Treasures!

Right off, first day working at the house, hubby, Clay, finds a "treasure".  In the back, northwest corner of the house, is a bedroom.  This bedroom, I've mentioned, had the worst damage.  Water leaking in from the roof and soffit, mold taking over, vines coming in through the windows, old, soggy red carpet turned to mush.  Clay was pulling some of the rotting wood casing off the door frame and found an old black and white photo of one of the daughters that grew up in the home, 93 years ago.  She is sitting on the porch at the home and looks to me to be about 12 years old. I snapped a picture of the old photo, and then dropped it in the mail to the past owner.  Over Memorial Day weekend, one of the grandsons dropped by and we showed him the picture.  He thought it was his aunt Doris, the oldest of the three girls.  She married Sterling W. Sill, famous author of "How to Profit from the Laws of Success," and other books, and also An Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the LDS church from 1954 to 1976.

I am actually quite amazed that it survived as well as it did, considering it has been trapped between rotting wood and damp plaster for nearly a hundred years.  I also really love that you can see the house in the picture.  She may actually be older than I thought in this picture.  I saw that she got married in 1929, and the house was built in 1921.  What do you think?

Ok... a couple of other "treasures."

WWF wrestling cards.

 

And we found this book trapped in the basement closet where we removed the dumbwaiter.

This library book was checked out in March of 1973.  There is notice of a two cents charge per day for late fees, which makes the fine nearly $300 to date.  My little one wants to keep it, but I think I will call the Kaysville City Library and see if they want it back.

More to come... Indian head penny from 1903 (also found in dumbwaiter closet), newspaper from 1923, and other stuff!

 

Original home living room and office.

The Home is OURS!  Ready to see what our money got us?

The inglenook in front living room.

As you walk in the front door, this inglenook is centered in the room on the north wall.  It has beautiful built in benches on both the east and west sides and stain glass cupboards above the mantel.  The face of the fireplace is covered in marble, however, the marble is cracked in several places.  The floor is covered in rectangular tiles (marble possibly).  The wood floors are original, as is all the wood work.  The previous owners insisted that the renters never touch the wood.  Even though it was rented for over sixty years, it's all original.  The wallpaper in between the panels, is embossed and pretty cool pattern, with cherubs. The sconces are original and look pretty funky with our modern light bulbs installed in them.  The main light fixture in this room caught fire while the last tenant was living in it.  He removed it from the house (I think it is still sitting on the porch) and never repaired it (remember he is an electrician).  

This is looking to the east from the living room.  The room forward and on the left was the dining room in the original plan and will be the master bedroom in the final plan.  The room on the right is an office and will still be an office. The french doors on the right are one of the three sets that come in off the porch. You can see in this picture the missing light fixture.  Both of the openings to these room have the large, four foot wide, solid wood with glass insert pocket doors. They are amazing, I'll get you a pic.

The office, is located in the front right corner of the house.  The stain glass windows are in pretty good condition and match the cupboards above the fireplace in the living room.  I think the last tenant covered the window on the right to keep the eastern sunshine glare off his computer screen.  I have a great story about this room.  There used to be a large buffalo head hanging above this fireplace.  The original home owner and mayor of Kaysville, John Thornley,  went hunting buffalo,with Jack Dempsy, the boxer, out at antelope island.  The cabinets, are of course built-in, as well as the roll top desk (not seen).  Don't you just love the beamed ceiling?  The fireplace will remain, but just be unused.  It has the same marble as the living room fireplace, but it isn't cracked or damaged like that one.  

This is the beautiful, built-in, roll top desk on the west wall in the office.  You can see it is right next to the pocket door as you enter from the living room.  The light fixture is also built-in but doesn't work.  We are hoping to keep this room exactly as it is except for taking down some old wallpaper and giving it a fresh coat of paint.

This is a view back into the living room, on the left, and the original dining room on the right. Also, the old knob and tube light switch on the wall. The picture below shows just a glimpse of the large stained glass window on the front of the house.  You also get a shot at the wallpaper, and the radiator.  Love this room, so cool!