There is a show on television called House Hunters. They act like finding a house is so hard to do. Personally after our six months of looking for house pieces, I think remodeling might be harder.
Before our buying the house I had rarely ever been on Craig’s List…now, after getting the house, I’m on there a lot!! My latest efforts are for us to find trim for the house. We want old trim..we want to try to match it. We’ve been in houses where people have remodeled and half of the house is old..the other half looks new and modern. In our efforts to avoid that, we think having matching trim is pretty important. I found someone that had trim listed on Craig’s List in Sparta, Wisconsin so Sunday Hubby and I headed out to see what they had.
We were very encouraged because we sent pictures of our trim hoping it might match. Here is ours….
The owner and he said yes, we have that. We have shown and shown and shown that picture and no one has it….most have not even seen it.
We drove the 2 hours and found this…Sadly, it isn’t a perfect match..so what do we do?? We’ve already been looking for 6 months and haven’t found a match that has those little bullets in the trim work. These are about 1/2″ wider that the ours. The circle part is slightly different…so what do??
We ended up purchasing them. The decision was this..they are close, and unless I blab it out on the blog for everyone to see no one would likely notice. All of these will be put in the new addition main floor. Well then came decision #2. These had matching trim pieces that go along the bottom of each door. UGH. Do we buy those or not. Our house doesn’t have the bulleted pieces at the bottom..just a plainer trim piece.
We decided to get them. When the time comes to actually install them, we can always change our minds.
Well of course the decisions didn’t end there…UGH. (Have I told you how much I had decision making??)
The woodwork around the windows was again different from ours. Theirs was groved…ours, plain boards. UGH…what do we do? Again, this is as close as we’re found….
We ended up purchasing all that was shown. This is the conclusion we came to…we paid a small enough price for it all that we know we can resell it if we would find exactly what we want. If we don’t find exactly what we want, this is close enough that we are content with it.
They also had a few other neat things….this door….Hubby isn’t super excited it as the door isn’t “wide enough” for his standards. He wants all the widest doors we can find….me, I love it. He doesn’t like the extra locks on the door…Me I don’t mind it. The progression of locks shows history to me. I won and got the door under the pretense that it will be me that does the stripping. What did I get myself into?!?!!?
We also bought this built in. This is destine for the upstairs bathroom. We are planning a laundry shoot from that room to the main floor laundry. The bottom of this cupboard will house the laundry shoot and the upper part, will be for storage. It isn’t symmetrical as you can see. Hubby will rebuild the trim along the the right side to even it out.
In the mess of all the people’s stuff we did find three boards that do completely match the trim at the house…those we bought too.
All totaled we spent under $600…we have to spend LOTS of elbow grease yet too but we’re content.
All of this can work..nope, maybe not perfect matches, but it’s the best we can do at this point so we’re content if need be. Now, I don’t have troll through Craig’s List daily…hopefully now just a couple times a week!!
If you want to be a real house hunter, remodel an old house….
Jo, Sent you an email re wood trim. I have a good friend who is deconstructing a house near me, my hubby says it is the same age as yours. I could hook you up if you like!
Look at it this way, Jo: Even old houses were added on to “back in the day.” The trim might not be identical to the original in the addition. I think you were extremely lucky to find what you did. I’ve never seen anything like it.
I think that trim must be an East Coast thing because many homes that I have been in have it. I love the trim….it was in my DH’s family homestead; unfortunately we were not in a position to purchase it.
I love the door! It would have had to come home with me as well. Perhaps you could use it in your sewing area instead of a more “public” space since it is an off size. I would love to see how it turns out once you have cleaned it up.
Take care.
My front door looks just like that. I was told it was from the original house that was torn down before my house was built. I love that door. But I don’t love that I can’t open it from the outside. There are no modern knobs or locks on it. And the old, I’m assuming, original knob and lock don’t work from the outside. Other than that it’s great. I love to see the sun coming through the different colors of glass in the morning. Looks like you got some great stuff.
I know the feeling of trying to find matching trim! Our last place had been renovated over time and every room had different trims, the living room had 3 trims itself – drove me crazy!! When we built the addition on our current home, I made sure to have enough trim for the ENTIRE house! I don’t care if it sits in the shed for another 5 years to be installed, it’s all the same, YAY! Love the door, I still mourn the fact I found a door I loved at a house recycling store and I didn’t immediately buy it. Yeah it wasn’t a standard size and it would have needed a custom frame, but the character would’ve made up for that…Very happy you won that debate!
What about putting the more detailed wood trim in the dining room/living room?
I wouldn’t worry about mixing it. The house is a labor of love, and each piece you acquire will add to the story. I think it is great you are restoring the charm of the place.
I think the door is beautiful.
If you are looking for period lighting- take a look at this place, they are replicas but made in the US I believe in Oregon. I had bought many things for my home I restored:
http://www.rejuvenation.com
Good luck, and thanks for sharing your stories.
That big old cupboard to cover up the laundry chute is brilliant! you guys did some great picking, be proud!
Do you have any entry doors that are at least 36″ wide so a wheelchair or transport chair can get through? It would also be good to have a ramp to that door, if you plan to spend your last days there. Also doors to the bathroom should be that wide, or are you planning to move if the time comes you need such things?
See, you could have your own reality show! :) You are restoring a lovely home and every project and treasure you discover is filled with love. It doesn’t get much better than that!
My grandfather was a homebuilder in Arkansas in the 1920s and my father worked for him as a teenager. There was very little prefab. The doors and the trim were built onsite for the house that they were going to be installed in. You are lucky the trim matches as closely as it does. Your house will be beautiful.
Don’t worry about the trim matching. Unless someone happens to be in construction industry, they will NEVER notice. The home DH and I remodeled had 5 different types of molding in the living room/10 foot ceilings. No one every got close enough to know the difference. It didn’t even show different in the corners!! LOL, just enjoy the learning experience as you go along!!!
Unless you place the pieces side by side, no one will see a difference! Just don’t point it out to everyone :) Looks lovely! I live in an 85 year old farm house that I would love to remodel, but it belongs to FIL and I am not willing to argue with him over any changes. I guess the old house will be as it was when he was born here…sigh. But then, there won’t be any issues I have to deal with, right?
I just love that door..totally love it….