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Post by Allyn on Oct 30, 2010 7:14:10 GMT -5
Link to Google street view of the houseHere are a few photos to give you an idea of the project.  1) Main entry area before removing walls to expose staircase.  2) After wall was removed.  3) What will be the kitchen.  4) Looking from the dining room towards the living room  5) View from the living room looking into the hallway leading to the stairs before wall was removed in hall.  6) View from living room towards the dining room  7) Master bedroom  8) Looking down the staircase before the walls were removed.  9) Looking down the staricase after the walls were removed.
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Post by wandashort on Oct 30, 2010 8:32:37 GMT -5
WOW! I love this! Please keep posting the process Allyn...this is so cool! Did you give us the history of the house in another post? I would enjoy learning more about this! thanks! w
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Post by Allyn on Oct 30, 2010 9:36:34 GMT -5
The house was originally built in 1901. Lexington is an old railroad town. It began by being called Plum Creek in the Kansas/Nebraska territory.
The Union Pacific railroad owned all the land 2 miles north and south of the railroad and sold off parcels in order to build communities along the route every 13 to 15 miles apart. The closeness of the communities was in order to serve the railroad better. Each little town had its own water tank for refilling the Steam Locomotive's boilers.
As the town of Plum Creek started to grow new settlers were given the small lots of the town to build homes and businesses. Plum Creek was established in the mid 1800's and by 1901 it had grown to about 1000 residents. The home we are restoring was built on one of those lots and other homes went up around it as the town continued to grow.
The railroad still plays a major role and Lexington is the busiest section of railroad in the world boasting an average of 120 trains a day.
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Post by MoGrace2U on Oct 30, 2010 10:18:33 GMT -5
This is so cool to see your work in progress. Are you able to live in the house now? It doesn't look like you could! Opening up the stairway was a great idea. Did you have to remove the columns in the entryway too?
I own a Spanish style house built in 1930 and had to do a lot of work to update the kitchen & baths, electric & plumbing, heating and air. But with its hardwood floors, arches, and coved ceilings & hand tooled plaster walls, I thought it was worth it. What it lacks in closet space, it makes up for with charm!
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Post by Allyn on Oct 30, 2010 10:29:41 GMT -5
Hi Robin, Sounds like you have a real charmer. My original reason for buying the house was to refurbish it and then resell it. The bank had been after me to buy it since it was foreclosed home that had been abandoned. The city was tired of it standing empty for the 5 years no one lived there. So I bought it. Now guess what? My wife and I have fallen in love with it. It is actually almost identical to the house I lived in during my grade school days in Sioux City, Iowa. I mean it is so close to how that house is layed out that I feel like I am walking into that Sioux City house. So we are going to make it our new home. Our present address is only 3 blocks from this one and we will stay put until the big house is completed on the inside. Now here is the other part to the story. For about a year I have been remodeling our present home. I figure I will get it done in time for my wife to maybe enjoy it for about 6 months.  The columns are staying and so is all the original woodwork. We are putting the house back to its original period with things like colors, bathroom fixtures, hardwood floors and so on. The hardwood floors in the house were mistreated on the first level but only carpeted over on the second. My daughter has been spending hours prepping the floors for sanding upstairs. I will put all new engineered wood on the livingroom, hall, dining. The kitchen floor is still being discussed but I think we will go with a square tile of a radish red color and very light pea green cabinets. The lighting will all be period and we plan to even install the old-fashioned push button switches. |
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Post by Once4all on Oct 30, 2010 12:15:17 GMT -5
Allyn, thanks for posting all those pictures! It's going to be great to follow the progress. What a world of difference removing the walls made. I'm hoping you keep the columns between the living room and hallway; they reflect the period architecture, yet are also used frequently in new construction today, though perhaps on a grander scale.
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Post by didymus on Oct 31, 2010 3:16:16 GMT -5
Allyn, Parts of what you haven't tore away yet suggests to me that some elderly people live there. I refer to the stairwell where there are stains on the wall indicating people were bracing themselves against the wall as they went up or down the steps. I have seen this in homes occupied by elderly people. Am I correct?  |
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Post by Allyn on Oct 31, 2010 7:28:55 GMT -5
Allyn, Parts of what you haven't tore away yet suggests to me that some elderly people live there. I refer to the stairwell where there are stains on the wall indicating people were bracing themselves against the wall as they went up or down the steps. I have seen this in homes occupied by elderly people. Am I correct? The house was lastly occupied by multi-family. There were children in the families. Other than that I don't know how elderly the ovvupants were. Good detective work though. |
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Post by didymus on Oct 31, 2010 11:25:32 GMT -5
Good detective work is nothing but good observation skills. Something I have always been good at. Although, I am slowing down. Anymore, I just notice things that are in plain site. Also, I noticed a picture on the wall you tore away. Did you keep the picture? It was hard to make out, but I believe the man had red hair. Could that have been Red Skelton? |
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Post by Allyn on Oct 31, 2010 11:56:58 GMT -5
Good detective work is nothing but good observation skills. Something I have always been good at. Although, I am slowing down. Anymore, I just notice things that are in plain site. Also, I noticed a picture on the wall you tore away. Did you keep the picture? It was hard to make out, but I believe the man had red hair. Could that have been Red Skelton? No, actually the house had many Spanish Christian banners and calanders on the walls. The one you are referring to was of a Spanish man who was some kind of entertainer. |
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Post by didymus on Oct 31, 2010 22:42:59 GMT -5
Good detective work is nothing but good observation skills. Something I have always been good at. Although, I am slowing down. Anymore, I just notice things that are in plain site. Also, I noticed a picture on the wall you tore away. Did you keep the picture? It was hard to make out, but I believe the man had red hair. Could that have been Red Skelton? No, actually the house had many Spanish Christian banners and calanders on the walls. The one you are referring to was of a Spanish man who was some kind of entertainer. Did he at least have red hair?  |
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Post by Allyn on Nov 1, 2010 6:24:24 GMT -5
I did a close up of that picture and it is of a man in a western hat holding a mic and singing.
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Post by MoGrace2U on Nov 1, 2010 11:40:30 GMT -5
The shadows on the old hallway wall look like loose wallpaper to me!
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Post by Once4all on Nov 1, 2010 12:36:29 GMT -5
I thought the shadows didy was talking about look like grime on the casing (?) and wallpaper on the left side of the stairs (when facing up the staircase). I think what you are describing, Robin, is on the left side of the stairs in the photo where you are looking down the stairs. For that, I agree with you!
It is not what I'm about to describe because it's too high up, but didy's shadows (if I have the correct area) looks like the kind of marks made by a cat or dog when they rub against a door or corner of a wall repeatedly (over time). Or people who grab the same part of a handrail time and again, eventually making it look dirty in that spot, if it doesn't get wiped down periodically.
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Post by Allyn on Nov 1, 2010 16:28:14 GMT -5
I thought the shadows didy was talking about look like grime on the casing (?) and wallpaper on the left side of the stairs (when facing up the staircase). I think what you are describing, Robin, is on the left side of the stairs in the photo where you are looking down the stairs. For that, I agree with you! It is not what I'm about to describe because it's too high up, but didy's shadows (if I have the correct area) looks like the kind of marks made by a cat or dog when they rub against a door or corner of a wall repeatedly (over time). Or people who grab the same part of a handrail time and again, eventually making it look dirty in that spot, if it doesn't get wiped down periodically. There is a lot of grime on the woodwork and wall paper. Other than that the wall paper was all still firmly stuck except where I had disturbed it. I will be putting on new drywall over the existing plaster on both ceilings and walls. Then in some areas we will put on new wall paper on maybe the hall walls. One of the aspects of this house that I like very much is the wide hallway upstairs. |
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Post by Once4all on Nov 1, 2010 22:57:32 GMT -5
Allyn, if it's not too much trouble, could you maybe edit your first post and number the photographs. That makes it easier to identify a specific photo to talk about.
If I counted correctly, there are nine photos. The one with what looks like "loose wallpaper on the left" would be #8.
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Post by MoGrace2U on Nov 1, 2010 23:48:13 GMT -5
I can see it now in #2, Geesh even with a picture my powers of observation are not all that great!
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Post by Once4all on Nov 3, 2010 2:31:53 GMT -5
I can see it now in #2, Geesh even with a picture my powers of observation are not all that great! Yup, #2 shows the grime. |
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Post by Allyn on Dec 9, 2010 8:49:19 GMT -5
Yesterday December 8th the heat was being installed in the house. The progress has been advancing but mostly it is prep work like breaking up a 1 ton boiler in the basement. We still have all the iron to resell so that should be interesting.
My daughter has been stripping the wood floors up stairs and I have built the staircase making it wider. The banister is not built yet.
I am putting in the new windows as I have the time. I may do it today because the temps will be in the 50s
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Post by Once4all on Dec 10, 2010 15:11:15 GMT -5
Anytime you want to include more pics, I'd be happy to see them.
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Post by Allyn on Dec 30, 2010 20:34:29 GMT -5
I have been making good progress on the house. The electricians have some left to do but will need to wait on me now. The heat pumps have been installed and I am now able to heat the house.
This week I started installing the drywall. The walls are pretty cut up since there are many windows and doorways so this means I have to cut each piece of drywall to size. Normally the ceilings would get drywalled first but in this case it won't matter so I will save the ceilings for last on the first floor and then move to the second floor and do the walls up there.
Its been lots of fun so far but hard work and it is sort of telling on my 58 year old bod.
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Post by Allyn on Jan 14, 2011 8:36:08 GMT -5
Yesterday I made a video of the progress in the house renovation but I will be redoing it because the audio is way off from the video and so therefore is hard to follow. I used a friends Iphone so maybe that is the reason. I will use a video camera for the second attempt.
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Post by Allyn on Jan 14, 2011 17:36:21 GMT -5
Okay, I had hoped I could do a better job on the video of the house I am renovating but since I don't have a fire-wire connection on my computer then I can't up load the second take that I tried this afternoon. So we'll just stick with the original. Keep in mind that the audio lags way behind and so when the video is done the audio is still in another room. Maybe I can do better next time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMEIOcEZ3bE |
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Post by knipwa on Jan 14, 2011 20:12:07 GMT -5
Looks like you got alot done. Lots of fun, wish I was there to help you. Work got so slow for me I canceled my contractors license and closed up shop, I'm jones'en to do some drywall, painting or some trim,anything. Looking good  |
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Post by Allyn on Jan 14, 2011 20:24:38 GMT -5
Work has really slowed down for me too. I have maybe one month of work and then will need some more. January and February are typically slow so I will plug away at the house. Pop on over and we'll do it together.
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Post by MoGrace2U on Jan 14, 2011 21:03:36 GMT -5
How interesting to hear your voice...I don't know why it surprised me, I must have had something different imagined - but nice, you know?
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Post by Once4all on Jan 14, 2011 21:23:56 GMT -5
How interesting to hear your voice...I don't know why it surprised me, I must have had something different imagined - but nice, you know? Allyn's voice was fairly close to what I imagined, except maybe a tad deeper. Thanks for the video, Allyn! |
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Post by Allyn on Jan 15, 2011 18:42:36 GMT -5
The first time I ever heard my voice played back it was not what I had been hearing as I would speak. I have gotten used to it though.
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Post by Once4all on Jan 15, 2011 23:44:20 GMT -5
The first time I ever heard my voice played back it was not what I had been hearing as I would speak. I have gotten used to it though. I think that is true with everyone. When I hear my recorded voice, I never think it sounds like me. The acoustics of our own voice being generated from within our own body and transmitted to our "hearing mechanism" through bone and tissue, in addition to the normal way of hearing via sound waves through the air, makes what we hear as our voice different from what others hear when we speak. That's my off-the-cuff science lesson, I mean speculation, for today. |
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Post by Allyn on Jan 29, 2011 9:34:30 GMT -5
I had a fun week this past week at the old house (we have named it the Bushnell since that is the street of the home I grew up in which resembles this house we are now restoring)
I built from scratch a newel post for the first stair-step going upstairs. It is about 40 inches tall and measures 7" X 7 1/2". It is designed with an offsetting background plate and routered edges. Along with specially designed mouldings to trim it out. It took me 3 days from start to finish and is now installed solidly to the stairs.
Pictures later.
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