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Restoring the pantry – the saga continues – part 4

Or maybe the pre-quel.

I know we haven’t gotten to the pantry part. I have become my mother. She used to take 20 minutes to tell a 5 minute story.

“You know I talked to Helen today. She has a niece who married that Taylor boy. His mother was such a good cook. I remember when she had us over for dinner. They had just moved into their new house. Oh, she had the most beautiful house, the drapes in the living room were just lovely….”

Anyhoo……………..

Our aim to restore the pantry (see I’m keeping on topic here), was borne of our desire to keep the kitchen as true to what would have been era-appropriate as we could and still have a livable house.

The POs we purchased the house from had left the gas oven (circa 2000) and we purchased a 2003 simple refrigerator. Both functioned perfectly fine, but neither one fit the kitchen and were severely lacking in the charm department.

Solution? One was tucked in the basement, next to the original pantry cabinetry.

Click to continue reading “Restoring the pantry – the saga continues – part 4″

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Or maybe the pre-quel.

I know we haven’t gotten to the pantry part. I have become my mother. She used to take 20 minutes to tell a 5 minute story.

“You know I talked to Helen today. She has a niece who married that Taylor boy. His mother was such a good cook. I remember when she had us over for dinner. They had just moved into their new house. Oh, she had the most beautiful house, the drapes in the living room were just lovely….”

Anyhoo……………..

Our aim to restore the pantry (see I’m keeping on topic here), was borne of our desire to keep the kitchen as true to what would have been era-appropriate as we could and still have a livable house.

The POs we purchased the house from had left the gas oven (circa 2000) and we purchased a 2003 simple refrigerator. Both functioned perfectly fine, but neither one fit the kitchen and were severely lacking in the charm department.

Solution? One was tucked in the basement, next to the original pantry cabinetry.

Click to continue reading “Restoring the pantry – the saga continues – part 4″

Restoring the pantry – Part 3

Moving on…. if you missed part 1 and part 2 of this exciting adventure, see “Kitchen Reno – part 1″ here and then here.

So we determined we would go with the unfitted kitchen.  It was more in keeping with the era of the house and kinder to our budget.  We had the basic components.  Next up?   A little research for me.  Demolition for Dennis.

Demo ManNo doubt about it, he loves this stuff.

Click to continue reading “Restoring the pantry – Part 3″

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Moving on…. if you missed part 1 and part 2 of this exciting adventure, see “Kitchen Reno – part 1″ here and then here.

So we determined we would go with the unfitted kitchen.  It was more in keeping with the era of the house and kinder to our budget.  We had the basic components.  Next up?   A little research for me.  Demolition for Dennis.

Demo ManNo doubt about it, he loves this stuff.

Click to continue reading “Restoring the pantry – Part 3″

Restoring the Pantry – part 2

When we last checked in with our intrepid renovators, the discussion was centered around restoring the butler’s pantry. We had already done quite an overhaul of the kitchen soon after we moved into the house.

The kitchen had been remodeled probably sometime in the 1950s. The family that moved in about 2000, had put new flooring down (icky, inexpensive sheet vinyl), but hadn’t tackled anything else…well, except for the paint. The paint!

Here’s the picture – a typical 1920s American Four Square. The kitchen? Really, a good size for it’s time – 13 x 12. Biggest problem? One huge window and five doors. Five doors! One to the dining room, one to the stairwell/family room, another to the basement, the door to the pantry (now bathroom) and the outside door. Kinda limits your options.

Here are a few photos of what the kitchen looked like on our second visit to the house with the realtor.

Kitchen 1

Click to continue reading “Restoring the Pantry – part 2″

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When we last checked in with our intrepid renovators, the discussion was centered around restoring the butler’s pantry. We had already done quite an overhaul of the kitchen soon after we moved into the house.

The kitchen had been remodeled probably sometime in the 1950s. The family that moved in about 2000, had put new flooring down (icky, inexpensive sheet vinyl), but hadn’t tackled anything else…well, except for the paint. The paint!

Here’s the picture – a typical 1920s American Four Square. The kitchen? Really, a good size for it’s time – 13 x 12. Biggest problem? One huge window and five doors. Five doors! One to the dining room, one to the stairwell/family room, another to the basement, the door to the pantry (now bathroom) and the outside door. Kinda limits your options.

Here are a few photos of what the kitchen looked like on our second visit to the house with the realtor.

Kitchen 1

Click to continue reading “Restoring the Pantry – part 2″

Measure 432 times, cut once….okay twice.

We spent a lot of time and looked at a lot of houses when we decided to buy a home. We never really considered building and we didn’t look at more than two or three homes that were built after 1940. One of the disappointments we had were how many older homes had been, basically, gutted of their original architecture (and charm) and ‘modernized’. Kitchens and bathrooms were to be expected, but the number of built-ins and woodwork that had been dumped was depressing.

We stumbled upon this old four-square by chance; as we approached the front porch, we saw the original porch floor and columns in tact. Then what appeared to be the original door. Too good to be true, we thought. We were expecting the home to resemble the Jetson’s interior, I swear. Not at all! The original woodwork, stained glass in the built-ins, windows…everything. Pretty close to the way it looked in 1920. Of course the kitchen and bathrooms were right out of 1950, but that was okay. We could work with that. We knew the original flooring was underneath the wall-to-wall carpet.

Click to continue reading “Measure 432 times, cut once….okay twice.”

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We spent a lot of time and looked at a lot of houses when we decided to buy a home. We never really considered building and we didn’t look at more than two or three homes that were built after 1940. One of the disappointments we had were how many older homes had been, basically, gutted of their original architecture (and charm) and ‘modernized’. Kitchens and bathrooms were to be expected, but the number of built-ins and woodwork that had been dumped was depressing.

We stumbled upon this old four-square by chance; as we approached the front porch, we saw the original porch floor and columns in tact. Then what appeared to be the original door. Too good to be true, we thought. We were expecting the home to resemble the Jetson’s interior, I swear. Not at all! The original woodwork, stained glass in the built-ins, windows…everything. Pretty close to the way it looked in 1920. Of course the kitchen and bathrooms were right out of 1950, but that was okay. We could work with that. We knew the original flooring was underneath the wall-to-wall carpet.

Click to continue reading “Measure 432 times, cut once….okay twice.”

Fun with Flooring

So a couple of weekends ago, we decided to restore our 85 year old pine flooring in the kitchen. We had taken two layers of sheet vinyl flooring (circa 1970 and 2000) up & out awhile ago. The original pine flooring was, well, worn…really worn. You could see the life that floor had before it was smothered under icky 1970 faux stone vinyl.

You could tell where people walked. You could see where they stood to do the dishes. You could see where a refrigerator had leaked and damaged the floor boards. Against a lot of advice and tsk tsks, we decided that a wood floor in a kitchen was a good idea. We had no idea what we’d find, but full speed ahead. We didn’t want a floor that looked new, a few dings and nail holes (many) were fine. Some discoloration was to be expected. We discussed the inconvenience of moving ovens, fridges, Hoosier’s, etc. into the dining room. We discussed eating frozen food and take out for a few days.

Click to continue reading “Fun with Flooring”

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So a couple of weekends ago, we decided to restore our 85 year old pine flooring in the kitchen. We had taken two layers of sheet vinyl flooring (circa 1970 and 2000) up & out awhile ago. The original pine flooring was, well, worn…really worn. You could see the life that floor had before it was smothered under icky 1970 faux stone vinyl.

You could tell where people walked. You could see where they stood to do the dishes. You could see where a refrigerator had leaked and damaged the floor boards. Against a lot of advice and tsk tsks, we decided that a wood floor in a kitchen was a good idea. We had no idea what we’d find, but full speed ahead. We didn’t want a floor that looked new, a few dings and nail holes (many) were fine. Some discoloration was to be expected. We discussed the inconvenience of moving ovens, fridges, Hoosier’s, etc. into the dining room. We discussed eating frozen food and take out for a few days.

Click to continue reading “Fun with Flooring”