Changes to the Keeping Room

The ceiling in the keeping room was dropped to an eight (8) foot level.  As with the rest of the downstairs of Zelda, the drop ceiling were removed to expose the original twelve (12) foot high ceilings.  In the case of the keeping room, when exposed, the original bead board ceiling had a tremendous amount of water damage.  This was due to the bay area expansion, and was fixed during our construction.  The fireplace also had an enormous amount of added brickwork.  Again we can attribute this to a brick mason which occupied the house during the 1960's.  The weight of the brick is the reason for all the damage floor joists and why the down stair floors were all un-level.  Let us know what you think about the changes.

Before:  Vinyl flooring and a low leaking ceiling.

After:  Wood flooring, higher ceiling and new walls.  We removed the wainscoting but added baseboards.

Before:  Massive amount of bricks and narrow crown molding.

After:  No more brick but a spot above the fireplace for a large flat screen TV with no wires showing.

Before:  The brick wall and closed off stairway and dining room.

After:  Wood flooring, no brick and an open free flowing area.

Before:  The low ceiling really and closed wall confines the area.

After:  Not the same view but looking from the kitchen does show the high ceiling, the two (2) entries into the dining room.  Also opening the wall to expose the stairs and new arch in the entry.

Modifications to the Foyer

The next room on the agenda to show the before and after modifications is the foyer.  This is the only floor on the downstairs which was not removed.

Before:  Yes the staircase is leaning to the left.  One of the main floor joist which ran down each side of the foyer was broken.  It was due to the weight of all the brick work which had been added to the fireplace in the dining room.

Before:  The coat closet under the stairs. 

After:  Multiple layers of paint removed and the wood sanded.  Not a good angle to tell but during the leveling of the house, the stairs were raised about three (3) inches on the left side of the closet.  This was done by jacking up the house.  We installed twenty-seven (27) piers under the house with all new treated floor joist.

Before:  Handrail was brown peeling paint and the carpet on stair treads was nasty.

After:  All the carpet removed and the handrails and stair treads painted black.  The risers and spindles were painted white.

Before:  Narrow low opening into the keeping room.

After: This looking from the opposite side, but shows how the wall on the staircase was opened and the narrow passage now is higher, wider and has an arch.  We also had to add the handrailing in the new opening and madeit  to match the original.  This photo was taken on June 20, 2010 while we were still doing construction.

Before: Nasty carpet on the floor with narrow opening (on right ) into the family room.

After: Marble floor and all new sheet rock.

Before:  View of front door with the narrow low opening (on left) into the family room.

After: Black marble flooring replaced the nasty carpet.

After:  View of foyer and staircase.

Changes in the Dining Room

We were in Gatlinburg and Knoxville for the labor day holiday weekend.  As previously stated, we will not be heading back to Zelda for about four (4) weeks, so we post some before and after photos of Zelda.  This post will be comparison photos of the dining room.  The dining room had a drop ceiling which was eight (8) foot high.  It was removed to reveal the twelve (12) foot high ceiling.

The low ceiling and original fireplace.

The one (1) small doorway leading to the keeping room.

The higher ceiling and wider opening into the keeping room.

Another view of the new wider and higher opening.

All the brick work and bookshelf before the renovation.

The brick is gone and the bookshelf replaced with another wide opening into the keeping room.

A different angle of the new opening.

Looking through the new opening at the stairs.

Looking towards the front door in the old Zelda.

During the renovation, we installed a wide and tall opening into the entrance foyer.