Restoring and Living in a Historic Stone Farmhouse-The Story of Blythe House 1860-Part 2

Part 2: This is the story of Restoring our Historic Stone Farmhouse while living in it. Our plans and dreams for the future of Blythe House 1860.

I had no trouble seeing the potential in our Historic Stone Farmhouse and I couldn’t wait to start restoring her. From the minute I saw the listing pictures I was dreaming up all the projects that we could do to restore her back to her original condition. Yes, the house needed a ton of work to get things pretty, but on the plus side, most of the original features from 1860 were there and managed to survive all the “improvements” and “modernization” of the past century… All the original windows were there (some broken), original doors and trim, original floors, original hardware, original plaster. A dream come true.

What are we working with?

Of course, the one bathroom and the kitchen were victims of the seventies and eighties (but it’s so rare to find a house with a kitchen or bathroom that hasn’t been touched in some way or another.) but even the kitchen still retained its original wainscotting, flooring, trim, windows, and doors.

I can work with old; I have a harder time dealing with new “improvements” when they’ve compromised the character and history of the house and when they’re in good enough shape that I’d feel wasteful to rip them out. Luckily, the renovations done to the kitchen and bathroom were old and worn out enough that I had no problem gutting them, but not so old that I felt like I needed to preserve them. Win win.

There was a lot of nineties sponge painting effects throughout the house, some eighties wallpaper, wallpaper borders, and many layers of carpeting, but besides those cosmetic finishes, mostly everything was left untouched. One major change to the house that was made at some point was the addition of electricity and ductwork for a forced air furnace. To accomplish each of those things, the ceilings in both the school room and kitchen were lowered about eighteen inches. It took us a little while to notice and since we really appreciate the electricity and heat upstairs, we have no plans to undo that change (Although I may poke around to see if there’s anything hiding in the ceiling that we want to uncover). We’re grateful that the modifications were subtle and well done, and that no historic trim was removed or damaged in the process.

A Few Surprises

Some newer updates had recently been done that were a pleasant surprise. The roof had been recently redone in lifetime warrantied stamped metal (to resemble slate), the sceptic bed was brand new, and the well was a newer drilled well with an abundance of excellent fresh water. Unfortunately, when the roof was replaced, five of the original six chimneys were removed as well. I would have loved to save them, but upstairs there is evidence of some water damage, and we suspect that the old chimneys may have had something to do with that.

Another big change to the farmhouse was made in 1995 when a back porch/mud porch was removed to add a sunroom in its place. Apparently there also used to be an outer set of basement stairs in that space as well that were removed during the addition. The sunroom addition has a great cold storage basement below it and is in the perfect location and size for a mudroom. We’re not upset that it’s there and we don’t have any intentions of removing it. Although, we will be updating and changing many things in the sunroom to better suit our family and the age of the house.

One odd thing we discovered is that all the windows and one exterior door on the main level were completely and “professionally” sealed shut. We are puzzled as to why that was ever done in the first place, and we are working to get them all open again.

Plans for Restoring our Historic Stone Farmhouse

Each room has its own set of projects that we plan to accomplish over the next several decades. (Let’s be honest, it will probably take us that long.) I’ll list each room with its to do list so you can get an idea of what we’re up against… Some of these projects are finished now (they are crossed out), but not most.

Whole House

• Update plumbing
• Update electrical
• Restore windows
• Restore exterior doors
• Add appropriate screen doors.
• Restore exterior shutters Restore/refinish flooring

Kitchen

• Pull up vinyl flooring
• Sand and restore original wood flooring
• Move basement door back to its original location
• Build new basement stairs
• Remove eighties fireplace, hearth, stucco wall
• Remove eighties closet
• Replace fitted eighties cupboards with unfitted kitchen furniture/cabinets
• Replace countertops
• Replace sink
• Replace appliances
• Replace light fixtures
• Add more lighting
• Convert Laundry room back to pantry
• Build or purchase a period appropriate work table/island
• Paint and Decorate

Bathroom

• Gut seventies fixtures
• Tear out seventies vinyl flooring and rotting original flooring below
• Replace all fixtures with period appropriate ones.
• Restore woodwork
• Replace rotten flooring with period appropriate flooring
• Replace damaged plaster with period appropriate wall covering
• Replace seventies light fixture
• Fix dropped ceiling
• Paint and Decorate

Living and Dining Rooms

• Strip nineties wallpaper
• Sand and refinish floors
• New shoe molding on baseboards
• Fix plaster and paint
• Add picture rail molding
• Refinish 80’s built in china cabinet
• Fix hump in the floor
• Paint Living Room
• Paint and Decorate (Dining Room)

School Room

• Strip wallpaper border
• Build custom bookshelf built ins
• Add overhead and other lighting
• Restore Window and Door trims
• Paint and decorate

Downstairs Hallway

• Strip Wallpaper
• Repair plaster
• Strip and refinish staircase
• Strip and refinish Trim, door, and moldings
• Scrape Popcorn ceiling
• Paint and Decorate.

Sunroom

• Replace flooring
• Build closet storage
• Replace broken 1995 windows with better sized new ones
• Insulate
• Add heat/cooling
• Update lighting
• Replace ceiling treatment
• Build Laundry/Utility closet
• Add plumbing and venting for washer and dryer
• Add Laundry sink
• Replace beadboard walls in some areas
• Replace 1995 exterior door
• Paint and Decorate.

Upstairs Hallway

• Strip Wallpaper
• Repair plaster
• Refinish Doors, Trim, and Moldings
• Build a built-in bookcase in reading nook
• Build a guest bed cubby in reading nook
• Scrape popcorn ceiling
• Replace light fixture
• Paint and Decorate

Girl’s Bedroom

• Strip Wallpaper
• Cover or replace ugly ceiling tiles with beadboard
• Hang curtains
• Figure out lighting
• Pretty up the closet
• Paint and Decorate

Boy’s Bedroom

• Strip Wallpaper
• Cover or deal with ugly ceiling tiles
• Hang curtains
• Figure out lighting
• Build a Closet
• Refinish Doors and trim
• Paint and Decorate

Nursery

• Figure out Lighting
• Replace closet door
• Pretty up storage cubby door
• Hang Curtains
• Paint and Decorate

Master Bedroom

• Scrape Wallpaper
• Figure out lighting
• Cover or deal with ugly ceiling tiles
• Hang Curtains
• Beautify Closet and add storage
• Paint and Decorate

Back Servant’s Stair/Hall

• Strip and refinish stairs
• Paint floor
• Paint railings
• Add beadboard wall treatment
• Figure out lighting
• Hang curtains
• Build closet         
• Add peg rail
• *Add second bathroom
• Paint and Decorate.

Second Bathroom (in former servant space)

• Build walls/insulate
• Add plumbing
• Add electrical
• Add shower with subway tile
• Add toilet
• Add sink
• Build medicine cabinet
• Add beadboard to ceiling and walls
• Lighting
• Fan
• Paint Floors
• Hang sliding door
• Paint and Decorate

Phew! And that’s just the indoor list. I’ll save the exterior to do list for another post.

As you can see by the list, some things in almost every room have been done, but not one room (except the new bathrooms) is one hundred percent complete. That’s usually the way things go when you are renovating/restoring an old home while also living in it with your family. Especially if you’re like us and do mostly everything yourselves and don’t have a big budget to work with.

What’s Next?

We take every project one day and one dollar at a time. That means that we might live with an unfinished, or partially finished space for a while, or a year, or six years. Sometimes we’ll do one small pressing project in one room and move on to another project in a different room after, instead of finishing off the first room. In an old house like ours, sometimes it’s more about addressing what needs to be done over what we would like to have finished. Or sometimes we can do the simple, cheaper stuff fairly quickly and inexpensively, so those projects are finished first. That’s why on our to do list you’ll see that we have a lot of the boring stuff (things that NEED done) checked off, and a lot of the quick, cheaper things done (like painting and stripping wallpaper).

The photos here are from before we moved in or just after. Many rooms are not at all “finished” but are good enough for now. We’re content with the unfinished state of our home because we know that it will all eventually be finished, and we can enjoy our home the way things are now just as much. Plus, it is really beneficial to live in a space for a long while before you do any major renovations. Thanks to the eight years spent in our “good enough” kitchen, I know almost exactly how I want our final kitchen to be laid out when the time comes. If we had had the money and time up front to finish the kitchen when we first moved in, I likely wouldn’t have known how our family uses the kitchen day to day. I could have designed a beautiful kitchen that I would be frustrated with down the road. Sometimes the time we spend waiting for something we really want is a gift. I’m enjoying it.

Thank you for your interest in the story of our Blythe House, Historic Stone Farmhouse restoration. To read part one of our story click HERE. Let me know if you have any questions about our home or the plans we have for it, or if you have any restoration suggestions!

Lindi joe