Hello--figuring out these old houses is part of the fun ; )
It would help if you could post some pictures of the house, both the front door from both sides, and then the interior doors and the room(s) in question. If I were you, I'd look at this dubious 'bedroom' for signs that it was once intended to be a public, 'parlor' sort of room: i.e., does it have decorative trim that doesn't appear in the other, less public rooms, are there traces of old wallpapers that are dressier, hardware that is fancier, etc. What are the light fixtures like (plainer or fancier), if it looks as if they're older or even original? What kind of flooring do you think it originally had? Is there a closet in the room? What sort of flooring is inside the closet, and is it consistent with that used outside the closet? Post an update on what you find out.

You see a few old houses around here (Austin, TX) that have 2 front doors. One goes into a sitting room - normal. The other goes straight into a bedroom. I was told that during the war, women would rent out one of the bedrooms to the house (probably to students) for extra money. The renter would use the door that went straight into the bedroom.
I have not seen one lately and the ones I recall were near the University.

Is there a chance there used to be a wrap around porch? We found a photo of our house from the 20's and there used to be a wrap around porch, which explains why the living room window actually looks like it used to be a door casing.

Very good point, gardenspice! We have a side/front room (part of a 1926-1929 addition) that has its own front door, but a much simpler one than the real front door on the oldest part of the house (~1891-1894). We also have a back/side bedroom that has *its* own exterior door. *Then* there is the back door at the end of a hallway of sorts that has vague indications that it was once a rooming house 'room.' We've heard that our house was a rooming house, and I did find a boarder's name listed in an old city phone directory. So I guess this was common. There were a lot of railroad workers who rented rooms in this town, and we're 2 blocks from the rail station.

Thanks for all the ideas! I still have to check with some of my neighbors with similarly-built homes, but I'm guessing it was either a more private sitting room or a rentable bedroom, because I know the porch wasn't enclosed until the 70's or so when they did all the other remodeling.

The room has a tiny closet and looks much the same as the rest of the house, and unfortunately the plaster walls and ceiling were covered in a hideous wallpaper before being hidden beneath wood paneling, white paint on those lovely wooden windows, and styrofoam ceiling tiles. The 70's had a bad trip and barfed on my house. *gag*

The sad thing is all the work I have ahead of me. I got adventurous yesterday and took down a panel or two of the ceiling tiles. They're styrofoam interlocking tiles (and yes I wore something over my mouth, even though I wouldn't know what asbestos looked like if it bit me) and they were stapled directly to the ceiling. So much for the ceiling being higher than I thought. But what's disheartening is that while the original plaster ceiling is still up there, it's so unlevel it isn't funny, which I imagine is why the dude put the tiles up, so you couldn't tell. :( The whole thing's covered in wallpaper, and if I go into the higher cabinets, I can see the original ceiling, and unfortunately the plaster's gone brown in places (wasn't cured right?), is crumbling here and there and in other places the lathe work is exposed. Which is when I found out that underneath the ugly wood paneling on the walls was ancient wallpaper, the same crumbling and cracked plaster and exposed lathework. The only drywall in the house is where they added onto the kitchen and one small wall of green board in the bathroom.

I put the panels back because I didn't want to move forward without checking on what I should do about it. While I know how to repair cracked plaster in small patches, I can't insulate the walls with the lathe-work and stuff in the way, but if I build a new wall right on top of it, it's not really fixing the problem and then I'd lose several inches of space all around the wall. What would you do with them? Demolish the plaster and lathe, stuff the insulation in the exterior wooden walls like I initially planned and just go from there? Or fill the space between the lathe and the walls with foam insulation and just repair the plaster? And what do I do about the ceiling?

You know best what your time, budget and energy limits are, but if it were me, I'd take it down to the plaster and get a better look at what condition it's in before deciding to demo it. I just love the look and feel of plaster. It is our experience that plaster can seem pretty bad and still be saved (plaster washers or 'buttons' are a godsend!). We've repaired all the plaster in every room we've done so far except for about 2/3 of one wall in the LR that my husband wants to replace with drywall. If there is staining you should try to find the source of the moisture, regardless of how you proceed from there, of course. It may be old or it may be recent.
And try not to look at the work as sad; we've discovered all kinds of information about our house in the process of doing all the work on it. We stripped the wallpaper in the LR down to the original fancy paper, and then when we took that off we discovered the scribblings of a little kid on the wall by the front door! This kid would have done that scribbling sometime around 1891 to 1894!

Welcome to the adventursome world of old houses! I agree 100% with Kim ...try not to look at the work as sad because, in our experience, you'll learn about and come to appreciate your house even more than you do now.

I'd also take the ceiling tiles down and get a good picture of the entire situation. I, too, much prefer plaster to drywall. It's the best sound insulator. As Kim says, the plaster buttons are a godsend and there are websites that can walk you through the process. Check out http://www. oldhouseweb. com/newBB/topic-13319.shtml. Insulation can be blown into the walls without disrupting the plaster and lathe. It could be a DIY job, but I'd pay to have it done - alot less stressful.

Try not to be frustrated. You've begun a journey which, for us, has been so wonderfully exciting, has brought us new friends, and given us such an appreciation for the treasure that we live in.