Demolition was the first task. Pulling
off the battered aluminum siding revealed that the
sugarpine siding underneath was in excellent condition, although every speck of trim was gone.
Inside we rolled back the 60’s renovation— removing dropped
ceilings, shag carpets, cheap light fixtures, and decrepit cabinets.
Pulling out a wall of closets downstairs opened up the original
parlor and underneath the drywall we found its turn-of-the-century wallpaper.
Elsewhere, stripping generations of wallpaper
and paint got us back to the original surface of the wood paneling that formed the
walls and ceiling of almost every room.
The original farmhouse building was amazingly intact.
Nearly all the original doors were still there, on
their original hinges. Even the faux-finish painting survived on many of the
interior doors. The shellac was cracked and fading, but the original patterns were clear, combed
on to make the solid sugarpine doors and trim suitably decorative to the Victorian eye.
|
