Sandwiched In The Middle Part 3

I have become so addicted to www.pinterest.com that I have been ignoring this blog!  It is a horribly addicting stie, but fantastic for ideas and to get creativity flowing!

Today I am going to talk about the guest bedroom and the master bedroom as there really isn't much to talk about there and that will finish off the back portion of the upstairs.


This is a picture of the master bedroom which is right at the top of the stairs and to your right.  This is exactly how it was when we first saw the house.  The iron bed, the wardrobe and the small table in the back corner were left in the house.

The wardrobe and the bed are two of our favourite finds in the house.  The bed is going into the guest room as my mother in law is absolutely head over heels in love with it.  The wardrobe is going to stay in this room.  We are probably going to move the bed to the opposite wall so we can have view out the window and leave the wardrobe over on that end of the room.  We have a fire place mantel that we bought in Newfoundland on our honeymoon that we will be putting on the wall to the right in this picture with a cast iron stove.  Then a dresser on the back wall where the bed is now and it will be with the wardrobe.  I really really wanted a dressing table, but I do not foresee us having the room for it.  We will have to see once all our existing furniture is in the room.

This is what the room currently looks like with the ceiling gone and one wall stripped.

This is a picture of the bed that we bought here and restored.  We will be using it in this room. 

Sandwiched In the Middle Part 2

Today I want to talk about my absolute favourite room in the house.  My knitting room!!!  The house was built with five bedrooms, one being the maids quarters.  So instead of having a silly very tiny guest room I or an office for computer and papers, I am going to make a crafty knitting type room.  YAY!! 

This picture shows the knitting room as we found it.  It had the single white iron bed and the little white dresser in it.  Both items we still have, but we do believe we will be selling the bed.  The dresser is going to be used in Imogen' s bedroom between the two beds as mentioned in the previous post.

The knitting room is located at the back of the house.  It has one of the greatest views of the ocean and light house next to the guest bedroom.  Its in a little hall of its own off the upstairs hallway and next to the guest bedroom.  It is a great private little area.  This photo looks straight into the knitting room and just around that wall on the left is the guest bedroom.

This is standing inside inside the knitting room.  Here you can see my wonderful husband (who was clueless his picture was being taken) sitting in my knitting chair.  It is the wicker rocker that was found in Patrick's bedroom in earlier photographs.  It is going to remain in that corner.  Beside that you can see the top of my cubbies, which was the best find ever!  

Sorry about the poor picture, but I didn't have time to make sure they were perfect.  This is looking into the room from the hallway.  You can see the awesome cubbies that my mother in law found at South Works Antiques Mall in Cambridge.  It had two doors on it and you would have thought it was just a standard cupboard, but no no no!  There are amazing little cubbies in there with alphabet markings on them and some numbers.  I have been dreaming of this piece of furniture since we bought the house and when we found it I was over the moon.  I am going to either strip it and stain it lighter or paint the outside white and leave the cubbies wood colour.

On the right hand side I have an old foot peddle Singer sewing machine.  I picked it up at auction for TEN dollars!  The drawers were full of stuff too.  No one at the auction would bid on it and it was kind of a funny moment.  I had been looking for one, but everywhere I looked they were about 125 or higher.  So when this came up I expected it to at least each 60-80.  The price just kept dropping, then the auctioner said "ten dollars anyone?" So I waved my little paper and giggled away.

In the corner between the cubbies and the window I have a wool drying spinning rack that I also picked up at a different auction.  Everyone kept referring to it as a wool winder, but it is much too large to be a winder.  There are bends in the pieces that the wool would sit against as well so we figured it was a drying rack for when they are dying or just preparing the wool.  It was later confirmed by an antique expert that it is a drying rack.  Sorry about the picture its hard to get out of the corner.

The last piece that I have already gotten for this room is a last look mirror.  It was in South Works Antique Mall and I was eyeing it for about a year or so.  It was so nice and I could use it for needles and such in my knitting room right about the sewing machine desk.  It was a bit out of my price range, but come Christmas my family shocked me with it!  I was over the moon.  I will have to pull it out of storage and take pictures to add on here.

For wall art, up in the attic we found little cards that have bible verses and beautiful art from the 20's.  They are playing card size.  On the back they have the the sunday school lessons for the week and memory verses.  I am going to frame some of these if I can find frames to do it and have them posted.  If I cannot find frames I am thinking of doing the cork board with the ribbon to just tuck them in.  I will take pictures of those or scan them when I do the last look mirror.

This is my knitting room just about complete!  I am super excited and I finished it super cheap with great finds and furniture left behind.  Now I just need to stock my cubbies with some super awesome wool.  

OH!  The last thing I will have in there probably beside my desk is my miniature spinning wheel that I bought on my honeymoon in 2004.  We had it for years and my mother in law loved it.  Once we moved I didn't really have a place for it to be seen and appreciated so she put it in her little house in Newfoundland, now I am going to have it in my knitting room when its all done.  :)

Sandwiched In The Middle PART 1

The second floor of the house is huge to say the least.  At least it feels that way to my family who come from a very tight house here in Hamilton.  Starting at the front of the house.  The two bay windows are mirrored bedrooms.  One for Imogen and one for Patrick.  While stripping the walls from the bedrooms we came to the newspaper that they originally used for insulation.  The one bedroom had newspaper from the 1890's.  This was some of the oldest newspaper that we found in the first batch of work.  It is always fun pulling off the pieces of beaver board and then reading newspapers from the late 1890's and early 1900's.  There are newspapers from the war in there too, which are always very very interesting to read.

The two bedrooms feature the bay windows and each room has a fire place.  They ran a chimney up through the fireplace in the upper floor, so they are no longer functional, but the original mantels are still there.  Each bedroom also has a closet, the one bedroom has the access to the attic in the closet.

This is the first bedroom on the left when you get to the top of the stairs.  All items that you see in the room were left there except for the bench off to the right.  The wicker rockers is a fabulous find and we are using that in the knitting room.  The press back chair will be used in the kitchen, we have six of those total.  The rest of the furniture was sold at the yard sale.  This is the room that we found the oldest newspaper in, but have only stripped the front wall.  This is going to be Patrick's bedroom.

This picture shows the walls with the beaver board off and some of the ceiling.  We were really hoping to have beadboard ceilings or at least open beams, but someone wanted about 1/2 an inch to 1 inch more height and took an axe to all the beams upstairs. They are butchered to say the least.

Here you can see how they ran the chimney up through the fire places on the second floor.  You can also see my bathtub lol.  The white dresser was left in the maid's room and we are going to use it in Imogen's room between the two bed's that we purchased in Jordan.

Here you can see out into the hallway and see where the closet is located.  You can also see some of the original wallpaper that we left on the walls.

This is the second bedroom.  It is a mirror of the first, except it has the attic access through the closet.  The two tables that are located in the bay window were left.  I do believe the bed and frame were let, but it stunk and wasn't spectacular so that went to the dump straight away.  You can see more of the mantel in this photograph and see the fabulous doors that are located all over the house.  Sorry for the poor picture, this is the only original of this room I have and it was the realestate photograph.  

This room is going to be Imogen's bedroom in the house.

This is the bedroom after it was emptied and some of the walls had been stripped.  The trunk that you see straight ahead was left in the house.  It was in the guest bedroom and was FULL of papers and stuff.  Right now it is keeping hold of the wool coat that we believe belonged in Wm Mallam and his top hat.  There is also a bunch of diplomas and certificates in there that we are hoping to return to the family once we get in contact with them.

Here you can see the fire place and the closet.  The closet has the ladder they left there for the attic which is just a dear wooden ladder.  Very very nice.  You can see some of the original wallpaper that was in this room as well as the oil cloth that we left on the floor to protect the wood under it. 

Here you can see the second trunk.  There were three in total, but we sold one of them.  This one is holding some of the canes that belonged to the Mrs. Moore's husband, Kitch.  Mrs. Moore was the last to own this house before she passed away and her sons sold it to us.

This is oen of my favourite suprises so far.  This fireplace was sealed up and when my mother in law removed it this is what she found on the other side.  I am so excited about this that I am now going to get a Victrola phonograph and put the two items together in the house.  I can hear the sound of the 20's music playing in there now as it once did before.  

So these are the before and after pictures so far of the two bay window bedrooms.  Once they are finished the two bedrooms are going to be set up the same.  Two twin beds with a dresser or night stand between them.  Hopefully with the pull outs under them for extra sleeping areas.  They will have a window seat in each room that will open up so they kids can store their toys away neatly.  

This is a picture of one of the headboards for Imogen's bedroom.  We found these two beds at an awesome antique store in Jordan Station.  The man is open basically by appointment or chance and the prices there are just awesome.  They do the Christie's show as well.

We are going to paint these beds white and put the pull our under it for extra sleeping.  The white dresser from the previous picture we believe is what we will put between the two.

In Patrick's bedroom we are going to look at two iron beds.  I have one at the house right now, but it is not a full twin.  I really am not a fan of the single beds.  I also am picky and need the beds to be identical.  This is a picture of the ones we are looking at getting from restoration hardware, or something like that if we can find matching beds.  The only issue with this one is we cannot fit a mattress under it.

So those are the two front bedrooms of 237 Heart's Content.  Hope you enjoyed and remember please feel free to comment on anything and give me suggestions as I am always open for ideas!!!

237 Main Rd, Heart's Content

Here is a brief history of Heart's Content taken from their web page;

The Town of Heart’s Content has much to be proud of.  With its deep sheltered harbor nestled into the south shore of Trinity Bay, it leaves no wonder where the Community got its name.  When John Guy visited in 1615, he described the place as picturesque and the same word applies today.  The community was chosen for the successful landing of the first Trans Atlantic Cable in 1866.  This has made the Town renowned all over the world.  The industry and economy expanded in the late 1800’s with adequate docking facilities for shipbuilding and the trans-shipment point of newsprint from the province’s paper mills.  While all the activities that brought the Town to prominence has faded into history, the population of 495 still remains a main center on the Trinity Shore.  This includes the drug store, banking services, Government offices, including the Department of Forestry and Wildlife, and the Department of Works Services and Transportation.  Thousands of tourists visit the cable museum each summer, which is now a Provincial Historic Site.

The Town was incorporated in 1967 with it’s first volunteer Fire Department. In the same year the Town’s first recreation commission was also formed.  The first elected Council took office in 1974 and improvements have continued over the years, with paved roads, street lighting, animal control, fully serviced water and sewer system and a 20 Member Volunteer Fire Department which is fully equipped with a 625 pumper truck purchased in 1992.  The Town has a seven-member council with Mayor Don Blundon, who has been in that position for the past 28 years.

The town has recreational facilities including a ball field and a playground, and also has a good commercial tax base with a garage, restaurant, motel and two fairly large convenience stores and Liquor Agency.

This church is what was located across the street from us, but was burned down in the 30's.  In the house we found a piece of the church that was all melted because it was rescued from the fire.  We donated that to the Cable Station Museum.  The graveyard still remains across the street from us. 

237 Main Rd in Heart's Content belonged to one of the cable workers and his name was William Mallam.  We are not certain how long William's family lived at this residence, but we believe it was from about 1880/1890 until it was sold to us by Mrs. Moore's son when she passed away (Mrs. Moore was a Mallam married into the Moore family).  

William Mallam in the 20's

William was a very important part of the cable station.  He was a telegraph operator.  He worked there in the prime of the cable station and then in the 30's as the cable station began to decline he took early retirement.  He eventually left the house and moved to St. John's and we believe it was left for his children, but he also had rental property in Heart's Content.  We are not certain if he rented 237 or if he had purchased another home in the community.  He also owned a store in the town at one point, which we believe we have a picture of.

Starting in the attic today, we found loads of papers that belonged to the Mallam family.  Most of the papers are from 1917-1924.  These papers were pay stubs, life assurance papers, sunday school bookets and grocery bills.  There were piles of these papers.  We have rescued as many as we could as there was a broken window in the attic and some of the papers got fairly wet.  

A lot of the papers that we found are at the Cable Station Museum so they can see some of the things from the town.  Because of the papers in the attic the Cable Station now has information about a store that they never knew existed in the town of Heart's Content, which is awesome that we were able to share that information and unlock a piece of history.  I am including in this blog some of the papers that I have scanned and some pictures of the house as it stood in the early 20's.

This was a wedding, for who we are not sure, but it shows the house just after all the renovations were done on it in the early 20's.

Here are just a couple of the pictures that were found in the house.  The child we believed lived in the house.  There were leg braces for a child in the attic and we believe they belonged to this child as every picture this child has tights or legs covered.  The little girls were just so darn cute and those bears they are holding are spectacular!  

These are some of the receipts and papers that were found in the attic.  A lot of them are from 1921 and 1924.  The Mallom's added the back of the house on top of the kitchen in 1921 and the Cable Station was thriving at that point in time.  We actually have most of the receipts for all the work they did when renovating the house.  They added the slate mantels, the bay windows and the second story addition.

                                                                             

This is a letter letting the Mallam's know they order would be in a crate

Wm Mallon's eye glasses                          

one shilling credit never cashed

$2.70 for a month of electricity

Rules on the back of the electrical bill

This is a two page grocery bill from the Cable Store in Heart's Content.  This is a rather hefty one, they ordered just about everything from there.  $147.92 for a grocery bill in 1921.  That is basically what I spend nowadays!

The Mallam's often shopped at the Cable Store as we have stacks of bills from there.  They ordered everything from eggs to women's gloves there

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These are the sunday school papers, we have weekly reports from 1917-1924.  These are amazing to read and to read some of the things the children wrote in them.

Wm Mallam was big on Life Assurance.  This is one of the many receipts.

This is one of Wm Mallam's pay stubs from the cable station

This is a postcard from the cable station showing time period of 1886 I believe it said

Along with all these papers and photographs we found bottles. Bottles upon bottles upon bottles!  My goodness!  There were some really nifty ones in there, but a lot of them we are still looking to sell off to people as we definitely cannot house this many bottles.  There were some framed pictures, chamber pots, a bird cage that my mother in law just adores and cleaned with ketchup like crazy and still more things left to discover!

So I hope you enjoyed everything on here.  It is a tad scattered as I am writting this with two small children running around and demanding things from me, but I am sure you get the idea so far.  Please, if there are any question put them in the comment field and I will do my best to answer them.  Hopefully later on today or tomorrrow I can start on the second story of the house and tell you information that we have on that so far and we will just keep going down from there. 

The House As We Found It

The first time we walked into the house we tried to not get too excited.  We just had major heartache from the previous house and we worked ourselves up so much over it.  Got way too ahead of ourselves.  As I personally walked through this house, which by the way we call the Mallom house,  I could picture my children in there and them running up and down the halls.  I could envision all the rooms set up as I walked into them regardless of the drooping ceilings and peeling wallpaper.  I was more then excited.  

This is what the house looked like on the outside the day we saw it

This is my favourite room in the house.  This is were I knew I had to have it, my selfish space.  This was the maids room, but it is going to be my knitting room.  A room 100% dedicated to knitting/crafts.  I am so excited and have almost all the furniture for this room already.

This is the bathroom.  There is only one bathroom in the house and it is right at the top of the stairs.  It is small, but we will be improving the space by removing a chimney that you cannot see in this picture.  Still small, but we will decorate it so it doesn't feel cramped.  Plumbing might be a bit of a hassel as the house will not have much heat and will be left empty during the winter months.  

This is Patrick's bedroom, the first room on the left when you come to the top of the stairs.  It was originally Imogen's bedroom, but this summer the kids decided otherwise.  I could envision the little sitting area at the bay window, the two beds for when guests come there will be loads of places to sleep. The two bedrooms are identical, just flipped.  

This is Imogen's bedroom, again just a mirror of the above Imogen.  This room has the ladder in the closet up to the attic which is a very interesting place as well.  Found a lot of treasures up there.

These are the stairs in the house which are my love!  They are silent and so comfortable.  The handrail is magnificent and the decoration so beautiful.  The main floor hall is shown here as well and behind the picture taker is the grand foyer, which is going to be an amazing place to sit and be creative in an open space.  There are windows every where in this house which is just wonderful!

This is the master bedroom at the top of the stairs on the right.  The bed and wardrobe were left in the house, which we are very very happy about.  The bed will be used in the guest bedroom and the wardrobe is going to stay in the master bedroom.  This room has some water damage on the beaver board so we had to get rid of it quickly and get the smell out!

My beloved kitchen <3

This is the main part of the kitchen.  The first door you see on the right is the pantry which is GIANT and then the scullery is on the left there.  It is such a large room and the amount of storage is fantastic.

Here is our living room.  It has a slate fireplace that is painted to look like marble.  Now this one in the living room I am not a huge fan of.  The slate in this room is painted a green marble effect and then they have red tile with it.  Forest green and red, not my cup of tea.  Too Christmas like if you ask me.  The room features the large bay window like the upstairs bedrooms have and its a nice open space. It has a little pass through to the dining room and a door out to the hall. 

This is the dining room.  You can see the pass through from the dining room to living room that I am talking about.  This marble effect fireplace is much better then the living room.  

The best part of the house is the backyard I'd say.  This is taken right were our deck is going to be.  You can see the lighthouse out on the point on the right.  Watch boats come and go as the days pass by.  Such a beautiful place to be day in and day out. 

So this is the house as we found it.  A lot of the furniture stayed in the house, so we were able to have a huge yard sale and make some money to fix up the house.  Some of the furniture of course we kept.  Next blog I will start to tell you about the history of the house and all the gems we found inside. :)