This morning, as a point of background and introduction, I will combine all the old photos I have of this place (generously given to me by former owners and/or their relatives) with some of my favorites that I have taken. It's been quite a metamorphosis ... and there's still a lot more to come.
This is the oldest photo we have of our house. We are guessing that this was some time around 1930, because we know which family lived here at the time it was taken. The sidelights and transom show their original configuration ... divided lights with wooden muntins.
This photo is later, but I'm not sure exactly how much later. The transom and sidelights have been changed to leaded glass (as they still are today). There's a hedge out front, and ivy is beginning to cover the facade.
This photo was taken in 1958. The shrubs and hedge are more mature, and the ivy is beginning to take over. The wooden front steps are now brick. This is probably my favorite photo of the house, because it shows a sense of grace that's hard to explain. In the future, as we put together the cosmetic portions of our restoration, I want to recapture this feeling ... minus the ivy.
There was a large addition built onto the back of our house in 1967-68. In the process, all of the original Gothic gingerbread trim (and the dormer) were removed to simplify the house into a more Colonial style. Notice that the window above the front porch is now a set of narrow French doors. There are now two porch posts, instead of the original four.
It's now 1976. The hedge has been removed, and the brick walkway is grown over. Notice how the patch in the roof where the dormer was is peeling.
This photo was taken in the 1980's, for a real estate brochure when the house was for sale.
This is the first photo I took, as I got out of the car to take a real estate tour in July of 2002. (I have lots of interior photos from this day, that I'll share as part of before-and-after posts of our interior renovations. Some of them will make your hair stand on end.) This newest hedge is Burford holly, there are foam corner brackets on the porch, and the brick walk has completely disappeared.
I saw this view of the house one afternoon in 2004, in my side-view mirror as I drove out of the driveway. I loved how the house appears to be cradled by trees, and the picnic table added a nice element to the foreground. You can almost see the new standing seam roof that we had installed earlier in the year.
This was our Christmas card picture from 2005. Notice that there are 4 x 4's holding up the porch. The porch is new, and we hadn't decided what to do about the posts. The tapered posts seen in the earlier photos were not the originals, and they were rotten beyond saving. We still haven't decided on the design of the replacement ... but we are definitely going with the original 4-post configuration. I have some salvaged tapered round columns that might be super.
There is still a LOT of work left to do to make this place show well. Up until now, we have been concerned about things like rot and roofing, and paint, and have left the fun decorative details to do later. I hope to be able to tell about some progress on this real soon.
(written by Hartwood Roses. Hartwood Roses blog)