Warning: Contents may blow

Cara and I bought our house in October of 2005. The house was originally built in 1900, and converted to a two family home at some point. In the mid-80’s the house was bought and converted back to a single family home. At this time (as far as we’ve been able to figure) most of the second floor was rebuilt, and the whole house was rewired and re-plumbed. In all, even though the house is over 100 years old, it doesn’t feel “old”. It was most everything we could ask for in a house, and more than we expected to find for our first home.

Because the house doesn’t really hold a lot of intrinsic historical value, we don’t feel guilty about making improvements as we see fit. We’ve been “living in it” for a few years, and made a few minor changes over time, but we have plans for abode…

Recent Projects

Basement Workshop

The basement in its original state.

We’ve seen worse basements, especially when we were home shopping. The basement of our house was probably originally dirt (as was typical of the time), but at some point a concrete floor was poured.

I’ve done a lot to the basement since we bought the house. A permanent wall was erected to keep the cats out (and the dust in) of the large workshop area. As part of this work, I rewired the lighting of the workshop and added a lot more light. Additionally the floor was painted to help keep moisture at bay.

I would not consider the basement “complete”, but is is much more usable than it was in 2006.

Back Deck

We have a huge three layered deck that surrounds our pool. Some portions have seen better days. Over the next few years we are planning several improvements here. In the summer of 2007, we took the first step by replacing the most traveled section of deck with a nice non-wood deck material including hidden fasteners.

We will replace the other two levels of deck with the same material in the upcoming years. Additionally, I have plans for a bar area on the pool level, an open air covering for the dining level, and a covered area to help protect us from the elements outside the back door.

With a child on the way, I have dreams to build a pirate ship near the pool… then again I could be a little crazy.

Living Room and Dining Room

Dining room with the original wallpaper.

When we moved into the house, the dining room was covered with pretty awful wallpaper (although that opinion is not shared by everyone, at least C & I agree). We were quick to strip the walls, but slow to do anything else. Finally in early 2008 we got motivated enough to get moving on our interior projects.

The dining room will receive a new built-in cabinet to mirror the existing one, a chair rail with bead board, and faux rough hewn beams. A set of columns will decorate the passageway between the dining room and living room.

The living room will have the french doors leading into the front room walled off. A tray ceiling will be constructed, and a window seat will be created in front of the windows (duh).

Front Room

I was saddened when I began to pull up the carpet in the front room to discover that we didn’t have hard wood floors hidden underneath. The front room will become our elegant library with book cases surrounding the room and a set of pocket doors available to close off the room if you want to be alone. This will probably be a winter ‘08/’09 project depending on how life treats us.

Master Bedroom Suite

The attic of our house is practically begging to be turned into living space. We have plans (at some point) to turn it into our master bedroom suite, replete with fireplace (the only thing we wished our house had), and a large bathroom.