This Old House

Redoing a 69-year old house can be very interesting. It definitely reveals to you a lot of how things were done in early 1900s and gives you a glimpse of the life of the former owners. In our case, there was only one owner before us. She was the builder of the house. According to our septuagenarian neighbors, she used to live in what is now the basement, which is mostly above ground because the house is situated on a hill. She started to build the house on her own, with some help I imagine, and continued until she got remarried not long after. So she and her new husband finished building it, had three kids who grew up and moved out, and stayed until they died. She passed away in her 90s in early 2006, a few years after her husband. That put the house on the market and we bought it in the latter part of the year, all spruced up in move-in condition with a minimal number of things to do.

M and I, are doing our remodeling slowly - one room at a time, as finances permit. This month, with the help of our dearest brother-in-law, we decided to winterize the porch into a four-season one before the cold weather came. We tore the room apart and brought it down to the skeletal structure. We replaced old aluminum crank/awning windows with custom-made, low-e, energy-efficient, slide windows which offer a clearer view of the city. We tore out the wall panels to put electricity in for a baseboard heater and ripped off the carpet to put porcelain tiles in. Under the carpet, we found at least two more linoleum sheets. One had a very distinct floral design - cute, but something you won't catch me putting in my house! It was not unlike the floral wallpaper that we found in the bathroom a year ago. Nice enough, but on other people's walls. Haha! Don't get me wrong, it's nice but I'm just not the floral type.

Under the linoleum, we found the hardwood floor lined with old newspapers. The dates ranged from April to June of 1962, so we assume that was the year they built the porch and they put in new flooring at least thrice since then. It was very interesting to see what the news was of that era, and the ads, especially. One was for a whole bedroom set for $89, offering monthly installments of a little over a dollar. The other was for a top-of-the-line console television for $280, offering monthly installments of $5. It was amazing, and almost unbelievable to see prices like those in this day and age where $89 can only buy you a decent pair of shoes!

Anyway, the work continues on the porch and will continue on probably until next weekend. Through the years we plan to tackle the other rooms. I wonder what other surprises we will find behind the walls and under the floors. Money? Jewelry? I wish. :)