This Old House

Kevin

When we first got here, this 1890s Shingle style was in need of some serious restoration. The doors were broken, railings rotten, and the carpet was loud. Eight months later, we're ready to turn this Cape Ann classic back over to the homeowners. What happened to all this plumbing here?

Richard

I've never seen anything like this before.

Roger

There's already rot going on in that trunk.

Kevin

So what have you found up here?

Tom

Well, a bit of a surprise.

Richard

It's really the classic plumber's lament.

Kevin

Nice!

Richard

It's five bathrooms. It's a kitchen. It's a full new mechanical. It's -- It's gonna be a biggie.

Kevin

It sounds like you guys have a plan.

Molly

I think we do.

Laughs

Tom

The money's in the detail.

Kevin

That is beautiful. Hey, there, I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to "This Old House," where it is a special day for us up here on Cape Ann, Massachusetts. After a substantial restoration to our 1890s Shingle style home, it's time to turn it back to our homeowners. Now, this is a beautiful part of the country, so much so that we actually arrived by boat eight months ago when this project started.

Tom

That was a nice trip along the coast.

Richard

It was a little warmer that day.

Tom

Yeah, it was a little warmer, but I love the granite as it comes out of the water and the big houses that sit on top.

Yeah. Richard

Now, the Shingle style was actually made famous up here in Cape Ann, and this was the classic big Shingle style. They modified it through the years, but thankfully, the architect and the homeowners brought it back to this -- just magnificent.

Jenn

It's amazing, and this whole property is just such a natural setting. The homeowners are into the great outdoors, and I think we did a great job integrating the ledge. It unified the whole piece.

The big rock. Jenn

Mm-hmm.

Kevin

Well, let's have a closer look.

Richard

Alright, we'll catch you guys.

Kevin

Tommy, what about this new staircase, huh? How about a way to enter the house?

Tom

I mean, Mark McCullough did a beautiful job with his guys with these granite stones, curved it right in. I mean, absolutely beautiful job.

Kevin

And a perfect complement to the stone is the brass handrail, custom made for us.

This thing is gorgeous. Tom

Yep. Sure is.

Kevin

And how about the front door, Tommy?

Completely reconditioned. Tom

It looks beautiful. Mauro did a beautiful job not only on the door, but he restored the original hardware, too.

Kevin

Let's have a look.

Tom

Hey, John. How are you?

Kevin

Wow.

Molly

Hi!

Tom

Hi,

Caroline. Molly

Hi!

Tom

Well, you guys must be excited.

We are thrilled. John

We are thrilled, yeah.

Tom

Place looks amazing.

John

Better than we ever expected.

Tom

Well, that's a good sign.

Kevin

Well, it's been eight, nine long months, a lot of work. Are you guys happy? Any regrets?

Molly

Absolutely no regrets from me.

John

No,

no. Molly

And it's been really fun. It's been a really fun process.

John

Yeah, it has been an awesome process. Great people. Everything's been on time.

Just amazing. Tom

Bunch of good guys.

Yes. John

Great people, yeah.

Kevin

Well, what do you say we have a closer look?

Tom

Yeah, John, I'd like to see the second floor

and third floor. John

Okay, sounds great. Caroline, you want to show Tom the second floor?

Tom

Yeah? Come on. Let's go.

Kevin

Molly, let's start down here. And let's start with the entryway, right, and with the beautiful windows you decided to save.

Molly

Yes, this was a no-brainer for us to save these windows. We love them. We feel like they're really in keeping

with the character of the home. Kevin

Leaded glass. We had a talented artisan, Cathryn, make some repairs for us, both on the glass and the lead. Nice, although they are single pane, so not great for efficiency.

Molly

Correct, however, you probably don't even notice we have these nice interior storm windows, which you can't even see. They blend right into the frame of the window.

Kevin

Just got this compression gasket that fits right in there.

That's great. Molly

Mm-hmm.

Kevin

Alright. So, there was a fireplace here. It's been reconditioned. You guys converted it to gas.

Molly

We did. We kept the fireplace. We also knew we wanted wallpaper in the entryway, so we added wallpaper, and we added the pilasters

for a nice place for it to stop. Kevin

Yep.

Molly

And the big change in the house, which you'll notice, is that we moved the entrance to the back of the home. So, it used to be right here. We moved the entrance more to the center, and now you can see straight back to the home, and you can see the beautiful trees and the light, and we love the way it looks.

Kevin

I remember Tommy and I cutting through the old plaster and lath, dropping the new door, and then reframed. That's a good decision right there.

Molly

Thank you.

Kevin

Center staircase, the shag carpet's gone.

Molly

I know. Unfortunately, that had to go.

Kevin

And a couple of these balusters were loose and actually broken, so our friend Wayne Towle and Norm repaired them, brought them back in. New coat of paint there. You happy with that decision?

Molly

Very happy. They look brand-new. We also kept the same original handrails.

Kevin

Mm-hmm.

Molly

And we had those re-stained, and we also had some faux painting done so that the wood on the treads would match the wood

on the bottom of -- Kevin

Cool. Another thing we saved were the pocket doors. Tommy actually dug into the wall and went above it to find the hardware. It wasn't functioning properly.

He took it out with his magic touch, reconditioned it, and now these doors are back in service.

Molly

They are, and now if we ever want to, we can close off the living room from the foyer.

Kevin

But why would you ever want to close off this room?

Beautiful. Kevin

Shelby, very nice job on your part. A lot of hard work. Thank you for that.

Shelby

Thank you. Yes, it's been a pleasure.

Kevin

You had a very clear design intent for this house.

Shelby

We did. So, this is a classic Shingle style home, but we wanted to modernize it a bit.

Kevin

Alright, but not lose all the classical details.

Shelby

Correct, so, in this room specifically, we still have a traditional element like the coffered ceiling, but it's a little bit more modernized in this sleek cove molding.

Kevin

Yep, so you guys added this. And we can see that cove right there, something you picked up on the mantel, as well.

Shelby

Exactly. So, this used to be an ornate, more federal style mantel, so we sleeked it up a bit.

Kevin

Cove right there and a new stone surround.

Shelby

That beautiful stone surround with the lovely texture.

Kevin

And converted it from real wood to gas.

Shelby

To gas, which is a lot easier than --

Molly

And Shelby actually designed this mantel.

Nice. Molly

I know.

Kevin

And on either side of the fireplace, there were bookcases originally.

There were. Kevin

Weren't sure what to do.

Molly

We weren't sure what to do, and behind this bookcase on this side, there was actually a door, and we went back and forth as to whether or not we should keep that door. We decided to keep it closed off.

Kevin

Okay, closed off there but opened up over here, which is the big change in this room.

Molly

This is the big change. There used to be a little window here that you could look out onto the three-season porch with the bright-green carpet.

Kevin

Crazy.

Molly

We decided to change it up and we decided to make this a more livable space, and this has now become our dining room.

Kevin

And it is quite a room. We have not seen a room like this in a while. Hey, Jeff.

Jeff

Kevin. Hi, Molly.

Molly

Hi. How are you? Good to see you.

Jeff

How are you guys?

Molly

Good.

Kevin

Nice job on the table. Thank you for the custom build.

Jeff

Yeah, stately room deserves a stately table, right?

Kevin

Unbelievable, right?

Molly

Exactly.

Kevin

Shelby, your design or your idea?

Shelby

Yes, we have these beautiful C-shaped legs, which is a classic design, but we kind of made it a little more modern with this beveled back, which is super-thick edge, by the way.

Jeff

Well, she thought it up. I had to figure out how to build it.

Kevin

So you, Peter Reilly down at the shop just went after it, huh?

Jeff

Yeah, one of the bigger challenges was making a C-shaped leg, and we did that by laminating. There's 30-pieces of walnut in there and --

Kevin

30?

Jeff

Yeah.

Wow. Jeff

We used epoxy, you know, glue them all up, and then we basically had to create a jig and a winch to bend that all the way around to make that C shape, and yeah, it worked out well.

Kevin

But the top, too, I mean, how many pieces -- How long is that?

Jeff

Yeah, it's just a little over 12 feet and about 4 1/2 feet wide. And, you know, again, it's walnut, black walnut, harvested in Missouri, so this thing is really heavy. It's like 400 to 450 pounds. I mean, it took a lot of us to move it.

It took a lot just getting it in the trailer and getting out of the trailer.

Kevin

So, Molly, what do you think? Do you approve? Are you gonna use it?

Molly

Yes, so, John and I have grand visions of entertaining a lot. This table will let us do that. This room and the table has just come out so much better than we ever thought. And now understanding the craftsmanship and the thought and the labor and all the layers of wood in those legs, it just makes us appreciate it even more.

Kevin

Yeah. And, Shelby, so, sized perfectly to fit underneath this center tray right here with the Venetian plaster.

Shelby

Beautiful Venetian plaster by our friend Maurizio.

Kevin

Straight from Italy. Had a little help from an Irishman. Not much. No, I mean, it really is amazing.

I mean, it is such a fantastic look. So unique.

Molly

Between this beautiful table, the ceiling, the windows, this room just says "drama."

Kevin

Drama. I think that is the word.

It's a good one. Kevin

Nice job, everybody. Hey,

Jenn. Jenn

Morning.

Kevin

So you successfully tamed the wild side of the house.

Jenn

It needed taming, because it was not touched for years. Do you remember what it used to look like?

Kevin

I do. It clearly had gotten away from the previous homeowner. They sort of let it go. But this is fantastic.

Wiffle ball game, maybe soccer for the kids. I mean, big space, flat.

Jenn

Do you remember how it used to slope off and just hit down here? So, we had Fred and his guys bring in all these boulders, and they really did a great job creating this natural wall.

Kevin

And the birch tree -- great that we could save this.

Jenn

Oh, my gosh, I'm so glad it's safe, but do you remember how the garage used to come all the way out, and this was at the corner?

Kevin

I mean, it was almost right to here.

Jenn

Right, and then on top of the garage that crazy porch that was going on.

Kevin

Yep.

Jenn

So this whole area is, when it's ready for planting, it's gonna be a great place to just have nice, simple shrubs, keep it clean, low maintenance, and natural. So we have all this beautiful ledge on the property, but what we needed to do in this area is gain 4 feet to get this garage in. So we had to bring in a big hydraulic hammer to chip away at this ledge, and it took days and days to do this.

Kevin

The new way they'll enter the house, pretty much, right?

Jenn

It's the whole new grand entrance. We poured a retaining wall in the side to catch the grade and make this a big level space. And then over here, as a transition between the woodlands and this new area, we've put in hydrangeas. This is an understory tree --

a pink dogwood. Kevin

Okay.

Jenn

And then traveling over here, we have andromeda and rhododendrons and --

Kevin

Love the color, even in the winter.

Jenn

Yeah, evergreen. It holds color really nice. And they really wanted to do swaths of plantings -- not one here, one there -- to make more of an impact. So coming back down to this retaining wall, next time when it's planting season, they're gonna start to have plants cascade over the edge just to hide this ugly wall.

Kevin

Yep, I got it. I like that idea.

Jenn

Yeah.

John

Tom, I don't know if you remember the third floor, but one of the --

Tom

I remember it well,

Laughs

yes. John

Remember the red carpet that was here?

Tom

Yeah, that's the one you tried to give me?

John

That's right, it could've been --

You're a real sport. John

It could've been yours.

Tom

Yeah, but now you have this beautiful white oak floor.

John

It's gorgeous. And here's another gorgeous spot, right?

Tom

Yeah, it looks great now, but it had the metal tub here, a sink, and a toilet there.

What a difference. John

Nice and clean now, right? And great guest room here. We opened up the window, brings in a lot of natural light.

Tom

Now, this ceiling height right here in the hall

traveled right into this space. John

That's right.

Tom

That's taken out, and look at it now.

John

It's amazing, right? It was an 8-foot ceiling, and once you guys had done all of that demo work, Molly saw the potential of opening it up.

Tom

Yeah, she could see through the structural framing of it, but it was a big job. I mean, we had to put a temporary bearing wall right here to carry this side of the roof, and another bearing wall right here to carry this side of the roof. Then we had to cut the whole center of the roof right out, a new beam slid in from outside supported in this wall and into that wall also.

John

Wow, what an engineering project.

Tom

Yeah, but it was worth it.

John

Oh, totally. Amazing.

Tom

Yeah, and what do you think of this? Mattie, our finish carpenter, built this.

John

This is adorable. Yeah, Mattie is amazing, and Caroline is gonna love this. As a 3 1/2-year-old, this is dress-up time all the time for her.

She'll love it. Tom

Yeah. And Molly and Mauro did this paint job. It's a chalk paint job on the doors.

John

That's right, yep, chalkboard.

Tom

And when you open the doors, you turn on the lights and you can see your air-conditioning system, and you notice that it's all inside conditioned space.

John

Let's look at the second floor.

Tom

Okay, lead the way. Now, this bedroom was a big bedroom to begin with. There was a fireplace here. This wall didn't exist.

It went all the way to the back of the house. But because this room was so big, it enabled us to put this wall right here to frame out for the new bathroom -- full bathroom.

John

That's right, gorgeous bathroom, walk-in closet, storage right here, as well.

Tom

And the mosaic floor that Eric and Mark installed. Looks great.

John

And this is Caroline's bedroom.

Tom

It's a great space now.

John

Remember this over here, Tommy?

Tom

The big fireplace?

John

Huge fireplace.

Tom

Took up all this space. The chimney for this fireplace actually comes off the chimney from the fireplace when you first walk in in the entryway on the first floor.

John

That's right. Over here, we had a family of squirrels living up here in the eaves.

They're not here anymore. John

They're not here anymore. And great natural light coming in.

Tom

It's beautiful. The windows are great.

John

Yeah, and we took up a bedroom. Now we have a walk-in closet and a great bathroom.

Here's the master bedroom. Tom

Great space.

John

Remember we took out the old built-in closets here.

Tom

Yep.

John

Took out the chimney and the fireplace that was here.

Tom

Get a lot of floor space. Added a deck out here with a new door and a new wall. Because this room was so big, we were able to add this wall, which gave you more space on the other side.

John

Unbelievable walk-in closet on the other side, Tom.

Tom

This is great.

John

Plenty of natural light in here.

Tom

I like it when you get a window in a closet.

And the built-in drawers. Tom

Built-in drawers, and you have a little nook around here with the open shelves.

A lot of storage there. John

Tons of space.

Tom

And a lot of place to hang clothes.

John

Right.

Tom

And you get a nice big soaking tub right here, and it's pretty cool because you fill this tub from the ceiling.

John

Right,

pretty amazing. Tom

Yeah.

John

A beautiful vanity over here.

Great storage. Tom

Big drawers,

a lot of storage. John

Yep.

Tom

And underneath the floor in the shower, you got a copper pan, so it's nice and waterproof, with a beautiful glass door. And I like this wall-hung toilet in here. The nice thing about that is that you can get right under there to clean them real easy.

John

Yep, and great natural light.

Tom

Yeah, it's a beautiful space, John.

John

Here's the beautiful office.

Tom

It is beautiful.

John

The desk and this window seat storage area made by a maker in Pennsylvania. Gorgeous work.

Tom

Paul does some amazing work. He and his company have helped us out on a lot of different projects.

John

Yeah, the detail is incredible. And then, over here, this is another great detail. You see the backdrop of this bookcase is a recycled army tent.

Tom

Yeah, I like that. And over here, this picture is actually an air handler, so when you turn your air conditioner on, the louvers open, and it blows cold air in here. There's a great photo of the guys here, and lookit, I even have my safety glasses on.

John

Yep, safety first. That's inspiration for all of us, Tom.

Tom

We have to inspire you, John.

Kevin

Richard, you can tell the heat's on. Nice and toasty in here.

Richard

There's radiant heating under every single floor in this building, and it's invisible except if you have a thermographic camera. So now you can see the loops under the floor, the heated water's passing through, and it goes back and forth, back and forth in this room, and then look, there's another one right here.

Kevin

And you're saying everywhere, under every floor?

Richard

That's right. Every room's got a thermostat. It all leads back to the basement. So, this room's changed quite a bit.

Do you remember it when we first got here?

Kevin

Very different.

Richard

Really tired old boiler right here, stuck next to the ledge right here.

Kevin

And even that was new, right?

Richard

Right, this building originally didn't have any heat at all.

It was just a summer house. Kevin

And now look at it.

Richard

So now it might look overwhelming, but it's pretty straightforward, but it's a work of art by Kevin Bilo and his crew. This is water distribution. You got a water meter right here,

and it comes up here. Kevin

Faucets, tub, shower.

Richard

Okay, and what do you think this is? What color?

Kevin

That's cold.

Richard

Cold, this is hot. So, now in an organized way with shutoffs, it goes to every bathroom group in the building. Now, over here is heat distribution. You got manifolds strategically placed throughout the building.

Here's the tubing going to the radiant. And now on this wall, we have mixing valves that will put out just the right water temperature for the tile areas or the carpeted areas or the wood floor areas in the building.

Kevin

So these are the zones that we just saw, all of them?

Richard

That's right, thermostats come back to here.

Yep. Richard

Super-efficient boiler. Firing just right, putting out just the right water temperature for all the loads in the building.

Kevin

Love that it's tucked in amongst all the old ledge. We're still doing their trick.

Richard

Now we can use that boiler's power to come over here and heat up this indirect hot-water tank to have plenty of hot water for the faucet. Remember, we had this without insulation, and you can see how much insulation there is now.

Kevin

Yeah, so for domestic. Got it.

Richard

So we got these manifolds everywhere. So now the radiant will have all these zones throughout the building. But we also have a completely separate cooling system.

Kevin

Something they didn't have back in the 1890s, either.

Richard

Didn't even think about it. Okay, so here's an air handler that's right here on the first floor. You can see refrigerant lines right here, and this goes to ductwork here on the first floor. But the refrigerant lines for seven different units

inside the building... Kevin

Seven.

Richard

...come back to here to distribution boxes like this. Now, these connect to two outdoor, super-efficient inverter condensers outside.

Kevin

And what are those seven unites you're talking about?

Richard

Well, up in the office, we've got this picture-frame unit. Out in the exercise room, we've got a ceiling-mounted unit that'll put the perfect temperature there. We got a couple of small air handlers, and we've got the air handlers down here on the first floor.

Kevin

So that's gonna make everything very comfortable, not to mention all the new insulation makes this place tight as a button.

Richard

Absolutely, and it's a reminder that if you're gonna insulate, you got to ventilate. You got to bring fresh air in. Particularly in this case, we've got this crazy big range hood with a stove. We had to bring in fresh air and preheat it in the winter.

Kevin

So new plumbing mechanicals from you guys, but also Heath, our electrician, gave us some new electricity. We've got a solar array up on the roof. We've got a new generator outside. He pulled an additional 200-amp service to the house.

Richard

Yeah.

Kevin

So everything mechanical's new

in the entire home. Richard

It takes a lot to get a building like this ready for the next century.

Kevin

Good to see it. Thank you, Richard.

Richard

Alright.

Molly

So, this hallway here, Kevin, with the barrel-vaulted ceiling, it's really the intersection of the home between the front and the back.

Kevin

And in the back of the house, well, I mean, this used to be the kitchen.

Molly

Yes, quite a transformation.

You're not kidding. Molly

As you probably remember, we had a spiral staircase over in this corner.

Kevin

I do. I wanted that.

Molly

And this was a huge fireplace, which we replaced with the bank of windows.

Kevin

I like the windows better than the brick.

Much lighter. Molly

Yes. And over here was the sink wall. So this used to be a whole wall with the sink.

Kevin

With an island just off of it, and on the floor it was, what, was it green linoleum?

Molly

This color green right here.

Kevin

Very nice, okay. And then in here?

Molly

Right here, we've got my office, which I love.

Mm-hmm. Molly

And now the kitchen.

Kevin

Alright, oh, and our kitchen designer. Hey,

Michele. Michele

Hey, Kevin. Hey, Molly. Welcome to your non-white kitchen.

Molly

Thank you, thank you.

Michele

It's a bit bigger than the old kitchen, but not open to a big living space.

Molly

You're right. And, Kevin, I don't know if you remember, but this used to be a wall here, and we actually bumped out the wall about 6 feet to allow for this nice, big picture window.

Kevin

That is gorgeous, bringing lots of light. Much lighter than it used to be.

Molly

Which is -- I don't know if you remember, but this was the dining room.

Mm-hmm. Molly

And so it was very dark. There was dark wainscoting. The floor was stained very dark. We really wanted to lighten up the space.

Michele

So, let's take a little tour.

Molly

Yes.

Michele

So, aside from the bold color choice, we also went a little bold with the hood.

Molly

I love this hood.

Michele

We clad it in the same material as the countertop and the backsplash, the porcelain. And it's a very powerful hood to vent out for your induction cooktop, but also your teppanyaki cooktop, the Japanese cooking, so you don't have to wash any dishes and pans.

Molly

Love it. Fantastic.

Michele

We also incorporated the column refrigerator.

Molly

Which we actually saw at the Idea House.

Michele

We did. So this is all refrigerator,

and your freezer is over here. Molly

Great.

Michele

And then, this is your prep counter, the butcher block wood top, which you're gonna promise to cut on.

Molly

I know, the first cut's gonna be the hardest.

Kevin

Don't be afraid. End grain, hardwood. You're gonna be just fine.

It's beautiful. Kevin

Yep. And then here's your coffee bar.

Molly

A place to make coffee was very important to both John and I. We both have our preferences, and so this way we can make it. We've got our pull-out milk drawer right here so we don't have to go far. I also feel that countertops in general in kitchens always get cluttered, and so I love the fact that we can have our coffee...

And close it up. Molly

...and close it up.

Michele

And you can have your coffee in the breakfast room out here or out on the deck.

Molly

On a beautiful deck.

Michele

And here's the butler's pantry, which is also the path between the kitchen and the dining room.

Lot of space. Molly

It's beautiful.

Michele

And this tall wall of storage is for your crystal and your china, and we've illuminated the interior of the cabinet with integrated LED lighting. And then for the finish, we went with a glossier finish and a little bit darker than the kitchen finish.

Molly

And as you know, John and I love to entertain, so we love this easy access to all of our dishes right into the dining room.

Michele

Here John can make a drink or you can set up food. You can get ice out of the freezer.

Ice. Michele

Beer and water.

And wine. Molly

And our wine.

Kevin

Alright, gang's all here. Alright. Charlie, you're still standing. You gave almost nine months of your life to this house.

Charlie

Ah,

Chuckles

it was easy. Kevin

So, any surprises?

Charlie

When we started renovating, started gutting, opening up the walls and the floors, we found asbestos in a half-dozen places or so, so that set back the budget just a little bit and the time, 'cause we had to have it properly abated. And then when we started excavating for the garage, we only hit the hardest ledge in the area, and that took about three times as long. But at the end of the day, everybody worked extremely hard, worked hard together the entire time, and this home is amazing.

Kevin

They did, and it is. Nice job.

Tom

It is amazing, and it's absolutely beautiful, but I guess I got to ask you guys -- Is there anything you'd do different?

Molly

I can't think of one thing.

John

Yeah, it's really been an awesome experience. This team has worked so well together. When you see the transformation from start to finish on the show, you get the love that they put in, you know, the passion and the attention to detail, so thank you.

Tom

It sounds like we have happy homeowners.

Richard

Well, it's almost a wrap, but before we do, we have to say a special thank you to State Farm, who's been supporting and underwriting this show for 30 years. That's a long time.

Couldn't do it without you. Kevin

Could not. So for all of us here at "This Old House,"

that is a wrap. Richard

Yeah!

Kevin

Party, right? Nice job, guys. Well done, Charlie. John, well done.

Very good. Nice job.