I am humbled
 

On Christmas eve, for the second time, I had the pleasure of spending the evening in the home of the King and Queen of DoDads.
The house belonged the the Mayor of Springfield, MA in 1903 and was moved to it's present location about 20 years ago after being home to vagrants and dopers.

This is the center hall, with ornate ceiling, fireplace with cherry woodwork and steps to the landing. It is the entrance to the house from the foyer and has a full width bow window across the front of the house.

first thing out of my mouth was "oh wow". bruce that place is COOL!! do you have any more pics?

All the woodwork had been painted dozens of times with lead paint. I can't imagine how many hours it took to restore just the trim.
To the left is the foyer and the dining room.

the wall paper gave me an anurism. ow. it hurts!

To the right is the parlor through heavy drapes and 6" wood pillars with another room through sliding doors. Both contain period furniture and carpets with more DoDads than you can absorb in an evening.

bruce, you were definitly in doodad hog heaven! you say all the woodwork was lead based? whew! that's a lot of man hours to restore!

Through the dining room or up to the landing then down 4 or 5 steps is the kitchen. The kitchen has a walk in pantry, soapstone sink, ice box (and refrigerator) and DoDads galore. From the kitchen leads the stairs down the the cellar where the Urban Wildlife Rehabilitation Center resides. Ever seen an albino racoon?

Back up to the landing then left is the stairs to the second floor bedrooms and bath in the same period and detail. The third floor is Dee's business of Davenport & Co. which supplies fine period clothing to museums, theatrical productions, costumers and people that like that sort of thing. She even has newer things like polyester and doubleknits. He builds jet engines at Hamilton Standard.

Sure, it wasn't that long ago that all paint except whitewash was lead based. You don't want to burn it or sand it for health reasons. Chemicals are no fun (for paint removal ;) ) so that leaves scrapers and elbow grease.

Dee said when they were still living in an apartment and working on the house every night and weekends, there was a vagrant in the house but they could never catch him there.
She finally left him a note saying she was glad he was there to protect the house from vandals and they would pay him to help clean up the place as the refinishing made a big mess. He never came back.:D

apologies to anyone who claims her as their kin, but DAMN that kid is creepy.

Yep, that was the evil eye for sure.

btw, I've seen an albino raccoon.

I must say that I like all the woodwork but the wallpaper is overwhelming.

Usually she looks normal but she has a "camera face" she puts on whenever you pick up a camera that's chilling. The lipstick adds to the ghoulish look.

i really like that glass work done for the window on the stairs.....very cool!

Yeah, that's a beautiful window. It's pretty high off the ground but I'd like to get a shot of it lit from the inside. Maybe next year.