The Historic District

Okay, I will confess that we have solid plans to install a gas range in our new place and no intentions of putting in a vent. Wouldn't take a risk on the asbestos floor, willing to risk it on the stove...

Even though I can easily put the blade of a putty knife in all the spaces around the window and there's no visible paint in the gaps, I can't budge the windows. Makes me wonder if there's paint hiding in there somewhere. I'm afraid to force it.

How about previous owners that didn't understand historic homes? I have window woes, too, Sash Guy! image.jpeg I can just hear the PO in my head: "Why would anybody put a rope there?! SNIP!" Two windows, side by side. All ropes cut. Then painted high-gloss orange. Curiously, the sashes are...

In my old apartment, the gas stove was on an exterior wall but had no vent. I just opened the transom and hoped for the best!

Today I did the most satisfying job yet: reclaiming a window! This window is in an original pantry-turned bathroom. I am guessing it was turned into a bathroom sometime between 1960-1970, when the house was made into apartments. They came up with this genius way to close off the window: nailing a me...

Phil--

Thanks for the tips! Our kitchen has no baseboard molding (yet), so that makes things a little simpler.

Casey--

We are putting up the panel sheets of beadboard, so nailing is minimal. Though, this raises the question--beadboard was used widely in historic homes, so how did they fasten it then, if not to plaster and lath?

I am refinishing the plaster in our kitchen. The bottom half of the walls was covered with metal tiles around 1950, and then they were painted over with the rest of the wall at a later date. On the top half of the walls, the finish cost of plaster has delaminated. I have chipped off the tiles, adhes...

The room is actually a dining room, but was turned into a kitchen at one point in the house's history, hence the vinyl floor. We're turning it back into a dining room, so it will be a low-traffic area. We've decided to go with a floating laminate floor that matches the color of the existing hardwood...

I noticed that Wayfair has a lot of antique-look lights--globes, canning jars, school house pendants, and more. They were pretty inexpensive, if I remember right.