Saturday, May 31, 2008

*Knock-knock*.... Who's there?

Why, it's you! Do come in!

Here is our front door. We have two doors, one leads into the dining room on the right side of the porch. We don't use that one. I love the egg and dart trim under the window! We hope to strip these doors soon.

This is the inside of the front door taken the day we moved in. This is the only original trim left in the home.


Here are both doors. The one on the right is the dining room door. The room was half paneled when we bought the house. Blech! And there's another transom hidden above that door, which has no trim at all here.
Step into the foyer~
When we moved in there was ductwork runing all the way up this wall. That had to go! I suggested we put a separate heating/cooling unit upstairs to get rid of it, which of course worked out for the best all the way around! Take a look at the door in the photo on the left. Fancy trim is gone, replaced with plain boards. The transom window had been drywalled in. I put a hammer through there one day to be sure it was still there! We brought that back out, tho we still need glass. Another old house was being remuddled and I got all of the old trim out of it. Kevin did a beautiful job trimming out the door. Also, this particular door (which leads to the parlor), has the only fancy egg shaped door knob left in the place.

The floors have also since been refinished. Ahh, I like the photo on the right much better, don't you?


Here is our staircase. We've stripped the newel post, but have yet to really *finish* this area. The spindles need to be painted creamy white, and we need to sand and stain the railing and posts. However, we have safety gates at the top and bottom of the stairs which are rigged around the posts at this time. So, until we feel it's time for the gates to come down this project will have to wait. This first pic was taken at Christmas time. Note the trim around the doorway. Blah.

See that pretty miniature egg and dart trim? See that trim painted blue on the side of the staircase? I was told that the blue trim USED to be egg and dart as well. WHY would anyone bother to take that off?! Just kills me...

The lovely gate, and the reason for it! : ) This was about two years ago...




Here is the hallway with finished trim. Sorry *Rose* is in the photo, it's the only shot I have right now! Looking through the doorway you'll see the green dining room, and beyond that is the kitchen.

And here are a few photos from the 70's again! Note the drywall was put on directly over the plaster, so we lost the window trim there. Plus now the trim going up the wall by the stairs is flush with the walls. I would've loved to have seen that pretty wallpaper in it's prime!
The tour will continue ~ Stay tuned!


5 comments:

Mary said...

Nikki,

I am enjoying these tours of your home. Looking forward to seeing more.

Life on the Edge said...

What a wonderful thing you are doing in your house! I love to see restoration done properly and to see the beauty that was inside brought out again. I too am at a loss as to why people would remove vintage trim. Seems almost a crime! Add me in wondering what that floral wallpaper would have looked like in its heyday!

Kelli said...

What a wonderful tour and your front door is beautiful!
~Kelli

Rue said...

These are great pictures! Did you know that you can have the doors "dipped" for cheap? If you can find someone in the area to do it, it's a lot easier ;)

hugs,
rue

blessings said...

It's so gorgeous! My husband and I live in a historic home too. We were fortunate that the hardwood floors were never painted or carpeted but lots of the mouldings have been painted. I'm just living with it right now because we're working on the kitchen. Think we get about 1 room a year done and then I can't take the mess so we have to stop for a while. =) Blessings.. Polly (p.s. is that you as as Rose? It's amazing how close the likeness is!)