BGlad, here is a plan I found online which might be close to your house. You might have it reversed, which many builders and plan books could do. About your woodwork, I don't think it's been refinished...mine looks very similar, and I know it is untouched. And, it was never painted--even kit houses specified either natural finish or paint as options, with stain being the preferred choice whether the wood was douglas fir, southern yellow pine or oak. If anything has been done to your trim, I think at most it was another coat of shellac to even out the 'bumpy' spots which can occur after nearly a century. I'm torn about re-shellacking mine because I love the patina, but it would be nice if it was smooth again. I think that the ceiling molding in your foyer is probably later, done when the tiles were put up. Can't tell from the pics, but is the opening to your dining room just a wide opening, or is there a door of some sort? Here is a link that might be useful: Harris House Plan

Lavender - well, there's all kinds of issues. LOL. I LOVE this house, I could stay here a very, very long time and be happy. But it is in the city and the neighborhood is so/so. Getting better, but I don't like worrying about break-ins. And ours yard is only 37x97, so with the parking pad out back, there's barely room for the dogs, grass, or gardens, but I've made do and have some very beautiful landscaping now. The people across the street were really getting to me and if they kept up like they were last year I didn't know if I could stay here much longer...very ghetto, 10 hoodlums would hang out and it wasn't evne their house, the old people that lived there were moving drugs...I mean it wasn't a dilapidated drug house with crack you-know-whats coming in an out, but it was nonetheless an aggravation. They are much better this year after I contacted the Police Commander and city council. But it makes you worry about any future neighbors. But, I LOVE this house, the yard I've learned to live with. I've made some great gardens. Wish I had more room for the doggies. Love the neighborhood...such an old classic neighborhood with tons to do, even if it is a bit rough, as most gentrifying neighborhoods are. The old house is the opposite. It is on beautiful, beautiful, land, we can only see one neighbor through our pasture, the rest is woods. I love the property. And I love where it is...it's in a very nice area of the metro area. But I hate the house!!!!!!! I hate the ceilings most of all...some 7', some 7'6", some 8', and an ugly (to me, not to most I guess) wood-beam ceiling in the dining room that's kind of arts and crafts I guess. It's been added on 3 times and I can't stand it. To move there and be as happy with that house as with this house, we would have to put in 10's of thousands of dollars to renovate. While this one requires basically no renovation whatsoever. Not to mention neither of us like how the old house "feels", but that may change if it were extensively renovated. I just don't know. The main problem is that we wouldn't be able to move in and do reno's room-by-room - the kind of reno's I'd want to do would require a big reno at once due to structural issues. But god I love that property! And the 4 car garage. And the house its self is quite solid. Now that we've lived here, with a master suite, 2.5 baths, and 10' ceilings, and a decent kitchen, it would be hard to go back. There's always the fact that the old house is "free" because my partner is inheriting it LOL but, free doesn't always equal - good. So yes, it's a very, very tough decision. For right now, we're here, and we're staying here. I love the house so much. And I am liking the neighborhood more and more. But god I love that land the old house is on! Tearing it down isn't an option. honorbiltkit - Thank you for the compliment! My house is actually on W. 50th and Bridge...west side...most of the east side is real bad...I don't think anything is gentrifying there! They are building a lot of new houses, and all of that, but it isn't changing the neighborhood at all...same bad people move into those houses that were there before. It's really really really bad over there...like, Detroit bad. That is an area I would not even drive through! Most of the revitilization is happening on the near west and southwest side of the city. Quite a lot of the houses on the east side have fallen, or are falling, into serious disrepair. It makes my partner and I sad...his Grandma used to live somewhere near 80th and Central, I believe...the houses there were/are gorgeous..just going down the crapper :(. I wish things were different.

Thanks for the replies not to sure why you can not understand what I am saying. But will try again. I dont know if this is an American or british forum but this could be the reason why maybe different terms of speech. The wall I am working on is a interior wall. The old bricks are very brittle, like the old handmade ones. Render with a browning mix, i have just googled this and Is more a british saying so it mean plastering with a a course plaster mix to cover all the brickwork with a 25mm layer. But doing this locks in moisture close to the bricks. Sheetrock is what I call plasterboard. I like the Idea of making studwork frames and then mounting the insualtion and vapour barrier inside this just means loosing a lot of space around the property. But could live with that. Lime mix really annoys me its not the working with it I can do that its the drying time plus the lime wash paint after that leaves a residue that never goes so when ever you brush against a wall you get covered. English is my first language I come from the UK but spelling is not my thing hence why I joined the Army lol.

Dover reprints this amazing millwork catalog ca. 1903; the styles contained therein are all appropriate. The rigid Eastlake geometry, exoticism, and heaviness had been left behind and a cuter, lighter, more flowing style using classical curves had taken over. This ties in well with your surviving fretwork. I have this book, and it's worth a look, and should give you lots of ideas. http://www.amazon.com/Roberts-Illustrated-Millwork-Catalog-Century/dp/0486256979 Casey