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Restoring an American Colonial Style Home

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Last Updated on February 10, 2021 by lindseymahoney

Today I am excited to share a beautiful restoration of this American Colonial style home. Who doesn’t like to see an old home brought back to life?

1920's colonial style home restoration  | Building Bluebird #homerenovation #historicpreservation #restoration #oldhomes #historichomes

My brother and his wife spent two years restoring every piece of this home and the transformation is jaw-dropping.

Restoring this 100 year old colonial style home | Building Bluebird #homerestoration #historichomes #colonial #preservation

Their goal was to uncover the original features of the home and highlight all of the wonderful details. The original hardwood has been restored and the old sconces have been repaired and rehung.

All of the paint on the fireplace and baseboards was removed and the house looks as good as the day it was built!

Want to see more historic home transformations? Get the full before and after tour of the Historic Denver Bosler House with complete details on the exterior and interior restoration of the home.


1920’s American Colonial Style Home Restoration

Exterior Before

Restoring this 100 year old colonial style home | Building Bluebird #homerestoration #historichomes #colonial #preservation

Jon and Shannon spent many weekends scraping this house and painting it white. They replaced the roof, the gutters, and waterproofed the exterior of the foundation.

Exterior After

Restoring this 100 year old colonial style home | Building Bluebird #homerestoration #historichomes #colonial #preservation

Isn’t this the most charming house you have ever seen?!

The black shutters against the white clapboard are a classic and timeless look. The American flag hanging on the porch is the perfect finishing touch.

Living Room Before

Restoration of colonial-style home built in the 1920's | Building Bluebird #oldhouselove #homerenovation #restoration #colonial #historichome

I love the transformation in this room. Do you see all of that woodwork?! Now imagine taking a heat gun and scraper to every part of those doors baseboards & mantle…NUTS!

This house has so much love (and sweat) put into it.

Living room before the renovation of the 100 year old home | Building Bluebird #homerenovation #historichome

Jon methodically worked his way around the house restoring the original woodwork.

Uncovering the original wood trim in this 1920s American colonial style home | Building Bluebird

He used a heat gun to remove most of the paint on the baseboards and fireplace mantle and it worked really well.

Living Room After

Restored 1920's American colonial home | Building Bluebird
1920's home with original woodwork restored | Building Bluebird

Dining Room Before

1920s original kitchen of colonial style home | Building Bluebird

Before the dining room was dark and dirty. There was paint all over everything – woodwork, windows and the sconces.

They restored the wood floors, removed the paint from all baseboards and windows and they even repaired and restored the sconces on the wall.

Dining Room After

Dining room with restored wood floors and woodwork - Colonial home restoration

Hot water and a wire brush do wonders to remove old paint!

Restored 1920's sconces | Building Bluebird

Kitchen Before

1920s original kitchen of colonial style home | Building Bluebird

The kitchen was a mess.  When they moved in, the kitchen needed a new ceiling, new floors, tiles from the backsplash were missing and paint was chipping everywhere.

1920s original kitchen of colonial style home | Building Bluebird

Kitchen After

1920s original kitchen of colonial style home | Building Bluebird

With a new ceiling and the wood floors restored, the kitchen already looks like a different space! They found replacement tiles for the backsplash and gave the entire room a fresh coat of paint.

1920's original kitchen in the Colonial home

The updated kitchen has such a quaint and vintage feel.

*Check out the budget-friendly kitchen makeover in their new home!

Half Bath Before

1920's colonial style home restoration  | Building Bluebird #homerenovation #historicpreservation #restoration #oldhomes #historichomes

The half bathroom is super tiny and located right off of the kitchen. It is small but mighty and unique for this type of home to have a bathroom on the first floor.

Half Bath After

Half bathroom with vintage charm in the historic Colonial home | Building Bluebird

They made sure to make this little half-bath shine! They added a retro sink that gave the bathroom more space and added a large mirror. The moody green color on the walls is Oyster Bay by Sherwin Williams.

Check out more moody paint colors that go great in small bathrooms.

Guest Bedroom Before

1920's colonial style home restoration  | Building Bluebird #homerenovation #historicpreservation #restoration #oldhomes #historichomes

This bedroom was covered in wallpaper that did NOT want to come off! They relied on a steamer to remove all of the wallpaper in the room.

Guest Bedroom After

1920's colonial style home restoration  | Building Bluebird #homerenovation #historicpreservation #restoration #oldhomes #historichomes

Once this room was complete, it was a calming guest retreat for all of their friends. Adding neutral paint colors allowed the original features like the beautiful wood doors to pop!

Nursery Before

1920's colonial style home restoration  | Building Bluebird #homerenovation #historicpreservation #restoration #oldhomes #historichomes

The nursery had a beautiful set of built-ins that they preserved.

Nursery After

1920's colonial style home restoration  | Building Bluebird #homerenovation #historicpreservation #restoration #oldhomes #historichomes

Paint, new window treatments, and new furnishings transformed this sweet little room.

Original Built-in's of a 1920s colonial home | Building Bluebird #homerenovation #historicpreservation #restoration #vintage #historichomes

Bathroom Before

1920's original tile bathroom | Building Bluebird #homerenovation #historicpreservation #restoration #vintage #historichomes

The main bathroom still had most of the original features from the 1920s. This included the subway tile, basket weave floor tile, tub & medicine cabinet.

Bathroom After

1920's original tile bathroom | #homerenovation #historicpreservation #restoration #vintage #historichomes

They cleaned the tiles and added a dark gray to the walls to tie in nicely with the black band around the subway tiles.


1920's colonial style home restoration #homerenovation #historicpreservation #restoration #oldhomes #historichomes

Big thanks to Jon and Shannon for sharing their stunning American colonial style home restoration with us! 🙂 I am a proud big sis and love that I get to show off all of their hard work. 


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Melissa Graham

Thursday 3rd of December 2020

The 1920โ€™s Colonial restoration is absolutely magnificent. I purchased a 1910 American Colonial in the Germantown section of Philadelphia 9 years ago for my then 2 year old and I. I have been in search of ideas for restoration since then. Thank you for sharing.

lindseymahoney

Friday 4th of December 2020

Your home sounds fabulous! I am so glad you enjoyed the post, my brother and his wife are very talented.