Thank you, but I do not know the medium, as I am not a proficient professional in appraising antiques. I am absolutely dependant on this forum for advice. The portraits I describe appear to be photographs on canvas, and they are bleeding thru the back of the canvas... now that you ask. Does that help? I have a local dealer who is coming this week to see them, very interested, since the frames are almost in perfect condition. Who knows what the frames are made of, but they are rectangular. Only a pro will know upon inspection. Please try to tolerate novices here. This is what the forums are all about.

@ worthy Thanks for your insights. We discussed the possibility of adding transoms above the bedroom doorways to bring more light into the hallway. The concern was the expense of adding more height to the second floor. A solar tube (not visible from the street) might be a cheaper option, although I always worry about roof leaks. I have mixed feelings regarding a basement laundry. I like the separation from the living spaces to minimize noise and potential water damage. However, I agree that bringing laundry up and down flights of stairs can be annoying (this is our current situation). At our next meeting with the architect we will reopen the discussion of laundry room placement with the options of: 1) keeping it in the basement; 2) moving the guest bedroom to the basement to make space for a laundry room on the second floor; and 3) using the suggestion of @MrsPete to install a dumbwaiter. Regarding the house footprint, we have tried to be as efficient as possible with the space available. With a narrow city lot (80') in the historic district (zoning requires two story) the house footprint is constrained. We also really enjoy the backyard for gardening and kids play and do not want the house to swallow the entire lot. Overall, I think we have achieved a good balance of a nice size home (3,000 sq. ft.) with most of the features we desire, that also blends into the existing historic neighborhood (the newest house on the block is 100+ years old).

I have no idea how I reposted my earlier post but I was trying to respond to sombreuil_mongrel! That is a beautiful home! I would love to hear about the things you did to restore it! Of course, pictures would be fantastic!! I am trying to track down some of the people who are related to the lady who owned it for almost fifty years. It's hard not to come across as a stalker but I have to believe somebody has a picture of what it looked like before it was abandoned. One picture the previous owner sent me shows the porch all closed in. He opened it back up when he bought it. The real tragedy is the carriage house in the back yard. It was left neglected for decades with errant trees tearing at the roof. My plan is to restore it but the city is pressuring me to either get started right away, which I don't have the funds to do, or tear it down.

Decolist Vinyl Wallcovering Warning! I cashed in my entire 401K to invest in Decolistic Vinyl to make our house a home. Sure, at first it looked yummy with all those pictures of leafless trees, wacky sunflowers, giraffes wearing sunglasses and antique trains on every wall, but thinking ahead to resale we decided to rip them down on the advice of our Realtor and every single person we spoke to. Easy? Ha! We tried wallpaper stripper, fabric softener, soy based paint stripper, pool cleaner. Nada. We tried sanding with a cheese grater. Steaming with a floor mop. A chisel. Lenten prayer. A flamethrower. Well, the flamethrower finally worked. Now we will have to repaint. Any color suggestions?