If These Walls Could Talk

MURFREESBORO, DNJ, 8/26//2012 — Maintaining a 165-year-old home is far from easy and not a cheap endeavor.

“We’re on the 22nd year of our five-year renovation plan,” jokes Kae Allen, who shares the blue and pink-trimmed Victorian cottage near the corner of Maney Avenue and East Main Street with her husband, David.

The first three rooms — foyer, dining room and living room — were likely the original floor plan for the home. “It just grew backward,” says Kae, pointing down the hall to a long, wide hallway that leads to the rest of the five-bedroom home.

When they first moved in, the foyer and central hallway were covered in aging carpet and had track lighting, not befitting of a historic house.  Carpet was removed and the floors refurbished.

House changes

“When we moved in the stairwell was enclosed and there was a door in the back hallway and it went straight up.  We decided to either put two bedrooms upstairs or put in a big master,” Kae says.

So now there is a huge master suite upstairs.

At one time, the single-family home had been split up into apartments.

“We know it was a boarding house at one time and we know it was a beauty parlor,” David says.

“We always said if these walls could talk, we might learn something,” chimes in Kae.

They did learn quite a bit about their home through research, although much of it is uncertain.  But they have theories about how the home’s construction progressed over the last 100-something years.

At one time, they believe the area that serves as a sort of mud room and laundry area was once the detached kitchen.  Back then, you wouldn’t have the kitchen as part of the home because a fire in the stove could potentially destroy the entire home.  One section in that area is covered and serves as a sort of trap door entry to the dirt-floor cellar, which most houses had back then.

Lines in the floor show signs of the home’s former configurations.

Keeping old

“This is the original floor down the hallway, and it’s the only floor. There’s nothing but dirt underneath us here,” Kae says.

Much of the home remains original, including the majority of the windows, framing and other mill work.  In several cases, mill work was disassembled and re-milled to remove residue or paint, taking the wood back to its original state.

Many of the light fixtures are original as well, although several were adapted from oil-burning lamps to electric versions.  The antique chandelier in the living room was black and they had it taken down to be cleaned during renovations and discovered the converted electric lamp was all brass.

Kae and David have tried to keep the home’s interior in period decor, too, even if improvements and renovations had to be done.

“The dining room is one of the first rooms we redid,” says David. Currently, renovations are under way in the dining room again.

The front parlor, which overlooks East Main, once had hand-painted wallpaper that eventually came into disrepair over the years. Kae found the best replacement by pouring through books of wallpaper.

“I’ve been through thousands of wallpaper. Wallpaper and I are really good friends,” jokes Kae, a co-author of “Cookies for Dinner.”

Much of the renovations haven’t been easy. With a steady hand and meticulous eye for detail, Kae has managed to do the wallpaper herself, although, as with most houses, “everything is cock-eyed and nothing is level,” because everything was built by hand and not mass produced with exact measurements.

In with new

While many parts of the home retain the Victorian ambiance through décor and furniture, their newly constructed kitchen and den combination is all modern.

A self-avowed cookie-baking fanatic and hostess of frequent gatherings, Kae finally wanted a kitchen that catered to her culinary needs.

So when their daughter moved out a couple of years ago, they tore down an interior wall and created a

modern kitchen with custom cabinets, granite counter tops and a customized island perfect for her massive cookie-baking projects for her customers (she has it down to a science).

“Thanksgiving is my favorite day.  There’s nothing better than cooking all day,” Kae says.  “I love having people here.”