House Intro

As promised, I am posting some pictures of our never ending house project.

This is the house we bought last April.


Its an American Foursquare built in 1909 in the University District east of Ohio State University. It originally was a symmetrical duplex and still maintains the basic layout from 1909. Currently, we live on the left hand (west) side of the building on the 1st and 2nd floor. We have great tenants on the 1st and 2nd floor of the east side. The 3rd floor space could be rented out, but is empty awaiting some paint right now. All in all it is a 3,000+ sq ft house with a full basement. Each floor consists of a little over 1000 sq ft (6 13x13 rooms - 3 on each side).

We love our house for its character... the hardwood old growth oak floors throughout which Justin (with Nicole's and his parents' help) refinished last summer... the thick moldings and woodwork, some of which haven't been painted over... the original doors and transoms... the 40 big huge windows (wood love them more if they had been restored!)... the slate roof. We also love that Justin can walk 6 blocks through Fraternity row to teach on OSU's campus and I drive a mile to get to work.

Here are some additional pictures of the outside.

Our front porch last fall... 


Backyard and alley from back door... great big huge parking slab which I constantly battle the college students to stop driving through... at least half of it is going to be grass and garden beds if we are here long enough.  


Back of House. Justin is out trying to clear the planters at the base of the patio as we speak.  


Here is a picture of the one room that we don't work in... Living Room view from Dining Room 


THE KITCHEN

When we first looked out the house, we fell in love with the wood work and the house immediately. Particularly on our side of the house, it was mostly in its original condition with a few things that would have to be restored including the biggest closet in the house in the dining room. We did not, however, fall in love with the kitchen.

The 10x13 kitchen looked like it had been "remuddled" in the early 70's with the cheapest cabinets and vinyl linoleum possible to be a true "college" kitchen. There was a grand total of 5 feet of cabinets (including the sink base) with about 4 bad jobs of paint on them, an early 90's cheap fridge that was covered with stickers (think college backpack, etc) but did not have shelves or drawers inside (think beer stacks better without), and a stove that was just marginally better than the fridge.

I told Justin I loved the house, but that I could not and would not live in the kitchen... it would have to go. Don't get me wrong, over the years I had fallen in love with many a funky period kitchen while I was in college. In fact, all of my kitchens in Salt Lake City's Avenue's district were goofy... one was barely a kitchenette... another had the bathroom sink next to the counter with orange (yes orange!) countertops... another required moving the fridge to get to some of the cabinets. BUT, now Justin and I both had advanced degrees, we were both working, and I wanted somewhere I enjoyed cooking.

So, when we took possession of the house, the first thing we did was rip up the nasty, stinky, blue carpeting upstairs. The second thing we did was take the kitchen down to the bare walls....

Kitchen corner with old plaster and wallpaper...  


Andy and Jane McAdams helping us one Friday night take up a million staples out of the floor....  


Kitchen corner where sink plumbing was. Notice that the window starts less than 32 inches above the floor (yes, that's shorter than a standard cabinet). 


One of the biggest challenges about the kitchen remodeling was where to put anything. In all fairness to the 70's remuddlers, there was basically nowhere you could put more than a 7 foot cabinet bank. There were two doorways (one from the stairwell/dining room another to the back of the house on two different walls and two gigantic windows (yeah! lots of light!) which were 32" and 20" from the ground, also on different walls. Add to that the all of the plumbing for the ENTIRE house is on the one wall without a window (as is customary now), several jogs in the walls and it was a challenge.

20 inches off the ground window... 


So I designed a kitchen I could live with.

The Floors: Bamboo that go in like hardwood. I ordered through the internet.. Justin and I installed them.

The Cabinet Dilemma: I decided that I'd put the sink and dishwasher on the plumbing wall with the fridge and stove on the other. I utilized two different cabinet heights, putting a "vanity" height cabinet under the window. I stacked right up to the ceiling 36" of cabinets with 24 inch class front cabinets on the sink wall. I put in small Kohler (in white) sink with one large tub rather than a slightly larger sink with two tiny tubs. I even got a cabinet with pullout garbage and recycling bins to fit in there. I ordered the cherry cabinets online (the Kohler sink did come through Lowes). Justin and I started the installation... Daddy came and helped me finish while also helping with the electrical and a slight move in the rough plumbing while Justin was in China.

The Countertops, Backsplash, Faucet: I wanted a granite counter, but knew I couldn't afford slab. I also considered tile, but in doing so ran across granite tile. The great thing about granite tile is that you can install it yourself. The bad thing is there aren't really any great options for the edging. I did find one though, Bordura, and ordered the granite. Daddy and I built the countertops base (thank you daddy!!!); I tiled the granite on (with Justin duck tapping to keep the heavy endpieces from sliding off... no pictures... no free hands!); I tiled the subway tile backsplash; I installed the Danze Faucet I also ordered online (not at that site... I think I got it cheaper elsewhere).

While there are still quite a few details to finish up (mostly stripping and refinishing wood, windows, etc), here are the current kitchen pictures (sorry for the mess... we do live here!) in a counterclockwise direction from the back door.

Stove and Fridge wall... we still need to replace these appliances, but can't decide on what we want. 


Microwave, cat's food corner (note, this is the 20" window corner).  


Breakfast (more often computer) table. 


Kitchen door into stairwell and dining room beyond...nearly stripped, but still needs a finish.  


Corner on sink wall still needing cabinets 


Last two cabinets waiting for filler piece 


Bank of cabinets over sink.. subway tile 


Difficult kitchen corner... notice the two levels of countertops. 



CURRENT PROJECTS

While we are constantly working on all sorts of projects, here are some of the current ones:


Ceiling patch for the closet we took out of the dining room... Justin says I've been obsessive about it... must have gotten it from my dad! 


Justin has been organizing (one of the two!) basement... we know have 4 shelves: one with our tools, one with our sporting/camping gear, one with food storage, and one with other stuff... THANK YOU Justin!