[mini-trad mysteries] Pantry, Service Porch; Can YOU help?

When it came time to buy our house, I had—like most shoppers—a very keen idea of exactly what I wanted.  

• Three + bedrooms
• One + bathrooms
• Built before 1950
• Ideally! built between 1890 and 1940
• With as many original, historic details intact as possible

We found that house, too.  But it wasn’t meant to be.

Instead of my dream house, we found a home that I’ve fallen in love with despite its faults.  It has the curb appeal of a shipping container, but has some really cute little details throughout.  (Including original tile in the kitchen and the bath!)

We mopped AFTERWARDS, oops

But our strange little mini-trad also has some odd mysteries about it.  

In our kitchen is a pink and beige/off-white linoleum flooring that is not original to the house.  The house was built in 1948 and based on some snooping I did, I found evidence that the original flooring is still there under the new-ish linoleum.

In our service porch is a recessed space that we use (and the previous owners used) as a pantry.  In the floor of this pantry are two small holes up against the east wall.  Gutting from the north wall is a strip where there is no linoleum and no original flooring, but it doesn’t open up to the crawl space.  Obviously, something was there when both the original flooring and the “updated” linoleum was installed.  But what?  A washer?  A sink?  

Note the shelf supports

When looking into this recessed space, it quickly becomes clear that it was updated to be a pantry.  The shelving is unsophisticated.  Wooden boards supported by slats of wood nailed to the west and east walls.  I suspect that the “pantry” shelving was installed before the linoleum was installed, but I cannot be clear.  If it was, then whatever left its “footprint” in the floor would have likely co-existed with the shelves.  Therefore, said appliance would have to have been on the short side as the lowest shelf is only about a foot and half off the floor.  And that doesn’t make sense.

I have no clear indication when the linoleum was installed, and no clear idea when the “pantry” was converted.  But it all does leave me scratching my head, that’s for sure!

For a bit of extra mystery... Notice how in this last photo the linoleum was installed either after the water heater was replaced/added, or that the heater was lifted to install the flooring.  Weird.

homeownership

It's been about two weeks since we closed escrow and, to be expected, we are in full-blown homeowner mode.  We've made the obligatory repeat trips to the hardware store.  We've discussed the merits of copper plumbing with others.  We've googled numerous DIY and "how to" pages on everything from dishwasher troubleshooting, to pocket-door repair.  Yeah.

It's been about two weeks since we closed escrow and we still have numerous boxes to sort through and unpack.  As we knew that our last place was only going to be transitionary (five years of transition, apparently), we stored several boxes of items that we figured we may want whenever we did get into a home.  So, here we are--with five years worth of a stored "stuff."

It's been about two weeks since we closed escrow and we've already purchased more furniture.  I've found myself doing daily searches on Craigslist for items that would be just right for our late Art Deco/early Mid-century home.  I could not pass up a beautiful secretary/cabinet.  Plus a friend was needing to offload an antique couch that is a great color for our green living room.  Now, if only I could figure out just how to arrange everything in there...

You're seeing a pattern, right?  (Any inexpensive project-organizing software suggestions?)


Some major advantages to rejoining the ranks of the house dwellers include establishing a regular laundry schedule.  (No more fighting for an open washer.)  I have also been thoroughly happy in my larger kitchen complete with deep vintage sinks that are great for hand-washing dishes.  (Yeah, remember the part where I mentioned dishwasher troubleshooting?  We're stuck hand-washing until we fix our dishwasher.)

Probably the best part of our new adventure is to see just how happy the baby is playing in his backyard.  I'm a firm believer that children should be able to scratch around in dirt, get grass stains, and enjoy plenty of fresh air.  Declan loves being outside.  I am definitely looking forward to when we get our victory garden going and he can dig and plant alongside mom and dad.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to wrap my head around all the little things around here that I can accomplish.  Goodness knows there is plenty to do!

Home Sweet Home

The secretary

Opened

I love this little detail in the kitchen.  Wooden valance?

We have a few archways like this one into the dining room.

Looking into the dining area from the living room.

Looking into the kitchen from the service porch.

Hallway

Declan helps his dad with some yard work.

Just another afternoon with a one year-old

This photo is not staged.