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Show us your vintage home!

vitanola

vitanola

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,254
Location
Gopher Prairie, MI
Vera Godfrey said:
I love that oven! There is one for sale at the Restore, but DH won't get it because he thinks the wiring will be bad. I do have a gas range that I love, that we brought with us. House was not wired for a gas range, but was near a gas source, so we had someone put a line in.
Click to expand...

Almost all older (pre-1970) ranges used neither rubber nor plastic electrical insulation, relying instead on a mineral wool compound, and so the wiring in these stoves seldom deteriorates. I recently refurbished a 1925 Hotpoint range with eight burners and two ovens for a young couple, and found that all of the wiring was safe. The unit wanted only a thorough cleaning, new contacts on one oven thermostat, thermostat calibration, shiny stainless burner reflector bowls and new nickle plating on some trim.
 
LizzieMaine

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,061
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
vitanola said:
Modern upholstered furniture is particularly difficult to fit into all but the largest of older houses as it is terribly over-scaled. In the 1980's, furniture manufacturers discovered that over-sized sofas and chairs sold well, as they looked more impressive when displayed in a large furniture store than did pieces of more traditional scale. Unfortunately this large furniture did not look well in living rooms of ordinary scale, hence the ascendance of the so-called "Great Room" at this time.
Click to expand...

This is maybe the most important piece of information anyone can get before moving into a "vintage house." If you have a lot of big, showy modern stuff, not only will it not fit in the living room, there's a pretty good chance it isn't even going to fit in the door.

The only couch that will fit in my 1911-built living room is an old humpbacked Victorian I rescued from a friend's back porch where it had been abandoned for probably fifty years. The upholstery was shot, but that was easily replaced. It's not as impressive as a modern couch, but at least you can fit other things into the room with it.
 
Gregg Axley

Gregg Axley

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,125
Location
Tennessee
I have to agree with you Lizzie.
Most modern items are in our addition, but the rest of the house has older furniture because of the doorways.
When the wife needed a recliner in the bedroom for awhile (medical condition), I had a hard time getting it from the addition to the bedroom.
It took some bending and shoving (of the chair not me) just to make it go through 3 doorways.
After she didn't need it in there anymore she said "we might be able to put it back."
Uh no, I'm not going through that again! :D
 
jamespowers

jamespowers

Messages
54,308
Location
Near the World's Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum
Gregg Axley said:
I have to agree with you Lizzie.
Most modern items are in our addition, but the rest of the house has older furniture because of the doorways.
When the wife needed a recliner in the bedroom for awhile (medical condition), I had a hard time getting it from the addition to the bedroom.
It took some bending and shoving (of the chair not me) just to make it go through 3 doorways.
After she didn't need it in there anymore she said "we might be able to put it back."
Uh no, I'm not going through that again! :D
Click to expand...

Don't you own a chainsaw? :p
 
Guttersnipe

Guttersnipe

One Too Many
Messages
1,942
Location
San Francisco, CA
Alright, here's my vintage home. The building was built starting in 1928, but the real estate developer went bust in the 1929 stock market crash, so it wasn't finished until '31. Our apartment is decorated with with a mixture of late '30s through '50s decor and furniture.

The building's exterior (y'all better not stock me!):

Building.jpg

The living room:

Living Room 1.jpg

Living Room 2.jpg

Living Room 3.jpg
 
S

Stearmen

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,202
Shangas said:
I'm getting horrible flashbacks of how my father and I tried to manipulate a sofa-bed through the house, from one bedroom to another, a few years ago. I don't know how the hell we did it, but I don't intend to ever do it again!
Click to expand...

I have not had to do that in several years. If memory serves me correct, the couch goes right in, once the legs break off!
 
Gregg Axley

Gregg Axley

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,125
Location
Tennessee
Oh, see that's the information I needed!
Actually I think my grandfather took the legs off the sofabed in my living room, and then got it in the house.
That thing has been here since the early 70's, yet I had a hard time wrestling a skinny book case through the door way.
Yes I own a chainsaw, but I'm not allowed to use it without adult supervision.
You use a chainsaw in the front yard one time, while wearing a hockey mask (for protection) and you're labeled a danger to society. [huh]
 
jamespowers

jamespowers

Messages
54,308
Location
Near the World's Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum
Gregg Axley said:
Oh, see that's the information I needed!
Actually I think my grandfather took the legs off the sofabed in my living room, and then got it in the house.
That thing has been here since the early 70's, yet I had a hard time wrestling a skinny book case through the door way.
Yes I own a chainsaw, but I'm not allowed to use it without adult supervision.
You use a chainsaw in the front yard one time, while wearing a hockey mask (for protection) and you're labeled a danger to society. [huh]
Click to expand...

The legs on those nasty 70s couches unscrew if memory serves.


The chainsaw is a cutting tool and a musical instrument. :p
 
Gregg Axley

Gregg Axley

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,125
Location
Tennessee
My couch isn't a 70's, I think it's an early 60's.
All the other furniture (except for my recliners which are 5yrs old) is 50-60yrs old.
 
vintageTink

vintageTink

One Too Many
Messages
1,321
Location
An Okie in SoCal
Guttersnipe said:
Alright, here's my vintage home. The building was built starting in 1928, but the real estate developer went bust in the 1929 stock market crash, so it wasn't finished until '31. Our apartment is decorated with with a mixture of late '30s through '50s decor and furniture.

The building's exterior (y'all better not stock me!):
Click to expand...
Very nice!
 
Guttersnipe

Guttersnipe

One Too Many
Messages
1,942
Location
San Francisco, CA
Gregg Axley, vintageTink, kampkatz, thanks. No, there's no basement. Being in San Francisco, where usable acreage and livable square footage is such a premium , the building doesn't have a backyard or attic either . . . that's city livin' for ya!
 
lolly_loisides

lolly_loisides

One Too Many
Messages
1,845
Location
The Blue Mountains, Australia
Not my home, yet. We went to have a look at a deco home for sale at Katoomba, it's a nice mainly original late 40's house. Needs work, but could be lovely, and it's only a five minute walk from the Three Sisters.
birdwood.jpg birdwood2.jpg birdwood3.jpg birdwood4.jpg birdwood5.jpg birdwood6.jpg
This is just around the corner
ThreeSisters001.jpg
 
Last edited:
Touchofevil

Touchofevil

Messages
12,734
Location
Northern California
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