Welcome to my new home!
Here’s a stitched up view of my block in Fredericton, with the Legislative Building (under renovations) to the left.
The other three houses on the block all date from earlier times than mine, around the 1850s, I think. My house seems to have been built around 1937. The earliest occupant that I can find arrived in the building in 1938, dying there a mere three years later. The house and garage are on separate parcels of land, which produce an L-shaped property. Half of the garage sits behind the blue house to the south of me, with right of way access. From what I understand, the property had been taken up by the stables of the blue house. In 1936 Fredericton experienced one of the worst floods recorded, and there are photos in the New Brunswick Public Archives showing about a foot of water along this block of Saint John Street. Damage to the buildings would have been inevitable, and I suspect that the stables may have come down as a result. Besides, the automobile had probably replaced any horse-drawn carriage that the owners of the stately home may once have owned. This early history is based upon a lot of conjecture, but the timing makes sense.
On the 1941 tax assessment report for the property, the house is described as “ultra-modern”. A few photos of the interior show off some of the original detail work put into the place including a lovely cabinet in the dining room.
I am still in the process of decorating the house. It is much larger than any I have owned before, so I’ve been suffering from a shortness of furniture to fill the space, but am almost done filling the house. I don’t actually need any more furnishing than I already own, but it’s nice to make proper use of the space, and having an extra bed for a guest is a bonus. More serious decorating is still to come. The walls and trim throughout are painted an equal tone of beige. Clean enough and inoffensive enough that no immediate repainting is needed, but it would be nice to get a bit of colour on the walls soon.
You might notice that there’s an awful lot of cat in that living room. Charlie’s a bit of a ham whenever she sees the camera come out.
There’s a wide (by my standards) front hall that features the original light fixtures at the top and bottom of the stairs which leads to the upper level of the house.
I haven’t done much work on the upstairs yet. The only thing really new is a bed for me (when Charlie allows me room). I found the most amazingly comfortable mattress ever, and now sing high praises to the good people at Natura for their superior products! The bed linen is perhaps a little intense, shall we say, in colour for me, but a great value for high quality sheets. Besides, Charlie feels right at home in this boudoir environment.
Most of the renovations that I have undertaken so far have been structural in nature rather than decorative. New insulation, driveway patching, upgraded electrical works, roofing; none of it shows in the pictures, but it makes the house a nicer place to be. I have plans for a new bathroom and kitchen in the coming months, but only money enough for one of the two to start (probably the bathroom).
The tale of the window coverings is in the works. Stay tuned.
