2004 House Tour Photos

In September 2004, my house and gardens was featured in the Dormont (PA) house tour. It was an extremely satisfying experience -- the culmination of eight years of hard work. You could say it was my house's "coming out" party.

There was plenty still to do, but I finally felt it was ready to stand up to the scrutiny of a multitude of old house lovers. There were eleven houses on the tour, and mine was among the smallest and most modest, but people really seemed to like it.

These photos were taken just prior to the tour. Click each photo to view a "before" photo.

I have yet to tackle the old aluminum siding and gutters, but it was power washed and
the house has been pointed (out with the black mortar and in with the red), the
front hillside landscaped, and the porch floor, door and trim has been painted.

At long last, the living room is just about finished. The windowseat, oak mantle
and bookcases were built by me without the slightest idea of what I was doing.

I used to think the room was incomplete. The one full wall
has a stained glass window, and we had no art work to
fill the space around it. A plate rail was the perfect solution. Between buying, cutting, and installing the plate rail, and repainting the room, this project took three weekends, cost about $100, and made a priceless improvement to the room.

The bare, sloped backyard was transformed into a sunny, terraced garden,
with a quiet patio for relaxing after a hard day's work.

My restoration experiences

A history of inside renovations

Turning grass into gardens