Isn't it amazing how we all love our homes! I bought my 1919 Craftsman after looking at 114 houses in the area that were for sale. The main turn-offs for me were overdone new kitchens with granite counters and all painted white woodwork. I flew home after 3 trips house hunting, ready to give up. Then I saw this photo online of a Craftsman with unpainted woodwork and bought the house site unseen!! As I do any changes to my new old home, I take into consideration what the home would want, what is most appropriate, and yes, what will continue to increase the value of the old bones of a well built home. My house has the original woodwork and built ins, all unpainted. The only missing thing I discovered after removing 6 layers of wallpaper, was the dent in the old plaster from the missing picture rail. I researched, and bought new rail, then mixed 6 different colors of stain to match to the old stain. And, I have to say I came pretty darn close to matching the color. The bathroom and kitchen were sort of butchered up and I have finished the bathroom into a classic style, appropriate for a Craftsman home. Now I am working on the kitchen with white painted cabinets- not unlike the ones currently in the home. Yet, rather than choosing granite, I'm going with soapstone to keep it along the period lines. New product, yes, but still period appropriate. Yes I'm a typical DIY'er who doesn't shop at the big box stores and tries to avoid anything made in China, and I've been stripping the 90 years of paint off the exterior of my house and repainting for the past 3 years (in the summer) in order to save that old lap cedar. And yes, I tend to think of myself as an old house purist with all my remodeling projects, but in my case (and call me crazy here), but I think the house speaks, and by listening to what this house is made of, I don't think I can go wrong. We've all seen remodels that could have been done better, but the bottom line is, what works for us, those who are fortunate enough to be the caretakers of these homes that eventually will belong to someone else. And, what fits our lifestyles, is part of what makes a house a home. I'm just as passionate about my house as anyone, and I do know that when I come home, my home wraps it's arms around me and welcomes me in. And that, to me, is 'home.'

I found this one to be quite funny. This guy hopefully didn't quit his day job to become a salesman!! Really, really ugly coffee table - $5 (77065 Cy Fair) Okay, this coffee table is ugly. It's REALLY ugly. I can't even believe I'm trying to sell it, it's so ugly. But it's also VERY sturdy. You can sit on it without even worrying about it collapsing beneath you. It'd be really a great thing for someone who just needs SOMETHING to put a big TV on, who wants to bedazzle furniture, or who doesn't want to send the "good" old coffee table to college with her son. I mean, hey, we all need some utility furniture at one time or another, right? Maybe you even want it to refinish it and sell it for megabucks... I promise I won't judge you for buying it if you won't judge me for having it to sell in the first place!We will be home tonight (Sunday) between 6 and 8 if you want to come see it. If you can't come then, just drop me a line and let me know whenuld be a better time for you, and we'll work it out.�Disclaimers: As is. Cash money only. No refunds. No phone calls, please; email contacts only.�

Hi jaluca, welcome! The floors are just a shade over 5" wide, they are all one width. DH and I had decided on random widths and when I went into the reclaimed flooring place I changed my mind at the last moment and went with all 5". I think both would have looked great, but I'm very pleased with the 5". We have a water-based finish on the floor. We opted not to go with a more typical oil-based finished in part for environmental reasons (and to reduce odour) but also because oil finished tend to yellow the hardwood and I loved the blonde/light brown colours in the birch. Hope this helps, let me know if you need any other info.

The sellers got ripped off big time. I can personally drive to an environmental lab 15 minutes away and deliver a baggie of any suspect building product for a cost of $90 per item. I just checked two items in a house I bought, just to have peace of mind. Asbestos free. One was in an out of the way ceiling, so I wore a mask, sprayed it down, broke off a small wet piece and bagged it. The other was already sitting in a pile of extra panels, so I just bagged that too. Your sellers were ridiculously ripped off by someone who did exactly what I did. I saw several of those guys in there the day I dropped off my samples, doing exactly what I did. You have nothing to worry about if there is no asbestos, and probably not much leg to stand on for them to remove problem-free insulation. If you want it removed, that is on you. They agreed to remove asbestos, unless I am misunderstanding. No asbestos was found. If there was, they would have removed it. I would tell any Buyer who wanted me to do an unnecessary $15,000 removal to take a hike. You are so uncomfortable with this, you should probably just buy a newer house so you can eliminate this problem. You are going to find stuff like this and sometimes worse in old houses.