Our new house is a 1925 Bunaglow. But it’s unique because there’s definitely been some updates and remodeling. I really want to find the original house plans and the permits for the remodel. I wonder how do to that. City Hall records maybe? I’d love to see what the floor plan used to be and what it changed to compared to what it is now. I’m assuming there have been a few updates since 1925.
First, one of Michael’s friends has a house almost identical to ours except it’s only the main floor (2 bedroom, one bathroom). Our house was remodeled at some point for the attic to be converted to a second floor. The second floor has the humongous master bedroom/bathroom (bathroom has a jacuzzi tub!), a bedroom (which is Logan’s room right now until he’s a little older then maybe it will be the office), a nook that we are using as a playroom/music room for Michael and a half bath.
(The jacuzzi tub is kind of my favorite part of the new house. As a not tiny person, I’ve never comfortably enjoyed a luxurious bath in small bathtubs, which is the norm for apartments and house built in the 70’s and 80’s so this tub is definitely an upgrade!)
Second, the first part of the house, the living room and hallways, are the original part of the house for sure. They are lath and plaster walls. If you don’t know what that is, it’s basically skinny wood and plaster instead of drywall, here are some examples:
That’s how old house in that time period were built. Then drywall became the norm. I’m not sure why they didn’t remodel the living room and hallway because they definitely remodeled the bathroom, bedroom (which we are using as a guestroom) and the room we are using as an office on the mainfloor. Those rooms aren’t lath and plaster, they are drywall.
But they did keep some of the cool features of the original house, besides the plaster walls in the living room. They kept this:
I’m guessing it works still. It’s kinda cool! Also, the bathrooms have these old lights:
I’m not sure if they are replicas or original to the house but they are cool. The bathroom on the mainfloor also has built in cabinets/shelving, which I love. I love built-in everything!
Plus the windows in the front living room are original. Meaning actually original to the 1920’s. Which aesthetically is amazing but economically and energy-wise not so much. They are still on a pulley-system. Which is kind of scary when you have a toddler. It would be easy to smash fingers. We have to be extra careful. Apparently they stopped making the windows that way after the 1950’s.
We will see how cold and drafty these old windows are this winter!! I know that there are specialty window people that can upgrade your windows so that they are double paned and energy efficient but still look like the time period. I just need to research it, and I’m sure it’s pretty expensive!
I want to show pictures of the finished house but we are still unpacking a few things and getting organized. We haven’t really hung any of our art yet and are still figuring out where stuff goes. But most of the major stuff it done.
Finally, one of my favorite things in the old house: the original doorknobs.
How awesome are those? 🙂 So those are some of the details in our old new house.
