mostly doors

A new French door for the downstairs bathroom was a special order from Home Depot, $150.

The Home Depot door is soft pine. It is to be stained "Early American". It will be a bathroom door for the downstairs. For privacy I will install faux etched backing, and make a fabric curtain. As of this post, the door is stained and the hinges are on.

After picking it up last Friday



Baldwin, a heavy and very fine knob set.

pre-stain pine. If you don't pre-stain pine or other soft woods, the stain may go on unevenly.

The other French door (upstairs closet)

Photo below shows French closet door where we left off...cut to size, but in need of finishing. In this post, I stain the sides & scratches, polyurethane with high gloss acrylic, and install faux etched-glass.

Door

done staining & polyurethane

tools for etched glass: Roll of Light Effects Etched Lace 24 x 36 Window Film "Obscures Unwanted Views, Trims to Fit Any Size Window, Easy to Install and Remove". It comes in a roll of rubbery faux finish with paper backing. Install it by spraying dilute soap solution, then peel finish off the backing, and squeegee the faux finish on.

T-squares, razor-knives, measuring tapes.

marking cuts on backing

cutting sections

Etched Lace installed.

squeegee the rubber faux etched-glass over the glass with blue scraper (included)

Parlour

Jacquard Drapery $15.99 a set at Big K. And I was ready to spend $150/set at BB&B if needed.

no parlor is complete without a Monkey Lamp. ($50 at Lowe's)

Originally the window hardware was greenish plastic. Here I have repainted them gloss black (Rust Oleum, same as front door).

curtains up, window hardware on, & window frames stained American Walnut & 2 coats high gloss acrylic polyurethane. (monkey lamp not shown). The two cushion-chairs were generously given to me by neighbors moving out.

first harvest, zucchini (Guinness shown for scale)

hoeing the garden got me hooked on Hoegaarden

Pompidou Laundry Lights & Wainscot

The two projects in this post took the good part of two days/evenings.

In the first project, I installed track lighting over the washer/dryer in the basement. The track lighting was to replace a dim lamp with a loose switch, that I could barely see in the washing machine with. I also expanded the outlet capacity & added a light switch for the track-lighting.

The track lighting will also illuminate the various hoses & piping behind the washer/dryer. My philosophy is that hoses & piping shouldn't be hidden from view. That is also the philosophy of the Centre Pompidou, Paris. All the functional equipment that makes the Pompidou building work, is visible on the outside.

Pompidou

Taking apart old outlet:

Replacement Parts: A double-outlet and combined switch/outlet, 4-hole cover plate, switch box with wall-stud bracket, 14-gauge Type NM wire.

After connecting the wiring, the photo shows testing of the circuit. It is recommended to test the circuit before fully installing everything. I spent a couple hours trying to get the wiring connected right! Method of testing: once wires are connected (or reconnected), turn on circuit breaker and watch for light to come on.

The track lighting (Hampton Bay 3-Light Pin Hole Cylinder Track Lighting Kit + 50-watt Halogen MR16 bulbs) needs to be fixed to a ceiling. Since the washer/dryer area doesn't have a ceiling, I cut a fake one out of plywood, which I can screw into the cross beams above. I don't plan on installing a full ceiling in that area.

The plywood ceiling needs to have a switch box above, just like for any other fixture. The wires come in through a knockout hole.

I had to cut a hole in the plywood for the switch box.

Connection of power wires to the track-lighting adapter. The adaper powers the tracks, kind of like trolley lines that you can move the track-lights along to the desired position.

Adaper connected to track.

Preparation to replace outlet. It says junction box but I meant switch box.

Installed and good to go (after hours of figuring out the wire connections!) See how the mounting bracket is screwed to a 2-by-4?

After attaching the track, I screwed the plywood into cross beams.

tada!

More of a Pompidou-effect by aiming a light on the pipes! (I have no plans to color the pipes!)

Track lights brighten the whole area, but using no camera flash makes a nicer photo.

Painting & Wainscotting of the Upstairs Hallway

The upstairs hallway was olive-yellow like the living room. Trim was darker olive, but primed over in photo below.

After looking around for a playful color, I painted it an azure blue (Java Sea, by Glidden). The effect was not as I had hoped! It looked almost fluorescent like a cheap Polynesian restaurant! And there are no Pu-Pu platters to be found for miles.

I decided that no one color would work in that space. The plan became dark blue, with ligher blue wainscotting & chair-rail.

Covering the azure couldn't happen fast enough....

Measuring for a reach of wainscotting.

Wainscotting + chair rail from Home Depot. I only needed 7 feet because most of the hallway is doors.

Measuring for a cut (6 cuts total). I recommend cutting outdoors because of so much saw dust!

Wainscotting (below) will overlap at corners. Chair-rail molding, I mitered the corners. Be sure to factor in overlapping in cutting the proper length.

Ready for Primer

Beginning to paint over Primer. The blue is homemade with yellow-white (leftover from painting eave access hatches in spare bedroom), 10% Java Sea, and 5%Derby Red. (Derby Red was the first attempted color of the Parlor, replaced by Duke Red).

All Painted!

Ready to install wainscotting. The blue is a Glidden mix that I had Home Depot match to Adirondack Blue by Ralph Lauren. I found Ralph Lauren paint to go on too thin, also it's expensive.

blaaah

tada! It is amost as eye-popping as the Parlor. It definitely needs crown molding. I can do that this weekend. The door on the end is from Karl & Andrea's barn!

Porcelain knobs are always good for effect......

Brimfield Antique Fair Part 2

Wednesday was a beautiful day for taking off from work to hit Brimfield Massachusetts for the Antique show. And only one thing was missing.

Preparation: For a long hot day antique stall-hopping and walking dusty gravel aisles, I packed water, sunscreen, measuring tape, a list, lots of money.


And checked tire pressure. The truck was loaded with a tarp, weights, and all manner of tiedowns and rope.


Half an hour after picking up Interstate 84 north from Vernon CT, US 20 exits off Rte 84 and goes through Sturbridge then into Brimfield!

And through the fairgrounds!

what is missing???

? ?????? ?

Yes, the antique fair was last week. The tents and stalls haven't been taken down yet. I mistook the July 2009 dates on brimfieldshow.com, for this years. Unfortunately, 2008 fair was last week. Had it been July 16 2009, there would be people and noise everywhere. I'll have to return this Sept. for the final show this year.

It was 9AM on a perfect day that could do no wrong so I kept on heading west to Northampton where I am bound to find funky furniture and see whatever else is In.

No photos taken in Noho. Then on to here....

In Northampton is Fly By Night Furniture where there is no shortage of very high quality fine furniture. They have a mix of traditional cherry-wood furniture, restored vintage cabinets, retro 60s chairs and lamps, and unique stuff like the playful blue table (on right in photo below). I bought the table for the living room.

Left of the table in photo, another vintage lamp for the parlor, which I bought from Faces House of Fun (Main St Northampton). What is that green thing next to the lamp???? It is an Uglydoll, also from Faces. But what is not fun about an Uglydoll? Uglydolls also come with three eyes, or like cyclops...or with two eyes but the two eyes are above and below each other. This one below shall look good on the couch or bed. I have never seen a shortage of interesting things in Northampton.

The reason for Home Depot (painting, lighting, & door projects) will be a future post
In the garden...

Several green tomatoes are growing.

And a butternut-squash.

and sunflowers