Leave the kitchen fireplace alone and let it stay wood burring. Do not ruin this house. Do not paint cabinets white. This is not a farmhouse. This is a colonial. Use colonial colors.

FIreplace is a STUNNER. ALl old houses havve different trims throughout, that is part of an old house!LEAVE the original brick GORGEOUS!

I have to vote against painting the kitchen white the woodwork is beautiful and you have so much natural light it is not a dark kitchen at all. Eat in kitchens without an island are great.

Gorgeous house! It will be a forever home, so it’s worth it not to make quick decisions.

I love the house 🏠 . Please keep the Colonial character . Once lost it's hard to get it back . Your Mom must be a fun character . 😆

Paint the kitchen white if you want, it's your house, you'll be living in it everyday!!

I am just seeing this 8 months after you posted it. What a wonderful project, and a beautiful house. The Georgian proportions and residual features are just lovely. No doubt this will be a labour of love for your family. But so worth it in the longer term. Might I suggest you research English Georgian period homes, as well as your American Colonial homes. And try to keep as much of the character as possible. The downstairs reception rooms are delightfully grand. Best of luck to you and your family.

Oh I believe this is the only house that I’ve EVER seen that I personally like everything as is. Apart from the repair of the walls and repairing the fireplaces that need repairing. Oh my gosh I love the soothing, happy, simple vibe it gives. I can see a wonderful, happy life of kids and my mother and my husband and I. Oh my gosh you all are very blessed! BTW- that room upstairs that has the odd shaped rectangle narrow room- would be the cutest sewing/craft room. Not the upstairs room with the gorgeous slanted ceilings that you have stored furniture in but the narrow room off from it. Either a sewing/craft room or a prayer war room.

The thing about opening up walls and ceilings of an old home is that you likely will end up with a real mess, and have to keep taking out and replacing more and more and more stuff. Many times the better part of valour is to simply leave well enough alone and put your efforts into redoing floors, updating bath and kitchen only as much as necessary, painting what's there and calling it quits. Believe me, I have rehabbed many old houses, including the one I live in now (circa 1940). Given a choice, I would ALWAYS build new.

Oh wow! I just found this video today. Your colonial home is beautiful. I also live in CT. Please keep it as original as possible and with period colors and period furnishings. Congratulations on your new home. I just subscribed. And yes…Anne Clay is very knowledgeable. She can definitely guide you in your decision making. 🤎🤎

You can get rid of scallop trim over the sink and add a pendant. I bought a 130 year old house with no cabinet doors. I ordered doors prepped for glass for the upper cabinets. I’d paint the cabinets and authenticate Colonial color with black hardware. Fabulous house.

Your “in the beginning” tour popped up on my feed and I was instantly intrigued. I say “in the beginning” because this home and all the renovations needing to be done remind me of when Hunny and I bought our retirement cottage. It took us 14+ years to get to the point of saying we are at the finishing touches stage and I said the whole journey reminded me of the Good Book that is a forever project to understand. We just took things a step at a time and a room at a time and NEVER went to bed angry. Remodeling/building a home is not for the faint of heart but keeping a cool head and a sense of humor goes a long way to being successful in the overall project. I am very curious about your new home and all the steps you will tackle to bring it to a successful remodel. Our cottage was remodeled during my husbands working from home years where all we had were weekends, holidays and vacations…hoping you are both closer to your home career wise and will have a bit more time to devote but I still see this as being a long process. Your littles will enjoy that yard I think and grow up with a lot of exploring and experiencing all the things that bring well adjusted children. Wishing you only good things as you move forward in your Colonial home and know I will be watching as you take this journey. I only ever ask to be enlightened and entertained so I will never be critical of what you choose to do. Just keep in mind that there are purists out there who are VERY opinionated when it comes to period homes and my only advise to you is stay true to YOUR vision because it is your home!!!:):):)

All the fireplaces are amazing! Love that they are wood burning 🔥 I have always wanted a woodburning fireplace in my kitchen! I love all the wallpaper too. Maybe you should live in it for a few years before you change major aspects of it.

Check out fully and carefully how to correctly remove lead paint, which I am sure you would anyway. What a home!!! A huge amount of work and money, but this is the project of a lifetime, and you will be left with an absolute treasure, and a one of a kind.

I was lucky enough to live in an 18th c home. I Loved all the wood accents, fireplaces and original door hardware, windows. bookcases etc etc. I adore your new home, it is a great example of the period. We refaced our lower cabinets and drawer fronts in our 1900 kitchen by taking bead board and framing it with milled trim. Bronze hardware and drawer pulls, and latches make it look fabulous.

what a beauty, i like the kitchen cabinets , i would paint and put on new plain wooden knobs they are cheap and look nice in the same colour or a contrasting colour. the kitchen table is perfect and very useful for meals and homework, good luck

Love the house! I live in CT also in an 1809 cape that we restored. We do have the original wide plank floors, baking fireplace with beehive oven, as well as other fireplaces. We did line the baking fireplace and put in a wood stove, which is our main source of heat. Since it's a center chimney, it heats the house really well. Good luck with your restoration project! It takes years!!!

That round building also looks like it could have been originally like a smoke house too.

If you aren’t familiar with Our Restoration Nation here on KZfaq, they could be a good resource for you. Good luck. It’s a beautiful home!

Sooooo beautiful! Can’t wait to see the changes :)

Such a charming house!! Thanks for the tour!

Absolutely beautiful house! Really excited for y’all to make it a home.

What a fabulous old house. I just found your channel and I will be watching with interest as you work on it.

I just found your channel tonight! What beautiful home! Please keep it close to original style and colors. It is not our newer farm type home. It’s going to be a fun project and will be stunning I’m sure! Have fun and put lots of love into it 🥰. So happy I found your family and home ❤

Great call on the kitchen cabinets. As they're so solid, even in the future, you might consider having a new face frame with new doors built by a local cabinet maker and keep the actual cabinet cases. It looks like the cabinets are solid plywood and a lot better quality than most of what you'd get on the market today. And less expensive than having custom cabinets built. I did this with a kitchen. Came out beautifully. Great quality.

Amazing house! Can't wait for the property tour. Josephs room is probably bigger than my first apartment haha. I look forward to living my old house dreams vicariously through you guys!

Subscribed, upvoted, and commenting to help the algorithm so others can find you. I really love your house and can't wait to follow the improvements and restoration as you go!

What an incredible old house. I can see why you bought it!!!

Loved watching your video. What an amazing house! I too have an 1843 historic house which had been empty for 15 years. Always loved old homes, since my husband is a builder of new homes, somehow he decided to go for it. Lots and lots of work but in the end it was worth it. Please keep charm of your old house, that’s what makes it special. Will enjoy watching your progress.

So cool! Has so much potential.

Keep up the hard work!

Thanks for sharing this video with a lot of good ideas to little by little make this old colonial home come alive and be functional for a young family with boys and a dog. The kitchen should be restored to nice plank board wooden floors, a shaker ovular rug and the cozy table to have informal meals with the family. Since it is a colonial I would use colors like blueberry blue, olive green, white, light muted yellow, perhaps for the formal dining room a light salmon muted color or followed the light pastel yellow from the kitchen to the dining room. White granite floors for the bathrooms, subway white tiles and white pedestal vanities and toilet and bathtubs with claws all white clean and timeless also the boys will love the bathtub as oppose to the shower stalls. Note: You already know this but caution at all times when the boys are nearby the brooks surrounding the property and the pool. All the best.

Just ran into your video and love your beautiful “gem in waiting.” So much work ahead for you and hubby…watching and cheering you on from PA. 😀

My husband is a retired union painter. You will have to get licensed paint remover. You can paint over it but you personally cannot safely remove it. Hazmat qualified company only.

Video just popped up and am about to binge this channel! I'm in CT as well and love seeing a fellow nutmegger on here. Great colonial houses throughout CT.

Gorgeous, Gorgeous home!

Love this style of house

Absolutely Beautiful!

Your house is stunning. A lot of work to do but it’s going to be so rewarding.

I think the kitchen will really benefit from the white paint in the wood burning stove. This is an incredible house.

AWESOME HOUSE!

Just seeing this.....going to watch your progression videos. I am seeing a lot of sagging plaster where you are talking about scraping and painting. Will be interesting to see what you find there.

A bookshelf in front of a window? I wouldn't do that. As big as that place is, there has to be a better place. The home is amazing!

Fascinating house. Your kitchen, based on the cabinet style and the avocado color looks like it was last remodeled in the 1970's.

This is a beautiful home.

NEVER NEVER REMOVE A 12 OVER 12 ORIGINAL WNDOW!! Definattly put on that wall to the left of the fireplace. !

I love this place

The small round building outside with the revolving door looks very much like old European and English pigeon coops. They also call them pigeon houses if you look it up most of them had thatched roofs and were made of Stone but I guess some in the new world could have been constructed differently it does have that little round hole in it I didn't see inside so I don't know if there were places for pigeons to roost in there.

I’ve been searching for an 18th Century Colonial for my retirement. I found my dream home - a 1740 Saltbox deep in South Jersey. Fully restored with what is known as a “sympathetic restoration.” In other words, restoration was done according to period practices. If repairs needed to be done to the walls, they were done by an expert in lathe and plaster with horse hair. The ORIGINAL windows were restored as were the floors and roof. A HUGE mistake with homes of the period is to employ modern construction methods. Old brick and post and frame homes must breathe. Methods such as wallboard, vinyl window frames, new forms of siding, new floors, etc. can trap moisture and literally will rot timber structures from within. This is most critical with brick homes. The use of Portland cement and modern insulation will inevitably result in moisture retention in the brick and lead to spalling of the bricks themselves. Can’t tell you the number of structures which were essentially, physically destroyed ( both structurally and aesthetically) because the owners didn’t know any better and their contractors were full of bovine scatology.

That ceiling above the shower I would sand off and actually tile the ceiling area over the tub/shower

Colonial homes don't have white painted kitchen cabinets. That kitchen looks so much nicer and warmer as is, I would just sand and restain natural like that BEAUTIFUL FIREPLACE MANTLE.

Just watching this video. Moving thru house with her she asked for … feed-back on a window wall , thinking to close (window) wall- up to accommodate a book case. … leave the window, if book case has a back.. take it it off to become shelves for books, use the window behind and keep the light.

Hello, just found your video today on my KZfaq landing page. I really enjoyed watching it and look forward to future videos. 7 years ago I bought and now live in an ~1850 duplex on the north shore of Boston. I am slowly restoring / renovating it -- my first task was to clean it up sufficiently so that i could live in it -- a bit similar to your challenge. One project i have is to date the house so i can figure out when it was built -- seems like you don't have to do that which is great. One suggestion i have is to consider leaving in place some of the 1950s and 1960s updates -- as an homage to the historical transitions that the house went through. For example, some of the wrapping on the beams seem to be done very well -- and the cupboards with the curved edges are really cool and seem very 195s to me, as does the scalloped trim over you kitchen sink. I realize all of this is a matter of taste -- so, look forward to following and seeing your choices and progress. Thanks for saving a piece of history!!

It could be for keeping pigeons because it has circular openings.

That house is great

I just discovered you. Your house is stunning. With the kids and the stairs. You're doing the right thing by teaching the kids to how to use them and the be careful rather than blocking them off. The kitchen I'd leave the fireplace and pretty much do a similar layout and have an eat in kitchen. You also asked about thoughts about why the windowsills in your bedroom where deep and beside it narrow. Could there have been a veranda where there? look forward to seeing more of the house

I grew up in PA and went to a local pool with spring fed water. Cold as all get out, even when it’s 109 degrees.

Just saw your video. Beautiful house. To clean the hinges you use a crockpot to clean them

Yikes, and I say that due to the additions lol. Adding bathrooms and kitchens to those old homes that original did have them has to be a frustrating to figure out.... I'd keep the brick to the kitchen fireplace it's original color, but definitely remove wood trim and mantle. It just looks like they added that in the 60's along with kitchen cabinets, floors and countertops. The bathrooms, yeah lol. I agree with the bathrooms since it's not original, I'd keep in the era of when it was most likely added. It's nice to see that they searched for a claw foot tub for that other bath upstairs stairs. Good luck, look forward to following and seeing how make it work with the old and new.

I had to deal with lead paint as my house is from the same time period. It was worth it to keep my family safe.

Beautiful! I love that big kitchen window. In our 1820 home, they removed a few beams that were damaged and then supported the structure with modern framing in those spots. Hopefully that's not the case with your beam boxes! The previous owners also put peal and stick tiles on top of old linoleum. It might be a temporary solution to consider for your kitchen.

You can use a power sander with a vacuum bag attachment.

I recommend you watching Jeri Landers of Hopalong Hallow here on KZfaq. She does amazing things to her whole house, especially her kitchen. I recommend taking the floors back to original surfaces. You will soon learn to resurface your walls. Again, you can learn anything from how to videos. Good luck, it can be a lot of fun. Thank you for letting us enjoy your journey!

I wouldn't block the window with the book case.lots of room to move furniture in different configuration

❤fabulous

Hopefully you can preserve the history & not have to over-renovate. The beauty & warmth of these old colonials are their nooks, squeaks & hidden quirky spaces. It's getting harder to find these classic American homes without near 100% modern boring blank-slate cosmetic updates. Mostly because people let them fall into irreparable disrepair. It's a marvelous home, lucky you! :) (Yes, the little round shed was likely a well pump-house. We had one in our backyard growing up. There was a trap door in the floor to access the mechanics.)

You realize white kitchens are out and colors are in. And I really think,personally, colonial colors are best. It would be lovely to bring back the wide planks flooring. I ve a friend whose home is colonial has all open shelving in her butlers pantry. And a long counter that’s great for baking and canning. Yes, pull the couch away and put the shelving unit behind it. Your floor would be lovely sanded and refinished. Love the architectural corner shelves. Bannister doesn’t look like the lathed spindles of a colonial era home. Great floors upstairs. I would really encourage you to look at This Old House magazines featuring brand new colonial homes. I’ve seen wonderful things created for modern day function.

The wood looks lovely in the kitchen trim don’t paint it

Yes it is worth sanding and refinishing wood floors.

At 25:24 that is linoleum as a countertop. Very much in style 1910-1950

Lovely old home and you are so fortunate to have it! IMO, preserving as much of such a home's original structure and aesthetic as possible is the most important thing. As the owner of an old historic home myself, our priorities were to first address any threats to the integrity of the home's structure: leaky plumbing, leaky roofs and doors, structural rot, insect infestations, cracked or slumping foundation walls, and fire hazards like poorly-installed or outdated electrical wiring. At the same time, removing health hazards like lead paint and asbestos is a priority as well. Be very careful stripping any old paint, especially with kids in the house. Finally, repairing things like windows, internal doors, and woodwork. Never replace old windows - repair them! Protect them with quality storm windows in the winter. Don't replace old doors either. They can be expertly repaired by a good carpenter and rehung with new door seals. Rot in old windows, sills, doors, and trim can be cut out, replaced with a dutchman or epoxy, and then painted, but don't paint old wood inside the house unless it was originally painted or you have to make a very large repair that will not look good with a natural finish. Old wood is usually very high-quality and irreplaceable, so show it off! In your kitchen - I would keep the woodwork unpainted, if it is high quality and solid. I also had an idea about that awkward, unusable space between the current stove location and the counter/cabinets. You say you are going to build a stub-wall extension alongside the new stove. Why not place the stove at the end of this stub wall and extend the countertop and cabinets around the inside corner where the current stove is? You gain several more feet of counter space and make the inside corner usable cabinet space with a corner cupboard. Just an idea! Counterspace is always at a premium in kitchens, and it's always good to eliminate awkward dust and dirt-collecting unusable little corners and spaces.

Cover the linoleum w/ wide pine boards in keeping w/ the house age. Surprised they aren't throughout the house. I had a home of similar vintage w/ wide pines everywhere.

The house like a house from the thriller- I am the Pretty thing that lives in the house.

I discovered your channel while searching 1836 homes. We are purchasing Our home December 1st! The style of yours reminds me of ours but it is red brick that's painted white. We have a blank slate in the kitchen but I am loving your cabinets. We have 5 fireplaces, none of them functioning. I don't care, I love the mantles.😍 The biggest thing we're dealing with now is lead paint. And that can be a very dangerous situation. Did you test for lead in your new home? If so, how did you handle the situation?? We were told our house is listed with the state of Indiana historical society but unfortunately that is not correct and we are not eligible for any grants or support in lead remediation. So many things to do and learn. Thank you for sharing your journey. Happy Thanksgiving!!

also a show from britain called escape to the country lot of great decorating ideas

Ahhhh....the Ikea chair!

You obviously spent a long time working on the remodeling of your old kitchen and would like the same look in here. Is it possible to modernize and still keep that colonial look? I seem to remember seeing, in the past, more than one older home that was restored, in magazines, that had gorgeous kitchens, very modern and functional, yet a real colonial vibe. But, good Lord, you have massive decisions to make. What are your priorities right now? The septic was obviously one and some of the work on the outside to protect the house are also big. But, it would be hard to know where to begin. Much good luck.

That back stairway seems to be newer and your long living area there looks to have been originally two rooms at one time- rooms that long were not common in cold regions. Your bowed wall could be foundation/ beam issues, both of which are problematic and could worsen if so. What a wonderfully big kitchen! Don’t get rid of cabinets if nicely built - can be easily refaced. Get rid of the “valence” board over the sink…. The light fixture could be changed out for appearance. Something about the fridge next to that fireplace is not pleasing (to me)…. And with all that kitchen area looks t like could work out a better configuration… what was behind that door between the kitchen and the little bathroom?… maybe bring the wall out from stove area to the beam, put fridge on that side. …. Maybe better configure the cabinets….. the supporting structures and moisture issues def need to be addressed first to avoid having to redo anything in the future or future regret. That outside basement door. I would def replace if not watertight. … your house is a gem…congratulations! If you can restore her and keep its character while adhering to your tastes and needs what a lovely home you will make. I’ll follow for sure!!!! I love old homes and restoration. Best of luck & lots of patience!!!!

Eventually sand and restain the floors properly but not a half or partial just leave till can be done properly

Love the formal dining room and the milk paint wood corner display shelf and wainscoting and doo agree that wallpaper does have to go at some time. The fireplace nook is beautiful addition to that room, that cool lantern ceiling light I like very much but I would put it in a different setting instead of over the dining table, I would look good maybe in the kitchen where your round table is in front of the beautiful fireplace. Or maybe in the dining room fireplace nook hanging over head. I was thinking upstairs in the main hall you can put white painted bead board on the ceiling and that way would still look authentic but not see a rippled looking ceiling. Maybe do the same for the walls going up the stairs on put some wood paneling in colonial style.

The round building i believe is a privy

Definitely take up linoleum and get down to real wood. It’s worth it. I’m a flooring contractor and you can’t beat the original wood. It will be a lot of work , blood sweat and tears but worth it in the end.

I think you need to keep an eye to the future, and not make your renos only for now while the boys are small. In 3 yrs. they’ll be taller and quite nimble in their running up/down stairs. Do what temporary things you can do to protect them now, but keep in mind ,that eventually they’ll be growing up. I know, Im a mom of 3 adult children!

That pediment over the sink is c.1950's-my parents ranch style home had the exact same pediment.OMG don't rip it out! :{ THAT kitchen is GORGEOUS AS IS. This kitchen with the SOLID WOOD VINTAGE cabinetry is perfect- today's junk from China is so sub par- the low quality, not even wood in most cases, the ugly dumming gray tones, UGH and doe NOT belong in historic houses!

great old place i would put in a fireplace insert.

What a beautiful house! It reminds me of the houses here in the Waterland region were I live in The Netherlands. I know that a lot of carpenters from here went to America in those days to built houses. They were recruited because of their expertise building houses from wood. Can you tell me in what state your house is?

Likely a shelter for kids waiting for the school bus, so they aren't freezing in the elements!

If you’re going to paint kitchen cabinets paint a colonial color. Blue would be pretty.

What a great home! May I ask what state? Obviously New England, Maine?

it appears there is a boiler system for heating. But I also saw an air return vent in the floor. That is typically for a furnace. Are there 2 heating sources for the house?

No no no don't paint that beautiful wood in your kitchen white! It's beautiful wood like it is and that fireplace is awesome I would even cook on itlikeib the old days that wood us awesome I did that on mine and regret it to this day too

Can I suggest checking out Anne Clay the Primitive Home on KZfaq? Her house was built in 1780, she also is in CT. You have a beautiful home with so many possibilities!

Your beams and posts are dressed in because this is a finer house than a country farmers house . Country folk wouldn’t have had the luxury of finish trim.

Oh my, I hope you realize what you have there…

your home seems to have been built in New England somewhere by a local architect in Greenwich ( can't recall his name) who did a lot of homes in the 1950s however he designed these homes to look like they were built in the 1700s, do you have any paperwork from 1785 about this house?

Lovely! What state are you located?

Please don’t cover the window with the bookshelf , if you have to use it put it behind the couch it will look amazing . Remove the mantle on the kitchen fireplace and place a floating mantle

Gut that whole bathroom and the black and white floor and tile ugh....too modern. Do not put an office in the front parlor... An office should be hidden.... I hope you do this house justice and put it the way it should be. Otherwise, but a modern house.

You don’t show the HVAC/ht water but I don’t think that is baseboard heat. I think that is a radiator for a hot water-boiler system

Do not paint ANY of the trim or wood fireplace surrounds. OMG........Paint those kitchen cabinets and get new counter tops, Tear up the vinyl floor and use the old wood floor. Decorate to the style of the house and do not do modern as you are doing the house justice. Get some prim friends to help you