Here's the house:
The main living room is the first point of attack. Here's how it looks today:
What doesn't show too well (other than Evie peeking in the doorframe on the bottom shot) is that the wallpaper is this fairly ugly (by our standards) textured hunk of nastiness which is peeling in several places, revealing even uglier paper underneath. Into the trash with it. The mouldings and baseboards are pretty much construction grade pine, stained ugly brown. Again, into the trash. The center beam (which is structural) will be boxed in. Also gone are the contemporary casings around the windows and doors. They wil be replaced with something more period, probably more decorative mouldings and rosettes. The walls will be painted a light blue and the trim will be white. Look for the "after" shot in the future.
The lawn in back has wild violets growing in it. It seems almost a shame to have to run a lawn mower over it...