Before and After: Salem House main floor bath and hall.

So, one of the reasons Salem House was chosen is that is has two full bathrooms. This is an unusual occurrence in the little neighborhood of little houses from the 1940s.
The main floor has a bathroom, and the basement has a nice, big bathroom as well (we'll get to that one later...much later).
The main floor of Salem came to us in the (politically incorrect) color ; Dirty Flesh. My older readers will recall the crayon in the Crayola Big Box called "Flesh". This was abandoned in 1962, partly in response to the "Duh" moment that it was acknowledged that flesh is many different colors. Then again, so is "sky blue". But anyhow, "Flesh" was changed to "Peach". But, the color of Salem's walls didn't look like Peach at all. It looked like the dirty "Flesh" color crayon in my childhood crayon box. Now, as an aside, I should point out that if you are picturing the nifty gold and green box;  "64 Crayons! With Sharpener!" and the fold back lid with all those tidy rows of fantasy colors inside, you aren't picturing my childhood crayon box. Mine was a square wooden cookie jar, with a faded rooster on the side and rick-rack painted trim. The box was full of crayon bits of all lengths, none of them sharp. I wasn't even born for 6 years after "Flesh" was changed to "Peach". My Eldest Sister wasn't born until after "Flesh" was no longer. So, not just hand-me-down crayons, friends....Garage Sale crayons. Perhaps these early moments helped shape my can-do attitude. I, too, can color, but I can do it with garage sale, un-sharpened crayons. 40 years later, why can't I rip apart a bathroom? Well, to be fair, I tore up my first bathroom 15 years ago at Oklahome. 

So, here is the "dirty flesh/peach" color walls. Hereafter named "Fleach". The dirt was added after the original paint job, but accumulated nicely.

 And, this was the bathroom.

 It's not bad. Really. Just a cosmetic problem. It needs to be cleaned. Definitely some paint. And the fleach tile is awkward. For one, someone put it in in the last 25 years, and they didn't make it quite to the wall. Plus, there is no where to put "stuff" on the sink or near the sink, and girls need places to put "stuff" when they are getting ready of a morning.
So maybe I can live with the fleach tile if I paint the bathroom a truffle brown? Lots of white trim? (This is what I was thinking...) Then, maybe if I replace the stick on, vinyl baseboard with real base, it will do.
So, I ripped off the stick on vinyl base"board". This was my first mistake.
I then realized that behind the toilet was a large "hump". Uh oh. More investigation revealed the vinyl tiles on the floor weren't actually stuck down around the tub, but more or less held on by caulked edges. So, my cosmetic problem became a functional one. 

 So, must go.

 And, since it is Spring Break, why go to Key West when one can demolish a bathroom?
Youngest came to pitch in.

As you can see, the subfoor is rotting. And this is not new. No, this is pre-vinyl tile rot. The previous repairer of bathrooms replaced an 8" square around the toilet flange, and then just stuck vinyl tiles over the rotted bits. Thus the "Hump" behind the toilet. The subfloor next to the tub is likewise powdered into oblivion. Another note: the toilet flange opening does not appear to be blocked in this photo. Not sure why, as there is a large piece of newsprint balled up in there to block the smell from coming up and any debris from falling in. I recommend doing this.

 

To be fair, I staged these photos during "lunch break". He wore a mask and gloves when really demolishing. And I wore those plus goggles, not having glasses.

 One of the joys of working with Youngest- he always leaves little gifts around on any camera.



Bathrooms are projects that always dance one step forward, and another back. Youngest and I got the old subfloor ripped up, the fleach tile off the wall and the ceiling and walls painted.  Huz came to help one day and we got the walls covered with wainscot, and the trim done at the top of the wainscot. I then began to tile the floor and got the tile down with two days or so before I could come back so ample time to dry.
But there are many points at which I think "Yikes! What have I gotten myself into here?" And, I just take it bit by bit, and keep plugging away. It doesn't always look pretty.

 Like, how is this mess going to get fixed? I mixed the grout, and began the task, but it wasn't very smooth, and it took some real elbow grease to make the rubber float do its thing. This is after hours spent painstakingly pulling the tile adhesive out of the joints where I had been overzealous in application. I haven't done little tile on a floor since the Flutterby Farm bathroom in 1999. I forgot. And that time I had help! My friend Dee Dee and her husband John were driving through Oklahoma and stopped to tile my bathroom. I love friends! Evidently, I need to tile floors more often, and I wouldn't forget the details.


Then, when the floor was done, and the base boards were cut, painted and on, it was time to get something useful back in the bathroom. Like a toilet.
Which is something I can't do alone anymore. I prefer to not think of it as a strength issue, but more of a triumph of wisdom. So, I finagled a way to get Eldest and her friend Jordan to stop by after class, and they held up the toilet while I worked the wax ring and the toilet bolts into place.

 Full disclosure: the bathroom isn't done! I need to have three hands, and so I'm hoping for a bit more help to finish up the sink....hint hint hint. And, I should've taken a picture from inside the room. Maybe y'all will just have to come see it.


Oh, and one more B&A: The hallway. 

Before in dirty fleach. With the baseboards showing where the old pink shag ended, and unhappy floors- lots of paint splatters. Still- it has a cute linen closet with vintage knobs!

 After: walls are done in Martha Stewart "Enamelware" and bright white trim. Floors are sanded and oiled and waxed. It is bright and fresh. To the left on the hall is Spring Pond, and to the right is Essex. These are bedrooms, and they are likewise finished, but not yet furnished, so may wait for the reveal....

Before and After- Salem House Kitchen!

The long awaited (at least by me) reveal of Salem House can now begin!


The room I started in, the day we closed on the house was the kitchen. It was the worst eyesore in my opinion, because it was drab and sad, and a kitchen shouldn't be thus!


Here are the kitchen pictures when I began. I will make them all small, so as decrease their impact.

The positives about the space as I saw them:
It has two windows and a door to a nice back yard. 
It has a vintage stove, a working dishwasher and a double sink.
The floor is relatively new, is cushy, easy to clean, and is protecting the woodfloors that are most likely several layers beneath.

The negatives:
It is ew.


So, armed with a $500, plus the need for to replace the fridge, so tack on another $500, and two arms...

A new, cute kitchen! I decided to make it a fun, colorful space. With college age inhabitants, and a compact space, it didn't need to be too serious.

The "can pantry" is a concept my Dad suggested several houses ago for a narrow space in another compact kitchen. I have used it many times since then, finding it to be useful, attractive and works well in small spaces. The shutters on the windows, I wanted for privacy, but to also to let the light in from the upper half of the window. As I was thinking of trolling thrift stores for shutters, a search in the depths of the upstairs closet revealed them- probably original and taken down years ago. Fresh paint and a graphic colorful fabric, and voila!  The table was a leftover at an auction, so they through it in with a lot I had purchased for $5.00. The top had been laminate but was broken and part was gone. It is a nice, heavy wooden pedestal table, so, I ripped off the rest of the laminate and painted it with a checkerboard pattern. I love the island. This was a Christmas present from my parents some years ago. It has a beautiful marble top and is not only workspace but storage. It had never found the right home at Cowfeathers, and is a natural fit for Salem House.

 

 

 

 

These are all the same cabinets as in the "before pictures". They've just been modified a bit. The upper cabinets lost their doors and then were painted. Middlest did the first layer with a Kilz Primer. She hasn't come back to Salem to work since...I guess it wasn't her kind of job. I then framed out the area above the cabinets for further shelving and to bring height into the room. The upper shelving is visually supported by the little corbels I added underneath. The counter tops are in good condition, so were kept. The base cabinets just needed paint and personality. I wanted them to look more like freestanding furniture, so I made them "feet" and painted them different colors- well one got a color, the others got my favorite- white. Each base also has it's own unique hardware (found by digging around in dusty bins at Habitat for Humanity Restore) which gives them each an identity.

The entry into the kitchen from the hall is still rather narrow, but it doesn't feel so closed in as the upper cabinets over the stove are gone. I also got rid of the tall pantry cabinet between the stove and the refrigerator. It was falling apart, and it took up a lot of visual space in the room. It was the largest thing in the kitchen.  In it's place I built a freestanding shelf for the microwave, with storage underneath and a wood counter.

The stove still needs to have a vent hood added over the cooktop, but I am accumulating electrician jobs so I can have them all done at one time. The wood counter next to the stove is "2 by" culled from the "free" pile at the Home Depot. I brought home long pieces of warped 2x8 and then chose unwarped sections for the counter. I stained it and waxed it with beeswax, added a cutting board, thereby creating a counter top that fit into my budget. The cute strawberry tea kettle was a gift from Nana for Eldest. It adds even more cheer to this colorful space!

The ceiling fan stayed, but the blades were painted white to help it disappear into the ceiling (a surface which had 4 coats of white applied by Eldest!) The back door makes  me smile every time I walk into the room. A bright daffodil yellow in a small burst of color is a treasure. This photograph was taken from where the refrigerator stands. After the old fridge was hauled away for recycling, and before I purchased the new one, the kitchen seemed pretty large! In this photo, I have not added the hardware to the cabinets yet. Oh, and I forgot to mention the back splash. In this quirky kitchen, I wanted something for the back splash that would be unique. These are floral or craft marbles, in sea glass colors and finish. They add polish, without being stuffy, and hold a secret. I know I've mentioned this before in other blogs, but I'm a little kid inside about these things. I love homes with secrets. Bookshelves that conceal a door, openings in a wall, passages, newel posts, I love all those things. I remember a little wooden house my parents had that was really a puzzle that if you turned every little bit just right revealed a little hidden chamber. As a child I loved to sit in my father's study and open it properly. Mystery and secrets can be fun.

This is a closer up photo of the bottom cabinets. I chose handles for the upper drawers that can also double as towel holders, if you tuck a dish towel through. But I also hung a glass knob between the cabinets for easy towel placement. 

I took this photo because I was fascinated by the circles in this project. This is a 70 year old house. It has had several chapters in it's past, and some of the history is revealed as you get to know a place. Cleaning and painting every inch really gets you introduced!  But as I worked on this main floor, room after room showed glimpses of it's history matched what I had planned for it's future. I painted the walls this blue with a dash of green and then found an area chipped away in the hall corner (where someone had bashed it) that revealed nearly the same exact shade as the base color. As I scrubbed the base boards on hands and knees, preparing to add a fresh coat of white, chipped areas show the same- really same! shade of yellow with which I had already adorned the door. And the bright turquoise was found in both living room and one bedroom. It suits.

Over the windows and the door, I added shelving. Again, it gives height, adds space for items, and is informal and sweet. On the shelves above the windows, at the back, are three signs I made. They are the translation, and also my hope for Salem. The read "Salem", "Saalam" and "Peace".