1925(ish) home.
Floors were stained a very dark, reddish color. Carpet in hallways and bedrooms and old stained and ripped vinyl in the kitchen. Pulling up the carpets revealed more stained dark wood, but with an older shellac or something as it didn’t quite match the rest of the wood floors.
Floors were actually in fairly decent shape (other than some large stains in the kitchen and the carpeted rooms), could have maybe gotten away with just buffing them, but it would have been impossible to get the two different wood tones to match.
We chose to get them fully refinished and couldn’t be happier with the result! Sanding away the dark stain revealed that the floors were a beautiful white oak. We had them stained with a custom color blend that showcases the beautiful wood tones without being too white and modern or too 90s yellow.
Going with a lighter stain color, you can still see some stains in the wood especially in the kitchen where there were some pretty bad water marks, but I like being able to see the history and patina of the home.

The house is between 1893-1897 (judging my fire map)

Shower, bathroom sink and washing machine all drained directly into the large semi-circle stone and dirt hole you see on the left, creating a fetid swamp of used gray water directly under the floor. At least the toilet is attached to a pipe that goes outside? Explains our mold and smell issue for sure. I just keep telling myself it cant get worse

The mantel is next.

I was so excited to see what was under of layers and layers I’d paint. Is there anything I need to do to seal these/ bring back some shine?

I removed the lock of a door I am restoring. I use stripper (something like klingstrip) for the wood but I think it's a bad idea if the stuff manages to get inside. I've heard about the boiling slow cooker method but won't that dry out the inner workings? 19th century, europe if that matters. Thanks in advance

Photo is of the kitchen on the second floor of the home (up down duplex, so this is the main level of the upper unit). This “cavity” as we are calling it goes all the way through the 3rd floor to the roof (finished attic space).

The framing around it also doesn’t make sense to me as it’s just these 2 random beams (3rd photo) and then it looks like a giant scrap wood pile threw something together above it. Where the framing is used to be a pantry and the other side of it is a notched part of a closet in a bedroom (4th photo). Help.

Edit: ok, makes sense that it’s a chimney and a fire risk. Follow up questions:
- What do we think is going on with the stacked hodge podge scrap pile of wood framing everywhere? Just lazy finish of the 3rd floor?
- Is there a reason it was left open when the unit was remodeled and attic finished in the late 80s?

What’s going on here? Just appeared, the home is 101. In the ceiling. I removed the chucks

Figured y'all might be the only nerds as excited about this one as I am! Last month we found this original molding on our ~1860-1870 Michigan home. After the initial excitement followed by a week of lead poisoning anxiety after we learned how dangerous lead paint really is, followed by a reassuringly low (below average) lead blood test, we've started stripping paint as safely as we can. Last night, I noticed these pencil marks which must be from when this molding was installed!!! How cool is that!

The paint stripping process has been surprisingly enjoyable, happy to share more about that too. I'll probably make a separate post once I get my work flow more figured out

I'm working my way through a whole house renovation of a 1925 Craftsman bungalow, that I bought in 2021. Here are some pictures showing various plaster repairs in the living room and dining room. At one point, the previous owner had a beehive removed from the cavity inside a wall in the dining room, and there was a floor to ceiling bee hole left behind. There was also water damage in a couple of spots, settling cracks on all of the walls, and then holes cut through the lath and plaster for updating the electrical. So I had my work cut out for me!

Does anyone have examples of having done this well or live in a home that previous owners did a good job on? I have a wide porch with brick half walls and pillars so thinking of adding windows and a door to create a sunroom to make the space useable in more seasons. Also any bad experiences or things to look out for? On a roadtrip I saw the most beautiful converted porch and wish I had a photo. Nothing I’ve found online seems to fit what I’m envisioning.

Found this floor in the hallway of my parent's house. Now to convince them to restore the original!

This bathroom was part of the reno we did on the upstairs unit of our 1911 Craftsman Bungalow. This bathroom was tough to figure out. Low ceiling, no light, half of it was unusable space due to the roofline. It felt claustrophobic. Bathtub only, no shower. We designed and demoed it, then let the experts figure out the technical parts.

The only place for a shower was where the stained glass was. It was old, but not original to the house. It was covered up but left on so you can still see it from the outside. The toilet is an old Standard wall mounted tank. I rebuilt it and it works like new. The shower curtain rod is a one off custom, and so are the shower curtains.

We wanted to go with a 30s theme for this bathroom.

Hi all, just bought our first home! A 120 year old cosy detached in Toronto. There are 4 rooms with these beautiful old in-swinging casement windows. They’re gorgeous and filled with character and I want to keep them more than anything. Aluminium storms on the outside are busted or warped in every room. You can see gaps where outside air is definitely getting in.

Is it reasonable to resort these? Paint is peeling but there’s no visible rot. I fear they will cost us a fortune in heating costs if I don’t do some sort of upgrade before winter. Would love any/all knowledge you can share!

Hi All! This isn't strictly a century home issue, but I trust this sub the most. Our 1840 vernacular Italianate faces a road with lots of friendly neighbors walking about. The pups are going nuts and the house is taking a beating with them running to the window sills. We wouldn't mind some privacy too.

The time has come. We'd like to put plantation shutters on the bottom half of the windows to let the light in, and create some privacy. My questions:

1- the narrowest blinds would be the closest to period appropriate, right? I know our house had interior half shutters originally (we still have them in the kitchen), but they were paneled instead of blinds.

2- The house was a squarely middle class home when it was built with the trim painted white originally (per my historical society). We're going with white blinds- unless anyone has great ideas for something that might look more 'historic' or 'appropriate'

3- Anyone have a good source for buying plantation shutters? They'll need to be outside mounted. Where have folks bought before? We're moderately handy, I'm assuming we can do the install.

Thanks!

Hi all

Bit of a niche one, but we inherited this little tile mural in our upstairs bathroom and I’m trying to find out a little more about it. Google image search shows an almost identical one in the entrance to a bathhouse in Tokyo and a historical hotel in Vienna!

Our home is an 1840s NYC townhouse so just trying to figure out how and when this got here. Anyone recognize the imagery? The signature? Anything? Ignore the delightful bath paints my children decorated it with - it’s deep blue and white underneath it.

On a whim at sent a e-mail records request to my city permit office. I didn't think much would come of it, but this morning I got an absolute treasure trove of information. I got a great timeline of owners from when it was first built until 2000. I'll have the name of the architect and many of the trades people who worked on her too, as soon as I can decipher the old cursive handwriting.

If you are a history nerd about your house like me, or are trying to answer questions about why your home is a particular way, please contact the city planning department!

This is a client's house, 1935 Craftsman bungalow that had damaged plaster ceilings in the living room and dining room. After weighing all of the options, the homeowner decided on Oak coffered ceilings as the solution, it was a fun project!

I have an 100 year old house. I'm having some remodeling done and my contractor told me he doesn't think my exterior (brick siding all across) is waterproofed. I'm not sure how one can tell without the ability to look behind the brick but he said something about that if it's waterproofed, there should be some stuff at the bottom of the brick along the perimeter - it went over my head so idk what he was referring to.

This might not be a centuryhomes style post, but I have a century home...so I'm here.

Some asshole at some point in my ancient house's life GLUED an UGLY ASS mirror to the wall in a half bath. I was having a bad day full of me half assing DIY projects because I don't know what I'm doing, nor do I have any money, so my husband decided to attempt to take the mirror off.

Welp. He succeeded! He also found an outlet! Which the bathroom didn't have!

WHY in the hell would someone cover up a working outlet? Because they're an asshole? Or is there a legitimate reason for this?