In 2006, my old computer died. I was write in the midst of writing my thesis, and I was able to recover that (thanks to Jim, Mac-man extrodinaire!). BUT all my home photos from 2002 — 2006 were lost. Every now and then I find old discs which I hope will contain some older house photos. Sometimes they do, but more often than not, they don’t.
So you’re just going to have to take my word for what the house looked like in its “before” state. Except for the hallways (which remain papered in the cute, but exhausted green brocadey paper), everything that was not the floor in this house was white. EVERYTHING — the walls, the ceilings, the doors, the trim, the baseboards.
The butler’s pantry was no exception. In fact, it wasn’t a butler’s pantry, just a white room. There had been a door to the dining room, but my friendly neighborhood work crew blocked that up, then we installed the retro shelving. I had a plumber put in the plumbing for the all-in-one unit that had formerly lived in the basement kitchen (somewhere along the way the fridge stopped working, though). My friends and I did the electricity for the stove. I hired someone to install the tin ceiling. I installed the cork flooring. My friend Liz (wife of Mac-man Jim) and I installed the Lincrusta and the Burrows hand-blocked wallpaper. I hired someone to install glass in and re-orient the door to the BP (it used to open the other way, and it was impossible to get food from the BP to the dining room. The countertops are slate. Everyone says it looks like it’s always been here.
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- View to hallway from BP
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- Cork flooring, plywood subfloor, no threshold in yet
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- Wall over stove-fridge-sink unit. Lincrusta and wallpaper
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- Wall where door used to be
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- Cork tiles
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- Nice marble threshold
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- Door to BP. Stripped, stained, glass added, and re-oriented
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- Tin ceiling and funky pendant lamp
I really wish I had those before pictures, because this is a most amazing transformation.
