5 Tips to Keep-on Renovating an Old Home

5 Tips to Keep-on Renovating an Old Home…

Barry and I are now into our 6th week of “old home” renovations, while living in the house.

It’s the while living in the house that causes much of the frustration, but in our case, and in many cases, there is no other choice.  We happened to sell our other home and close quickly… actually, closing on both our old home and new home on the same day in early May.

Our “new” home needed every single square inch cleaned, re-cleaned, repaired, sanded, painted, stripped and repeated again.  We had major plumbing issues.  We had hardwood flooring issues when we ripped up the old wall-to-wall carpeting.  We had stuck window issues.

We had old home issues.

Wait a second.  We still have old home issues.

We’ve had to store 10 rooms of furniture in the (thank goodness) very big detached garage that sits back from the house.

But Barry and I had fallen in love with the beautiful New England town.  We had fallen in love with the land the house sits on. We had fallen in love with the harbor view, the bike path access in our back yard, and most of all, the spacious place for our growing family of 4 kids, 4 in-law kids, 9 grandkids (and hopefully, more!) and granddogs.

The house?  We knew it needed work.  As near as we can gather, our house is actually two small homes… combined somewhere around the turn of the 20th century.  The front home, a Greek Revival, was built in the 1820’s, and the back home, a Dutch Colonial, was built in the 1880’s.  This makes for some interesting architecture.  But the flow of the home is very nice, fun even, especially letting people discover where the two homes are joined.  When I have a little time, I’ll head to Town Hall to do some digging on the history of the house.

We know the house needs major kitchen and bathroom reconstruction, but that will have to wait a couple of years.  We know the house needs exterior work/paint/renovations. For now, a complete interior update is necessary, hiring painters who understand historic restoration (especially since previous owners updated in the 1950’s or so in the style of the time), hiring floor guys who understand hardwood restoration (searching for “old maple” that we would never find, while setting us back 3 weeks), searching for hardware and lighting fixtures that complement the bones of our home (still working on that, but is a labor of love to Barry and me) and lots of DIY stuff.

So… 6 weeks of work and counting with virtually no furniture.

How to deal with all the renovations while maintaining sanity and a sense of humor?

1.  Take lots of before-and-after photos.  In my moments of is anything actually happening, I go to my “before” photos.  It’s easy to forget how far you’ve come in a room, a hallway, a space if you have nothing to compare it to.  My before photos always bring a smile and a sigh of relief at work in progress or complete.  Photos are an instant time-line.

2.  Keep a running list… of anything and everything you need or will need for each room.  Keep organized notes in a note pad, on your iPhone, or somewhere you won’t lose the information.  If you are out-and-about in search of stuff, you will need accurate info and measurements:

a.  Note paint colors (take photos of paint can covers)

b.  Note # and desired colors of electrical outlets, switch plates and receptacle covers in each room;  note single, double, quad, etc.

c.  Take accurate measurements of each room and note these; including ceiling height

d.  Note # and sizes of hardware items and hinges and door knobs (and desired finishes) that you may need or wish to replace

e.  Note indoor/outdoor lighting fixtures needed, and measure for size restrictions

f.   Measure doorways for any door or storm door replacements

g.  Measure windows for shades, blinds, curtain rods and window treatments

Add to your list as necessary… ie: all the time.

3.  Keep a Wish List… a real, true Wish List.  As our renovations have progressed, I’ve kept a good eye on natural lighting… our front door faces East.  I know now where we’d love a fun window to let in more morning light, French doors in the back to catch beautiful  sunsets, and an expanded bank of windows in our North-facing kitchen when we design our new kitchen.

I know that our home once had a *front porch.  I WISH for a front porch some day.

Oh, I have a million wishes for our new home, but glorious sun-filled windows and a front porch are up there as #’s 1 and 2.

4.  **Talk to neighbors.  Neighbors are a great source of information on a home.  We are fortunate to have a neighbor who grew up in her home, and is now raising her family there, too.  She is also still friendly with the people who lived in our home for generations… before selling it to people who were going to use (but never quite did) our home as a summer home (we purchased from the summer home people, who had left it vacant for too many years).

Our neighbor has pointed out lots of whats, whens, wheres, hows and whys about our home; invaluable information about electrical lines, sewer lines, gardens, history of previous renovations, history of the neighborhood (generations of families still own many of the homes). People keep an eye out for each other here… and that makes all the work worth it, even the frustrating moments.

Talking over the living hedges on both sides of our home has made us feel at home while making this home our own home.

5.  If you can get your hands on old photographs of your Old Home… as we did, through our **neighbor, who put us in touch with the grandson of one of our home’s previous owners (who bought the house in the early 1920’s and raised his family his family here, then sold it to his daughter, who raised her family here), before selling it to the summer home people (can you follow this?).

THIS history and THE photographs this kind man has shared with us… well, they keep me sane and happy, through all the dirt and dust, notes and lists and measurements, and WISHES for a *Front Porch.

I WISH for THIS front porch some day, to honor our old home, its history and the generations of people who have loved this old home of ours…

Our home in 1942... Front Porch and all!

Our home today...

I will admit that I’m very excited to get into our new home… into with our furniture and our lives.

But I have figured out how to Keep-on Renovating.  And the old photos sure do give me a lotta hope on Hope Street.

About Audrey

Audrey McClelland has been a digital influencer since 2005. She’s a mom of 5 and shares tips on her three favorite things: parenting, fashion and beauty. She’s also a Contemporary Romance Author.

Sign Up To The Ultimate Style Newsletter for Moms

Categories

ShopStyle “List” Of all Things I Like and Blog About

Pinterest

2 Comments

  1. 6.19.12

    It sounds like you are keeping your wits about you, so that’s good. Great point about the before and after photos. We have owned are home for just over a year and nary a surface is untouched, and yet there’s always something to be done. (Plus, we’re still finishing up a gut reno of the house’s two original bathrooms.)

    It sounds like a lovely home. I enjoy hearing how it’s coming along.

  2. 6.19.12
    Rhonda said:

    I admire you and Barry for reviving this beautiful home on hope street. I was driving to work this morning and passed a car with a license plate that said “Hope” and immediately thought of you and Barry. I can see you sitting on that front porch surrounded by all your grand-kids and grand-dogs in the near future. Look on the bright side of not having furniture in your house. You don’t have anything to dust.

Comments are closed.