Show us your vintage home!

[AtomicEraTom]

My 1947 home had floorboards that were "Meant" to be carpet over the top, when I tore up the carpet, 10 years ago the "Jarah" boards were flecked with lots of diferent colours "Seconds" the tradesman I hired to strip and polish the said the "Would have Character"lol they are rather interesting and its amusing to see that this type of multicoloured wood is rather fashionable in Modern Homes "just at the moment"

I think that your floorboards look great! They sure clean up much nicer than say wide plank pine boards used mostly in upper levels of 1800s farm houses. While, they can sometimes clean up nice, usually heave and are very worn.

 

[Forgotten Man]

This 'rather depressingly dreary' thing mixed with Australia's late discovery of the Arts and Crafts Movement (c1920s) infused our version of the California Bungalow (to its detriment IMHO). The smoked oak etc (Dark wallpaper, along with dark woodwork) was supposedly a response to the massive losses and wounding of Aussie soldiers in WWI. People returned to hide from their shock and misery and the style allowed for this feeling of a need to "retreat from the world".

Apparently Australia had 80,000 killed and 160,000 woundered out of 360K actual soldiers...many of them still with limps and sundry problems that were only resolved by an early demise (eg gassing, grenade and shrapnel wounds).

My grandfather had an amputation in 1957 at age 87 (wounded at Gallipoli in 1915) when the shrapnel from Lone Pine turned out to have given him TB in the knee that took over his whole body.

Just a graphic example of why they called it (mistakenly) "the War to End all Wars"...and why the sombre style was popular in the Inter War years.

Very interesting, here in the states, the Arts and Crafts movement started before the Great War. In fact it originated in England from what I have learned. Around the late 1800's it came to be; coming to the US by the 10s it was very popular on both coasts and the Art Nuevo styles were used as well.

Art Nuevo and Arts and Crafts were styles that broke away from the frilly Victorian styles, where the homes of the Arts and Crafts movement incorporated more organic features into home design, lots of granite or stone foundations fireplaces and chimneys, rich dark woods, built-ins, low roofs with wood shingles and shingle siding. Olive greens and browns and other organic color schemes were in. Nuevo was very organic in styles, many ginkgo leaves and oak trees were used in this style.

The darkness in most of those homes helped keep things cool... lots of them were surrounded by trees and so forth... I've been in a few of them during the summer and the cool rocks and the low wide awnings of the roof help keep these homes cooler than most. Came in handy in the days before A/C.

 

[Lamplight]

Especially by the bathroom, we also need to go down to the studs and redo it all, and it's a huge job. You did it beautifully, it looks like "Old House Interiors" magazine!:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Thanks! Yes, it was a huge job which also required some major changes in the plumbing, but it was worth it. Good luck with your own project!

 

[Claireg]

I live in a garage.
Not even a renovated garage.
Just a garage on the street where cars live kind of garage.
BUT I plan to find a real house soon and looking at all these pics is giving me ideas.
In fact, the garage is filling up fast with all my vintage finds that I plan to find a home for.
I will be pitching a tent on the pavement soon if Im not careful.

 

[Dr Doran]

I live in a garage.
Not even a renovated garage.
Just a garage on the street where cars live kind of garage.
BUT I plan to find a real house soon and looking at all these pics is giving me ideas.
In fact, the garage is filling up fast with all my vintage finds that I plan to find a home for.
I will be pitching a tent on the pavement soon if Im not careful.

First of all, Claire, welcome to the Lounge. I'm sure you'll meet a lot of like minded folks here.

Second, your situation has certain advantages, actually: you won't have to get rid of e.g. a bunch of 1980s Danish blonde wood and move in dark wood antiques like a lot of people had to. When you get a place, you can start it up exactly as you want it.

Third, take photos! We'd love to see them.

 

[Claireg]

Thanks Doran!
I assume you mean pictures of the house, not the garage.
Im sure you dont want pictures of the garage.
It does have some advantages yes - like when I want a pizza I just step out of my garage and walk a few paces down the street.
And I can hear when the postmans been because the mail slot is in my garage.
Anyway, thats off topic and i have to go clean my garage.
keep the inspiration coming
xx

 

[Forgotten Man]

A garage? Yes, it has a rather bleak sound to it but, I’ve lived in a garage, a converted garage but, a garage nevertheless. It was up in Canada and the winters there get pretty bad. The concrete floor under the thin layer of carpet seemed to be permafrost! It never was warm! Had to wear socks all the time, didn’t want to catch cold.

There is a neat building in my town that is directly a crossed from my mechanics 1920s Spanish garage/gas station. Not sure what the building originally was but it has two large retractable doors and this structure is brick and is pretty old… has to have been built around the same time as the service station. It was up for leas for a long time, some company or someone has moved in now and have gutted the inside… before it looked pretty much un touched. It also looked as if it had rooms and such. I would have loved nothing more than to move in, furnish some of the rooms and have a kitchen off of the garage with a table and such so one could have a small vintage car shop, and have a few of the guys live there… would be a great place to refurbish, rebuild old cars in an old building and get to sleep in the same place! I would have put a few old gas pumps out side. But, now the place has been painted white (on the inside) and has bright fluorescent fixtures and crapy lookin’ curtains hanging… what did this place become I wonder?

Maybe someday I’ll buy it after those monkeys have moved on… and I’ll do what I want with it! That would be so great!

 

[bellabella327]

Here is our villa circa 1928:

Here is the restored hallway as you enter:

When we bought the house this hallway was entirely painted cream with white architraves and floorboards. It had an old oatmeal carpet. We stripped everything, added the chair rail and picture rail and painted & papered the walls.

Here is a closer shot of the stained glass door at the end of the hallway:

Here is a shot of the master bedroom:

And a spare bedroom:

Here is our lounge with 1908 upright piano and European furniture:

This room was likewise all painted white and cream with oatmeal carpet... all very plain.

We added these French doors in the lounge to match the original stained glass door from the hallway:

Enjoy!

Kind regards,
Magnoli

Your home is AMAZING!

 

[airgrabber666]

during the Blizzard of '09:

 

[Big Man]

We ended up with 10" of snow in my part of western North Carolina during the "Blizzard of '09".

 

[RetroPat]

Old homes always look so beautiful in the winter time. Thanks for sharing yours.

 

[Big Man]

Then and now ...

This was taken in the winter of 1925. That's my Dad in the photo.

This was taken from about the same location after the "Blizzard of '09".

 

[airgrabber666]

Big Man, your house looks wonderful. Love the fact it's been in your family for all those years, and it's neat to see that not much has really changed. Wish I could find pictures like that of my place. Incidentally, we got approximately 30" of snow here in deep South Jersey.

 

[Big Man]

Big Man, your house looks wonderful. Love the fact it's been in your family for all those years, and it's neat to see that not much has really changed. Wish I could find pictures like that of my place. Incidentally, we got approximately 30" of snow here in deep South Jersey.

Thanks. I feel extremely lucky (and blessed) that there is so much history and "connection" with that old house.

Wow, 30" of snow! I sure am glad that the 10" we got was an unusual event. The snow sure is pretty, but it's a mess to deal with. I'm looking forward to SPRING.

 

[Forgotten Man]

This was taken in the winter of 1925. That's my Dad in the photo.

This was taken from about the same location after the "Blizzard of '09".

:eusa_clap

That is so special! I can't even start to say how I admire that post... the photo from 1925 then the photo from the same spot in 2009! What a neat way to turn time around!

Looks to me the tree got bigger over time, but, everything for the most part is the same! Even the screen doors! See, if that house was in LA or Pasadena, some yuts would have put modern screen doors on, put in new Home Depot windows and doors and maybe a nice classy coat of stucco!


Great photos Big Man,

 

[kampkatz]

Airgrabber, nice photos. BTW, I lived in Millville from '81 to '84 and we had one similar snow storm back then. This time out in central PA we only had 6" I feel that we got cheated.fftopic:

 

[airgrabber666]

Airgrabber, nice photos. BTW, I lived in Millville from '81 to '84 and we had one similar snow storm back then. This time out in central PA we only had 6" I feel that we got cheated.fftopic:

Thanks! Millville is just up the road a bit on Route 49....the city proper probably looks about the same as it did when you lived there. Not much has changed, but they are restoring the Levoy Theater.

http://www.levoy.org/ if you're interested in seeing it's progress.

 

[Big Man]

:eusa_clap

That is so special! I can't even start to say how I admire that post... the photo from 1925 then the photo from the same spot in 2009! What a neat way to turn time around!

Looks to me the tree got bigger over time, but, everything for the most part is the same! Even the screen doors! See, if that house was in LA or Pasadena, some yuts would have put modern screen doors on, put in new Home Depot windows and doors and maybe a nice classy coat of stucco!


Great photos Big Man,

Thanks for the nice comments. It is a great privilege to be able to live in the "old family home", surrounded by so much history.

As to modern doors and windows, nobody - and I mean NOBODY - better ever try to "upgrade" my house. You still need a "window stick" to keep the windows open. I don't think there are too many windows like that left in houses today.

I didn't realize I had taken the picture from about the same angle as the 1925 photo until I later. If I had been thinking, I would have set-up the shot. I still have the same chair that was on the front porch in '25 and I would have used one of my grandchildren who is close to the same age as my Dad when that old photo was taken. Oh well, there will be more snows (and more grandchildren) in years to come ...

 

[BoPeep]

Our farmhouse was built in the early 1900s with an addition added in the '20s. The front door opens with a skeleton key - as do all the other doors with that same style knob - bathroom and bedrooms. All original maple floors and woodwork. Neither were ever painted. We've been here 9 years and are renovating back to a 1940s style.

 

[Big Man]

Our farmhouse was built in the early 1900s with an addition added in the '20s. The front door opens with a skeleton key - as do all the other doors with that same style knob - bathroom and bedrooms. All original maple floors and woodwork. Neither were ever painted. We've been here 9 years and are renovating back to a 1940s style.

That looks like a great old house. Old houses, especially farm houses, have so much more "character" than any other kind.