Restarting an old Project

[Mick_VT]

A few years ago I started a project that soon went on hold. I gutted a room that used to be a bathroom to discover that it had been a pantry. The plan was to turn it back into a pantry, but then I had the discovery that it also used to be part of the kitchen, or at least was open to the kitchen. At that point I decided that my longer term plan for this room would be to restore the original configuration so put things on hold.

Anyway I had a couple of other discoveries along the way, including seeing "ghosts" from its previous uses. I could see details of where the pantry shelves were. When I pulled the hardwood floor ( big issues it wasn't savable). I found the C19th painted floor below, complete with outlines of where things were and the warn track of where people used to walk through. That floor too was in a bad shape so was also pulled and some joists replaced but at least I got to see what it looked like beforehand. I saved as much of the original wide hemlock floorboards and hardwood as I could. They are now in storage. I replaced them with two layers of flooring grade plywood which I will eventually cover with a mix of the salvaged and new maple.

I could also see where there had been a full sized 2.5'x5' window that had been replaced with a small Andersen double glazed unit during the bath conversion. I decided that the original needed to go back.

The project I have started is not this pantry per-se, it is the adjoining dining room. Yes, the bath was off the dining room! It still is but in a different room that used to be a bed chamber or back room (the joys of a 1 3/4 story cape). One of the discoveries was that the dining room originally had a built in, so courtesy of a lucky salvage find, I have something to replace it with. The original was likely just a cupboard with a regular door hiding a set of shelves. Many houses in town have them. But I have gone for something a little fancier, and actually a few decades newer than the house. I may live with its circa 1900 look or I may victorianize it a little, I am undecided yet. The room is a mix of furnishings etc. from 1890 through about 1930 so it would likely fit either way. Pictures to follow.

[Gothichome]

Seems that little bit of the home has had a busy history. The bath remains, a pantry to put back i, and a built in in the dinning room. Got your work cut out for you Mick.

[Don M]

Interesting what you find as you work backwards!

[homescribehistory]

I love hunting out the remnants and clues of past uses. One of our bathrooms also used to be the kitchen. If you took any pictures of the "ghosts" like the painted floor, I'd be curious to see. Good luck with the project.