Appreciating All Things Old

My husband and I purchased a home almost exactly one year ago, and have been remodeling it ever since. It is a 1925 Craftsman style house and surprisingly this house was very near it's original condition. What I mean by this is that nothing had been updated since it was built, well, except for the addition of many, many layers of paint. We have tried to maintain the integrity of the original design while updating it to what I feel to be a minimum standard of living. For example, we live in Clearwater, Florida and this house did not have central air conditioning. In my humble opinion, that would be the equivalent of living in Mishicot, Wisconsin and not having heat in your house. It still had the original porcelain sink mounted on the wall in the kitchen and typical to the period, it had no kitchen cabinets to speak of. We had to completely remodel the kitchen, in addition to many other “minor” projects like re-drywalling all the walls and ceilings, rewiring the entire house, and sanding every single Dade County Pine floor….

It’s been a very long journey, but right now I would have to say that I am most pleased, not with freshly restored wood floors or the crown moldings throughout every room, and not even with the brand new kitchen. What I am most delighted with is the restored glass and brass interior door knobs! I smile every time I touch one. I can not even begin to guess how many layers of paint had built up on the key holes and brass fittings to these door knobs. I soaked every last layer of paint off (thank you Martha Stewart for you website tips), and with the help of my husband we have reinstalled them to the original solid wood doors. I even stripped the brass hinges, and honestly I couldn’t be more proud of this hardware. As I was gazing at them again tonight, it occurred to me that just as I admire the craftsmanship of the quilts of yesteryear, I feel much the same about these door knobs and doors. Back in the 1920’s when these doors were made, they were done by hand, just as the old quilts were. They were not created on an assembly line, nor was machinery used that you just “fed” the doors through to get the holes drilled out properly to fit the knobs. They really were "crafted".

Though I love the way I assemble quilts today, I can’t help but think back with admiration to the methods that led up to the way we create things now.

I had to show off the hibiscus that came with the house and grows in the front yard. It is ancient, and over the last year, with lots of love, natural pesticides and plant food, I have coaxed it back in to bloom. I do so love old things!