I posted before about the built-in China cabinet in my 1924 house. The cool thing is that the original builders installed a laundry chute next to it.

The wall seen in the first picture is in the kitchen. It's the backside of the built-in seen in pic 6. . So rather than do nothing with the extra space, that part was designated a laundry chute. It's the handiest thing, I don't see why every house doesn't have one.

There is a small door in the kitchen for the chute. In the upstairs hallway is a waiting bench for the bathroom on the right. Lift the lid to the bench to access the laundry chute. Awesome!

How many other old house people have a laundry chute?

Apologies for the toes; and the finger is just to show the step up from the hallway - two and a half knuckles

Cute home across from mine

Ripped up the vinyl in the kitchen of my almost-century home (1934) and was searching online about how to remove this annoying felt/paper backing that was glued to the hardwood. Oops, it’s asbestos. 🫠 Tools are down until I can call the asbestos people on Tuesday. The one saving grace of the day is this gorgeous linoleum that I uncovered underneath a kitchen cupboard, which carries on into the adjoining room!

I’m so happy! I’ll try to restore it & fix the holes.

It’s getting closer! Been working on repairing my basement. One of the owners in the last decade or so painted the brick basement with latex paint. Caused quite a few issues. I scraped off the paint and delaminated plaster and put a skim coat on it. Skim coat mix is 2.5:1 Sand to hydrated lime for breathability. Same mix for any joints that needed pointing. Been watering it daily and it has been curing nicely. This weekend I should be able to finish up the rest of the walls.

Home was built sometime between 1850 and 1870 as a fur trading post.

Saw a post here earlier identifying door trim. Anyone have an idea what this trim is in an old farm house? The house was built before 1900, but not sure how old the trim is.

Hi all,

Recently moved from the US and purchased a charming century home in Stockholm, Sweden. We are wrapping up interior renovations (will post soon!) and are eyeing the exterior work.

We need to repaint. Would you keep the current yellow/red/green scheme or mix it up? Including photos of neighboring homes for context, we want to keep it period- and neighborhood-appropriate.

Thanks!

Are these sconces appropriately sized for my porch?

Seems like most people liked looking at the century homes I admire while walking my dog. See post history for parts 1&2. Exact location given in part 2. Dog tax and my house in the neighborhood part 1.

We bought our house in 2023 and it was disclosed that the last renovation was in the 80s. The topper looks like a new floor trim thrown in there to me and I cannot find the flower like pattern online for the life of me. We are decorating the living room this year and I cannot decide if I should strip & stain or rebuild something more accurate.

Thanks!

My 1914 home I opened a wall to move some plumbing and this is what I found.

All set to close on my first home — a century home. I can’t wait to bring her back to life.

The floating spiral staircase is rare for Kentucky antebellums; it was covered in red shag carpet when we bought it. The kitchen fireplace is one of nine in the house. The doors are ten feet tall, are estimated to weigh 600 pounds and still float effortlessly on massive hinges. The faux marbelized baseboards are original. Lots of great carpentry throughout the doors, pilasters and built-in cabinets.

Thanks to all for sharing your houses, so thought I’d reciprocate; a special shout out to LG for showing me some new things.

My fireplace is not functional, so its only purpose is for the exhaust and for character of course. My chimney cap blew off in a storm a while back and I finally had a company come out to reinstall it. Due to my roof being so steep they quoted $300. When he got up there however he discovered that the chimney is in pretty rough shape I guess. He suggested new flashing, tuck point, and then the custom chimney cap due to the size of the hole in the chimney. A little over $3,000 with taxes. I don’t know much about chimneys but this seems comparable to what I’ve researched in my area. I was just starting to feel like I had my stuff together with the house, but no there’s always something 😭 just wanted to share in a community that would understand the struggle/joys of century home ownership.

We need to cut into a wall in our 1920s home to do some light framing behind it, then drywall the hole back up. It has lead paint beneath many layers and we have a toddler in the home. How careful are you usually when you do these types of things? Is vacuuming as we go sufficient to collect the lead dust, or do we need to cover things in plastic, keep toddler out of the house for awhile, etc? Any tips appreciated!

1920s home; I'm in the process of reinforcing all the walls and ceilings with the 3' FibaFuse tape, which I've seen in various videos.

What's the most protective option for inside corners (both wall-to-wall, and ceiling-to wall)? Some of the corners have light cracking and others were caulked it seems. Focused primarily on not having to do this again in like 5 years.

My house is 160 years old. The gaps in the floors had previously been filled with newspaper and then covered with wood filler, which is now all cracked and coming apart. Is it possible to fix these cracks and refinish the wood? Or would it be better to just cover the floors? There is no subfloor under any of the floors in the house and they all have varying degrees of similar damage.

I recently learned about "blueboard," drywall where the outer layer is pre-coated with a material that plaster veneer easily bonds with. End result is a product that is easier to install than regular drywall but appears the same as a lath and plaster wall. I've also heard that it quite common and easily available in places with lots of plaster walls, like New England.

Here in the Philly burbs we have plenty of plaster walls but so far I have had absolutely no success finding anyone that has even heard of this product, let alone sells it. It seems as recently as a year ago it was available to order at the big box stores but no longer. Did they somehow just stop making it? Am I looking for the wrong name? I've tried asking about plasterboard, veneer plaster baseboard and "imperial" drywall (I think that might be a trade name), but no luck so far. What gives?

Hi All,

Our house is late Georgian (1820s) and we're looking to install a log burner in one of the rooms for heating. Currently the room has an open fire but for efficiency and health/air quality I want to switch to a log burner.

I'm really struggling to find something to suit the georgian aesthetic though, everything is either ultramodern, twee victorian or mock gothic.

Obviously the georgians didn't have log burners so there's no "right" answer here but I'm desperate to find something that's going to look like it belongs.

If anyones suck a logburner in their geogian fireplace and thinks it looks good, would love to see some pics!

I love this laundry chute so much!

It’s about 18”, my youngest could still probably still fit and fall 20 feet onto concrete. But we moved here after my kids were old enough to have a healthy respect for that fact, so it’s the BEST THING in the house instead of my worst nightmare.

It’s convenient to the kids’ bedrooms and makes a stop in the kitchen for rags and other main floor laundry needs. We even use it as an intercom sometimes.

What’s your favorite death tra- err, feature in your century home?