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renovation

before & after, renovation, stripping paint

Before & After: Stripped and Refinished Living Room Trim

02/02/2020

It’s been over a year in the making and there were times when we questioned the project altogether but we’re finally ready to reveal the refinished trim in the living room. But first, take a moment to reflect on the photo above. This snapshot shows the living room as it looked before we kicked off this project. The trim was still painted the same white that went on some time in the late 1960’s. (Fortunately the doors have never been painted.) The walls were still covered in the gray paint that we slapped on when we first moved in six years ago. (It was supposed to be gray anyway. It has always read as blue – much to our chagrin.) We had finally decided to upcycle the old kitchen cabinets as new fireplace built-ins and they’re sitting there, having been cut apart, stripped, reassembled and rebuilt.

This whole trim refinishing project actually started with those cabinets. We had been in a serious rut of procrastination while deciding what to do about the house’s interior trim. Should we take the easy route and re-paint the woodwork or take the much longer – and possibly more satisfying – route and strip it? It wasn’t until we started placing the newly refurbished fireplace cabinets in the room that we were forced to make a decision. Whatever we did with those cabinets – stain the stripped wood or paint it – would dictate how we’d approach the woodwork. Well, after we stripped the cabinets and set them in place, the honey hued wood seemed to warm the space. And with that, our decision was made. Stain the cabinets … and thus strip all the woodwork too.  

Mind you, we kind of liked the white trim. It’s not difficult to recognize the intention of the owner who first painted it back in the ’60s. The white trim seems to not just brighten the space; it also brings a modern sensibility to it. It transforms the interior from Prairie style to a more modern Craftsman look. But then we scraped the first patch of paint from the wood and revealed the dark grain beneath it and knew that we were making the right decision.

Suddenly, the house looks, well, like it’s supposed to look. The dark trim stands out – even more so now that we’ve repainted the walls in an off-white color. (We’re so happy to finally say goodbye to that gray-masquerading-as-blue!)

Living Room of Delbert Meier House - before stripping the trim

Every little aspect of the room works now. The dark trim plays nicely with the gray fireplace brick, not to mention working seamlessly with the wood doors. Even the windows look better now that they’re framed in dark wood trim.

Now, about those beams … Again, we can see what the owner who installed the beams was thinking. It was the 1970s and faux beams were all the rage. They actually kind of worked when the trim was painted white. As we slowly bring the house back to its 1917-era charm, however, the beams seem more and more out of place. We’re anxious to remove them but also wary of biting off a bigger DIY project than we can chew. Sure, removing the beams may be easy. After all, demolition is the most fun part of any project. Patching the ceiling, on the other hand, is a task too daunting for these novices. That said, the owners of the Elizabeth Murphy House have offered to come out and help us remove the beams later this year. We may just take them up on that!

For now, though, we’re going to sit back in our freshly rearranged living room and admire a job well done. Not for long, mind you. Stripping the living room trim is just the beginning. We’ve already moved on to the entry and stairwell and have plans to also strip the trim in the dining room in the near future. The end goal is to take the first floor of the house – the public space, so to speak – back to its original look. The living room is the largest room on the the first floor so we’re happy to have that behind us.

Onward we go!

American System-Built Home, before & after, DIY, renovation, stripping paint

Stripping Living Room Windows & Trim: Progress!

05/06/2019

This is how the conversation usually goes…

The Mister, with a glint of excitement: We should definitely strip all the woodwork in the house.

Me, flashing back to childhood weekends helping my dad strip paint from woodwork in our house: I don’t know. The white does make it feel a little more modern. Maybe we should just repaint it.

The Mister, downcast by resigned: Yeah, you’re probably right.

Me, leaving that window of opportunity slightly ajar: Although the trim really would be beautiful if it was stripped!

We’ve probably had this conversation a hundred times over the past five years of owning the house. That’s why we’ve left the trim untouched all the time. Until now, that is.

stripping wood trim in American System-Built Home

As I mentioned in the last post, we decided to take the leap and strip the wood in the living room. And you know what? It’s not so bad! Stripping paint is messy – there’s no way around that – but the work has been fairly quick. Well, some of the work has been quick. Stripping the windows is definitely more time consuming than stripping the picture rail and baseboard. All those little corners and crevices!

Stripping paint in an old home

But oh how good it looks!

I should clarify – when I say that I’m stripping the windows, I’m really talking about the frames. In the photos here, I’ve removed the interior storm windows so that I can strip the frame. I will not be stripping the exterior windows. The exterior windows will get a fresh coat of paint and the interior windows … well, now I’m getting ahead of myself.

stripping woodwork in an old house

By stripping the trim, we’ve discovered that some woods don’t match. Well, not exactly discovered. We’ve known this for a while – from our own strip test when we were pondering our options and as informed by former owners when they came to visit. Most of the wood that’s been replaced is around the windows, likely due to water damage.

The wood that is original has a very dark stain on it. While most of that stain comes up with the stripper, a dark hue remains on the wood. It doesn’t appear that the wood that has been replaced was ever stained at all. By the time the previous owner was replacing wood trim around the windows, all the other trim had already been painted. So of course they just painted the replacement trim instead of staining it. When everything is stripped we’ll face the task of using stain to try to make all the wood match.

restoring wood trim in an old house

There’s just something about 100-year-old woodwork! At the risk of sounding like the old man that I am, they just don’t make it like they used to! When the trim was painted white it looked flat and lifeless. By removing the paint from the trim, we’ve exposed the beautiful grain that gives the wood visual interest.

So many paper towels and garbage bags! Have I mentioned how incredibly messy stripping paint can be?!

rehabbing wood trim in an old American System-Built home

But just look at the difference!

Now, back to those windows. As I said, we’re not going to strip the exterior windows. The window sash that faces inward will get a fresh coat of paint. We’ve decided to use the same color that we used on the outside trim and windows – black fox. We will, however, be stripping and staining the inner (or storm) windows. These windows were not original and, like the replacement trim, were never stained. Stripping paint from untreated wood is not easy! Fortunately, the house had a little surprise for us.

I was poking around in the garage looking for some scrap wood when I spied a few old window screens in a dark corner. While most of the screens were painted, two of them had not been. And, like a gift from the renovation gods, one of those unpainted screens fits the living room windows that were just stripped! See that dark screen in the middle window? That’s the one! This old screen even has the original hardware attached to it!

Since this screen has never been painted and hence never stripped, we can finally see that this is how dark the wood trim was stained. This truly is a gift from the rehab gods because now we have a goal: stain all the woodwork to match the color of this screen.

I also started stripping one of the old screens that had been painted and installed it in the right window. You can really see the difference between the stained screen and the screen that’s been stripped. We’re still planning to go back and strip the storm windows but for now we’re just going to install the screen. Since we’re in the warm months, the screens will suffice. (Plus, we’ve never had screen in these windows so it will be nice to be able to open them for fresh air!) Come fall, though, we will definitely need to re-install the storm windows. They really do make a difference in keeping the house warm.

For now, let’s step back and admire the progress…

So beautiful, right? We have a long way to go but it’s heartening to see all of this progress. When it comes to DIY renovations, one must celebrate the small victories in order to forge ahead with the other projects.

DIY, living room, renovation, stripping paint

Adventures in Stripping: Tackling the Trim

03/30/2019

Stripping Wood Trim in Our American System Built Home

We’ve been in a bit of a holding pattern for the past five years, paralyzed by the question of whether to strip the interior trim in our house or repaint it. In the early days of ownership, when we were full of the exuberance that’s common to new homeownership, we stripped some small test sections of the trim and discovered that wood had been replaced in some areas. That discovery provided the excuse to put off the decision until a later date. And now here we are five years on and we’ve made a decision … sort of.

Continue Reading…

DIY, how to, kitchen, renovation, thrifty

How to Install a Tile Backsplash
(Good News: It’s Easier Than You Might Think!)

04/08/2018

Before installing the backsplash in our kitchen I had never in my life tiled a single thing. But how hard can it be? I reasoned. I mean, people have been tiling for thousands of years! And all of those people couldn’t have been geniuses. But then as I watched YouTube videos and read how-to posts with all their steps and warnings of pitfalls, I grew increasingly worried that tiling was a job best left to professionals. No! my inner adventurer called out. And so my can-do, DIY spirit kicked in and I decided to tackle the job on my own. And you know what? It’s not as hard as you might think! Now that I’ve mastered the art of tiling (because, you know, I’ve done it once so now I’m an expert), I’m going to share the process with you. Continue Reading…

DIY, kitchen, renovation

Farmhouse Fabulous: New Flooring for the Kitchen

04/06/2018

When I work on a DIY project – like, say, installing new Pergo laminate flooring in the kitchen – my mind wanders during the easier parts of the work. For instance, while ripping up the old vinyl tiles in the kitchen I thought up punny things I could say about the new flooring. I may have said a couple of my punny sentences out loud and chuckled to myself. That’s one of the things I love about DIY projects – that my hands are busy creating something beautiful while my mind is off on tangents all its own. Multi-tasking for the mind!

But enough about my mental quirks. You’re here for house updates, not to learn about my inner workings, right? Continue Reading…