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1895 Modified Victorian First Floor Den

The previous owner of our old home added an office to the first floor sometime in the 1940's.  He had a door punched through the wall just to the right of the reception hall fireplace.  The room is small and runs right up to the property line and drive way of our neighbors.  A firebox was created on what is the "outside" of the chimney.

When we arrived, this room was a complete mess.  There had been multiple leaks in the roof and instead of replacing the destroyed ceiling, someone just kept adding more ceilings.  I lost count after three layers when gutting the room. 

HISTORIC COMMISSIONS  The long window shown caused a bit of a stir with the Historic Commission.  It took some doing to help them realize that this style of window is in many houses in our area. Always check with your historic commission before starting a project!!!!

The fireplace was never meant to be, but the previous owner almost made it happen anyway.  You are seeing what used to be the outside wall of the first floor.  On the other side (now restored) was a coal fireplace.  That was closed off and this side opened to warm new office space.  

The little window to your right in the picture....look for the green curtains.... is actually the bottom half of one of the three windows that light the stairs in the reception hall.  Yeah, I know..kinda odd. We thought the contractor was going to go nuts trying to figure out how to work around this feature.

A flat, multiple layered ceiling used to come to about where the chimney begins to narrow.  Our contractor found a way to replace that ugly ceiling with the beautiful wooden, slightly vaulted ceiling shown.  Added a paddle fan too to keep the summer breezes moving through the room. 

 For much of the year, the den is our absolute favorite room.  By having the fireplace repaired and gas logs added, we extended the use of the room to most of the year.  We are working on a feature that will show you what we went through to rebuild this wonderful room. 

Our contractor added French style sliding doors to replace the rotting door and widow array.   While he was here, he managed to talk us into a deck.  Glad he did.  Having a deck at level with this den makes the space even bigger during the warmer months.

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