We did all the trim in our not quite 80 year old house in B/M Decorator White, alkyd paint. Paints like a dream, holds up 10x better than any latex or acrylic paint you can buy today but - BUT - any white alkyd paint will yellow over time. Not even over a long time but after a year or so there is a noticeable difference and if you do need to touch up somewhere it will show. That yellowing just keeps on increasing over the years, too. Just an FYI. editing to add - when you paint with petroleum based paints, do not plan on using your clothes dryer for quite a while. The paint fumes are drawn into the dryer (which pulls in air from your house just like a furnace) heated, and your clothes are tumbled in the smelly burning fumes and will stink. It takes a long time for all the oil fumes to gas out from the paint. This post was edited by dlm2000 on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 21:11

Wood vs. Engineered Wood? No contest in this case. If the home was built in 1905, put real hardwood in. This preserves the integrity of the home's building materials. Plus, as you can see from the age of these floors, higher grades (i.e. thicker) hardwood can be sanded several times; you usually don't get even one chance to sand engineered wood. The hardwood layer at the top of this multilayered product is simply too thin. Level Floors and Subfloors There are ways to level a subfloor, ranging from replacing parts of the subfloor with thicker or thinner sheets of plywood (or planks, see below), to pour-on leveling compounds that harden to make the entire floor level. What you use to level uneven areas depends on what the subflooring is. If it is plywood or concrete, the compound works. But more likely with this home, on floors at or above grade, there will be wood planks laid at a diagonal across the floor joists. So in your home, the layers were probably joists first, then subfloor planks of wood, then hardwood with tongue & groove joints. You cannot effectively use a pour-on leveling compound on a plank subfloor, as there are cracks between the planks. However, you can lay a new hardwood floor directly on a wood plank subfloor as long as those planks are sound and relatively level. Replace individual planks that have been damaged by water or insects, are otherwise compromised, or even missing (it happens!), with either new planks of lumber, or with plywood of the same thickness as the planks. Any lumber you install, for either the subfloor or finished flooring, should be brought in to your home several days prior to installation, so the materials acclimatize to your typical interior temperature and humidity. Unlike for ceramic or porcelain tile, the subfloor does not have to be perfectly level. And unlike vinyl sheeting, planks or tiles, the hardwood won't "telegraph" minor differences in height, and minor surface irregularities, so the subfloor doesn't have to be absolutely perfect; it should be sound, strong, uniform and essentially level. Your flooring contractor can give you specifics on what upgrades your subfloor may need once the original hardwood is removed. Joists If the floor is significantly not level in parts, or if certain areas feel spongy when you walk on them, I recommend you have your flooring contractor, a home inspector, or structural engineer inspect the subflooring and especially the floor joists. You don't want to invest in a new floor, only to have it become damaged because some joists weren't attended to. Transitions Transitions (a.k.a. thresholds or molding) between existing rooms and the new floor ought to be made of the same wood and same finish (stain, polyurethane, etc.) as the new flooring you are putting down. As wood ages, the finish becomes darker, so trying to make the transitions match the finishes of existing floors is very difficult and not recommended (what will match those floors right now won't match later after your transitions age up a bit). Eventually, the transitions wouldn't match either the new or the old floors! Transitions come in four types: reducer (when the two floors being joined are of different heights), seam binder (when the floors are the same height, and the boards from each are very close to one another), T-mold (when the two floors are the same height, but there is a crack between the two rooms' flooring) and stair nose or stair edger (when the flooring needs to curve around the front of a stair's "tread"--the flat part of a stair upon which you tread!). The transitions for your particular project can be ordered when you order the hardwood, so make sure to include measurements for those doorways/entrances. The contractor can tell you if he/she anticipates there will be a height difference or gap between the floorings, which would require those particular transitions. Dry Air Concerns Consult a local lumber supplier or flooring contractor familiar with your local climate conditions to discuss finishes or other tips for keeping your wood floors healthy in the dry winters. Sounds wonderful! Have fun!

To make this home a better fit for your needs and preserve the architectural character requires a careful balancing of the floor plan and exterior with your lifestyle needs and budget. You can do a sympathetic addition--one that looks like it was part of the original home--or one is distinctly different. To get it right, you'll need to engage professionals who do that for a living. You may find a remodeler with in-house design resources that has a great portfolio and track record designing and building additions or you may need to hire an independent residential designer or architect. In either case, I recommend you get both the designer/architect and remodeler to collaborate with you from the outset--that gives you the best opportunity to achieve as many objectives as you can within your budget target. Best wishes for a successful project.

A simple all galss dor with a wood frame either in finished wood or paintable and then replace the screen door with a phantom screen to get the max light Cute house BTW but needs some work espec\ially on that little step in front of the door I think maybe think about raising the whole porch floor up and then new entry steps and maybe be able to save the railingand posts and install again.