Beginnings

Here we are, Pat and Iris, resting while we can. If we look a bit tired -- it's because we're contemplating renovating the house I grew up in.

The story goes that the original owner handbuilt the house for his bride in 1903. There were four rooms and a large front porch. By the style of the porch and columns I can see it was inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement Bungalows. I don't know how much of the inspiration took, because the front porch is about the only Bungalow feature left. Our goal is to put it back to what it should have been.

Over the last 113 years the house has seen lots of changes. Two of the original rooms had the wall removed to make the large living room that we now enjoy. A dining room, kitchen and bath were added and a porch was enclosed to become the third bedroom. When my parents purchased the house in 1960, Dad removed the chimney from the dining room, and turned the doorway to the living room into an archway. He made an arch out of the door on the other side of the dining room as well. Shortly after that the dining room became our new, larger kitchen and the kitchen became the utility room. Just before they died the folks renovated the bathroom, making it more "senior" friendly and had a larger back porch added.

The house is sound and has become rectangular instead of the original square. Inside, I want to restore the wide woodwork and add some columns in the archway from living room to kitchen that will bring out the Bungalow flavor. Outside, I would like to restore the front porch and add railings and columns to the back porch so it will match the front porch.

We have quite a bit of work to do to bring it all together. It won't happen overnight, but we'll have the fun of living there and doing the work ourselves, watching it come back to what it should have been.