Old(er) Photo

Dave contacted the auditors again today and asked them to send us the picture that they had on file. They were actually willing to do it, which greatly surpised us. We are so thankful to them. While this picture was obviously taken after the siding was put on (we think about 3 owners ago, according to one of our neighbors), we at least now know what the brickwork looked like around the porch. We can only assume the exterior of the house was similar when it was originally constructed.

I wonder if my paint removal process will work on masonry or if we should try pressure washing or sandblasting first. Believe it or not, someone actually painted the beautiful brickwork the same color as the vinyl siding on the house so it completely blends in!

We also happened to recognize the realtor's sign in the front yard. So I gave them a call today and asked them to check out any files that they might have for this address for pictures of the interior, as our search for the original floor plan layout continues. I will be sure to share if they do happen to find any.

In the meantime, work on the stairs has continued. The process has gotten easier, though. The trick was to use a lot more of the stripping gel - you almost have to paint it on so that the stairs look like you painted them orange. It only took me a couple of hours to get four more completed today. We are now at the halfway point to the landing (which I am NOT looking forward to). I can only pray that the landing comes as clean as the stairs and as easily.

Bricks, Boards, and Bats

Today was a day of research and discovery. Dave made a few calls to the city and their auditors and found out that the house was actually built in 1920 and not in the 50s as we has been originally advised. He was also informed that the assessor's photo of the house showed a red house with white trim. This piqued our interest and so we began looking around the house and garage.

First, we found a loose, hollow clay brick. We discovered that these particular bricks were manufactured in Illinois for NATCO, or the National Fireproof Co. They are a reddish color and based on the untouched bricks under the front porch, were cemented together with a white mortar. Why would someone cover up masonry with vinyl siding is something that I don't think I could ever understand!

While under the porch, Dave also found a board stamped with Dawley Lumber Co. Marion, WI. While we knew that Marion had a mill at one time, we were as of yet not aware of the lumber company. A few online searches did not result in any more information other than references to them in various hardwood and lumber books. Examination of the basement ceiling showed where some old vents had previously been placed, but since moved. We also found several pieces of wood built into the foundation that still had bark on them. All very interesting, but we continued our search for more clues - namely, board identification numbers, on the off chance that our house was a kit home.

Dave moved up to the attic for more searching and found something else - but not what we wanted or expected! Apparently we had an unexpected resident in the attic, which Dave enthusiastically removed, to the thrill of the children and my dismay!

Now, if we could just find some floor plans or blueprints from when the house was originally built!

Stairs, Stairs, Stairs

So we began to remove the paint from the sides of the stairs, as well as the varnish from the steps themselves. What a pain! I have refinished furniture in the past, and have now realized that bigger pieces are easier than these little stairs. The process we are currently using is to put on a stripping agent and letting it sit (blocking off the stairs from access to keep the kiddies safe). After a few hours, we then manually scrape all the gunk off. And I mean gunk. I don't know of any other way to describe this stuff. It's like rubberized paint and it can stretch and even gum up the scraper. For now, we are putting all this gunk into any empty ice cream bucket. Thanks to my husband's love of mint chocolate chip, I have a few to spare! Anyway, once we are all done scraping, we then scrub the surfaces with  denatured alcohol and steel wool. This removes residual rubberized paint and smooths out the surface a little. Finally, we rub it all down with more denatured alcohol on a lint-free cloth. It took me two hours to do two stairs and risers. This is going to take a lot longer than I originally planned - however, isn't that par for the course?

Here is what the stairs look like without the carpet and after being cleaned with soapy water.

You will have to forgive the poor picture quality - I am using my camera phone until we find the cord to download pictures from our digital camera. Regardless, you can still see the wonderful paint on the side and all over the steps. Apparently, the painter(s) knew the steps were going to be carpeted and so were not as careful as they could have been.

And here are what the steps look like that I was able to finish tonight.

I think that they look much better, but still need a lot of work. Once all the steps have been cleaned up, we will need to sand down everything and make a few minor repairs. Two down, 13 to go! Does anyone have any recommendations of a better, less messy process? Just wondering.

Our Black Friday Purchase

We closed on our first house yesterday, which just happened to be Black Friday. And of course, we could not wait to get started on all those "want to fix" home projects. We decided that the first area to refinish is the main stairwell between the first and second floor. This was carpeted with a heavy shag beige carpet. And of course all the trim has been painted - white!

One of the fascinating things about fixing up your own home is the odds-and-ends that you find during the process. Of course we did not expect to find anything our first night! For some reason, the stairs have an air vent on the second stair. We are not sure why as it is not connected to anything - like furnace ductwork. While looking around behind the vent, we found...a single black tennis shoe and a wig. Weird. We can't help but wonder if the other shoe might appear somewhere else.

While taking a break from the stairs, we also exchanged the upstairs hallway light with the downstairs dining room light. Here is a picture of the old dining room chandelier which now graces our hallway.

And here is the old hallway chandelier which now graces our dining room! Much better, don't you agree?

It will be interesting to see what we can get accomplished next!