More Newspapers

This one is from August 1962 and features ads for a curling iron, bras with new miracle fabric Spandex, and transistor radios.

Old Wood

We found out that the bedroom addition (which is the newest part of the house with the highest ceilings) is older than we thought. The boards have been marked with Roman numerals, as they are in the rest of the house.

Raising the Ceiling

Tom has learned to duck his head going through doorways in this house, but that is going to be a thing of the past when this renovation is over. We are raising the ceilings in the rooms upstairs by about 18 inches. You can see in these pics that the cross beams are now much higher. Look at them against the chimney in the center of the pic.

Found & Lost: Newspapers

Years ago, when I took up the carpet in the living room, I found two or three layers of linoleum (depending on which part of the room you were standing in) and underneath that lino, I found newspapers. There was a Russian-language newspaper from New York, along with English-language NYC papers, dating back to 1936. One of the pages featured a map that detailed Hitler's plans for the Anschluss (annexation of Austria). The papers were in very brittle condition and yellowed.

With this renovation, we have found newspapers from the 1970s in the kitchen with ads for a brand new VW bug. A lot of the walls have scrunched-up newspaper in them, for insulation.

And in the bathroom, they used bunched-up newspapers to insulate around the window. My builder, Lonnie, found a newspaper announcing "Kennedy elected," which would date the installation of the window back to 1960. Unfortunately the newspaper disintegrated as he was trying to straighten it out to read it.

We also found out that the bathroom had been painted in two different shades of Pepto-bismol pink. No doubt my sister, Renee (who has a beautiful pink bathroom in her house), would approve.

Video of Upstairs

More Middle Room Pics

The center wall has been removed and it makes the room look so big!

Middle Room Upstairs

This is the room that is probably going to change the most. It is going to be split into two with a laundry and bathroom on one side, and a bedroom on the other. The floors will no longer slope and the ceiling is going to be higher so Tom won't hit his head anymore. :)

Guest Bedroom

Those of you who have stayed with us will remember the cozy guest bedroom. Well, it's going to be a lot bigger now. the closet has been partially removed and the ceiling is going to be lifted and windows replaced.

Upstairs Bathroom

We are moving the bathroom upstairs from the top of the stairs and into the middle room, and expanding it from a half-bath to a full bathroom. Yay!

Living Room

We knew there was an old fireplace in there, but it was interesting to see it.

We have extended the deck to the back of the house and will be replacing the little window with sliding doors.

We are trying to keep the big old handmade bricks and might make a firepit out the back with them.

Living Room - Opening Up the Hallway to the Dining Room/Study

It's going to make the downstairs areas feel a lot more open with the walls opened up. There will be a three-foot-high wall along the staircase.

Interesting Wallpaper Discoveries

We found this wallpaper in the bedrooms upstairs.

I so won't miss the cowboy frieze.

Upstairs - Opening up the stairwell

We took the small wall out near the stairs to give the stairwell more light.

The Kitchen - Front Wall

The floor was ripped up and a new even subfloor was installed. We are moving the front door over and putting it where the window is.

The Kitchen - Opening up the Wall

We removed the stairs to the basement and opened up the wall leading from the kitchen to the lounge.

The Kitchen - Back wall

We discovered there was an additional door on the back wall of the kitchen (more my height than Tom's).