A 1925 Bungalow

Since this blog is about my little house I thought it would be appropriate to give more information about it. The home was built in 1925 and is a classic bungalow style... at least I think it is. The home didn't come with a diary of it's history (although that would have been awesome!) or any information really. I basically only know what the last home owner did to it, but the rest is a mystery. So I did a little googling and I think my home does fit into the 'bungalow' category. According to About.com* bungalows' living space is mainly on the first floor, have a peaked roof, have rooms that connect without hallways, and were first built between 1905-1930. These facts seem to fit my home, but who can know really? I guess if you're an architect or a historian you can let me know your opinion in the comments.

Most homes built in that time period had wood siding and I'm assuming mine did too, but at some point the wood siding was replaced with metal siding. I don't know what kind of metal it is (are you sensing a theme here? I don't know much at all haha). When I first bought the home it looked like this:

This is a very "pretty" picture of it but in reality it was gross. The front of the house was shades of blue/grey and the back was blue/grey and hunter green... yeah, it was weird. Plus it was very dirty. So as you can see in this post I had it painted. I am SO happy with the result. I chose the darkest grey in the pallet and straight-up white for the trim (wouldn't that be a great paint color, 'Straight-Up White'?). I love the contrast of the two colors. Grey and white is really on trend now but I also think it is a timeless combination.

One of the odd things about this house is the porch. It appears as though it is framed in for screens or even glass, but it's just an empty frame. I'm assuming that it was at one time closed in. I've decided to screen it in but I'll have to wait until I have more money saved up. For now it is just an nicely painted empty frame. I had the floor of the porch painted two shades lighter than the siding for contrast. And I kept the ceiling wood. I love the stain on it... I'm not sure if it is original to the home but I sure do love it.

This home has a few architectural features that I really love. The first is the porch ceiling above and the next is the front door.

I'm amazed that in the this home's 87 year history no one has painted the front door. I know I'm tempted. Wouldn't it look awesome in deep red or bright yellow? But I know the benefit of historical preservation so I'll never paint it. The hinges on the door are also amazing.

Hardwood floors are my favorite type of flooring. I've lived with many types of flooring (including a whole basement apartment with cement floors) and hardwood has always been my top pick. Thankfully, this house has great floors. The entry, living, and dining floors have all been refinished within the last 10 years.

If I had refinished the floors myself I would have chosen a darker stain, maybe something like this: (Source: http://www.ifloor.com/1-2-engineered-natural-walnut-4-3-4-wide)

But I really don't mind the color they are now. When I bought the house there was carpet in the mini hallway between the two bedrooms and in the bedrooms themselves. The carpet wasn't that bad but I really hate carpet so before I moved in I ripped it all up. It was hard work but it was worth it to expose the beautiful hardwood floors underneath.

They need to be refinished as you can see. There is paint on the floors but not anything that can't be fixed with wood putty, a big sander, and a couple of coats of stain. This is another project on my long list of 'To-Do's. Another feature of this house that I really love are the original window frames and baseboards. Three rooms in the house have painted trim: the kitchen, master bedroom, and bathroom. The rest of the house has a darker stain. In this picture you can see the difference in the floor stain and the trim stain. I love the height of the baseboards, they are nearly six inches! Love.

Do you like older homes or new ones? I grew up in homes built in the 1980s or 1990s. I've always been attracted to older homes so it is a dream come true for me to own my own piece of history. *http://architecture.about.com/od/periodsstyles/ig/House-Styles/Bungalow-Styles.htm