Guest Room

History Lesson:
Our unique block was designed & built by Charles Leslie in 1872 with a shared central gated garden instead of a street. The houses are built on 25′ wide x 25′ deep lots, which provide plenty of light, opportunities for cross ventilation, and of course, views to the garden. The garden provides the perfect backdrop for community interaction and adds a touch of beauty & nature to everyday life in the big city. It’s also super quiet at night on our block which we have quickly grown to love (you may recall we used to live in Old City on 2nd Street… how?)

Our house underwent it’s first major renovation around 1900, when the owners of the Chichester Chemical Company, maker of the Diamond Brand Pennyroyal pills, lived here.   That’s when it received the two bay windows and surrounds, enlarged living room, enlarged master bedroom closet, increased the ceiling height in the 2nd floor and added the third floor with mansard roof… as well as all new interior doors, moulding, trim, tile, communication wires, knob and tube electricity, the list goes on.  Lucky for us we know quite a bit of history of our house and hope to post even more about it in the future when we have some spare time and aren’t using the dining room as a wood shop. :)

Current Stats

Basement:

  • Laundry area with utility sink & floor drain
  • Storage area & our extra beer / champagne fridge
  • Semi-organized workshop area filled with wood & mechanical equipment

First Floor:

  • Front Stoop onto Madison Square & our lovely garden
  • Antique tile/ mosaic entry with doors to living and dining room, & wood stair to second floor. We’ll be stripping the handrails and maybe even the painted stringer and risers.  Wall still need smoothed and painted but the light fixture is in!
  • Brand New Fabulous Kitchen
  • 1 brand new “Powder room” – wrapping this up as part of the current living room project.
  • Living room – BACK IN HERE TO FINISH UP AS OUR CURRENT PROJECT!
    • New built in credenza with travertine top
    • New coat closet – missing a door and coat rod, however.
    • 1900 Tiled fireplace
    • Framework for a stained glass window in the living room above the credenza
    • Hardwood floors- currently covered with protective layers of cardboard and such & original woodwork details
  • Dining Room storage room AKA, workshop
  • Small but covered exterior utility/ trash bin storage off rear alleyway with fence and door to alley.  This will be getting a new fence, window to basement and steps this year.

Second Floor:

  • Master Bedroom w/ walk in closet, Bay window, hardwood flrs, original woodwork details
  • “Orange Bedroom” – similar to our bedroom with a bay window, hardwood, and brand new closets. Currently used as studio work room/ dining room.
  • Complete Guest Bedroom! With cork floors, new window, new closet, picture rail, the works; all under 100 sq ft.
  • Complete Victorian Modern Spa Retreat Bathroom- now featuring a door and lock!
  • Main hall with new linen closets
  • Hall to third floor between the front bedrooms

3rd Floor Studio:

  • Open plan with for Office/ living room/ built-in wood and glass library cabinets
  • 5 large windows with 5 18″ deep new lovely marble sills
  • Deck with new planters, a fabulous view of skyline, William Penn & PECO building, and a GRILL!

Our plans include:

  • Rewire entire house (over half of it is currently 100yr old knob & tube wiring in pretty bad shape)-DONE!
  • 100% brand new Kitchen DONE!
  • Create a new opening between Kitchen & Living room and widen the existing opening between Kitchen & Dining Room- DONE!
  • Create a new half-bath, coat closet and built-in credenza on the first floor 99% DONE
  • Reopen boarded up bow window in Living Room – the frame is done, have started designing with McElf Glass Studio who will create a gorgeous custom window
  • Open a boarded up bow window on the north side in the Master bedroom closet: DONE!
  • Open a boarded-up window in the Kitchen (north side) and replace the existing Kitchen Window- DONE and DONE!
  • Open a boarded up window which will end up being in the half-bath- DONE!
  • 100% brand new Bathroom – DONE!
  • The little bedroom – needs a makeover (empty, remove carpet, patch & paint, finish some woodwork to conceal HVAC unit in portion of the ceiling – aka make it NICE) - DONE!
  • Create a linen closet on the 2nd floor (and a bonus mini closet) - DONE
  • Remove wonky closet from orange bedroom and create new closets for both “spare” bedrooms - Done
  • Add a “conditioned” closet/ attic above the closets in the bedrooms for additional storage (suitcases, out of season comforters, etc) - DONE
  • Repaint 2nd floor hall, add new lights - DONE
  • Install trim that matches existing historic profile in Living room (will be stained oak) – CURRENT PROJECT!
  • Strip & refinish the fireplace
  • Replace the mantel -DONE
  • Add a ventless gas insert to fireplace
  • Refinish the handrails and newell posts in the stair from 1st to 2nd flr
  • Paint the hall and front entry
  • Replace ceiling light fixtures in Dining Room & Living room
  • Laminate new drywall to Dining Room ceiling or skim coat with plaster
  • Install wainscot, picture rail and possibly crown moulding in Dining room (painted)
  • Create a basement workshop!
  • Repaint mostly everything (interior)- we are getting there… entry, stairs, hall to third floor
  • Revamp the back porch area – new sliding gate & steps
  • Revamp the front door (future stained glass? new house numbers? fix the wonky door)
  • New basement windows along alley (currently boarded over)
  • Future -future – future plans may include a possible upper roof deck… yeah we will have to keep dreaming on this one!

3rd Flr Studio

We love our house!!