Yeah, we're hoping that the old wood siding is in place. We can see on the porch how it was done originally, with 4" siding and a 2 1/2" reveal. Looks really nice. If it's in decent shape then we'll go with that. If it's gone or really messed-up, it'll be replaced with some maintenance-free alternative. I know, that's not how these old houses are supposed to be done - vinyl, steel, aluminum, whatever - but there are practical considerations, especially if we end up staying here (which is what I want to do).
For as old as it is, and given one remodel it had maybe 20 years ago, it is surprisingly light on coats of paint, wallpaper, stain, etc. In that old bedroom, it was one layer of wallpaper and one layer of paint. Poorly done, mind you, but we were fully expecting 4+ layers of either. Now, on the dining room we did a few years back she did find several layers but they came up easily enough.
So one owner had turned it into a pair of apartments, one up (3 bedroom) and one down (1 bedroom). This is where must of the crappy workmanship comes in, and where we're going to spend most of our time. The stuff that wasn't touched is just old. This stuff was done poorly once, then UNdone poorly and partway after that, to make it back into a single-family home. In the process, the back porch was converted into a kitchen and a bath. A fourth bedroom upstairs was turned into a small kitchen and is now a big laundry. In the process of those, trim got painted, things were cut, old hardware lost, that sort of thing. All perfectly restorable but it just takes time. Fortunately, the foursquare was a popular style around here so there's no shortage of hardware to be found if one knows where to look. But those three rooms in particular were done in the finest 80s cheap-o chic (but the kitchen isn't bad at all) so there is some almost-gutting to be done.
Landscaping is no problem. Strong back / weak mind-type work, and I'm just the guy for that. Well, except that my back is no longer strong. ; ) We've already done a bunch over the years and are ahead of the game here. And we enjoy the labor. Mostly flat lot means stone and brick work only if we want it.
The tough part right now is in evaluation and determination of what it needs, what we want, what's affordable, and what gives the best bang and brings in prospectives. Fortunately, we're rich with expertise in the family but even that causes difficulty since we're presented with a lot more options to choose from. The upside is that we have time.
