This past weekend, Rachel and I had the honor of taking part in the wedding of our good friends, Sarah and Tom. I stood as best man, while Rachel read the Scripture reading during the ceremony.
For us, it was an end to an era - of sorts. We have attended several weddings between college friends at the chapel on campus (the same place we were wed), but this couple is likely (?) the last wedding between two people who both attended Northwestern in our era as students. So it is uncertain when our next wedding at Alice Millar will take place.
It was fun to participate in a wedding in which we have had long-standing friendships with both the bride and groom. Tom and Sarah are certainly a part of our Chicago family (but not in a mafia way) and so in many ways the experience was like a family wedding.
See my beautiful wife! She stressed all week about what to wear, but after several shopping trips, Skype conferences, neighbor advice-asking, and a trip to see her sister she was able to put together a fine outfit.
Andrew did scream during the vows, but at least he did not let out a huge poop like the last wedding he attended.
Meanwhile, it is time to revisit the dilemma of house projects - renovation versus restoration.
Admittedly, the majority of the work I have completed on the house thus far has been renovation. The kitchen was certainly all reno - but there was nothing to restore in that room, because the only original thing we discovered was the wood floor, which was in bad shape.
We painted over all the plaster walls and trim, but there was no unpainted woodwork prior to our buying the house.
For the sake of a temporary facelift, we chose to paint over the wood paneling in the hallway and upstairs, rather than expose and restore the original walls.
The old workbench in the basement was removed, because it was falling apart - nothing I could do there.
The living room project (removal of the fireplace) ended up as a renovation, as the original brick was removed and replaced with drywall. That project, more than any, illustrated the tension between these two philosophies. Since moving in, I wanted to restore the fireplace - not necessarily because I love brick, but because I wanted the centerpiece of our living room to stand as a testament to the historical nature of our home. Unfortunately, in that case, the reality of an impossible restoration made that dream crash....like a ton of bricks.
Thankfully, the story does not end there. We do, after all, have original wood floors that were sanded to their original color. We are happy with that, squeaks, creaks, and all. We removed the ceiling tiles in the bedroom, exposing the plaster ceilings and crown(ish) molding. And now...
The entryway!
A month ago, when I was away at Man Camp, Rachel began a restoration project in the entryway at our front (side) door. She painted the paneling (ok, this is not really a restoration of anything original, but it will have to do for now. Putting up drywall here is just not a priority) and began removing the vinyl floor tile to reveal....
The original black-and-white hexagon ceramic tile!
In the past week, I have pitched in to help finish the painting and removing the rest of the floor. We are hoping to paint the trim and the door this week, before my Mom comes on Friday. (if we don't finish, I'm ok with that!) Any suggestions about colors?
Finally, an exciting discovery. I found the records from the recently-released 1940 Archives for this house. At that time, a Swedish family of four was renting this house for 33 dollars per month. The Anderson household was headed by an iron worker who made 200 dollars a year. They lived on a block with Austrians, Norweigans, and more Swedes.
Thinking about all that history certainly makes me sway towards restoration!
-alan
For us, it was an end to an era - of sorts. We have attended several weddings between college friends at the chapel on campus (the same place we were wed), but this couple is likely (?) the last wedding between two people who both attended Northwestern in our era as students. So it is uncertain when our next wedding at Alice Millar will take place.
It was fun to participate in a wedding in which we have had long-standing friendships with both the bride and groom. Tom and Sarah are certainly a part of our Chicago family (but not in a mafia way) and so in many ways the experience was like a family wedding.
Meanwhile, it is time to revisit the dilemma of house projects - renovation versus restoration.
Admittedly, the majority of the work I have completed on the house thus far has been renovation. The kitchen was certainly all reno - but there was nothing to restore in that room, because the only original thing we discovered was the wood floor, which was in bad shape.
We painted over all the plaster walls and trim, but there was no unpainted woodwork prior to our buying the house.
For the sake of a temporary facelift, we chose to paint over the wood paneling in the hallway and upstairs, rather than expose and restore the original walls.
The old workbench in the basement was removed, because it was falling apart - nothing I could do there.
The living room project (removal of the fireplace) ended up as a renovation, as the original brick was removed and replaced with drywall. That project, more than any, illustrated the tension between these two philosophies. Since moving in, I wanted to restore the fireplace - not necessarily because I love brick, but because I wanted the centerpiece of our living room to stand as a testament to the historical nature of our home. Unfortunately, in that case, the reality of an impossible restoration made that dream crash....like a ton of bricks.
Thankfully, the story does not end there. We do, after all, have original wood floors that were sanded to their original color. We are happy with that, squeaks, creaks, and all. We removed the ceiling tiles in the bedroom, exposing the plaster ceilings and crown(ish) molding. And now...
The entryway!
A month ago, when I was away at Man Camp, Rachel began a restoration project in the entryway at our front (side) door. She painted the paneling (ok, this is not really a restoration of anything original, but it will have to do for now. Putting up drywall here is just not a priority) and began removing the vinyl floor tile to reveal....
The original black-and-white hexagon ceramic tile!
In the past week, I have pitched in to help finish the painting and removing the rest of the floor. We are hoping to paint the trim and the door this week, before my Mom comes on Friday. (if we don't finish, I'm ok with that!) Any suggestions about colors?
Finally, an exciting discovery. I found the records from the recently-released 1940 Archives for this house. At that time, a Swedish family of four was renting this house for 33 dollars per month. The Anderson household was headed by an iron worker who made 200 dollars a year. They lived on a block with Austrians, Norweigans, and more Swedes.
Thinking about all that history certainly makes me sway towards restoration!
-alan
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment