we may give the Crack House to my daughter and the wife and I move over to Helen's House!
It's looking nice. Wow, that green is bright! LOL
Gary - wow what a project! Good for you for being up for such a challenge. I probably would have turned away at the first sign of the rotting food in the refrigerator...yuck! I really like what you did with the roofing though - both the material and color. Ignore the naysayers - not all homes of the past were worth "restoring" - some were never that great to begin with.
Keep up the good work!
Asbestos siding? Get rid of it! Asbestos causes mesothelioma!
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