A virtual tour of the restoration of THIS old house, plus a few tidbits
Kitchen: Before and After
Home | Bennington | Dining Room: Before and After | Home Office: Before and After | 1st Fl. Bathroom: Before and After | Kitchen: Before and After | Some 'before' exterior views | The Contractors | Triumph TR 4 | Haydenville Room | Cedar Hill Room | Lost Railroads of the Pioneer Valley | St. J. & L.C. | Extended Tours of the Pioneer Valley's Rail Trails

Restoring an old house is full of surprises. Some good and some not so good. 

Kathy starting to strip wall paper.
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Luckily, the wall paper was only one layer thick and came off without much problem.  By this time in the restoration, Kathy was an expert at removing wall paper.

Two strong men at work.
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Jeff Van Dyke (left) and Jim the Plumber (right) are seen here lifting out the old 300+lbs. 135 year old sink.  The sink by the way was in great condition and we actually sold it for $200.00.

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where the sink was

Steven and Jeff are now surveying the scene where the sink used to be, and starting to open the wall and floor to faciliate the removal and refit of all new plumbing and electricity.

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Steven is getting deeper into opening the wall and floor now.

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The opened wall and floor provided both an unpleasant surprise and the reason for the 'odd' smell in the kitchen.

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Yes, the section of the drain pipe that was in the wall had a hole in it.  A hole about 2 inches long, that was undiscovered for about 30+ years. A hole which caused all the water that went down the drain--to not flow into the city sewer, but instead flowed to the crawl space under the house. 
Yes, we had a pond under the house.  A pond 2.5 inches deep by 15 feet long!  (I put my new shop vac to the test that weekend sucking out a horrendous brew of sludge.)   After we had it dry, we found no rot or insects.  Amazing. 
 
Some have asked me since, if we had called the inspector we hired to go over the house--pointing out his omission--and perhaps taking legal action.
 
We have not even thought of that route because knowing this information last year when we were in negotiations for the house wouldn't have lowered the price, nor would it have stopped us from buying  the house. It would've only served to make for many a sleepless night until we had the cash to restore the kitchen. 
 
This was  a perfect case of  "Not knowing won't hurt you".

Here's some 'after' photos of the kitchen.

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Good views of both the Craft Maid cabinentry and the tile as well as the restored Bird's Eye Maple floor are seen here.

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Here's a couple of great views of the 8 foot pantry cabinent, the stove and microwave as well as the tile counter top in that area.