My understanding of the plaster question is this: prior to 1900, lime plaster was by far the most common type. Horse or other animal hair was used as a binder. After 1900, gypsum plaster became the standard. The gypsum itself became the binder material. It is, I suppose, possible that minute amounts of asbestos could have been in the sand or gypsum for both types of plaster, but I think it's pretty unlikely. In some rare cases, the fibrous asbestos may have been used as a binder, but I've never heard of it being found anywhere in Maine. Where I would be cautious is in any areas that have been patched. Various patching compounds, including drywall mud, did contain some asbestos in the past. A test would be inexpensive peace of mind, and as another poster noted, asbestos if sealed and not disturbed presents no real danger.

Hi, and welcome! Those floors, and the stairs, what a great space you have. I see that the two windows flanking the fireplace are reminiscent of Arts and Crafts. So any builtin cabs you make, put doors with the four-square look to them. And of course a flat panel if you do a TV. Hide it behind a pair of doors.TV to the LEFT of fireplace, since traffic will be walking or stranding in front of the RIGHT side of the fireplace. If you do decide to lower the cabs adjacent to the fireplace, relate the top height of them to the height of the firebox, so the eye makes a straight line across that wall and it will be much more satisfying. Long lines can add size to a small space. You decide, low or high, but make the line long and continuous. I think the sofa really needs to be very small scale, and you might find a loveseat like one I got from Boston Interiors. It has plain legs, but think about the furniture not being large, and chairs not having skirted bottoms, so that more of the floor shows. It tells the eye there is more open area. I would consider a modern looking wingback chair or maybe two. Stay away from the Queen Ann style dining chairs, which is what the former owner had. It is not suitable for a younger male resident. Too really old fashioned. More appropriate for your grandma, don't ya know. I'd say if you got parsons chairs for your dining area, then two of the chairs could serve in the LR by the windows. It is easy to pick up different colored slip covers for parsons chairs, with or without long skirts. If you are the kind likes to entertain formally, then a special set of slip covers for such occasions might be worth considering. If you go with the smaller table beneath the larger window, make it a type of tea table. That could serve as a breakfast or coffee spot, and give you a chance to observe what is going on outdoors on your street....that is, if you are facing a street with a sidewalk? Pretty interesting way to become acquainted with the style of your street. Make your dining area work hard too. Do not forget to put at least ONE storage piece in the dining area. But no big buffet. A skinny 60" long parsons table against the wall with a floating shelf arrangement above it would be a good way to create display space without restricting yourself to a set wall hanging. Such a table works as a serving space in the dining, or any number of ways in the LR. If need be, a nice place to also use baskets beneath it for hidden storage. Look for a skinny vertical piece with or without doors to display artwork or pretty large serving bowls in it. We will wait while you give us a tour of the other floors, where are the bathrooms. I bet two baths, right? Do they have original ceramic tile? Wainscoting up high or woodwork like at the mantle wall? How cool your new house must be. And is the upper floor, the third level, where you have a master? Does it have small closets and a bath on that floor? Is it tucked under the eaves, or are ceilings full height? If you have a space with slanted ceilings, then that is a good space for a headboard, or a chest that can fit with it. Or, a desk and book shelves or a console. Whatever you do, enjoy the experience. The first house I bought, I had only a pair of wicker chairs and a cypress coffee table. I rattled around in that place like a bee-bee in a washpot for a long time. So many options. Do not buy a lot of stuff just to fill it up. That will happen soon enough. And if you have a lot of friends, watch out for them.....they will want to feel GOOD about giving away their old stuff so they can feel GOOD about buying NEW for themselves. :) Enjoy. We realize how much fun it is to begin with a blank slate. Oh yeah. No recliners in the living room. That goes in the study or den. If you are single, it will favorably impress your dates. A second thought here. It might be a good idea to locate that 20" TV in the kitchen, or somewhere in the dining room that can be seen from the kitchen. Also, think about mounting it on an articulating arm that can be swiveled toward the LR, or made visible from the kitchen. If you have friends over to cook and watch a game, will they be in the kitchen with you? Is there room for that? How many of them will there be USUALLY? And do you need to have a counter space devoted to kibitzing guests with stools that can be tucked away? Is it possible with the current setup? Is the kitchen unfitted enough that you could have a rolling tall island with space for 2-3 stools and a second person helping with cooking chores? Enough already. Glad you dropped in. See ya later.

I'll be contrary and say I'm against keeping that cabinet. The "old" cabinet is a hybrid from the (I'd say 50's-60's) previous renovation and the original cabinet. The bottom is original and the top has clutzy replacement doors instead of the (probably) of inset doors, the new doors were probably an attempt to blend the new cabinets with the old. The kitchen probably had one of those long wall sinks with integral drainboards in that area and the photos show the newly improved arrangement with only one small full depth base cabinet - the sink base. If you keep it, I think you can't place the dishwasher where you've drawn it - I don't think you have even 18" for a dw between where a farm sink cabinet would be and the edge of the antique base cabinet. You already know that its height from the countertop prevents you from using that counter space for anything but storage. If you keep it, you might look for new doors for it and a better companion cabinet for the other side of the sink window. The wall cabinet there looks like a replacement ir later addition anyway. Doing the return (making the little "L" on the dining room side) doesn't actually get you much - you lose more of the easy storage in the corner, the upper becomes more difficult to use and you don't really gain USEFUL counterspace because you can't use the counter in the corner. A lot of this will have different charateristics than it does now because you're much further away from that upper when you use standard size cabinets. The "L" prevents changing the dw to the left side of the sink - again I think that's necessary if you want to save the antique cabinet. In what I drew, You can have the ref where drawn free standing or with a small pantry that opens towards the bathroom. If you choose to do a range in that location, the suggestion above for an antique range is a good one - craig's list sometimes has chambers and others listed for baltimore that work and are reasonable. The issue with an unrestored antique range is SAFTEY. They sometimes have problems with gas leaks, rust or ovens that don't work right. You could also maybe do the 40" Frigidaire for something that feels more like an older style. Lots more cash than that gets you a restored antique range. Some more cash gets you something really stylish like this bert. At about that level of pricing, you can just reach a pro style range like an american or blue star. In any event, What you can't do is keep that partly old cabinet and "recounter" it deeper, put a counter in front of the window and expect to be able to reach inside it on either the uppers or the lowers (without crawling). By increasing the depth of the counter, you're increasing your distance from the upper and you won't be able to reach as well as you could before. You also won't be able to use either of the drawers because of the extended depth of the counter. I had to laugh about the wall fan (I have one). Isn't your kitchen greasy? Don't you spend time cleaning the grease off those pipes and the exhaust fan itself? Don't you find kinda gory dust on the ceiling fan - dust that clumps up because of the grease? Little flecks of greasy stuff on the walls and cabinets that are nearly impossible to clean off? Here is a link that might be useful: Frigidaire range

"Radiators" are not themselves a legitimate ground. The operative stuff is in Art. 250.130. Your heating and water pipes, while required to be bonded to the building ground system, are not legal substitutes for a ground for grounding branch circuits. The only time a piping is a part of a legitimate ground system is the first five feet of where a metal pipe enters a building from underground. You can connect to a different branch circuits ground (if it has one), or to some accessible part of the buildings ground system (ground rods, or the water pipe within the first 5 feet). Other than that a GFCI will allow you to plug in grounded plugs with occupant safety, but as DavidR points out, that the surge protection is enhanced when there's a real ground there.