Remodeling

We’re finding that more and more people want to remain in the home they live in rather than move. Well, that doesn’t mean the dream of having an antique home has to be given up. Dreams are meant to be realized! Holly and Sherrill have both done extensive remodeling of their own antique homes, removed the “improvements” of the 1950s and 70s, and restored or recreated the colonial touches that attracted them to the old homes in the first place. We know what it’s like to live with construction chaos during remodeling! We bring this first-hand experience to all custom remodeling projects, large or small.

To Second Floor: Completed Projects

before

after

This 18th century Shaker home was originally built as a meeting house, and numerous remodels had removed or covered its original character. The homeowners knew they were starting a long term project, but they

needed help to make the home livable. The first steps were structural roof repairs, re-shingling, new windows, siding and an antique front door. Masonry repairs were needed for existing chimneys, and four new fireplaces needed to be built. Inside, the home needed a remodeled bathroom, insulation, new mechanical systems and reconfiguration of living spaces.

Step 1: Remove old wall material

Step 2: Insulate

Step 3: Plaster

This is the house that inspired our work at The Restored Homestead: The Hezekiah Winn Homestead in Pepperell, Massachusetts. Purchased in 2002 by Sherrill Rosoff, the home was a late 18th century farmhouse that had undergone renovations in the 1950s. Addition of a new wing had fortunately left much of the original cape intact, so the original first floor parlors now look much as we imagine they might have around 1800.

After: massive “wedding trees”, centuries-old sugar maples, still stand sentinel over the old cape today.

Before: Phase 1 remodel in 2002.

After: The restored front parlor today.

Before: the cape’s exterior in 2002.

The 1950s addition, once a dark and cramped dining room and galley kitchen, is now an open keeping room with a wall mounted woodstove, a huge butcher block island and any chef’s dream: a double farmhouse sink and Frigidaire propane six burner stove.

The original formal parlor is now a cozy home office, and headquarters of The Restored Homestead! The room is heated by a restored Rumford fireplace, and a Dutch door offers charming views of the sunny patio and horse pastures. Work is done at an antique English oak library table, beneath a collection of framed Audubon prints; 1860s China trade imports reside in an antique corner cupboard.