What's Happened to the House?

Family, I must share with you my incredibly rewarding experience visiting R & P at the old farmhouse last week. They have done an incredible renovation which I will walk through with you step by step!

First of all, let me say that R & P have done everything in the style of the original house, and it all ties together as if it has always been there. The front porch is now screened in (although that is not new, they did it awhile ago) and, because some of the old maples have died and the house is longer, the garden next to the kitchen window is much larger than it used to be. The hammer head, doorknob and sanding stone are still in the steps.

When you walk in the front door and look to the left into the kitchen, a whole new world opens up! The house has been expanded farther than even the old woodshed used to go, so the kitchen is three times the size it used to be, and beyond it is a sunken sitting room with beautiful stone fireplace and another screened porch! See the new fireplace in the picture? Remember the chimney top on the house used to have the arch like the new one has?

R & P retained, refinished and matched the hardwood floors from the old kitchen. The internal wall of the old kitchen still has the same built-in cabinets, the stairs to the “attic” (more on those later), and Grandma’s old cabinet thing (you know, with the metal work surface and the breadbox in a drawer and the nifty flour sifter thing) so all that is familiar. They even have the old kitchen chairs! Huge new counters with granite countertops fill the rest of the kitchen area, and a small breakfast table sits in front of the window where Grandma used to read in the afternoons. A small birdfeeder hangs on a cable outside just like always! Words cannot describe this space, so I will stop trying.

Back to the dining room you go, and look left into the bathroom. Surprise! No more bathroom! Large, deep shelves have been installed where the bathtub used to be. This is a storage/office/workroom. Very nice. But what about a bathroom?

Go around the corner into the living room and turn right, and into Grandma’s bedroom, and you've just walked into a gorgeous new bathroom! What a great idea! R & P moved the old tub and pedestal sink in there, along with the original towel bars (do you remember them? They were clear, maybe some sort of tempered glass). Grandma’s old closet, which was long and deep, is a library with a full wall of built-in bookshelves.

Upstairs, two of the bedrooms have been combined into one. Uncle John’s old room and the one next to it, and the tiny little hall space leading to them both, are now combined into one large beautiful bedroom. R & P chose to keep and re-use all the chestnut doors, so the hallway looks like it has always been this way. The little green bedroom with the sailboats on the walls has been painted and is another guest room.

The real treat awaits when you walk into Del’s room. Remember it? Dark, low, low ceiling, one tiny window to the right. The ceiling here has been RAISED and Del’s room is now a beautiful, light and bright bathroom with another free-standing tub and pedestal sink R found in an old house that was being dismantled. Large new windows, front and back. Tile shower. With the exception of the shower (it extends into the old attic space) the bathroom takes up the floor space of Del’s old room, but it feels MUCH bigger because the ceiling is high.

From Del’s room/bathroom, you may remember there was a door into the attic, and when you went into the attic the stairs went down to the kitchen to your right. R & P have retained this, but where the attic used to be is a small hallway. Remember, the ceiling here is all full-height now, not low and dark. To the left, storage; to the right, a very small bedroom. Straight ahead, a huge, bright, office/workroom that sits above the entire new kitchen, with little windows the look down into the sunken sitting room. Beautiful!

The are in back of the house is unrecognizable. The back porch is exactly where it always was, but rebuilt, about a foot deeper, but otherwise replaced exactly as the original. On the back porch is one of Grandma’s old green benches. The ice-house has been restored and moved to the garden, and in its place is a huge terraced gravel patio. The lawn – which you will remember ended just a few feet behind the ice house – has been extended quite a distance into the old field, all the way along the back of the house and along the back of the flower garden, which makes the whole space seem huge. Did you know there is a big old apple tree that used to be hidden down in the brush? It’s now in the yard.

An amazing experience, and this barely scratches the surface. R & P are fantastic hosts. Email me for more pictures.