My BHAG: To renovate/restore a 130+ year old house!
Current Status: Spending lots of time and money getting this old lady ready for another 100 years!
Old House Related Posts
Redoing The Front Beds – This Old Dean House
Giant yew bushes OUT… azaleas and hostas IN! Emily didn’t like the giant shrubs on the front of our house (neither did I). So we ripped them out. Then we went to the nursery and figured out what we wanted back in.
Laundry Room Renovations – This Old Dean House
The dirtiest part (so far) of our entire renovation (and that is saying something) was our laundry room renovation. I had to pull the ceiling in this room, and half of the back yard came out of it. I guess a family of squirrels had lived in there at some point over the past 135…
Timber, Trees Down – This Old Dean House
3 trees removed (2 massive and 1 dead) and a ton of cleanup on others was a lot to deal with. We basically spent the entire summer getting tree work done. I always joke with Emily that anytime I spend $1k I have to at least get a video out of it. Well, I should…
Master Bath Renovation – Part 3 – Framing The Wall (This Old Dean House)
Build That Wall(s)! I’ve framed an entire basement remodel in the past. This was much less than that…but…it was not easy at all. In order to minimize demo (and not tear into the entire house), I had to tie my new framing into the existing framing. The existing framing was “wonky” to say the least!…
This Old Dean House – Sideyard (Phase 1) – HVAC Area
The side yard of our house was a disaster from earlier projects. We’d replaced both HVAC units and the water/sewer lines from the street. I needed to level it out and get the area around the HVAC units put back together. I brought in my heavier equipment for some ‘light’ landscaping work. This made the…
Master Bath Renovation – Part 2 – Never Ending Demo (This Old Dean House)
This bathroom was like demo’ing a lasagna…layer upon layer upon layer. Paneling, drywall, wallpaper, beadboard, wood lathe…you name it, and this bathroom had it. I was already planning to remove one wall entirely. As I dug deeper, I realized I needed to get all the way to the studs to make sure the structural walls…
Master Bath Renovation – Part 1 – Find The Missing Water Pipes (This Old Dean House)
Our tiny “master” bathroom had the pipes for the upstairs bathroom running through it. We think they added the upstairs bathroom in the 1940s. Both bathrooms have been remodeled several times since then. To repipe the entire house, I had to find those pipes. This was one of my very first projects. It started a…
Dining Room Renovation – This Old Dean House
We repiped the house, and the upstairs bathroom was above the dining room. The quest to find the plumbing led to the excavation of the dining room ceiling. This eventually led to the entire drop ceiling coming out to complete the room’s renovation. It was interesting to try to piece together 135 years of home…
Emily’s Wallpaper Removal Project – This Old Dean House
There were about 5 layers of wallpaper in our 135-year-old foyer. I say ‘were’ because Emily went wild and started rippin”, tearin’, scrapin’ and sprayin’…and now there are zero layers of wallpaper in our foyer. We were going to repaint (or rewallpaper). I say ‘were’ because we decided we ain’t gonna do that.
Flame Thrower Weeding – This Old Dean House
I needed to weed some beds. I didn’t want to use chemicals. But really, I just wanted an excuse to use a flamethrower. Win-Win-Win…especially the flamethrower part! LOL
This Old Dean House – Sideyard Plans
I teamed up with AI to design an outdoor space in our side yard area (off our kitchen). I told it all the stuff I wanted, and it came up with a pretty decent starter plan. Then I went outside to stake it all out. After that, I waited for Emily to get home to…
BEFORE and AFTER – Den Remodel – This Old Dean House
It could have just been some drywall patching and a little paint. It wasn’t. Foundation damage, ceiling damage, and a whole-house plumbing repipe turned what should have been an easy room into a darn big project. I think we moved in and out of the Den four different times over many months as we lived…
“Emergency” Mulching – This Old Dean House
This was the most challenging house project we’ve undertaken so far. But I liked it the most. The area near the street is still a mess, but it is much better than it was. I put this emergency to bed with my trusty shovel and some back-breaking work. Whoever put gravel in this area is…
This Old Dean House – Outdoor Renovation List
We’ve been doing inside renovations for several months, but when the weather warmed up, I got to thinking about all the outside projects/renovations. I’d rather be outside than inside almost always. I go from 1) there isn’t that much to do to 2) I’m so overwhelmed I’m crippled really quickly. LOL Emily and I don’t…
Finally…Window Treatments – This Old Dean House
The window treatments that were in the house when we moved in had seen better days. It was the first thing I wanted to update (because it had crack house vibes). Also, I don’t want to be walking around half-naked with people looking in at me. Emily said we had to wait until almost everything…
There’s A Bird(s) In Our House – This Old Dean House
During renovations, I came in from working outside one afternoon, and there was a bird in our kitchen. I got him/her out (or so I thought). Later, it got back in, and so did Dad/Mom. I’m not sure how many birds came through. At some point, I’m pretty sure I heard them calling in reinforcements…
Living In A Historic Home Remodel – This Old Dean House
We’ve been knee-deep in a historic home remodel for the past 6 months. We are living in the house while doing all the renovations. We are not finished, but getting close. What does living through a renovation like this look like? Lots of dust and lots of musical chairs with rooms full of furniture! This…
Painting The House Inside – This Old Dean House
We chose the color scheme for the inside of the house (or so we thought). Turns out, when I was doing some demo, I found out the color we chose was already under several layers of paint. I think the house liked that color and “made us” select it when we were at the paint…
Restoring Historic Trim – This Old Dean House
Someone ripped out the original trim in several rooms of our old house. They installed off-the-shelf stuff and made no attempt to match the original home. We put it back, but it was ‘a process’. We had to get it custom-made because nobody had trim from 130 years ago in stock. Imagine the audacity! LOL…
First Time Mowing The Yard In 7 Years – This Old Dean House
I snapped and sold the family home back in 2018. That decision came after I’d pressure-washed the patio/deck all weekend (after working and chasing kids all week). I was DONE with homeownership. We moved into a condo and I did no yard work for many years. But now, mowing my yard (er…weeds) is my newest…
Refinishing Oak Hardwood Floors – This Old Dean House
After wrapping up the original 130-year-old floors, we moved to the next job. The downstairs oak floors were a big job, but much easier. Joseph (the floor refinisher) Emily, and I did a dance of “move every piece of furniture in your house around while I chase you” for about a week. By the end…
Restoring 130 Year Old Hardwood Floors – This Old Dean House
When we ripped up the carpet, it revealed the original 130-year-old wood floors throughout most of the upstairs (and in our bedroom). The floors were in various stages of disrepair. Some were painted, some were kinda painted, some had holes, some were fine. We decided to try to keep them and get them restored. We…
It’s Raining In Our Bathroom – This Old Dean House
I knew we had a leak when we bought the house. We didn’t have a leak. We had a waterfall! One night, when it was raining really hard, I decided to do a little demo to figure out where the leak was. The answer: The entire roof! [much water in my face later] We got…
Water In The Basement and Wall Is Caving In – This Old Dean House
Our new old house had some foundation issues. The main house has a crawl space (with no real issues). The den addition was built over a basement. The basement was flooding, and a wall was caving in. To make sure we have the old house on a firm foundation for the next century, we added…
Moving Electrical Panel Indoors – This Old Dean House
The house was built 130+ years ago…no electricity. Our bedroom still has the original gas lantern on the ceiling (converted to electricity at some point). Electricity was added to the house over time. Initially knob and tube was installed (I’ve found remnants). Then, when everything was upgraded (probably 60+ years ago) they slapped the electrical…
Replumbing Our Entire 130 Year Old House – This Old Dean House
Our first major project at This Old Dean House was to repipe the entire house. No more cast iron sewer lines and no more galvanized water lines from the street all the way to the fixtures inside. The galvanized water lines are a ticking time bomb. So we are opening up a ton of walls…
Replacing 30-Year-Old HVAC In Spooky Attic
The upstairs HVAC seemed to be working but I didn’t want to face a dreadful TN summer with a 30+ year old relic that looked like it might go at any moment. So I got proactive and our first capex project was to replace the system. I figured I’d hang out in the attic for…
I’m Gonna Go Under The House (This Old Dean House)
In the spirit of “I’d never ask anyone to do for me what I’m unwilling to do myself” I decided I’m going to go under the house. I got all suited up for entry into the tiny (very tiny) crawl space door and go under our 130 year old house. I’m doing this BEFORE the…
Removing 900 Pounds Of Old Carpet (This Old Dean House)
Our first chore in our old house was to get rid of all the carpet. It wasn’t as old as the house but it was definitely old. There was also a lot of it! Max helped me and took over the project (and my YouTube channel) until I got finished with some meetings. Molly and…
This Old Dean House – Indoor Renovation List
Just making the list of everything you want/need to do in the renovation/restoration of a 130+ year old house is a big job. Getting two people to agree on the list (and the order) is another big job. We already agreed on most things. Of course, we have completely different ideas in some places. We…
This Old Dean House – What Happened To The Barndo?
I don’t often let a project defeat me. But…sometimes…I stop being stubborn and let things be. With the Barndo project, there were too many things telling me the direction we were heading was the wrong direction. So, the This Old Dean House project took the slot of the Barndominium project. We are keeping the farm…
This Old Dean House – We Bought A 130 Year Old House
In a dramatic change of direction, we decided to buy a 130-year-old house. Things can change quickly around here! This all started because Emmaline didn’t want to sleep under our dining room table in our one-bedroom apartment (for Christmas). Fancy much?!? LOL! A few hours later I’d found us a new place…or…an old place! Everything…
This Old Dean House – Selling The Condo and Moving Into An Apartment
We sold our condo back in August (thanks to realtor Jake) and moved into a one-bedroom apartment. That is what this video is about. Little did we know what the next video would be about. Our life took a big unexpected turn at the end of 2024. The DeanoRolls RV travel (and sometimes farm adventures)…
DeanoRolls (@deanoroll5) 