Like a Beverly Hills Socialite, this house has had a lot of work done on it over the years to hide the age. Unfortunately, it's not subtle and this house has had a lot of obvious facelifts.
As an example, this is what the house looked like last February (2011) before the house flippers got their hands on it:
And this is what the house that I purchased looks like:
If you look at it carefully, you'll notice that the flippers removed the architectural supports to the cupola over the front door, and the spindle posts of the front railing. What you can't see easily are the covered porch and two second floor balconies that were removed.
On the inside of the house, there is a little tiny bit left of the original millwork to hint at the age. There is also some awkwardness in the layout, and lower ceilings in the basement and stairwells that hint that this is an old house.
As a person who likes the handcrafted detailing in old houses, I do think it's a shame that a lot of this was removed from my house over the years. The kitchen cabinets have a sticker on them that say they were built in the 70's, and the cabinets around the fireplace look like they were probably built when ranch-style houses were popular:
This photo was taken before the house flippers purchased the property in March. They painted the wood cabinets a modern grey color instead of refinishing the wood which actually looks okay, but is not true to the period of the house.
The bathrooms were also updated more recently:
It's obvious that previous owners of this house focused more on function than on preservation. With all that it lost, this house did gain something. All of these remodels and renovations means that almost everything in and on the house is new or updated. I don't have to worry about typical old house problems like removing old electrical wiring, or converting from oil heating to central gas heat. Plus, some of the renovations make the house a lot more practical for living than if it were true to the period. For example, the interior walls between the kitchen, dining, and living rooms have been removed and it is all now one big great room.
Going forward, I'm having some more work done on the house before I move in. One of these is to replace the single pane windows of the house with something more energy efficient and secure. Though I'm trying to be cost conscious, I decided to splurge and get better quality windows with some architectural detailing that would be a little more true to its appropriate age. What I'm learning is that replacing architecturally appropriate detailing is $$$.
I'm also replacing the floor and vanity to the main floor bathroom (pictured above). The wood floors in the bathroom are rotting around the bathtub, and the vanity countertop has a crack across the entire length. Now I have a dilemma. I'm not replacing the 70's tub or stone shower tiles because of cost constraints so I'm trying to decide what kind of flooring and vanity to install that would be true to the original (1911) house's architecture but would still match the existing tub and shower tile.
I'm mindful of something the window contractor said after examining all of my windows. He said that at least I don't have to make the painful decision of whether to replace the original beautiful and detailed (drafty and leaky) leaded glass windows. Instead I get to make the decision to re-establish the original beauty to the house.
This house has been on this earth a heckuva lot longer than me, and will probably be here long after I'm gone. As temporary steward of the place, I get to correct the bad facelifts and make the house look more natural. Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be so painful that I opt for new condo living afterwards.
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