Chiles House

Over the course of a year, beginning in September 2017, our collaboration with the home owners allowed for an authentic partnership and restoration of the home. The relatives of the Chiles family were consulted to help with returning the home to its original beauty. We finished the historical restoration just in time for the 2018 Preservation Society Time Traveling Gala.

SPECIFIC RESTORATIONS WE COMPLETED

Conducted a thorough exploration of the property to find and restore the original living room wainscoting. Remnants of original wainscoting were found in the basement. We used the original salvage as well as custom milled new wainscoting components for installation at its original location in the living room. Removed large, historically inaccurate Arts and Crafts style 4×4 trim from around the windows and doors in the Master Bedroom and Living Room. We repaired extensive rot and milled new trim to match the original trim. Repaired the textured plaster to match the original plaster throughout the house. Hand stripped and restored period style door hinges and hardware back to the original pewter finish thought to have been designed and manufactured by Anthony Lord, a well-known local architect and iron worker. Removed plastic corbels from the top of the fireplace in the Living Room and installed historically appropriate milled trim to match. Removed decades of paint overspray from all the trim throughout the house, flooring, stair handrails and stair risers and treads. Reattached original custom, period appropriate failing iron balusters to staircase for safety and stability. Examined historic photos in an effort to match the original interior colors as closely as possible. Painted the home with historically accurate color palette. Consulted with a historic tile specialist from Oak Park, IL to custom match and manufacture the blue tile for the downstairs bath. Meticulously removed all damaged tiles and installed custom matched tile for seamless historical accuracy. Installed new lighting and updated outlets and switches at various locations to provide proper function. Removed, repaired and re-installed the rotten and gaping Dining Room and Library Double Dutch French Doors also thought to be designed by the incomparable Anthony Lord. Installed historically accurate snap bronze weather stripping as needed throughout the house. Removed existing painted baseboards, hand stripped many, many years of paint, created custom stain match from original unpainted wood trim, and stained the original wood trim to match existing wood trim. Reused salvaged original base cap found on site, stripped paint, cleaned as needed and had the remainder locally milled to match the original base cap.