The Denver House Remodel-Past, Present & Blown Up

Built in 1915, this beauty had been vacant for two years.
It desperately needed someone to love it. And we were those ‘someones’.
(Sorry about the quality of the photos. Many were taken with a disposable camera that we kept on the job site. Not very professional, I know. Please forgive me.)

We worked for about a year on this house and had everyone; including friends and family, on the volunteer call list. I owe them all at least a pie.
Here are a few weird things about this house:
1.There was a scary room in the basement with a shoebox full of condoms. Gross.
2.I found porn from thirty years ago tucked behind cabinets. Double Gross.
3.The man who had owned this had installed a 30 foot antenna into the driveway for his HAM radio.
4.Wallpaper covered every square inch in the house-even in the ceilings and the closets.
5.It stunk horribly.
6.Our realtor called this house ‘a turd’, just like the present house we live in.

Le Grande Living Room.
The house had HUGE windows. I loved scraping lead paint from each one of those window panes. Hours and hours of the screeching razor blade against glass and wood, cutting my fingers, inhaling musty old paint…..I wish I could do it all over again.

Refinishing the floors was the final touch on this beautiful house. We learned that this hardwood flooring style is called ‘Log Cabin’. Not bad for being 90 plus years old, huh? I don’t think I will ever buy carpet again.

A fancy staircase led you up to the second floor, with a sneaky servant’s entrance joining in on the landing. We made this huge chandelier (around four feet tall) by wiring two chandeliers together, antiquing them and adding a boatload of crystals anywhere we could.

I think this might have been my favorite rooms-it was one of the four bedrooms. I ate lots of PB & J’s up here with the hubby. It had the best views and the best sun to snuggle in.

I cried when we decided to sell this house rather than lease it. My blood, sweat and tears had been poured into it for a year and I wasn’t ready to let it go. My hubby told me we’d go to Europe with a small part of the profits if we sold the house.
I quit crying and booked two plane tickets immediately.