An exciting transformation took place at the house this week: the once creaky and warped floor is now perfectly level (and stable)! Walking through the house, I cannot help but have that Christmas-morning feeling of glee at the most basic signs of transformation. Along with the level floor, I also delight in the newly framed windows and exposed kitchen walls. It is funny how something that one would normally take for granted as a guaranteed thing in a living space is something that Kyle and I are thrilled by. I mentioned in my last post that we are trying to be as money smart as possible. A cost-effective floor option that we are looking into is keeping the original wood. Kyle has scavenged maple boards from different parts of the house and thinks that we will be able to find enough to mend any holes or damage in the flooring of the living room and possibly some rooms upstairs. I love the idea of maintaining what we can of the original house and hope that this plan works. Even if some of the wood is a little rough looking, we always have the option of rugs, but I personally like a rustic floor and think it would add to the charm and character of the house. Now, for all of the readers who, like me, salivate over the historical discoveries: While working in the kitchen, Kyle came across another clue about the house's past owners: a postcard from 1932. The postcard is addressed to the third owner of the house, an "Anne Buie." What touched me about the note is that it is addressed to "Sis." Automatically, my sisters come to mind and how, if we didn't live in a time of texting and emails, we would probably be communicating in a similar fashion. Based on the loving use of the name "sis," I imagine that these two women were close and I wonder if they made a point to visit one another often. When I told my dad about it, he said that he bet that she would have come to Stayner on the train. We don't know the name of the sender, because the bottom of the postcard is torn off, but we do know that it came from Toronto, because the postcard has a picture of the Royal York Hotel on the front, and we know the date by the stamp from the post office. These bits of information start to come together to create at least a faint sketch of the lives lived in the house at that time.
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About MeKyle and I just became new homeowners. The house we purchased is not what one would classify as "move in ready"; in fact, it is quite the opposite. Built at the turn of the 20th century, our Victorian style house is both beautiful and terrifying in its ancient status and will be a project in renovation. This is a documentation of our triumphs and lessons learned, as we deconstruct and reconstruct this house. The end result? A space that we can proudly say we created. Archives
December 2016
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