Wanna Meet The Secret Room?
In the SW corner of the carriage house, first floor, is what I call the secret room. I call it this because it is kinda hidden, and one has to walk under the staircase to access it. This is very cool, spatially, in person. This is the west wall. The window overlooks the front yard. I have not seen the room empty in seven years.
South. There is no view. The window overlooks the neighboring house, a high wall of vinyl siding. Sigh.
North. Looking towards the entry hall.
The only good door in the house. In 2014, most of the doors were cheap hollow-core. I sent them to the dump. I mean, hollow-core? Oh, the horror.
Is the back plate 1920s? It looks earlier. The doorknob looks late 1880s, methinks. What a curious mix.
The inside of the closet is an unexpected delight. What looks like tambour is simply bead-board covering the stair landing.
East. The previous owner said he installed this opening (to the dining room) but it appears original to me. No matter, bacuse I am going to remove it. For, with it, the room cannot be considered secret. And, with it, there is no place in the adjacent dining room to place a sideboard. Oh, the horror.
The floor is lovely, and matches the entry flooring. The living and dining rooms have particle board flooring. I will later replace these, matching the flooring pattern of the secret room.
Tomorrow, Cody arrives for a two week stay. He plans to jam the room full with some of his stuff.
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Love the floor! If there’s enough room in the side yard, perhaps a couple of columnar trees could block the neighbor’s wall o’ vinyl.
I have a narrow side wall on the north of my house with apartments next door. I planted a row of Italian Cypress and they’ve blocked the view very well.
I also have Columnal apple trees in large pots on the south of the yard. They don’t get that big but are very nice when filled out a bit, plus they provide apples in the fall. They can be had in several varieties.
I’d build a trellis in front of the neighbor’s ugly fence and espalier fruit trees.
I say, make the yard work double duty by providing a screen and food. I decided from now on if I’m planting a tree, it better provide food. I abandoned plans for wisteria in favor of grapes and the front lawn is now a Victory garden with raised beds (one so far) for year round vegetable growing. I do have flowers. But I have a lot more food than I used to. Two lemons, two oranges and a lime, two apricots, three grapes, a sweet bay laurel, two columnal apple trees and the raised beds and various pots and planters. I make jam and have done canning so I eventually want to work up to so much that I can process what I can’t eat fast enough for out of season consumption. I also have a large chest freezer and buy an eighth of a grass fed organic humanely raised and processed cow every year (or every other year depending on how often I eat meat). My supplier will be offering lamb and pork soon. No source for chickens yet but I’m looking into some local CSAs for both chicken and eggs. A local market has raw milk and cream. I still have to shop at the store but it is less and less which is the goal.
Yes.
East door must go.
Cody likes sideboards in dining rooms.
They are most proper.
If that secret room were going to be an office or library, I could see keeping the door to the dining room, but if it’s going to be a bedroom, better to lose it. Plus having a sideboard in the dining room is a very useful thing. I have three. A very nice English Art Deco in the dining room that is actually a sideboard. A lesser quality oak one in the kitchen as storage since there are not cabinets in this funky little corner that was probably originally a small breakfast area and a very small one, likely home made, that is serving as my “island”. That one has been painted, pulls replaced and will be betting a butcher block top soon. I’ll be putting wheels on it first, likely within two weeks.
So are you making a list of things Cody is going to do to the Coach House?
Welcome, Cody! I’m often in Emporia and hope to meet you when I drop in to say Hi to Ross.
Outside of the window as close to the property line as possible is the perfect spot for a small flowering tree. A weeping cherry, crape myrtle, or dogwood (slower growing), come to mind. There are so many tree varieties out there and I don’t know what grows well in Kansas. It is very trendy to plant species that are native to one’s area. If you decide to put a tree there, keep in mind the shape it grows in naturally and its bark can make it an all year pleasure. You can make it a room with a view.
I have doors like that in my house. Five panel solid wood. All of the doors (and trim) were painted and the library door was faux painted to look like wood. The trim looks just like what I have. Mine are a bit heftier and someone sanded a curve to the edges so they are rounded or they were milled that way. I have the same wide baseboards too only the tops are rounded as well. My house was built between 1919 and 1922.
I did not have the fancy doorplates and knobs. They were all plain brass plated and corroded so I replaced the plates with newer lacquered brass plated plates and the knobs with glass reproductions. I have one skeleton key that fits all of the original mortised doors. I did manage to have a second made by a local locksmith. All except for the library. I bought a vintage set off of eBay, complete with mortised locks and a skeleton key. The entire house has mortised locks. The front door used to but it was replaced with a standard front door lock. Same with the kitchen door. I expect this happened in 1949.
A Secret Room – right out of a romance/suspense novel! Too Cool. My parents built a new house in town in 1986, but was able to salvage from somewhere beautiful paneled doors like yours! But not the knobs. (House sold in 2018 after the death of both and a dear friend from childhood bought it. ) Good idea with the door to dining room – as usual! 🙂