One Year Ago Today

One year ago today we moved into the old victorian. We bought the house April 16, 2007.

The first year was full of surprises and lots of hard work--our old house sat vaccant for 35 years, we didn't have water, and required new electrical service. During the first year we removed all the wallpaper, and repaired and replastered all the ceilings and walls downstairs. Jon insulated the exterior walls and attic. I'm glad most of the dirty work is behind us.

March 2008 to present. We scraped and painted the exterior of the house from the safety of a bucket truck. During the fall of 2008 we added a wood burning furnace and repaired walls in one of the bedrooms upstairs, and started working on upstairs bathroom.

My great grandmother Edna Irene Snow Harriman

Above is Edna Irene Snow's grandfather Sylvester Snow--he was born in 1791. Doesn't he look like someone from a Charles Dicken's novel?

My great grandparents Edna Irene Snow and James Howard Harriman

A beautiful photo of Edna Irene Snow Harriman and husband James Howard Harriman on their wedding day 1898. My great grandparents.

My 2nd great grandparents Martha Melinda Sperry Snow and her husband Gilbert Snow-1890

Martha and Gilbert's children, Celia, Edna, and William Snow. Edna Irene Snow (middle) is my great grandmother. Edna wrote daily diaries from 1902 until just before her death in 1959. We are working on a project to transcribe her diaries.

My 2nd great grandmother Martha Melinda Sperry Snow

Martha Melinda Sperry, age 11, born 1846 in Trumbull Ohio.

My 3rd Great Grandparents Sally Chaffee and Moses Sperry, July 4, 1857

My 3rd great grandmother, Sally Chaffee Sperry, born 1815

Front Porch Doors

This is the front door view taken from inside the foyer.



Above is the side porch door to enter the red dining room. This door also has birds etched into the glass.

Above is the front door (exterior view from the porch). A large bird is etched into the glass. We call them cranes. I don't know if you'd call it a crane, a herron, or a stork. What's your guess?

Getting Ready for Company

I cleaned the house this weekend. Well, as much cleaning as one can do when the dust is still flying upstairs from plaster and making beadboard paneling cuts for the new bathroom.

The red beetles (a.k.a. lady bugs) are driving me nuts. They're everywhere. I was cleaning and I felt something on my neck. It was a dang beetle.

Getting ready for company on Tuesday evening. Here are some pictures of the dining room, with chairs pulled away from the dining room table for the demonstration of food and utensils.

Tick-Tock, we got a Kitchen Clock

Ansonia, 1890 8-day kitchen clock.

New Print for the Dining Room Mantle

Our Office

This is our office downstairs. We use the computer every day for several hours. We check the weather, read the news, checkout craig's list, and read old house web forum posts. I do genealogy research and write to new found cousins, and share old old photographs.

When I retire (less than 2 years) I have a ton of work to do. I'm going to create a wonderful yard and flower gardens and during the winter I'm going to transcribe my great grandmother's personal diaries. She started her diaries in 1902, and continued on through the 1950s. I'm looking forward to spending time with my parents and make more recordings talking about their lives.

We got up Saturday morning at 4:30a. Jon let the dogs out and I made coffee "chocolate velvet", and it always smells so amazing. Jon left shortly after to go look at a service body for his work truck, and I rolled out the bolt of drapery fabric and finished the second pair of drapes for our office. Same material I used to make cushions for the spindle couch.

The Bathroom Build Continues

Here we go. Another weekend working on the bathroom. Jon carried the pedestal sink upstairs and to amuze me he set it up so I could see what it would look like. I like it lots.

I put a second coat of black satin on the 6 drawer high boy and Jon drilled the new holes for the crystal drawer pulls I found at a neat shop called Embellishments. Next weekend I'll have an opportunity to start hand painting the high boy.

A place in the bathroom for the handpainted dresser

This is the spot where the handpainted dresser will sit on the right. I've been looking at light fixtures, but haven't settled on anything yet. I mentioned to Jon I'd like to have two sconces instead of one bank of lights above. He kind of a winced when I told him I wanted to change the lighting.

Watching the bathroom come to life

New bathroom upstairs - March 2009

Here are more photos of the beadboard install in the new bathroom upstairs.

We have a couple options to finish off the beadboard. I like the idea of capping it with a larger board at the top, then running a narrow shelf (rail) around the perimeter.

Installing Bathroom Beadboard - Mar 09

Jon worked on the bathroom this afternoon to install the new beadboard. Right away things are looking good.

Bathing Beauties - Artwork for the new bathroom

I found a great photograph of bathing beauties. What year???? Can you tell me?

The other artwwork for the bathroom is a print called, "The Waldorf 1930".

Bathroom furniture - handkerchief dresser

STORAGE for the new bathroom

The 1940s dresser my mother Lorraine and I found at a farm sale Sep 08. It was painted John Deere green. Mom repaired the chipped veneer with wood filler, sanded, then primed the dresser. I painted two coats of black satin furniture enamel, then handpainted gold flurishes with thinned acrylic craft paint.

I painted a six drawer high boy to match. When I found the 1980s high boy it was painted yellow. I painted it black satin and will handpaint same gold flurishes as the handkerchief dresser. Cystral knobs will finish the high boy.

Wallpaper for the new bathroom upstairs

Here is the wallpaper for the new upstairs bathroom. Below the wallpaper will be 4' high tonge and groove pine wainscoting (painted). On top of the wainscoting is a molding, then a 4" shelf (railing) to display artwork.

March 2009 - Front (North Side)

March 9, 2009 A beautiful day. The sun was shining here in Wisconsin. After work this evening my husband took several photos of the exterior of the house. Here is one of them.

Spent last summer on top of the bucket truck scraping the house--started scraping May 2008 and scraped until Nov 1, 2008. Looking forward to finishing the exterior painting this summer, and installing new porch railings.