Historic Craftsman Home Restoration
From Scary to Stunning
Historic Home Restorations can be tricky, you want to honor the original craftmanship while adding modern amenities as well. We kept as much as the original beauty of the home that we could. Thankfully the staircase was salvageable. A lot of love and sanding brought it back to life. We are so glad it was never painted! The hardwood floors were surprisingly saved as well! The leaded glass windows needed some repair, but G works with glass too. We brought out some original hidden features in the home: the brick. In my opinion, the brick was the star of this home! G added other elements to complement the history of the house while trying to keep a new modern look.
kitchen
From chop up and dark to wide, open, and bright
Ok confession time: I am usually the leading designer for all of our fixer-upper projects. Which generally means I get to pick all things that are pretty! With the COVID 19 Pandemic going on, G did most of the shopping so I could stay home with Gabe. Furthermore, I think G just had this incredible vision in his mind and didn’t want to get my opinions involved! Can I just say He did such a fantastic job!!!
I love the way the rifted oak cabinets look with the oil rub bronze handles. It fits the craftsman style of the house perfectly. We were so glad that G decided to run the subway tile up to the ceiling, It looks so rad with the open shelves and the exposed brick. The lights help give the space a modern/industrial feel.
I can just imagine a huge table here where family and friends can come and gather. The one thing I did choose in the house was all the paint colors. I love the way the dark charcoal color looks with the industrial-craftsman kitchen. It shocked me that the original hardwood floors looked so good after G restored them! I also did not realize that G had to take some of the hardwood flooring out of the master bedroom and surgically insert them into the kitchen and living room. They sure are beautiful and full of character!
Take a look at the transfermation this space went through!
Living Room
Hand. Carved. Fireplace.
Growing up in rural Guatemala has its perks. G learned how to make furniture from scratch at a very young age. His father was a carpenter, as was most of the community. Most of the people that built furniture did everything by hand, they did not use power tools. With all of the hand-carved features, the fireplace truly fit the history of the home.
When G was building this fireplace, he decided to add some hand-carved elements. He said, “my dad used to do this to the furniture he made.” He made the dentil molding by hand as well.
We Love leaded glass!! It is one of our favorite aspects of craftsman style homes! Thankfully G knows how to work with leaded and stained glass (I know, what doesn’t he do?) because there were a few broken pieces of glass that needed repairing.
When doing a historic home restoration, sometimes you get lucky and find gold, or in other words, original brick! We decided to expose more brick in the living room to tie it together with the kitchen, plus it is just so pretty! I wanted to do something different, so we painted the ceiling a charcoal grey. We talked about adding some beams or a coffered ceiling, but we didn’t want to take away from the beauty of the fireplace.
I love how open and connected this little nook is from the rest of the main living area. We had to knock out the wall between the entryway and living room to accomplish this flow. Take a look at what the space used to look like.
Restored Stairs
One of my favorite things, when we restore historicccf homes, is working with original features. The stairs were in pretty great condition and are one of the most prominent and original features of this home.
Nothing needed to be changed here. Justs some love, and a lot of sanding. Adding the cool Edison blubs was a nice touch.
Bathrooms
Bathrooms are the grossest part of fixing up a home, in my opinion. This house has 3 bathrooms, but it used to have 7! Say What! You took out bathrooms?! Usually, when trying to improve a home, bathrooms are added not taken away!! We took out all the extra bathrooms to open up the floor plan.
Bed Rooms
My favorite thing about the bedrooms in this house is that each room upstairs has its own little nook. They are perfect for a reading space, walk-in closet, or small office. We kept things simple and clean and painted everything white. We painted the doors a dark grey to give contrast and dimension to the rooms.
Extra spaces
The Laundry room ended up being the most knock out room with the plaster and exposed brick combo. I told G that I didn’t like it at first, he should just make it clean and remove all the plaster. He knew what he was doing, and after everything was put together, I finally saw how amazing it was! (you heard me G, I said you were right 😉) upstairs there was another fun living area complete with hardwood floors and a little nook!
She’s a Fixer-upper: Exterior
Few! That was a lot of work! We’re not done yet!
There was a lot to do out side as well.
- New siding ✅
- Replace or fix damaged wood ✅
- New porch railing and floor ✅
- Paint ✅
- Acid wash brick ✅
- Power wash brick ✅
- Sand brick ✅
- New garage door ✅
- New driveway ✅
- Trim trees ✅
- Install sprinklers ✅
- Plant grass, flowers, and bushes ✅
If you haven’t already read the amazing story behind this home, click here.
Old Home renavation: Not a lost cause
We were so thrilled to see how amazing this house turned out! Sometimes it can be hard to see the potential behind something that seems like it is lost. Sometimes we think it may be better to just tear something down and call it a lost cause.
When you take a look at these pictures and see the before and after, I hope you can internalize this metaphor to yourself. At times we may feel that we are worthless and that there is nothing that can save us. Remember, there is a wise master carpenter of our souls (Jesus Christ) who can see your potential. Some may want to tear you down and say that you are not good enough, but Christ knows what you are meant to be. Know that you have worth and that your soul is great, child of God! Just like with this house, it took a community to save it. Reach out to others around you if you are feeling hopeless, you will find that there are people there waiting to fight for you and save you too!
It will take work, It won’t be easy, but in the end, it will be worth it! See yourself the way others who genuinely love you, love yourself and love those around you!
We really had a great time working on this historic craftsman home restoration! I hope you enjoyed looking at it, and that you feel inspired to tackle a project that you lost hope on! If you need help, always feel free to give us a call or send an email, I would be happy to provide you with advice or to come out to see how we can help!
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