My Restoration Journey and Journal
I love my house. It was built in 1917 and the style is Dutch Revival, craftsman era. It is our first and we bought it a few months ago and I have been busy painting here and there, and there is so much left to do. Luckily most of the original elements are still here. I have creaky floors so I know where everyone is all the time (my son probably thinks I have magical powers). Get a lot of rain and we have little water in the basement, no worries come warm weather I'm sealing that right up. And some of the wood shingles need to be replaced from wear and tear. Is there are maintainance to be done, of course, even if your house is new eventually you'll have to do something especially since a lot of builders are going the cheap route. Did you know they have siding that looks like brick, thats just aweful. Yes, I want plastic sheets that look like brick on my house!!! Oh lets not forget the foam filled pillars
Originally Cedar siding (which is still under there) it was had siding installed on top. Central air and heat was installed (thank goodness) and the vents are near the floor. To reduce my energy usage I close the vents when I'm not in the room, say I'm in my studio and my son is in his room playing, well that is all upstairs, so I close all the vents downstairs. Why heat or cool the whole house. In the winter any rooms not really in use at the moment, vents are closed doors are shut. I believe the screened in porch was added later, since it has the original cedar siding in it. There have been half attempts at finishing the basement in the past, but it seems no previous owner was up for the challenge. The original millwork is still up and thankfully never painted over, except upstairs. Its so weird, you go up the stairs and its all nice and wooden, go upstairs and all the baseboards and door frames are white with wooden finished doors. Funny thing is, a neighbor across the street has the same thing, I guess it was a trend back in the day. Who knows. SO....
Originally Cedar siding (which is still under there) it was had siding installed on top. Central air and heat was installed (thank goodness) and the vents are near the floor. To reduce my energy usage I close the vents when I'm not in the room, say I'm in my studio and my son is in his room playing, well that is all upstairs, so I close all the vents downstairs. Why heat or cool the whole house. In the winter any rooms not really in use at the moment, vents are closed doors are shut. I believe the screened in porch was added later, since it has the original cedar siding in it. There have been half attempts at finishing the basement in the past, but it seems no previous owner was up for the challenge. The original millwork is still up and thankfully never painted over, except upstairs. Its so weird, you go up the stairs and its all nice and wooden, go upstairs and all the baseboards and door frames are white with wooden finished doors. Funny thing is, a neighbor across the street has the same thing, I guess it was a trend back in the day. Who knows. SO....
Let's add a little color to the front!As you can see from the picture up top, the front lacked something, the plant box was aged (which would be great if the house wasn't tan, so it just disappears and does nothing for itself), that and without having been kept up with some sort of oil or wood finish it would have fallen apart. We took it down, and apart, sanded it with a power sander and applied two coats of oil based paint enamel.
The door to the porch also disappears since it is the same color as the siding as well ZZZZZZzzzzzzz, so why not paint it to match the flower box! Install a new front porch light (since the old was a spot light) and BAM! Why Brown, well the siding is tan and the trim is light yellow, 2 light colors. The wood shingles and roofing is brown, so adding that same brown downstairs unifies the top and the bottom. And since the bottom is two light colors, the brown gives it a much needed dash of color and keeps with the color scheme. |