Wayne's House
My 1st house is a 100 year old Victorian 3700 sq ft 4 unit apartment (I know it will make most people cringe due to the fact that the original floor plan is modified). There are 2 apartments in the original piece of the house and two in the read add on. Most all of the original trim still remains on the main block of the house. In 15 years once the rental incomes have hopefully paid the mortgage and experiences, my plan for that building is to do the complete restoration on the original part of the building, and remove the add-on and move in?? In the meantime I am just working on keeping the place well maintained so that I can keep as many of the original details as possible.

The second house that I just purchased, is a 103 year old 2000 sq ft Victorian farmhouse with a granite block on top of rock foundation. It is a little simpler in design, however I love it because it is a floor plan and design that is found all over the area that I live in. An architect that I am friends with has the same one except the scale is a couple hundred sq ft larger and another contractor that I work with has the same one and his is a couple hundred sq ft smaller. It's ass ugly right now with yellow color lock siding and blue trim, and some of the wood doors and windows were replaced with vinyl windows and steel doors. Anyway, It retains the same floor lay out as it did when it was 1st built, however the trim, some flooring, etc. has been changed.

My plan for that house is to put all the original style details (doors, windows, crossheads, cedar shingle siding, interior trim, etc) back into the house and keep the same basic floor layout. Hopefully it will do a good job of honoring the past architecture of the area. In order to fund this project I had to put a kitchenette in the upstairs master bedroom, and let that be used as a kitchen/dining room, and put a tenant on the second floor. In Feb, when I am allowed to get back to work from my shoulder surgery, I will start renovating the downstairs and exterior, starting with the 2 broken rafters, which means the walls also have to be pulled back in 4". Should be interesting.

Wayne Thurber