#pine floors

📷: pamwmsn.tumblr.com

To enlarge a tiny bath, a carved Eastlake mirror dominates one wall. A pine cabinet is tucked into the opposite corner. The old tub is given a special treatment: the feet have been brass-plated. The flooring is pine, rubbed with white gesso and varnished; and the creamy walls are covered with a linenlike fabric.

Things We Can No Longer Have.

At the time of construction, the top floor of Mini Monticello was furnished with the best high end trim and flooring 1908 had to offer. The public areas especially, have extra decorative mouldings and trim details.

Much of the upstairs trim work and all of the beams in the ceiling of the ballroom are made from American Chestnut hardwood. The picture of the door shows up close, the detail of the grain in the wood. The main floor trim was painted in 1987 when Carsten Brinkmann married Maggie. During this renovation they replaced a chandelier in the ballroom and also added wallpaper to most of the top floor. “It needed doin” said Maggie Brinkmann.

Part of the Beech tree family, the American Chestnut, native mostly to the upper East Coast, was nearly completely wiped out of existence by a fungus. This blight went rampant beginning around 1904, and killed over 99% of all the species. The fungus is still alive today, using other trees types such as Oak, as hosts. The American Chestnut tree still struggles to this day and is no longer used in typical construction.

Idea for the outside of a medium-sized, three-story, rustic-brown wood house with a metal roof