house painting

Here's some pictures I dug up of when the house was getting it's new coat of paint. If you'll recall, the paint scheme we went with should complement the house well -- being a historically accurate color combination for an arts & crafts home. The change is drastic, it suddenly went from a house that was easily overlooked to one that demands attention. On a side note, the house is actually already painted but I think posting in a chronological order is more entertaining. Check back soon for updated pics.

Exterior painting in progress here.

old tub refinished

I wish I had some pictures of this tub after we demoed the bathroom, but you'll have to take my word that most probably would have just tossed it. It was a rusty mess. The guy who turned it into what you see now did an amazing job. We were anticipating having to replace it with a reproduction clawfoot tub, but it's always nice when you can keep as many of the original features of an old house that you can.

This beautiful old pedestal tub feels right at home against the subway & hex tile. It almost makes you forget what the old tile looked like. It was painful making that decision, but I think we weren't left with many options. All in all, I think this bathroom is going to make a huge impression -- makes me wish I could redo my bathroom. Sigh. :)

stairway coming along

Ah progress. Gotta say the staircase in this house is giving my house envy. We took on a huge undertaking by deciding to restore key aspects of the original stained woodwork in this house, but I'm so happy we did. Kudos to our contractor who was pretty patient with our high aspirations with this house. I think it will all be worth it in the end. The color in the foyer is also from the sherwin williams arts & crafts (interior) collection. I think it looks awesome.. :)

Some more in-progress photos here.

two republics life building pt2

Remember my reminiscing about the former office building good ol' Mr. McBroom had his lawyer's office at? I could have sworn that the Two Republics Life Building was long gone. Of course going by what I thought was the office address from an old city directory here, I was pretty sure I was right. Well thankfully I was wrong. Turns out the building is still standing and in decent shape, albeit in a somewhat altered form. The facade has been screwed around with, but the elaborate cornice is still intact as is some of the decorative stone detail on the bottom half of the building.

 I finally figured it out when I came across an old downtown photo that shows the building just like it was in the postcard, but a few blocks south (aside from the obvious "Two Republics Life" sign across the side). If it wasn't for the cornice, I don't think I would have noticed. I can just see it's screaming for someone to yank off the facade additions and expose what's left of the original brick. Why can't I have a ton of money and fix up entire buildings? Ah, I can dream..

exterior paint

We finally decided on a paint scheme for the house exterior. It wasn't easy, but we decided to go with some colors from the sherwin williams arts & crafts color palette. The main body color will be roycroft suede and the major trim color will be aurora brown. Since we can't change the color of the window sash, white will be the minor trim color. Visualize if you will..

popcorn ceilings gone

It's a good day when you can say your ceilings are popcorn free. All the rooms in the house now officially meet that standard. It's a good day. Since plaster & lathe(smiths?) are hard to come by nowadays, modern day rehabilitation most likely has to settle for drywall. I'm sure it's a heck of a lot easier to put up, that's for sure. I wonder if in 20 years popcorn ceilings will be revered. I sure hope not.. Updated pics here.

refinishing wood trim

This was something we debated on for weeks, mostly because of the insane amount of work it would take. We decided to go with exposing the original dark stained finish in several key spots around the 1st floor. Check out that little pass through door in the dining room -- could this house be any cooler? :) Some in-progress pics here.