All joking aside, this is where the demolition folks left off. Ironically, an hour or so after I wrote about how uncomfortable I was with them doing it, I received a frantic message from Casey telling me they threw away the original window trim. As I sped home, I pondered where in the world I could find wood to replace it in the event I couldn’t find it in the dumpster. After I parked my car, I looked over the dumpster from the top. Full of wainscoting. No kitchen cabinets, or appliances. So, avoiding having to climb into it, I took a peek into our porch and garage. Luckily, they had actually saved it and put it into our porch. Phew…

As Casey had mentioned in her post about the roots and stairs, we had originally wondered if the rear entry had been in that back right corner in the above picture. However, it appears what my father had seen behind the plaster when he remodeled wasn’t the framing of a door, but a window:

We would consider putting a window back in there except for two things. The first is that the odds of finding a window that matches the rest are slim. The second is that we’d just be looking into our neighbor’s kitchen, so it wouldn’t give us much of a view.

However, I can give you the back story on why the window was closed up. When my parents first purchased the home, there actually was a standing shower right about in front of that closed up window. To the left was a pocket for a refrigerator. That little window was in a small bathroom that was accessed by the door on the right. There was also a small pedestal sink and toilet in there. I’m assuming it was added pre 1950, but I’m not certain. It had metal lathe, but it was still plaster. My parents took the bathroom out as the kitchen was simply much too small. The bad thing is that leaves us without a main floor bathroom, but I think we’ll live with it.

And in case you are wondering what that big thing on the bottom right is, it is an abatement system used to contain the lead dust. My office is directly through that door on the right and there isn’t a bit of dust on my monitors (which show every bit of dust imaginable). So far, so good.

We’ll be closing on our (first) home next week and I thought it would be worthwhile to share the back story.

Around 2002, my brother began attending the University of North Dakota and ended up in a campus apartment. Since I had committed to going to the same school, my parents decided to help us out by purchasing a home in the area for us to rent from them while attending school. They settled on a 1928 fix-r-upper in the older end of Grand Forks. I remember the first time we walked through the home. The exterior paint was falling off in chunks, the house was completely carpeted minus the kitchen if I remember correctly. Not only was it carpeted, but it came with the wonderful scent of dog/cat urine. Who needs Febreeze when you have animal urine stained carpets? Looking (erm, smelling) past the wonderful carpet, all of the original woodwork was painted, the kitchen was extremely small, the garage about to tip over, and the basement crawling in creepy-crawlers.

My parents initially passed on the house being it was in pretty rough shape. After looking at several other houses, they kept coming back to this one. Eventually they ended up purchasing it. When we came there for the first time after they purchased it, we couldn’t resist tearing out all the carpet on the main floor (while holding our noses, of course) exposing the original maple flooring, with urine stains included! From there, the floor received the drum sander treatment, and the trim in the living room was warming to us (with a heat gun) and being massaged (scraped) free of paint (probably containing an abundance of lead) on all the trim.

The main floor ended up being the living area for my brother and sister-in-law. The second floor was marked for me as I was single (at the moment). Not long after, I gave my life up improved my life by marrying Casey. All the while, committed to the maybe 300 square feet on the second floor of the home. We left the couple rooms upstairs carpeted and stripped the trim and window trim in one of the rooms. Two years later, we move out to some apartments across town, “forever” leaving the house.

A year later, we find ourselves in Eden Prairie, MN (a suburb of Minneapolis, MN). It didn’t take long for us to miss our families hours away, and long for owning our own home. Well, it just so happened that my parents were trying to sell that house we spent a couple years in, during the worst time in the housing market. We couldn’t resist, and ended up buying the place from my parents.

The one nice thing about buying a home you lived in for a couple years, is that you know the house. You know which windows leak like the Mississippi, and what truly lies under that urine stained carpet. The one bad thing about buying a home you lived in for a couple years, is that you know which windows leak like the Mississippi and what truly likes under that urine stained carpet (vinyl tiles, yay!).

And for now, a teaser of the inside. If anyone wants to take a gander at the house style, I’d appreciate it! I’m leaning towards Craftsman, but I have no idea to be honest