Project "Dining Room Rehab" keeping John busy

[Melodie-And-John0]

I wrote about a project  "Dining Room/ Guest Suite Entrance" that I had hoped to get done this year in the "Spruce Up" thread before the virus effect both cut my booking to nearly nothing and also is keeping me home because I work in a university that has gone online for the time being.  So I had allot of time on my hands and decided to move the project from the "hope" column to the "in  Progress" column, I added some pics to the online posting and  @Stephanie   mentioned it might make a good thread so here goes.  

This space is unique in the fact it acts more as a guest entrance for and connection to the private bathroom for Guest Space # 2 (our easy access suite) than a dining room and it hasn't had more than a touch up in 40 years and most of that work was poorly done.  It needs insulation on a couple outside walls, new electric in a few areas, the horsehair plaster and lath is breaking out in too many places and crumbling, the floor needs patching and refinishing and all around, its what I refer to as a 3/4 gut.  There are a couple wall sec

tions and the ceiling that are savable but everything else has to go.  

This project is a bit different feel than most, there is no urgency, Ive shut it down for a month although were still listing the 3 bedroom suite upstairs.  I suspect I will be "working from home" for a few more weeks so I don't have to do the madman rush like I do when I usually only have a week to do what I will have a month to do this time.  I can stop when I get tired or have eaten enough plaster or itchy from the Fiberglass and enjoy Bull Bat Hour with my favorite adult beverage (also my planning time).  I will put some pics from the beginning and add as I go, so far I've not hit any obstacles I hadn't anticipated but you never know about today until you reach tomorrow!  Stay well and keep busy if you can, John

Main EntranceBedroom EntranceDraped off Entrance to kitchenBathroom EntranceBathroom Entrance

[Melodie-And-John0]

Thanks @Sarah977 , when I gutted out the living room/ kitchen we found farm journals from the late 1800s to early 1900's between the floor layers.  Amazing articles about new farm machinery and even prohibition, interesting reading for sure.  The only finds on this project were a vintage Hot Wheels badge (Im a little older than it is, Ha ha) and a few mouse skeletons. The curtains only were a temp that turned long term from our last house that have been there too long (even though they are too short) , they shall replaced with correct length blue ones, were keying off the blue in the rug for the paint.   Stay well, John

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Newspaper seems to be a common material in old houses. When I bought this one, some of the Victorian sash windows looked like they were about to fall out of the walls. The builders found the large cracks around them stuffed with newspaper from numerous decades. Not the best solution to be sure so needless to say those cracks have now been filled in properly.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

The owner of our last house (Victorian) filled plaster holes by putting masking tape over them and then painting the masking tape!

[Melodie-And-John0]

Oh my @Mike-And-Helen0 , Ive found so many of those Rube Goldberg types of repairs in our 2 century old behemoth (i use the term "repairs" loosely).  I actually found AC wiring spliced between layers of flooring in the living room once during a gutout , thats a giant no noooooo!  It wasn't 20' from where I found an AC outlet dangling inside a kitchen Wall alive, (another Bozo No no).  After 15 years of reno's, Ive nearly completely replaced the wiring, plumbing and waste pipe system in the home.  I sleep better knowing Ive personally removed almost all of the oh Poo surprises behind the walls and in the ceilings, attics, cellar and crawl spaces of "this old house".  JR

[Mike-And-Helen0]

I think our houses were owned by the same person.

A 2 bar electric fire illegally wired into the economy 7 socket and nestling in the insulation in the attic...

I've never heard Rube Goldberg used in that way, only in the context of Rube Goldberg machines? @Melodie-And-John0 

[Melodie-And-John0]

Rube always had a very different way to get something very common place done although they werent always practical nor safe, he was much more creative than the folks that cobbled some of the things I have seen.  JR

[Helen427]

Are you keeping the carpet/rug @Melodie-And-John0 ?
Those newspapers are great natural insulation, love them and wallpaper - maybe newspaper will come back in fashion in these challenging times...Hold on to them, we are about to lose over 100 weekly/ monthly publications if our Government doesn't let people go out to work

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Helen427 , We are definitely keeping the rug, it was my moms and it fits like it was made for that room, the new color scheme will key off of the blues in the carpet.  Cant wait to see it come together!  Stay well, John

[Mike-And-Helen0]

Love the rug!

I understand "adult beverage" but what is "Bull bat hour"?

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Mike-And-Helen0 , Thanks, The rug was my moms and it is the centerpiece for the room, its huge for a hand knotted rug and in pretty great shape for its age.  As for bull bat hour, I wrote a piece a few days ago about the subject. 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Interests/Its-Bull-Bat-Time-somewhere/td-p/1268162

Stay safe and well, John

[Dimitar27]

The old rugs looks nice, but it's a hell to clean them, when they become dirty. I put a rug in my listing too, but it's very cheap-it's cheaper to bye a new one, then washing the old. On other side- the expensive rugs like Persian or "Chiprovski" are too expensive, because they are handmade.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Dimitar27 , True, they can be challenging to clean but they are very tough and designed to be used and enjoyed, it does no good to have a beautiful painting in a vault where nobody can see it.  Im blessed to have many of them, this one is the largest but certainly not the oldest, some of which are 100+ years old.  Stay well, JR

[Sarah977]

@Dimitar27  There are places that you can take rugs that clean them for you.

[Dimitar27]

New rug costs about 25-30$. Very cheap and low quality rug, made for hotel rooms and other similar places. 100% synthetic, of course.

To clean a rug cost 2$ per sq. meter and near 10$ for transport. And I'm not sure, that the rug I bought for my place, will survive a machine washing. Those rugs are made with different idea-after one or two years to be thrown away for recycling.
Expensive handmade rug can really survive 200+ years. But they cost 1000-1500$...

[Huma0]

Yes, you have to be careful with rugs in guest areas. I had one guest who spilt coffee all over the cream coloured rug in his room and it looks like no attempt was made to clean it. If he had told me at the time, I might have been able to rescue it, but the coffee had really dried in. As he was a long-term guest, I was cleaning his room every two weeks, so it could have been there that long.

Luckily, the rug wasn't super expensive and wasn't new either, so I let it go. However, I would be nervous of putting an expensive rug, or heirloom, in a guest space. Accidents do happen.