The bungalow project

[eclecticcottage]

Whew. Got my first gas bill today. I have to say, NYSEG has been the best for customer service of any utility I've ever dealt with. I emailed them just to see when it was mailed, and not only did they respond with when (yesterday), but they also sent me a copy of it by email! I've been a bit nervous to say the least about it. The thermostat failed and was causing some short cycling (since replaced along with the filter, and now the furnace is running nicely), I had open walls with no insulation for a while during demo, and we had a couple single digit days (PRE insulation)-and the old windows were pretty rough. I've never had a house over 1,000 sq ft, much less almost 1,800 sq ft so I was fearful. It's only $135. The budget plan we had set up at The Old House (880ish sq ft) was $150 a month!! (we heat the Cottage with wood and we're on LP out there anyway so I had no comparison from there) I can breathe for a little bit-at least until the contractor peels off the roof, lol. He put it off til tomorrow or next week because Snow Miser paid a visit this am. Safety first-it's not a crazy pitch, but there's no reason to have guys up there with it snowing.

[Kashka-Kat]

Uhh, no, EC. Craftsman style did NOT include white painted woodwork. That was a later trend. Obviously people can and do paint their woodwork white, and impose modern color schemes, but Craftsman was not originally done that way. Craftsman style = natural materials & finishes - eg shellacked oak or pine, earthy nature colors for walls (browns, greens, golds, russet reds, dark navy, smoky grays, ivory, etc). Usually rich color - not the wimpy diluted pastels/whites or the grayed out neutrals that are fashionable now.

For the benefit of other readers I guess. I know your train has already left the station -bon voyage!

[eclecticcottage]

Craftsman may not have, but this place did. There is zero evidence of any shellac, stain or other finish-except paint. And it goes back to very vintage colors, like an olive type green. The house is a Bungalow style with some light craftsman influence in trim detail and doors, but that's it. There is no evidence of any built ins typical of craftsman homes. It had the kitchen built ins, but that is it. The fireplace isn't centered on the wall and there was only one window, not two. I think this is a Vernacular Bungalow, not a Craftsman Bungalow. I can double check my theory with my neighbor since she's lived next door since just about when the house was built and has been inside many, many times dating back to the 30's and 40's, but even the trim behind the built ins was painted. Given the missing detail work I would say aside from the veneer, this was a more budget minded build (but still a super awesome house).

Per arts and crafts homes regarding Bungalows "Painted softwood was also becoming popular, especially for bedroom, with white enamel common before 1910 and stronger color gaining popularity during the ’20s."

I do know the white wouldn't likely be original, but I do think paint was. I will stick with the white (but hopefully a more "warm" vs blinding snow) with the wimpy neutrals (blue/gray, warm gray, sagey green, warm cream) for resale. It's paint and someone can change it if they would like.

[JRC]

Craftsman may not have, but this place did. There is zero evidence of any shellac, stain or other finish-except paint. And it goes back to very vintage colors, like an olive type green. The house is a Bungalow style with some light craftsman influence in trim detail and doors, but that's it. There is no evidence of any built ins typical of craftsman homes. It had the kitchen built ins, but that is it. The fireplace isn't centered on the wall and there was only one window, not two. I think this is a Vernacular Bungalow, not a Craftsman Bungalow. I can double check my theory with my neighbor since she's lived next door since just about when the house was built and has been inside many, many times dating back to the 30's and 40's, but even the trim behind the built ins was painted. Given the missing detail work I would say aside from the veneer, this was a more budget minded build (but still a super awesome house).

Per arts and crafts homes regarding Bungalows "Painted softwood was also becoming popular, especially for bedroom, with white enamel common before 1910 and stronger color gaining popularity during the ’20s."

I do know the white wouldn't likely be original, but I do think paint was. I will stick with the white (but hopefully a more "warm" vs blinding snow) with the wimpy neutrals (blue/gray, warm gray, sagey green, warm cream) for resale. It's paint and someone can change it if they would like.

Since this was brought up again, I'll mention that the original kitchen cabinets in my mom's 1924 kitchen were unpainted pine. Amazingly, the only room with painted woodwork in her house was the bathroom. (and that's the only room that saw any real updates since the house was built, so it's hard to say if the wood in there was originally painted) While it technically would be considered a craftsman foursquare, (exposed rafter tails, relatively fat and tapered box columns on the porch, and a very typical craftsman style front door) it was definitely on the low end of the scale for quality, at the time. It had no fireplace, or built-ins, outside of the kitchen cabinets. All woodwork in the house was pine. It didn't even have a sub-floor, just 3/4" t/g pine directly on the joists.

I don't exactly know what part of the country you're in, and I know that the presence of original painted woodwork varies from region to region, in addition to different time periods. But, if your house were in NE Ohio, I'd be very surprised if the woodwork was originally painted.

Now, having said all that, I don't think it should make a difference. Stripping the woodwork isn't cost/time-effective for what you want to do with the house. But, if you have a heat gun, (and if you haven't tried already) try hitting one of your spare cabinet doors, (or the fireplace mantel) to see what you get. A little strategic stripping could add some extra flair to the interior.

[JRC]

Doing a little catching up: I wouldn't use the extra doors in an otherwise blank wall. It's hard to fully get a feel for the room, so I don't know if you can do anything like this, or not, but I don't think I'd use the doors up above at all. If I were going to use them, I'd want to have the doors at the bottom, and open shelves above. Maybe you could use the shorter doors on the front of the window seat you're going to build? (well, after a second look, maybe not. If the shorter doors were the lower cabinet doors, they'd still be too tall to fit under a seat, even if they were cut down a little)

[eclecticcottage]

I am not entirely sure what the "norm" was here regarding painted trim, but it seems this was from everything I can find. If it wasn't painted originally it was straight pine, which seems like an odd contrast to the dark doors. And it was painted pretty early on in it's life, since some trim I've "uncovered" has been hidden since at least the 50's. I still don't know how they painted the trim behind the built in sides, unless those weren't original to the house and were added after the trim was painted several years later. Of course, "norm" or not, someone built this place and maybe they personally liked painted trim, whether it was the "in" thing or not (imagine someone 100 years from now debating whether home built in 2010 should have had granite counters because it was the in thing for the style of that year ) I don't know about in the 20's but at least now paint grade trim & paint is less expensive then stain grade & stain/coating. I did do a little heat gun testing (ok, so really, I heated it with the heat gun while removing that dang dining room floor and scraped a little of the 1/4" round/shoe molding) and it just showed layers of paint with light wood below. This seems to have been a more of a working class class house-some detail but not a lot. I imagine they sprung for the brick veneer but then scaled back on other things. I still think it's neat that the sheathing behind the veneer is dutch lap turned inwards-it even appears to be painted a blue/gray color so it is probably reclaimed.

Of course, if the FO would like, they can scrape and finish the trim. I actually kind of like it as it is, painted. I do love nice unpainted pine, but it doesn't really go with this house.

While I do like the true craftsman style homes, I kind of like this place without the fuss and detail. It's real and unpretenious, like jeans and flannels vs a suit and tie.

I agree on the doors. The reasoning originally was access to the space above the fridge. I am a small house person by nature, so that wasted space just can't happen. There's a huge dry basement plus two attic spaces, but...that's STORAGE lol. I think I am going to just drywall it all, and frame in that space with access to it from inside the closet. I can't not use it, but just doors hanging out up there seems like they were just stuck there and I don't really want to build all the shelving either, especially without knowing the purpose of the room for the FO.

Yea, I can't fit anything below the window seat. It's going to be kind of low, because the window is. But I've pretended to sit in there and it's a neat spot. My nieces would LOVE it. I have a window seat at the Cottage in the front "mudroom" and the youngest (6yo) is always sitting on it. Well, and Cat loves it, it's covered in her fur lol. A little landscaping from the FO and it will be one of the best spots in the house IMO.

The Old House had the same kind of flooring as your mom's house-just T&G nailed directly to the joists (I guess I should say does, since I know the owners and it still does lol). It was definately a low budget build. The Cottage has T&G pine directly on the sleepers in the original part of the house (on a slab)-and of course that was a low budget build as well, being a summer cottage.

[eclecticcottage]

Oh, here, I forgot to post this. I just posted it on the blog too. Is this not the coolest?? It's in the basement.



don't mind the wiring it's gone now.

[JRC]

I saw that basement cabinet last night, when I was catching up and glanced at your blog. It is really cool. Maybe it came from the same house they got the dutch-lap sheathing? It's impossible to say for sure, but it's fun to make up those little stories. BTW, the hardware on the doors is probably similar to what your kitchen built-ins originally had.

Returning to the subject of painted vs. unpainted: what are your doors made of? My mom's doors were pine, like the woodwork. It was all stained/aged medium dark, similar to--but still a little lighter than--your doors.

Maybe the owner/builder of your house did choose paint grade moldings, in exchange for the fancier profiles? The moldings in my mom's house looked like nothing more than 1x_ stock. (I think it really was molding, though, just very plain) The base moldings just had a chamfer on the top.

I wouldn't use your experiment with the shoe molding to decide whether the woodwork was painted, though. Even if it wasn't originally painted, it sounds like it was painted a very long time. And, since it was probably painted the last time the floors were refinished, they probably decided it was easier/cheaper to just throw out the old shoe molding and replace it.

Again, all this talk of painted vs. unpainted, is purely academic. If it were my investment, I wouldn't spend the time to strip the woodwork, either, even if I knew it was originally unpainted.

[eclecticcottage]

I haven't scraped the cabinet doors yet. I think they are also pine though, based on what I see from the chips, scrapes, etc.

That cabinet makes me a little jealous of whomever buys this house. I want one in my non-existent basement! It certainly isn't the style of this house, so either it came from somewhere else, or someone had an eclectic mix of style they enjoyed and decided to put that particular piece where it wouldn't clash with what is going on upstairs but they could still have it. There is no back, top or side where the concrete basement wall is, just the front, one side towards the door and the shelving/supports. I actually need to a take a couple more pics downstairs, there's also a room I would have thought was cold storage or a root cellar but I can't say for sure. It does have a door (which is different than the ones upstairs), but matches the bedroom down there (yes, bedroom, with a floor and everything-except I don't think the windows are egress, so it's just a storage room now). There's a door that matches the one in the basement in the garage, it leads to a tiny little space that might have been built for an air compressor. It has the same old style latch as well.

I know it's all just for the sake of discussing it, but it's fun to learn the history of a place, even if it's not a place I'm keeping. I don't know if the FO will care at all or not and it's all just educated guesses and as much research as can be done. In the end, if it wasn't painted at the very beginning, it has been painted for a lot longer than it hasn't been. And either way, I'm not stripping all of it! I don't have that much time (effort is just that, effort-but time, that I need to keep track of with carrying costs to worry about).

And the roofers are there. The spot I was concerned about, is bad (as in, hole in the roof bad). The rest of the front so far, is good. This place is going to be awesome when it's done. Even with just decking and the siding stripped off the front dormer it looks 1000x better. If I choose to believe the weather, I might have a shot at finishing the outside painting this weekend. *crosses fingers* I can't wait to see it done!! I dropped off a Christmas card for the neighbor on Sunday and she said it was starting to look great again

[Lily left the valley]

I hope the roof work proceeds without too many "oh, well, there's this" sorts of things. In one way, reading your progress reminds me how lucky we are in that if all goes through with the Baker Bungalow, we can take our time with whatever turns out to need doing (unless, you know, sudden leak or whatever).

Jumping in on the "it depends" department. This is primarily for bungalow/arts and crafts as that's what I've read about the most. Depends on household budget, what wood was used where, whether stain or paint was more expensive in that area, and so on. I've also read that some folks used to put shellac on wallpaper in kitchens to make it easier to clean and help it last longer since it was often an expensive purchase...so, honestly, it's hard to tell.

Bathroom woodwork, is the most typical painted, if anything. If the house likely had a housekeeper/various servants, the kitchen wood was often painted because it was still that prevailing "no one of import will see it" sort of thing. Some folks painted the kitchen wood because of the antiseptic movement, and it was "easier" to tell it was clean when it was painted a light color. Beyond that, I've read all sorts of explanations or assumptions or handed down stories/pictures with things going every which way for the other rooms. For me, I love wood. So I want to see it be wood. There's a reason folks went out of their way to do that faux graining...some folks are simply attracted to a more natural look even when it totally isn't.

I still remember finding the baseboards behind the cabinets at the 1940 Cape and thinking, "Why didn't they just take it out?" They were painted, for what it's worth.

The house I grew up in, which was built by family, had very little interior trim, mostly made of cheap wood, and it was half and half then too from what I recall of family stories. Totally not a bungalow or craftsman, but still...

ec, I totally get what you mean about the jeans and flannel feeling. In between the mortgage roller coaster, I've spent a lot of time looking at the pictures we have of the home thinking about how to make it ours if all goes well. Although the crafty side of me wants to step the home up a few notches in details, I also know in my heart that I pretty much live in jeans, overalls, and relaxed oxfords. I'm just not a fancy person 24/7, and neither is he.

I also remember that when I used to try to describe what I wanted, the word humble would often work its way into the description...and that's really what we got. Sure, we have a few nice original built ins, but overall the home is more humble than not. So I just have to keep reminding myself of that, I think, and maybe only gussy up one room like the library or the dining room to keep my crafty side satiated.