When we first found a farm property in 2019, we knew our main house (where we live now) was beautiful and the perfect place to raise our family. this house, this My heart has been screaming from day one. Today you will see why, people. We finally set out to restore this house this year. I will definitely learn about its history and share it with you. And I was able to blab about it on it in five paragraphs (and will), but you just want to skip the photo and see the sweetness for yourself, so I’ll go here… ah, and if you want to play the drinking game “every time she says the word ‘attractive'”, I might suggest using water or something. That’s a lot.
If watching the video is your style… Check out the latest YouTube to see the empty “befores” as well as quick and dirty facts from history-savvy inspectors.
Main Floor – Original “Family Room”
We are still learning about the history of this house, but we especially believe that this room was first built in 1850 by someone who ran homestead. Strangely cute/attractive with a ton of wooden panels (this was in front of drywall and the panels were just done as the Pacific Northwest was said to have no walls at the time).
The original kitchen is on the left side (where the wood stove is located), and the “kitchen” on the right may have been added after the turn of the century (1930s to 1950s). Can I talk about colours and scallop trim anywhere???? In other words, it’s painfully appealing.
When I step into this room, everyone is in awe of how cute it is within. Wooden ceiling (fantastic shape), scallops (not magnificent shapes, can be replicated), paint tones. See below…
The green paint in the old “kitchen” is so beautiful, blue staircases, light blue doors – that is, I nailed these tones (and the paint is full of lead paint – and later on about it.) The atmosphere is 10/10 (I think my kids and Brian have very different opinions about the creepy factors in this house).
Once you enter, the turn of the Century Kitchen is on the right, the old wood stove is straight, the stairs on the bedroom floor are in front, the “canning room” passes through its dark doorway, and the old prop room (light blue) is on the left. I wanted to do a floor plan for you. Or maybe it’s one of the real estate videos where you use arrows to move your home.
The main room is big enough for a small kitchen, dining table and sitting area, but I’m going to wait until the next post to tell you what the plan is (and I don’t have one yet, ha ha). The blue hatch was purchased online from Sweden. Don’t get too excited. Sadly, it didn’t reach my house. The window inside that might have been an exterior window, but they added a second room (that light blue room) so they added it without taking it out. Remember that this was before the general contractor ran the home. Everyone just built it themselves. At least that’s what we’ve been told in this area.
Old prop room
This is a room with fresh paint before I made an old prop room (I actually tried to match the original colours). It rained by Sherwin-Williamsand it’s very calm). It’s great – the floor-to-ceiling beadboard is electrically careful of the original knobs and tubes in a million different ways (more on more in detail later).
There is a chimney (for a second-floor fireplace) just in front of that window. They added and added before a real knowledge of code, regulations, or how to do things.
It’s difficult to properly describe the slopes of these rooms (we were told it was a 7 inch slope from one side to one side. It’s sinking so badly!!). It’s hard to get the extreme diagonals in full, as I’m worried that Kaitlin was trying to “settle” these photos. Trust me – these rooms are crazy. It’s not a 90 degree angle. It’s like my own personal carnival fan house!!! Which way is up?
But it’s very sweet. Such a possibility. Such a fantasy.
“Canning Room”
I think this room, the “canning room,” was added in the 1940s or 1950s (now 75 years ago). Before processed food, when most people had to grow themselves (we can’t go back in time, we don’t want millions of reasons, we don’t want to get all our ballerina farms for us, but just eating what you can grow makes our lives/body more likely to become a daily battle for our kids. We canned what we grew up (Mormon), but I don’t do that, but I certainly plan it every year.
This “canning room” is for business purposes and I don’t think there’s a need to support my family. One of the cabinets served as a fridge with dry ice. I just think that it’s all rich and interesting, part of a time when it’s gone, but it’s still here. Don’t forget I’m a history (and English) major. So I really love history and anthropology and it’s a lot fun for my imagination to put this property in my backyard and portray the way people lived here.
At some point it appears that someone has added a drywall. I think the former owner used this room as a photo studio with a flat (and an extension cord from the main house).
Certainly this room is rough. But we are inspecting it to see what level of shape it is. The wall discoloration seems to be spray paint, FYI (and it’s mine and sadly not left here).
You enter the next room through that door. This is definitely the simplest.
Paint/Garden shed
This room was added even after the other rooms, but we still don’t know when. There’s no even a floor. This could have been the original gardening/potting room as the original kitchen garden was just outside that door.
That work table was left here for us 🙂 This room has a very high ceiling and all the timber panels (old growth, super clean and long – high quality ones!!!)
This room houses a million families of our fire and spider families who are dry 🙂 They live happily with other cute furry creatures. I’m going to call them bunnies…
2nd floor
Shall we head upstairs to what we think is our family bedroom? Did the whole family share the room at the time? Or was someone sleeping here? Anyway, the stairs are ridiculously sweet (and each rise is at a different height – not exactly code, but see if it needs to be rebuilt or if it can be a grandfather).
At the top of the stairs, everything is covered with thin panels, there is a small landing with a “bathroom” and a “bedroom” on the left.
This room is so great, and if you don’t need everything to keep it safe, it’s almost livable like that (I don’t think most people agree with me by my definition of “livable”). The windows inside it are very cute, all the panels (again) and certainly wooden floors that need repairs, but it’s in good shape!!!
Certainly, summer is hot because it’s cold in the winter and cold, and it remains super dry, working here, in addition to nine mud wall nests and creature poop (bunny, I swear!! ??).
No, the knob and tube wires certainly don’t work, but I love them (this is the way that electricity was invented and added lights after it was brought into a home. I believe there was gas lighting before installing these in the 1940s… Since most people in rural America 80 years ago (80 years ago) didn’t have electricity, we’re here now and we’ll do everything we can to get away from it. – Again, it’s not coming back, but what’s happened in the last 100 years is really wild.
Speaking of technology, the stove was one of two heat sources (first it was a downstairs cooking stove that sets warm air through a vent called a “gravity vent.”). This is the cutest stove ever. Let’s show it!!!
Stop it. A magic little wood stove that I have to keep, use, or just find a way to work.
The room is big, has a great light (and is clearly hot) and I beg for it to be our office. There are also two closets.
One of these closets is even more frightening than the other closets (talk you, left). If you don’t know, I’m 200% excited about this room.
“Bathroom”
Get the cutest little laundry station in the world right in front of you at the top of the stairs.
right? ? ? So, she’s not in perfect shape, but a shaving mirror, a soap dish and a window. I’m here for that.
Here we have a better view of how everything interacts. The “bedroom” on the right, the “toilet” and “shower” are located in those hallways. I use those terms lightly, you will see.
The bathroom “suite” has a toilet stall at the end, and the first one has a shower stall. You simply need to see…
The shower is covered in wood and is probably not the best material. But this was probably done in the early 1920s and early 1940s, and these people weren’t flashy, so they built it with what Oregon had a lot in their backyard, Wood. On the right side, the toilet is strangely lacking, so it’s fine… you’ll probably buy a new one anyway. These are rooms that most people think are “creepy AF” but I don’t know, I love them. It just shows a very different way of life for us.
There are so many more things to tell you to learn. I know you have a lot of questions – What are you going to do in this house? But at all good times, people. I know we are embarking on the restoration we are trying to teach. So you know a lot about recovery, remodeling, history, and perhaps the length that can push my marriage and team. We are not in a hurry as we are not planning on living in this house, so we are not hiring GCs for now.
In this house, this project is much more important than learning and communicating, sharing the entire process across all platforms, just as much as you do, certainly on budget.
I need help
I’m looking for a few people to help:
- Paranormal investigator – You read it correctly. The rumor is that the house is haunted. I’m hesitant to open that door (literally) but if you know someone on PNW, if you know who we can hire, it will help you better understand the people who helped us hire.
- Repair Coach – Someone who can talk to us about this project, which has undergone many historic restorations within budget. Most GCs know that we think that this home should definitely demonstrate, but that’s not the case. We love people who help us understand the best way to add electricity without opening all the walls, or the best way to add electricity. This might be a local (ideally), but every few months, they skip someone and give you the best advice. We know we can’t do everything ourselves (i.e. the basics), but we acknowledge that everything is completely permitted, but we want to learn how to install flooring, tiles and basic lighting. But I need a repair coach!!
I was excited to get started!
*photograph Caitlyn Green
Source: Emily Henderson – stylebyemilyhenderson.com
