Each To Their Own
Over the past 35 plus years we’ve been through a lot of houses, reclaiming what we could for the future.
Some days, the places are so undone, so badly damaged or so dangerous, pulling out anything worthwhile is a stretch. Most of the homes, institutions or commercial spaces we get into are safe, clean and reasonably original; we’re able to remove the flooring, doors, stained glass, lighting and more to live another day.
Unfortunately, it’s a sad fact that buildings are demolished. While we don’t promote the demolition of houses, we do believe that they should be salvaged, if they’re going to come down or see major renovations. We take some comfort knowing we’re doing what we can.
However, every now and then comes a house that hurts.
Here we have a lovely Arts & Crafts home built in 1932 that, as far as we can tell, is in excellent condition, if old. Recently gutted, it’s original fixtures were (thank goodness) carefully removed and are being replaced with modern amenities. To be fair, there was little insulation and each sink had two taps – who wants to wash their hands with hot here and cold over there?
We removed 9 doors that look like the one above and are in excellent condition – quarter cut oak with beveled glass in copper came. There were 26 other interior doors, lighting, plumbing, small cabinetry and a cast iron corner tub the weight of which makes my eyes water yet.
There’s no law that says someone can’t do this to a house and I would hate to have someone come and tell me what I should do with my home but it does, at least, feel good to share my umbrage. On the upside, other’s are now able to share in the lovely elements that someone once added to their home.
