The Histories

sno fix

2011-01-13T14:23:00.005-05:00

first, here are the new housies, tentatively named

Lilybell

Stuart

20-30 inches fell Weds.

subtle texture in snow:

and the sky is feeling blue

2010-11-02T03:42:00.004-04:00

Leaves have fallen but this was October

bedroom paneling/trim

2010-09-06T19:56:00.017-04:00

In this post I put up trim, paneling & track-lighting in an upstairs bedroom.

Picture below of the bedroom, that I took at the realtor open house when I first looked at the place. Can you notice that the vaulted ceiling is plain wallboard, and there is not much in the way of trim around the closet? The work in this post is to give the room definition and charm.

In the following pictures I install textured panels on the vaulted ceiling, and border the top & bottom of the panels using trim made from planks.

Picture below shows the making of trim to go above and below textured panels: 5 x 1 planks, nailing screen strip to side for a beaded effect as I had done in living room:

Shelf for window. This house does not have thick walls for deep-set window sills. So the shelf will project out into the room. to provide the needed storage. Sorry the picture is sideways.

Photo below shows shelf upside down. The part that is vertical here, will go against the wall beneath the window. Can you see the 2 x 2 brackets which will help support the shelf? Both the shelf and vertical support wood will be nailed or screwed to wall studs.

In picture below, 5x1 planks, lattice screen strips, & panel

Below, 5x1 with (right) and without (left) screen nailed in.

In photo below you can see the bead effect, in plank on right. A "bead" is just a groove in wood to give it a textured effect, such as seen in wainscoting. It is easier for me to nail screen strips to the wood, than it is to cut a bead into the plank using a router.

Below, cutting MDF textured panels for vaulted ceiling, using table saw and circular saw:

Below, cutting starter hole to insert the star rosette into a chair rail. I was then able to square the hole using a sabre saw, see the hand held power saw to the right? There is a picture of the final result further below.

Below, nailing moulding to a post, which will support a small shelf and serve as one end of the wainscoting (the wainscoting will not go around the entire room, so the ends need to be visually bracketed).

In picture below, the planks, paneling, and most of wainscoting are up. I used the same textured paneling along the wall and vaulted ceiling. Along the vertical wall, I'm calling it wainscoting and on the vaulted ceiling, calling it paneling. But really it's the same exact board material from Home Depot. Planks and baseboard define both top and bottom of the panels and wainscoting. You can see the small shelf and post from the previous picture, where a black soda can is on the shelf.

Picture below shows wider trim I put in around windows, and the chair rail with star rosette from previous photo.

Picture below shows small shelf to right of door. Door (unhinged) on right is antique from New Bedford, I believe there is an earlier post about this door. The smaller door in this picture is eave access hatch.

Wider trim around door and closet, in picture below. I'm using 4 x 1 with screen strips, similar to the rest of the house, where I'm gradually replacing all clamshell moulding which was only 2 1/2 inches wide. 4-inch wide trim gives so much better definition of doors and windows, in my not-so-humble opinion.

In the eaves, here I am installing a light switch for new track lighting! It is easy access to the backside of the walls here.

Picture below shows new junction box, above an existing electrical outlet box.

After making wire connections....

Hole cutout for new light switch:

Paneling complete!

Track lighting...just one light is in for now, to test the circuit:

Ready to paint!

Wiring for new light switch:

Painted! And check out the window grilles.

I put the track lights along the vaulted ceiling so they can serve as reading lights when a a double bed eventually goes into this room.

The new colors are Behr brand from Home Depot: walls are Orange Confection, trim/panels are Swiss Coffee. The previous color (Distant Haze) is still in the closet, on left.

kitchen cabinet door replacement/painting

2010-08-30T21:12:00.027-04:00

In this post, the curved upper cabinet doors are replaced with new style cabinet doors, and all kitchen cabinets are painted.

Original kitchen below from open house, in picture below. The curved "cathedral" style cabinet door pattern as seen in the upper doors, and the wood-grain, were not working with the overall theme. The recent woodwork and paint scheme as seen in previous blog posts is somewhere between Victorian and rustic colonial.

The following pictures are before hosting a party last weekend, when the house is always cleanest.

Painted cabinets in picture below. Same exact view as above, 2 1/2 years later. Compare the square upper cabinet door tops to the previous curved.

The upper right door above stove still needs to be replaced, see the curved top? Because HD messed up the order and had to send a replacement.

On wall opposite cabinets, antique photographs & prints from around or before 1900 help define the association to the era:

The replacement cabinet doors were easy to order from Home Depot because the previous doors were also from there. They were super easy to re-install because the hardware cutouts matched the existing hinges.

The house is starting to feel entirely Connecticut. I went with white on the cabinets - same antique cream as the surrounding trim - because it blended with the surrounding color scheme. Before the white, I tried colonial gray-blue, then rose cream, for the cabinets. Neither of those looked great to me because there became too many colors in the room.

The glass door cabinets are from Home Depot but the plate-glass is from a local supplier. The glass itself is "glue-chip" glass which is a custom textured glass style. It cost like half as much to get the glass from a local supplier.

Close up of glue-chip (click to enlarge):

you can order cabinet doors "cut for glass" which means the doors are essentially a frame into which plate-glass can be inserted. The cost is somewhat higher than solid wood panel, because the cutout involves more millwork.

mid summer

2010-08-11T22:07:00.004-04:00

late in the day and no time to add cicada (heat bug) sound effects to this post.

peppers & butternut

kale

kale. look close up, see holes in the leaves? buggums & worms also enjoy the kale.

office

2010-07-26T23:53:00.003-04:00

headquarters for hydrogeologic engineering operations, famously relocated.....

split-rail fence & fire pit

2010-07-24T21:36:00.011-04:00

Fire pit

This fire pit is a simple unmortared stone circle, Joe and I put up today. Joe is my 12 yr old neighbor.

Setting up: trapezoidal cement block from local supplier, traprock base from neighbor, 2 bags playsand.

The rest of the blocks were still on the truck, also cinder blocks + lanscape tiles for tray table next to fire pit

Partway done. The surrounding grass being removed by hoe and is to be replaced with traprock, as protection from sparks from fire.

Fire pit! The pit is surrounded by traprock to prevent fire from sparks coming outside the pit. Inside the pit, are 2 bags of playsand as a base, then a couple inches traprock over that. This design is the same as the neighbor's who helped out.

Coulldnt take a final shot without Emily running in.

Split-Rail Fence

This split-rail fence took a weekend to put in with help from Joe and Tony. It's 16 sections, around 200 ft. It is decorative, and uses pressure-treated split-rail timbers and posts from Lowe's. It runs along the street on both sides of the driveway, and partway up right side of driveway.

Below, the "before" picture. Check out the stakes- I used these stakes to play around and decide where exactly I wanted the fence to go.

Below, some of the tools: Posthole digger was essential. The holes were 22 inches deep. It took 20 minutes per hole provided there werent too many rocks. The prybar to the right was for loosening up rocks in the hole. The shovel is to dig out the grass & start the hole.

Partway through. It helps to put the dirt onto a tarp, so you don't have to clean up the lawn afterward.

Assortment of split rail timbers and line posts. There are three types of posts: end posts, line posts, and corner posts. The end and corner posts have slots in one or two sides of the square posts. Line posts have holes straight through so the rails can overlap.

Cement and traprock. Post-setting cement is easy to use because you can just add mix and water to the hole, without having to mix it in a barrel. Traprock is set at the bottom of the hole before putting the post in, to allow drainage so moisture doesn't wick up the wood post and cause early rot.

After setting Post-Set concrete.....

We used 1 - 2 bags of post-set per post.

We ended up mixing a batch of cement to smooth off the ground and slope around the posts so water drains away from the wood posts.

Cleanup Time!

Some rocks pulled from the post holes...

Finished !!

Line post closeup

garden part 6

2010-07-09T21:35:00.003-04:00

Sunflowers are 8 or 9 feet high & tomatos nearly 6.

Squash patch is lush but still early in season for them it seems. A couple tiny squash buds just starting to appear.

Amish heirlooms so far so good

Apples look alright since pruning the tree this spring but I am seeing fewer this year even on the lower branches.

From the painted deck. That teak was $20 from a mill store, they sold it as defective but all it needed was a bracket

accidental shot

motor bike ride

2010-06-20T22:51:00.013-04:00

The lawn behind Goodspeed Opera House offers a river view and most civilized surroundings. While catching rays on the lawn one can hear the surrounding dining at Gelston House & nearby bridge traffic & boat traffic. I do not find this background noise to be a distraction and the quiet busyness is actually part of the draw...been down here a few times already on the bike. It makes a worthy destination for an evening spin on the motorcycle. The 40-minute ride down from Hebron is scenic and hardly traffic.

Below is the view of Connecticut River from the lawn. This is East Haddam, CT and across the river is Haddam. The lawn is a great place to rest, catch some rays, or read before turning back.

View of Gelston House from lawn. That terrace on the right, with the tent-cover is the outdoor dining and beergarden. Unfortunately this fine establishment is too far from the office otherwise I would drag my drinking comrades here regularly.

Below, view of the swing bridge from lawn:

What is a swing bridge?? It is called a swing bridge because the bridge rotates, to let boat traffic through, by swinging on a pivot.

Photo below, lawn, & opera house in background. Can you imagine taking a boat to the opera? These premises were built in the mid 1800s. The aristocracy along the Connecticut river no doubt lived well.

Where to dock for the Goodspeed!

Goodspeed Opera House is a neoclassical Italianate marvel on CT route 82. Connecticut river in background.

Gelston house, next door to the Goodspeed and of the same vintage.

Approaching the swing bridge. It is a steel-deck bridge, which causes a weavy feeling on the motorcycle. Takes getting used to.

Map of places talked about in this Blog:

.

Before the Canterbury tales, a little bit about motorcycle controls

Most of the motorcycle controls are on the handlebars, except for the rear brake and gear shifter. Those are controlled by foot pegs. Turn the right hand grip (throttle) to speed up.

Friday afternoon up in the Northeast Corner:

View from downtown Scotland, CT

Scotland General Store. That is about it for destinations in Scotland Center. A few towns in eastern Connecticut still have general stores.

Photo below, Route 169 between Canterbury and Pomfret is scenic. The road is usually scenic before you see these signs, so my reaction once was something like "this gets even better?"

cornfield, Canterbury CT

Brooklyn, CT

Brooklyn Ct

Before heading home, lunched at Vanilla Bean Cafe, Pomfret. It is biker-friendly and a guy there tried talking me into riding in the Hoka Hey Challenge, a bike race from Key West to Alaska with a $500,000 purse. It's $1000 to enter and there's no second prize. I had to say no thanks!

antique door hinge replacement

2010-06-06T20:56:00.006-04:00

In this post I prepare an antique door to replace a hollow-core door. This door will go in an upstairs bedroom. The house came with all hollow core doors and this is the final hollow-core that I want to replace.

The antique I got from New England Salvage & Demolition, New Bedford MA. Their long aisles of old doors were organized by number of panels. As you can see, this is a four-panel and it was $80.

The antique was 1/4 inch too narrow so here I prepare to widen it. First I fill in the old hinge mortise. A mortise is just a cut in the wood so the hinge fits flush, see?
Here in photo below, I'm raising the hinge location using a mount that I cut from a piece of scrap wainscoting.

In photo below, can you see how I raised the hinge?

I used really long screws for the hinges because 1) screws that came with the hinge are too short to go through both the new mounts and then anchor into the door itself. And 2) shorter screws loosen more easily, 3) the door was manufactured as an exterior door and is therefore very heavy; 4) the hinge area already had many holes in it due to past re-hinging. Here I use 2 1/2-inch long deck screws to firmly seat the hinge.

In photo below, I widen the rest of the door using lattice wood (1 1/2 x 1/4 inch), which makes the door 1/4 inch wider.

Currently I've sanded and primed the door. I will paint it a historic cream color.

Part 2: Garden

The rose bush is blooming like crazy. There's the famous motorcycle behind the roses.

Below is the layout of the garden. I have been fastidiously weeding by dragging a large hoe over the soil 2-3 times a week.

From another angle...

Kale from mom's friend, just planted

Spring in Conn.

2010-05-05T20:19:00.004-04:00

Although the deck project is far from finished, I ended up going with antique white for the deck. The color is Valspar's Woodrow Wilson Cream, from the Historic Preservation series. It looks very white in photo below, but in reality it is not as bright.

Normally it is not a good idea to paint a deck. This is because paint doesn't expand and contract with wood as much as stain does. The result is possible peeling and rot occurring earlier than intended. My deck was already painted so don't worry this is not making it any worse! Anyways I will replace the entire deck with a new larger one sometime. The bright paint sure seems to highlight the low-quality stairs and I may make a nicer starcase/railing sooner.

I got home from NJ today in time for some afternoon sun. In the background, in the next picture, you can see the hole in the stone wall, between the two big trees, that I made to drive the tractor through.

I do not tire from this view in the side yard.

Late afternoon sunlight through sugar maples

Sunflowers, circled, if you can see them at all in this image:

spring planning

2010-04-25T17:51:00.004-04:00

sprouting

The deck in photo below is beige & to be repainted. I have painted it gray this weekend but am not sure that the Gray works in this setting. I will probably paint it over in Antique White. In photo below, I've prepped the deck by sanding, mopping & hosing off.

The door frame & rail etc called out in yellow reflect my current vision for the deck project. I will use a combination of historic cream & gray colors on the fence & rail which should tie it together. The challenge for me is always to organically integrate the home with itself & its environment. Usually after one phase is finished, such as painting trim, I have a better vision of the end product and end up changing plans for the next phase. Therefore it helps that I can only do one thing at a time on these projects. For the deck, for now I plan to use italianate door & gothic rail elements, which incorporate curvature and thus should help the cosmic energy flow and blend the house with its surroundings.

Garden ready for planting, in picture below. Sunflower seeds are planted. There was Much weeding by hoe in the past few weeks.

pruning the gnarly apple

2010-03-30T20:55:00.008-04:00

Pruning is best done before the blossoms. I was told as much at a pruning lecture last summer. In this post I pruned the apple tree, successfully beating the blossoms. The buds were just forming. The tree was 60+ yrs old and very tall so that the top part shaded the lower part, such that the lower easy-to-reach fruit was unnecessarily small due to not enought light. In this post I pruned the upper branches off.

Below, partway done pruning. Sorry no official "before" photograph. I cut the branches using an electric pole chain saw. Standing up on the truck bed got me within reach of everything. This apple variety is Baldwin or Winesap, according to a guy at the local orchard.

Cut branches, saving the bigger logs because apple wood is supposedly great for smoking meats.

Electric saw made easy cutting. The pruning took four or five hours, most of the time positioning the saw, and lugging branches into the woods. Thanks to my neighbor for lending me the saw.

Picture below, this branch was high up, blocking sun from the one underneath.

After cutting the branch.

Hard to tell in picture below, but the pruned tree is nice and low now. From some angles it looks decent. From this angle it looks a bit like it was hit by lightning, split down the middle, but should fill in over the summer.

The dreary two days of rain causes all sorts of pond in the yard.

Garden flood

french door & antique Morris chair

2010-02-10T16:53:00.012-05:00

My house was built with a door opening between the kitchen & living room, but did not have an actual door. Since this opening at the central point in the house, I installed a door there to give definition to both of the rooms.

The wall opening was 36 x 80. This is a standard door size, which means no additional expense to buy a custom size. Unstained pinewood French doors go for $160 at Home Depot.

In this post there are no pictures of the actual installation which included:

mortising, sawcutting, aligning, prestaining, staining, drilling, installing knob, installing latch, installing jamb.

Stain color is Early American. Knob is brushed bronze.

The actual door was about 1/2 inch too wide, if you allow room for swing & hinges. I narrowed it along the hinged side using a circular saw. Narrowing it along the knob side would have required the knob be installed too close to the glass, which might give it an unbalanced appearance.

Morris Chair

The rearranged living room allows much more space, having moved the entertainment center to a far wall against the stairway. Part of it I filled with a Morris chair bought at the Putnam Antique market. This Morris chair was made by the Quaint Art Furniture Co. of Syracuse NY. The antique cost about as much as a new one.

Mission style is part of the American Craftsman style of early 20th century. The craftsman decorative style was contemporary to the Arts & Crafts bungalow style architecture movement which featured clean lines and natural forms. Frank Lloyd Wright was of this genre.

The Stickley Furniture company was started around 1900 by Gus Stickley and run by five brothers. It soon split up and spawned several other companies making similar furniture.

Quaint Art Furniture was in business 1909-1916. They say an original Stickley is the real deal, but that spinoffs, including Quaint Art, were of similar quality, and the company was probably run by someone who worked in the original Stickley business. The shop label underneath indicates the authenticity.

The Morris is a bit awkward next to the Ultrasuede couch. I will be looking for a secondhand dark table or bookshelf to complement it.

Snow 2/10

A few inches so far

4th time painting

2010-01-15T22:27:00.013-05:00

Is 4 times of painting enough to get the color right? This post is about what I think are the finally final living room & kitchen/hall colors, after trying at least four colors per room over the last year and a half. In these pictures that follow, apologies for the mess everywhere but the walls. It will be a couple weeks before I clean these rooms up.

Living Room

Below, I’ve repainted a shade darker than in the previous post. Butterscotch Candy above chair rail, Autumn Gold beneath chair rail. The colors were formulated to go together. They are adjacent in the Ace Hardware brand color series. The effect is sturdy but informal. Finally a room you just want to sink into. After I clean up and move some furniture around.

Darker photoshop version below.

Kitchen, round 4

Above the kitchen/hallway wainscoting, the color is Bedford Brown (Behr paints). It’s reddish brown but looks and feels purple. I’m going for the feel of an old, plush, bustling resort kitchen. A balance of formality, liveliness, and utility. Repose and busyness. Light but dark. Warm but cool. Yin but yang. Perfect. Under the new shelf/coat rack, is painted the next darker shade in the Behr series (Clay Ridge). The ideas for the hallway shelf, and chair rail style and high baseboards in living room, certainly might be recognizable in an early farmhouse on the Cape. I hope you notice that the Brimfield doors were made for these colors. I don’t think the track lighting goes with the style, but the lights might blend in better once I put in shelves or tilt-out bins on part of that large section of bare wall. Apologies for the mess on the table.

chair rail

2010-01-03T21:10:00.017-05:00

chair rail
–noun
a molding on an interior wall for preventing the backs of chairs from rubbing against plaster.
Origin: 1835–45

New chair rail for living room:

Chair rail is 1 x 5 white pine. I have not finished this project yet because I have not finished the usual experimentation with colors. I will probably go with the combination in the picture above(Summer's Tan above, Butterscotch Candy below chair rail). In photo Below, I tried out Butterscotch above the chair rail.

Below, front door framed using antique shutters from Rudy's. $20 each tops.

wind-swept powder

As busy as it gets downtown on a snowy Sunday

Rte 85

solitude

Poetry

the Box Elder blog is written in an economy that just resonates with me which is why I have a link to it on my blog. I stumbled upon it once when googling filigree. Anyways please read her 2009 new years eve wish.

http://box-elder.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-years-eve-2009.html

tree

2009-12-08T21:15:00.003-05:00

Living room window casing

2009-12-05T11:36:00.005-05:00

In this post I replace clamshell casing with 1x4 board. Casing is also referred to as trim or moulding.

Below is the original casing. I wanted to go with something wider, and a flat shape instead of the curved profile of the clamshell (in the inset below, you can see why it's called clamshell).

Also I replaced the 4-inch-deep sills with 8-inch. The 4-inch deep sills could not be used as a shelf. Deeper sills are more practical. The new casing/sills will be more rustic, folksy, practical.

Below, same situation with side window. Also I ordered grilles for the windows, which pop into factory-made holes in the frame and set right on the pane.

Below, new casing!

Below, close-up of 8-inch sill. If you buy an 8-inch board, the actual size is 7 1/4. The 8-inch is called "nominal" size. Actual size is narrower. Similar, the new casing is 4-inch nominal, actual width is 3 1/2 inch.

Below is that old wall shelf Steven and I made, I put up last night warms up the living room. I think it goes perfect.

Installation of Hanging pot hanger

2009-11-06T14:32:00.018-05:00

In this post I install a half-moon shape pot hanger.

The pot hanger I have had for years was wall-mounted with a bracket. However there is no place convenient in my kitchen to mount it on a wall. Here is how I hung it from the ceiling using chains. It took an hour and a half (or three hours if you count the time at Home Depot and on this blog.)

I hung it above the sink so it can double as a drying rack for the large pots. A pot hanger located above the sink is very convenient because I cook tons of pasta and have pots and strainer out all the time. And it's been a nuisance storing pots on the stove & also taking up dish rack space after washing. There is no dishwasher.

First locate four points where it will hang from ceiling:

about $20 worth of hardware from home depot

Toggle bolts expand above the ceiling to support a load. The holes need to be wide enough to insert them. Below, twisting the wallboard saw to make holes.
Below, what a toggle bolt looks like before installing. Toggle bolts come with screws so I needed to replace them with eye bolts of the proper diameter (1/4 inch) to screw in to toggle.
Ceiling mounts in place, below. S-hooks to connect chain to ceiling mount
With the hardware in place, chain length can be measured and cut so hanger hangs at desired height. Stainless steel chain was about $1.70/foot. I bought five feet but only used half. Any chain would support the hanger so I went with something that looked good.
Below, chain sections after cutting links. Dremel drill with steel-cutting bit used to cut links. Locking pliers used to pull links apart because drill bit would jam right before each cut was complete.
Below, I used hardware at the hanger similar to at ceiling except using nut/washer instead of toggle bolt.
Ta da!

hallow's

2009-10-31T19:25:00.002-04:00

Break

2009-10-18T22:03:00.002-04:00

Home projects for the year are finished....taking a break till spring. Then in spring, replacing upstairs shower & maybe redo back deck.

Snow Fri. AM 10/16 I had just mulched leaves the day before, here is snow over the mower track.

Final kitchen, view from back

Front door - epilogue

2009-10-06T20:54:00.007-04:00

As shown in my post from Sunday (10/4/09), more trim was required beneath the front door corbels. This post describes making and installing the additional trim.

It might be better to skim through this post, then read it again to understand these following details!

For additional trim, I cut 2-ft high pedestals, and a series of 1-inch wide strips to connect the pedestals to the corbels. The strips were 1-inch wide spaced 2-inches apart to match the relief on the corbels.

Wood board sizes are described in cross sectional area, so a 1x1 board is 1 inches square in cross section, and could be of any length. I wanted 1/2-inch by 1-inch pieces but could only find 1x1 at home depot. Below, I used a table saw to "rip" 1 x 1/2 inch strips from 1 x 1's. Ripping means to cut a board along its length. Using table saw, I ripped 1 x 1 boards in half to create 1 x 1/2 in. strips. It is done by feeding the 1 x 1 through the saw, sliding the board along an adjustable guide to get the desired thickness.

Then using miter saw, also called a chop saw, I cut an 8-ft 2x6 pressure-treated board (about $20 at home depot) into 2-ft boards, to make the pedestal. A chop saw is easier than table saw to cut boards crosswise.

It was a gorgeous day and setting up your power saws outside is helpful because you don't have to deal with sawdust.

Below, I cut angles at top of pedestal boards, using miter saw, for an angled look.

My door trim is a composite of layered wood strips and boards. This means moisture could get between the pieces. I painted all surfaces, including the inside surfaces that will not be seen, for protection and life. I painted all surfaces with Rustoleum oil-based black, figuring that will be a thick protective coating from mildew and moisture. Once installed, I used silicone caulking along the edges so water does not get between the pieces. The silicone caulking hardens like rubber.

Each pedestal consists of two 2x6 pieces. Below, you can see the first pedestal pieces. The second 2x6 pieces get nailed to the first, so the pedestals stick out more and complement the corbels. Below, I am getting ready to nail the 1/2 x 1-inch strips up to the 2x6 trim that runs the full height of the door.

Below, 1/2 x 1 strips partly in place. Up by the corbels, you can sort of see how I spaced the strips to match where the corbels flare out.

Below, I made 1/4 x 1 strips to go beneath the 1/2 x 1 strips, for further relief. This is because the corbels are so intricate that I think the rest of the trim must have some variety to complement.

Also below, you can see I've nailed the outer 2x6's to the pedestal.

The pedestal top is consists of two angle-cuts and two quarter-round molding pieces. It serves as a break between the strip lines above the pedestal and strips that I will put on the pedestal.

Below, two strips on the pedestal and blocks are used to create a recess on the pedestal, that is wider than the recess created by the strips above the pedestal. This is to give the pedestal a wider look, as it should since it is the foundation piece for the door.

I am pretty close to a color I like for the door, as you can see below. Note how Midnight Black and Gloss Black seem to go well together. Gloss Black is on the more intricate parts such as strips and pedestals, and Midnight Black is on the flatter, less interesting pieces.

ta da!

kitchen trim work and front exterior door replacment and corbels

2009-10-04T20:11:00.025-04:00

This blog post is the tale of redoing the kitchen/downstairs hallway and front door.

Part 1 is the kitchen/hallway. Part 2 is the front door replacement and includes a brief discussion of Italianate Victorian architecture. This post includes 48 pictures.

Part 1: kitchen.

Below is kitchen photo taken during the open house (Feb. 2007) first time I saw the house before putting in an offer.

As shown below, clamshell molding was around all doors/windows. Clamshell is a very basic, common and relatively cheap molding. Clamshell molding is under 3 inches wide, which I think is too narrow and looks flimsy. In this post I replace it with wider molding (1x4 or 1x6 plank).
Also note ceiling light, which is to be replaced with track lighting.

Clamshell molding was also around the kitchen window:
Clamshell molding around bathroom door, pried out using small prybar. Clamshell because of the shape in profile. Note vintage blue color underneath:

After pulling molding and door stops, door frame needed to be planed, mainly because rough paint edges.

During planing, alot of shavings end up on floor:

Below, installing pinewood planks. I started with 1x6 around living room entryway (right) then decided it was too big and went with 1x4 around both doors shown here:

Various planks. The 1x4 and 1x6 shelves shown here are the window sill shelves that will go under the two kitchen windows. They have keys cut along one edge which keys into wall below window. Keys cut by a friend using a dado blade:

Below, nailing 1x6 around bathroom door. Finishing nails have small heads so you can nail them into the wood and they don't stick out. Nail punch is used to get nail further into wood. Then you putty over nail head to smooth it off and the nail is no longer noticeable.

Installing wainscoting

Wainscoting is decorative trim that covers the lower 1/3 of a wall and has a chair rail border along the top of the wainscoting. Wainscoting can be purchased as either planks or panels. I used planks in the hallway and panels in kitchen. Hallway shown below. I glued planks and used drywall bolts every few planks. The hallway wall didn't have many 2x4 studs behind it, to nail planks into, which is why I used bolts and alot of glue. Each plank has side slots, so they key into each other to form a continuous panel.

Hallway after woodwork complete, shown below. Originally I went with Victoriana purple and dark stain, before deciding it was too dark.

Kitchen window:

Paint/stain experimentation:

Final offwhite used for trim was same as for living room:

Panel wainscoting was used in kitchen. Cutting to size with table saw:

Holes were cut accurately in location of wall switches and outlets:

Marking out cutout where wainscoting needs to go around bottom of kitchen window:

Final hallway (doors painted same as trim):

Rail Lighting Installation:

The original ceiling light didn't have a wall switch, so the first thing was to install a switch. (The original light switch was on the hanging lamp itself). Here I marked holes where to search for the wire and where the switch should go:

I had to cut holes in the wall to find the wire. Wire was found to the right of where I thought it would be based on a nearby outlet. I cut a very big hole to provide working room for switch installation:

New switch and everything in place to patch the hole with another piece of drywall cut to size:

New wall switch & wainscoting around it:

Rail lighting is suspended from seven anchors like the one below. The white everywhere is from drilling through ceiling.

Rail (flexible guide) below, also check out the window grill, custom order for Anderson windows, grilles go for $20 or 30 apiece:

ta da!

Funky euro kitchen. I haven't hung any pictures yet, that will be in the coming weeks!

Part 2: Door Replacement:

In this Part I replace the steel oval-window door with a twin-pane fiberglass door.

To remove old door and frame, I cut around the frame from the inside of the house, along the outside edge of the frame, using reciprocating saw which cuts through all nails. Then I banged it out with a sledge hammer. Finally, the door gave way at the top as shown below. It was loud and took a long time and the next day my neighbor asked what I was up to.

I was glad to see the ugly oval go. With door and frame gone, the opening for new door is the opening built into the original house frame:

Italianate

My reconstructed front entryway is of the Italianate architecural style which is a style from the mid 1800s that included tall, arched windows and cornices and other elegant trim work. It started in Britain as a combination of Victorian and Italian Tuscan styles. Itailianate is used in both commercial and residential buildings. Applying this style to a Cape is definitely experimental but I think that the Cape's steep-pitched roof and front eave overhang provide enough visual framework for the door, which emphasizes the height of a structure.

Below is an Italianate building. Note the corbels (ornate brackets) under the eaves, and the twin front doors with arched windows:

Below is the new prehung door, Therma-Tru fiberglass twin-pane custom order from Lowe's about $400:

Here it is painted black. I tried a few colors before going with green (for now at least):

The original storm door didn't fit over the new door, it was one inch too narrow. So I don't have a storm door for now, but that should be easy to do before the winter!

After fitting the prehung frame into the house opening, shims are cheap wedges of wood that you bang into the opening between the door frame and house, to fine-tune the door and make the door vertical and swing correctly. Because with even a small tilt or shift, the door could hit an edge and not close.

After installing the door and a $120 lockset, I discovered the wood "brick molding" trim that came with the door was too thin and made the door look awkward.

Below, I cut out shingles alongside the door, a 6-inch wide removal to install wider trim on either side of the door. The purpose of wider trim is to emphasize the door as well as make a transition from the fine detail of the door to the practical and much simpler shingles on the rest of the house. Beneath the shingles was fiber board and sheathing in good condition:

I used 6-inch wide pressure-treated wood for the trim, since this is exterior use and replacing shingles. Shown below I am coating it with Rustoleum for even more protection and long life:

Close-up of 6-inch-wide cut along new door frame (yes, the new front door is a different color in every picture):

Ready to nail up new trim!

new door!

From the Inside..

Corbels

Below is an example of corbels, which are ornate brackets, the finest architectural elements of which our age is capable (in my humble opinion).....

Below are authentic, period corbels at Brooklyn Restoration, a dusty old warehouse near Putnam full of dusty and peeling but fantastically gorgeous old house parts for sale. Don't just take my word though, MacConaghey and Zellwieger also shop there. These corbels shown below are about $20-30 apiece. I bought two of the kind in lower left for above the door, plus two more for the far ends of the eave:

Painting corbels black:

Corbels are too big to nail through. Below, I nailed flanges (consisting of wood trim pieces) which can then be nailed to the house:

ta da!

This is the front door as of this post. This week I will install molding strips below and between the corbels, and pedestal bases!

Bonus Picture:

Andy's blogging nook........

test

2009-09-04T23:45:00.001-04:00

Testing MS Word

Text above photo

Text after photo

revised landscape

2009-07-18T09:12:00.011-04:00

Here is the revised landscape. The original layout(see previous post) had a row of laurel crossing in front of the house. After planting the row, it looked too confining and was totally blocking the flow of chi. After several replantings and unplantings and making a general mess of the place, I came up with this scheme:

I defined the grass walkway by bushes (I'll probably line with rocks too). Note how the front walkway splits. The branch leading to the driveway is functional, practical, and wide enough to be inviting. The branch leading straight out is needed as a formality to accent the front door and also to allow the flow of chi. The biggest challenge for me was to define space with a ton of mounding shrubs while still making it feel open and inviting.

It doesn't look like much without the special effects wording (thanks to Power Point). Branch to driveway:

Branch straight out:

Area to left of driveway is shown in the next picture. Here I built a shrub garden around the hydrangea that was already there. The climbing rose will go up the hydrangea and should look awesome with roses dangling down (eventually). Summer snowflake are mounding bushes that flower white all summer.

Afternoon sun backlighting sugar maple.......

zoomed out a bit

Preparations for seeding former yew hedge location: To prevent flooding in low spots, I dug four wick drains. These are holes a foot deep filled with rocks to act as a drain. This way, the rain won't turn the low spots mushy. First add cobbles, then put smaller stone on top. The smaller stone will keep top soil from washing into the cobbles.

I'm waiting for Ryan to call and deliver top soil already so I can seed the hedge area. It's $22/cubic yard plus fifty delivery and I need 6 cubic yards.

landscaping

2009-07-12T21:58:00.012-04:00

June-July 2009 is considerable landscaping. The final results will be visible next year or the following, once the new plantings grow some.

The first job was pull up the 85 ft Yew hedge.

Rented excavator, $700 for the weekend (United Rentals) including taxes, diesel fuel, pickup/delivery. The excavator was easy and fun to use. In photo below, half the hedge is removed.

Also with excavator I leveled some lumpy ground out by the shed. I discoverd that one of the lumps was a rotted wood pile with a hugs bees nest in it.

Here the yews are almost gone. A couple buddies came and helped out. It wasnt hard to get friends to come over when you have an excavator to play with.

Not shown, the yews ended up in a HUGE pile in the cul de sac. My neighbors helped me drag the yews into the woods the day after my friends and I dug them up.

I aligned shrubs at different angles because the house is at an angle to the street.

Trucks make a fine planter but I need this one for other purposes. I am looking for an old wood cart to just leave somewhere on the lawn and grow plants in and around.

Here is digging up the asphalt walkway. The walkway was too narrow and too close to house. I am replacing it with a grass walkway that will be defined by plantings on either side.

I will seed over the old walkway. The new walkway to front door will be just grass, which won't wear because the kitchen door gets all the use.

I will train this climbing rose to climb up the burkwood, at the entrance to grass walkway. Nothing like climbing roses to give a house a cottage-y feel.

Partway done with planting, below. The Andromeda is the only thing I kept from the original landscaping. Everything else was yew or hosta and pulled out.

View looking from driveway in photo below. I got the wild mountain laurels from nearby woods a couple miles away. The wild mountain laurel flower white in spring. The kaliedescope laurel is white/pink/purlple in spring.

Below, area of yew hedge, and where laurels will extend on opposite side of driveway:

The four sugar maples block late afternoon light to garden:

I had an arborist friend prune them to let more light through. The trees ended up looking more stately, and everyone was impressed with the work.

Below, late afternoon sun lighting garden (lower right):

The garden this mid-July is a big green tangle:

All tomato plants except one (bigboy in picture below) are doing terribly because of all the rain. They've hardly grown. The bigboy I had bought as a large greenouse plant, so it is less affected.

Pole bean plants wrap around posts like vines. I just hooked up netting along the posts to create a fence. The hope is that the beans spread along the net.

tree cut

2009-06-22T22:26:00.004-04:00

Tree cut by Ct. Tree & Landscape June 15
Before: Blue Spruce on left is dead halfway up and leaning.

After

This weekend, I will be taking out the 85 foot long hedge of yews along driveway.

landscape part 1

2009-05-31T20:55:00.014-04:00

Pulling of the 12 bushes

Landscaper's design:

Candace's landscape design (see above) features boxwood & andromeda in front, lilac out back, hydrangea on the side & all sorts of smaller plants. Based on visits to nursuries, I will probably go with summer snowflake, spirea, honeysuckle in front & use some of Candace's ideas.

Pulling 12 bushes

This yew bush is partly pulled out, if the crooked angle isn't a giveaway. Fred's cable is hooked up to the truck & wrapped around the bush. To pull each bush, it normally took 3-4 good tugs with the truck to get each bush out, roots and all.

Cable loop-ends on tow-hooks:

Wrap cable once or twice around trunk:

Yew bush after being pulled.

Before carting bushes out back I would saw off the roots. After cutting off root ball using 18-inch chain saw:

The bush near front walkway had an enormous trunk (7 inches) & root ball:

Rented wood-chipper ($120 for 4 hrs from Ace Hardware). It was not able to chip the bushes because they were to green and did not fit well in the feed. The 12 bushes are now behind the shed to dry out then I will bring some to the transfer station (they charge $5/cubic yard for yard waste) & probably burn some if I set up a fire pit.

Wood chipper:

lush landscape

2009-05-09T19:49:00.019-04:00

Tales of the landscaping consult and borrowing of tomato fences

after the adventures, trees see sunset

Tomato fences on loan from a co worker, Dennis. I went to his place today to grab them, and he also gave me raspberry sprouts, a citrus-y kind of lettuce plant, and hostas.

The 40 minute drive to Dennis's in Haddam was lush and scenic and lilacs everywhere, and halfway along, I passed by a stunning yellow Greek Revival farmhouse. I had never gone this route south of Hebron before today. On 149 in E. Haddam at the Conn. River crossing was a scenic restaurant of an 1890's vintage, that would go well with my red room. http://www.gelstonhouse.com/ Dennis said Gelston House was not all that great, and you'd be better off at Griswold Inn down in Essex which also seems lush with ambience.
http://www.griswoldinn.com/Low_index.htm

But the Gelston did look grand and was next to an opera house of the same vintage.

* * *

I'm still getting to know my yard - I discovered this lilac plant just this morning.

One of Barry and Jill's pet goats and one of their five egg-layers. The goat pen is next to my yard and I have been visiting the goats often.

Can I say I like the new neighbors.

Mulch for garden: Leaves piled up from last fall which I mulched using the mower. For spreading over garden to prevent weeds.

The photo below is my garden as of today. Leaf mulch covers the sunflower area. The black is weed-barrier fabric. Sunflowers and beans have sprouted. Watermelon sprouts from the Hartford Regional Market (6 for $1) are off to the right, tomato plant in foreground. Corn hasn't come up yet.

In front of my house are several yew bushes and an andromeda. I wish to replace the yews. Candace is my landscape consultant and came out from Newington this morning at 9 to have a look and come up with a design for new shrubs in front of house. Last weekend at the Regional Market, Al was selling trees and I told him I was looking for something like andromeda for in front of my house. He said for $125 his service would give me a consultation. Candace works with Al.

Candace said that my yew bushes are healthy but have outlived their aesthetic lives. Those yews are square and boxy as was the style in the 60s. I had to agree. She first suggested replacing them with pointy shrubs on either side of the front door, and other manicured shrubs. I cringed at the idea and said no no I am looking for something fuller, more organic, lush, natural, whimsical. So Candace suggested boxwood and holly, and a small weeping-willow type bush, for starters. She thought my andromeda (bush seen below the large front window) should be taken out because it looks old and too woody, but I disagreed.

My front walkway is narrow, so Candace recommended a wider, curved front walkway that fans out to the driveway. And pulling out the dated shrubs along the driveway. Wholehearted agreement.

Candace will draw up a design plan, and what it would cost. She also thought I should take out the "pom pom" looking forsythias in my back yard. So I am looking forward to hooking a chain to my truck and pulling out many bushes. I will probably rebuild the walkway myself using clay tiles paving stones or something like that. And have Al's do some of the work but depends on cost. I will probably build a patio terraced out behind the deck out back.

light

2009-02-15T17:15:00.012-05:00

One thing about my house is, there is no shortage of dramatic light here.

The red room is variously named but mostly called the banjo room. It is a great setting for playing acoustic instruments. Once in a while a few friends and I play guitar, banjo, mandolin, and violin here late into the night.

The room gets afternoon sun. Yesterday, the late afternoon sun came through the window on the left, causing these haunting rays.

The east bedroom, everyone calls the log cabin because of its knotted pine finish. It offers a dreamy view of the sunrise which, this morning, was as enchanting as always:

The living room faces west/northwest. At dusk the recessed lighting reflects in the windows and the orangey reflections complement the purple blue sky. Orange and blue are complementary colors.

There are no home projects currently. This spring will include tiling the upstairs shower, enlargening the garden, sealcoating the driveway. If I have the energy, possibly recessed halogen lighting in the kitchen, and putting an opening in the wall between kitchen and living room. If I can save a few pennies, a white pergola over the deck.

shadow forest spirits

2008-12-27T21:32:00.031-05:00

Sunflowers Dec 27

Connecticut fog, my back yard
becomes a deep, surreal landscape
yet playful

ethereal sunset

soundless

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_

inside...

the Living room floor is still a mess but the walls are grand

Above the door to kitchen, I installed a mantelpiece-style molding, with crown molding flaring outward.

before molding (door to kitch on left), I took this photo of paint swatches & loose wiring. You can see that the door to kitchen originally had no molding

crown & door moldings, final!

cutting chair rail using compound-miter saw.

Cutaway of new door molding was needed for light switch. It works for me, I think it somehow makes the house look older.

switch plate installed. You can see how I cut the right side to blend into door molding.

light switches & wall repair. The wall repair was because there was only one switch before, & I had to widen hole.

drywall cutout in shape of hole around switch box, for reparing wall cut

cutting door side molding, to fit light switch

wall repair at a location where I split wiring to go to various rows of

recessed lights

angle view showing flared-out crown molding around door to kitchen, a 3-weekend project:

front door, closet, glimpse of chair rail up stairs

Rosette over front door corner. Georgian molding on left side of front door. Crown-molding corner half-finished.

Crown molding piece installed:

Brittania Blue, runner-up color. It is the warmest blue I could come up with but still not warm nuff.

before trying blue, experimenting with earth tones. Around October.

original room with front-door trim pulled off

happy pretty snow

2008-12-07T11:43:00.006-05:00

looks like we're getting an inch

wilted sunflowers

unreachable apples remain on the tree

sneak preview of living room, showing hepplewhite ivory against white trim. actually the white is peach tinted. still a couple weeks from finished.

around town

2008-10-26T18:14:00.025-04:00

It was as good a day as any to check out the foliage. I barely had to walk out the door. For this, I am grateful.

*** today is a Toofer! two posts today. be sure to read on about the recessed lighting! ***

pumpkin-farm down the street!

Glastonbury - Hebron town line

bliss on Foote's farm. Usually they are grazing but for this moment they strike a pose!

sun hitting leaves on Boston Hill Road

Rte 85 guess where

Burnt Mill Rd. on the way to Coventry

After the harvest!

Gilead is in a highland area, and Rte 85 runs along a ridge. Gilead is the northernmost village of Hebron. It is comprised of mainly...this

that white house is actually across street from church

Cornfield next to church!

Typical traffic situation!

More of downtown Gilead

Foote's again

Rte 94. Foote owns farmland on both sides of the road, and keeps the farm in immaculate shape! Foote family has been a big landowner in the area since ye olde times. Their land includes the woods next to my house.

recessed lighting finished!

2008-10-26T13:31:00.024-04:00

My recessed lighting project took about 20 hours over 3 weeks, and has about 6 hours of wall repairs to go!

The original plan was four lights in a square. I ended up going with five lights, in a more whimsical offset pattern, inspired by a catalog.

Dimmer switch wired in, testing its proper function using the Christmas candle. Lots of running up and down stairs to turn breaker on/off, testing wiring along the way. All systems go!

Below, wall cutout showing new wiring and new switch box near baseboard. hole cut in wall with drywall saw, after starting a pilot hole by hammering a screwdriver into wall. Wire from right comes from switch. Wire at top goes up wall to first line of lights. It helped to make a smooth cut in one piece, because then you can use same piece of cutout to make the patch afterward.

Wire at left goes along bottom of wall then up to second line of lights. I drilled holes in wall studs with 7/8-inch spade bit.

Below, partially repaired typical of 8 wall cutouts for this project: Screw plywood pieces to inside face of sheetrock using 1-1/4 inch drywall screws. I cut several 3 x 8-in. pieces from plywood and scrap wainscotting lying around, using table saw. Next step, replace the piece of drywall by screwing it into the plywood.

Below: two repaired cutouts, and two cutouts not yet repaired. Two ceiling cutouts were needed to guide new wire towards lights. I installed two rows of lights, which had to go along (between) upstairs floor joists. The patches can then be plastered over & painted, with help of Wall Span Drywall Joint Tape & Wall Repair Fabric.

Below: Lighting installation products. The big box is 6-pack of light housing, 6-inch diameter, insulated-ceiling rated, remodeling style. Remodeling style-can be installed into holes cut in ceiling (new construction-style contains brackets and that are too big to fit thru a hole). The stack of red boxes are Recessed Light Trim, 6" white airtight reflector baffle trim. Trim is decorative, and fits in the housings. Trim is sold separate from housing so you can choose the style of trim you like.

Holes cut in ceiling with drywall saw. Light housings come with 6-inch paper templates so you can trace the exact circle size needed! It was scary reaching above the ceiling to run wires because who knows what's up there that might bite.

Housing connected to wire. Wire is 14-gauge. You can see insulation above the hole. The housing can stuck in easily, then little clamps come out to hold it up there!

Light bulb, housing (can you see why recesssed lighting is also called can lighting?), baffle reflector trim.

ta da!

another angle. makes me want to finally repaint the living room!

dimmer'd

Baffle trim.

A couple weeks ago, foliage at the end of the street was lit by sun set.

Hydrangea and more awesome foliage! The hydrangeas went from white to an antique-looking mauvish color.

recessed ceiling lights

2008-10-12T20:16:00.003-04:00

My latest project, I will plan as I go, because I am not sure exactly what kind of lights I can install until I break a hole in the ceiling. First, I will install and test a dimmer-switch. I will need to pair it with the existing wall switch that controls a plug outlet.

The existing single-width switch plate needes to be replaced with a double. I had to break out quite a bit of wall to expose the mount that is nailed to a wall stud.

Paper circle cutouts show about where I want to put lights.

Facebook

2008-09-29T23:05:00.005-04:00

I joined Facebook.com and am thinking of posting there in the future but not just yet. I'll let ya'll know! Meanwhile sign up and check it out.

More apples than I know what to do with, or give away even.....

I could use an extension-pole picker-thinger, to avoid this complicated setup next year!

Sculpture

2008-09-21T17:31:00.024-04:00

No shortage of sun on the first day this year I actually get to chill out. After 2 months to look for a house, 2 to buy one, and five more of projects, not without play, then the party, it is wise to take a break!

The sunflowers have started to wilt, as expected and hoped. They will become lawn sculpture for over the winter. Before the party, I pulled leaves off the sunflower stems in strategic locations, to expose the wilted flowerheads. The effect is dramatic, in a gothic, filigreed kind of way. Such an effect is what many of my art and home projects are all about.

These apples are about ready....enough for many baskets.....

Sunflowers.....

Poles support two of the sunflowers. I lost two plants completely in August because they were growing crooked, and sunflowers are very top heavy.
Why do they all wilt to the east? There is certainly something spiritual and zen about their poses.

Bird feeding

Last of the crop. Most of these final butternuts are like 1/3 the size of the butternuts that blossomed in midsummer.

A very fine wine stand, housewarming gift from Vas & Sal, an aspen log from Colorado.....

I will probably nail a varnished board to the flat top of the wine-log, so as to create a shelf.

A good day for football, even though Miami pounced on New England! Click on photo to see the horrible New England stats.

The yellow TV stand is the antique work bench from Brimfield last spring.

rain

2008-09-19T23:57:00.015-04:00

This week, I took a break from home projects. I get frequent visitors from next door, they come for tomato seed & sunflower seed...

Visitors from the woods, came by for apples Friday morning. It is true that everone knows that David said there would be no deer because hunters took down them last fall. There were apparently more. These guys are welcome because they didn't touch the garden.

Heavy rain, last Sunday the day after the house warming. Check out the hanging plant outside front door....

I repainted the coffee table as seen below. And everyone likes the mirror over the couch.

The rustic knotted pine look in the upstairs-room was also a favorite at the party. I was planning on re-doing the whole room but not after so many compliments on the way it already is. Therefore, one less project.

Portraiture & photography....such a room is not complete with out the presence of Jules Verne, Michael Faraday, and Oscar Wilde.

Scene of much good cheer and tunes. We even played a couple numbers by Led Zeppelin.

And we killed off a quarter-barrel of Lite

Door of downstairs bathroom. I will probably dye the lacy fabric orange.

harvest

2008-09-01T17:08:00.006-04:00

Yes, August is not a major blog month. Due to so much to be done with the house before end of summer and getting things in order for the house warming. And not without a round of golf yesterday, where I shot a 54 at Miner Hills.
Today, I pulled all the tomatos and most of the butternut. The tomato vines were withered so I pulled them out and on the compost heap they lie
.
The apple tree is full of apples; with this harvest I shall construct a butternut-apple bake using a recipe from the Internet.

after a scrubbing

Colorado

2008-08-10T17:07:00.062-04:00

Posted from Boulder, CO (Specifically, from Buchanan's Coffee Pub, on 14 & Penn.)

This will be my largest post ever. Since I crammed much adventure into a weekend: Horse riding, hiking, mountain highway, and sightseeing.

First, one thing political. The city of Denver is making last minute preps for the DNC, to occur here later this month. I took this photo of the convention center after work Friday......

And Barack has at least one supporter!

Rocky Mountains

Red Rocks Amphitheater is just outside Denver in the foothills. I cruised up there after work Friday to check out the scenery. The outdoor theater is tucked in those rocks. And it overlooks Denver. The Friday evening event was a showing of the movie Purple Rain (of Prince fame). I didn't stick around because of an early start tomorrow! And ironically, it rained.

Red Rocks overlooking Denver skyline

Saturday, an early start to the Rockies. North on 25, then cut west through the canyons.

Canyons near Lyons, CO.

You get your first glimpse of the rockies after a half hour driving thru the canyons and foothills!

It only took 2 hrs to my hotel, but checkin and my horse ride weren't till 11:30. Before hotel checkin, a walking trail around Lily Lake, just off Rte 7 outside the city of Estes Park....

Photo below, Mt. Meeker and Longs Peak, from Lily Lake. Longs is a "Fourteener" because it's over 14,000 feet in elevation. It is a badge of honor to have hiked a Fourteener in the Rockies. Longs is supposedly a 12 hour round trip hike, where you have to start at 3AM! Estes Cone is the mountaintop on right.

Closeup, leaves of Aspen tree, Lily Lake

Aspen Lodge, just off Rte 7 about 10 mins south of Estes Park, where I stayed Saturday. Sleigh in foreground.

Horse Riding

The tour Saturday included our wrangler (guide) Carolyn, and three guests - Josh, and Josh's girlfriend whose name I forget, and myself. First off, the livery guys had to change the saddle on my Quarter horse Amos. The original saddle was too loose. The livery men grew up as ranchers in Wyoming and are total Marlboro men, the real deal, not actors!

Throwing on saddle blanket......

In photo below, they're about to put on saddle and saddle bags. Saddle bags and pommel sacks are great for carrying lunch and camera. Such bags are used with Western saddles on journeys. English riding saddles do not have those conveniences. "With English, you ride for an hour then go for tea" as Carolyn put it.....

We rode most of the way up Estes Cone, probably up to elev. 10,000. (base elev. is around 7500 ft above sea level).

Scenic trail and part of Carolyn's hat

Carolyn and Josh crossing a stream!

We took a wrong turn at the pass and ended up at Longs Peak ranger station (see map). It turned our 3 hour ride into an even more fun 5 hour ride. There was much good cheer and conversation since all of us have been so many places, the conversations were much about travels. Josh and girlfreind live locally but are from the midwest. Josh works in IT subcontractor to a phone company, involved in distributing phone books. Carolyn does wrangling occasionally on weekends.

Horses tied up at ranger station. They wait while we got proper directions back to the ranch!

It turns out that my friend Karen, from Ireland, taught Carolyn how to ride at summer camp in Maine. True! Small world. Here's me, Amos, and Carolyn.

Estes Park is a touristy town, a gateway to the Rockies. It has at least four fudge shops.

And it's home of the Stanley Hotel, inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. The Stanley was filmed in a TV miniseries of The Shining. The scary movie, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall, used a ski lodge (Timberline) in Oregon as the Overlook Hotel.

After horse riding and sightseeing around Estes Park, I headed west on hwy 34 to the park entrance.

Rockies at dusk. These mountains are on the Continental Divide. Time to go home & come back tomorrow.

Sunday, I drove into the park a ways. Up, up, up.

one of several parking areas on hwy 36. my ears popped like every 1000 feet vertical.

And cyclists. There were many up there.

Above the treeline is alpine tundra.

I went as far as Forest Canyon, about a half-hour from Estes Park. This is probably elev. 11,000.

Critter

After the scenic drive, I hit this walking trail near Cub Lake.

Heading back toward Denver thru the canyons once again.....

Where foothills and prairie meet. Boulder, home to University of Colorado, is at the edge of the foothills.

Boulder waves hello. Or c-ya bye, as I fly out tomorrow!

Downtown

2008-08-07T23:14:00.019-04:00

After rain & tornado warnings yesterday, today turned out to be perfect. I am posting from Denver, where I am staying for a 2-day seminar on biodegradation.

After my flight arrived 11PM (4 hrs late) Wed. due to bad weather, I was delighted that Avis made a mistake and gave me this nice Chrysler Sebring, with removable roof & satellite radio! I thought I reserved a Hyundai Sonata.

Scenery

Corona St, typical Denver neighboorhood.

Photo is from under Colorado Bank building built 1915.

My morning drive from the Holiday Inn near Pecos Ave took me south on 25 towards downtown.

At lunch today, Tom, Rick, and I shared stories of nasty contamination and explosive waste and nerve-gas we've come across in our environmental careers. We sat under the green umbrellas, I forget the restaurant name but they specialize in seafood. (I went for the meatloaf special). The Denver baseball stadium is right down the street (not seen in photo).

The seminar is at Courtyard Marriott on the 16th St. Mall, in the heart of downtown Denver. The 16th St Mall and Lower Downtown (LoDo) is loaded with restaurant-cafe's, six Starbucks, and the Cheesecake Factory. The Courtyard entrance is there between Starbucks and Rialto Cafe.

16th st. is for buses only.

Due to bad weather, my flight was diverted for Colorado Springs. After 1.5 hrs refueling and waiting for the rain to pass, we finally made it to Denver. And the refueling had to wait because there was a chance of lightning, and fueling isn't allowed in that situation, due to explosion hazards.

Denver Art

After today's seminar, I walked around to find a couple art galleries, that I drove past this morning trying to find the Marriott. There was but one decent gallery still open at 6PM, Ernest Fuller's on 15th. And Ernest allowed me to take photos. The larger painting in photo below is titled "Heading South" and I thought it to be exceptional. It's 20 x 20 oil on canvas, by Texas artist Deborah Paris. It would look great in my parlor but unfortunately the price is $2300. The painting above is by the same artist and titled "November Twilight".

The gallery featured mainly art having to do with the Rocky Mountain or Plains, including Native American sculptures.

french door & upstairs hallway complete!

2008-08-03T21:42:00.039-04:00

In the last post, I stained the custom-order Home Depot French Door. It was custom order because 28 x 80 -inch is not standard floor stock for French doors. (30 or 36 x 80 is standard). Here I am about to apply the first of 3 coats polyurethane. Polyurethane will protect the finish and give the glossy effect I am going for. Three coats is for protection from moisture because this will be a bathroom door.

The door came with protective plastic film over the tempered glass. Here is a partly-peeled-off film. The stain and polyurethane seal the film to the wood. I cut the seal with a utility knife before peeling. Angle the knife slightly away from the wood, so as to not shave off any finished wood!

Here I am about to apply Light Effects "Texture Twelve" window film. First I cut it into pieces 12 1/4 x 5 5/8 inch, fifteen total windows in the French door.

Here's what Texture Twelve window film looks like off the backing, before applying to window (draped over spray bottle).

Partway through!

After minor planing of the door frame, refitting of the catch plate, and resetting the door jambs, the door fits very well. Project time: 2 weekends + the week in between (lots of waiting for stain/polyurethane to dry). Project cost: Door $150 + knob $70 + "Texture Twelve" $60 + stain/polyurethane say $15 = $300.

The bathroom light gives it a nice glow. Soon I will install drapes, Venetian blinds, or some combination that will still let light through while giving complete privacy!

upstairs hallway

The upstairs hallway was reworked over the past week. The Rust-Oleum "herbal green" on the four door panels (on Andrea & Karl's door) didn't match with the blue hallway. Photo below, herbal green covered with white primer:

Then a homemade lilac (using Glidden high-gloss white base, plus other colors lying around), also did not work with the blue! Here you can see experimenting with a darker homemade color in upper-left panel.

As I developed the ideal upstairs-hall-door-panel-color in my color lab (aka basement), the two doors await.....

About to start color-mixing, photo below.

Experimentation showing swatches. I gradually add blue and black to the white base till getting the right shade. I used one of the original doors for paint-swatches (one of many great uses for the original doors).....

After developing a dark gray-blue color that works with the upstairs hall, I painted the door panels.....

What is not beautiful about refinished old doors????

A detail of the French closet door, showing the Etched Lace window film.....

Doors ready to hang!

Also, I decided that the homemade robin's egg blue (see previous post) on the trim & wainscotting did not work with the darker blue walls! Here is the upstairs wall, taped up & primed for the third time....

There was much anguish in choosing a color for the hall trim. Almond also didn't work. Since I could decide on no one color for the hall trim, I went with a two-tone. In photo below, French door installed, trim & chair rail is Ralph Lauren Pocket-Watch White (same as downstairs parlor trim); wainscotting is a lighter variation of the door-panel blue-gray.

The bare wood door on left, photo above, is the last door I need to replace.

tada!

garden

purple morning-glory

View behind Gilead Congregational Church. It was Gilead Day last Saturday and Gilead goodies were on sale. The CT legislature in the 1700s agreed Gilead was an appropriate name for the area because the biblical Gilead meant place of 1,000 hills.

Furniture Restoration

Photo above shows bench (with cushion on it) that I will refinish into a ligher-colored coffee table.

Before refinishing, it has to be stripped and reshaped. Reshaping involves sanding off some of the ornate detail. The bottom is to be stained light gold or tan natural-wood; for the top slab, a darker tan. Then, a smooth satin polyurethane finish. This will take a few weeks.... In photo below, I've ground off some of the detailed side moldings, using the blue Dremel rotary-tool with mini drum-sander.

Here is table surface (upright) partially stripped. I've rounded the corners and scuplted divots in the sides for a more roughhewn effect, using the orange belt-sander. The concept was inspired by handcrafted furniture from Lancaster County PA, that I saw on sale at Brimfield. The roughhewn cuts will be silky smooth when sanded & finished. The two boards (bottom of photo) are cubby-partitions.

I am off to Colorado for a few days, so look for mountains in the next post Aug 13.

"I know he'd be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly"

(......Rocky Mountain High)

John Denver 1943-1997

mostly doors

2008-07-29T20:27:00.020-04:00

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

2008-07-17T20:40:00.040-04:00

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

2008-07-16T23:06:00.018-04:00

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

Céad míle fáilte

2008-07-07T20:48:00.025-04:00

A hundred thousand welcomes

Painting of the front door

For months, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do about the front door - paint or replace. I figured an idea would come in time. The front door was a white oval-window steel door, which wasn't my style. And the white steel finish made it feel like a fridge or washer.

Sunday evening, I painted the front door black, inspired by Irish pubs which often have black heavy old doors, and ornate windows, that open up to good cheer. And is it safe to say that people prefer walking into Irish pubs more than washing machines??? Actually, the black idea first came from a cape in Westwood, that I drove past on Sunday on the way to Milford.

Painting the door was a 2-hr bedtime project. Rust-Oleum gloss black.

I painted the outside face only. The inside face remains white till I choose a color & paint the interior front entry way area.

How does it look?

new truck on left!

Shutter Installation

2008-07-02T21:15:00.042-04:00

PREP & INSTALLATION OF WOOD SHUTTERS

These antique wooden shutters with working louvers from Brooklyn Restoration will go on 6 1/2 windows. Scraping, cleaning, cutting to size, priming painting, mounting was a 3-day project, 30 hrs total of work.

Day 1 - Saturday: Scrape, cutting, & wash
I scraped the shutters where I bought them, but they needed more scraping at home with variously-angled blades to reach between the myriad of louvers.

Cutting a double-length shutter using table saw. Rudy only had one shutter of proper length for the garage-window, but he had a long shutter that I could cut to a proper length.

Louver swivel-slots, after scraping

After scraping, a good scrubbing.

Scraping produced a big pile of paint chips. They might contain lead because paint before the 1970s had lead, before it was banned. Throw it away properly! It shouldn't just be dumped in the yard.

After scrubbing

Day 2 - Sunday: priming & painting

Painting shutters Midnight Black (flat). The following shutters needed priming: Shutters with bare exposed wood, and shutters with gloss paint. I primed the bare wood for protection from weathering. I primed the gloss paint because the new paint didn't bind well to the gloss.

Day 3 - Wednesday: Mounting

A good shutter mounting will leave a gap between the shutter & the shingles. If the shutter is too snug, moisture may not be able to escape fast enough, and cause mildew or other moisture damage.

Tools for mounting shutters:

I used 3-inch galvanized Corner Braces to support the shutter bottoms. The braces were screwed in to the outside wall. I screwed the top ends directly to the outside wall. In photo below, I am bending the braces to wrap around front of top shutter. This idea was abandoned because the bend blocked drill access to the opposite mounting hole.

To keep the shutter from direct contact with outside wall shingles: I made spacer disks from a washing-machine discharge hose. An exhaustive search of the Internet & Home Depot yielded no product for this purpose: Shutter-mounting products I found did not apply to mounting fixed wood shutters: hardware is more readily available either for lightweight plastic shutter installation, or for the real-deal actual working hinged shutters. So I had to improvise. I came up with the hose idea after walking many aisles of home depot.

Living room shutters installed. I now want to paint the trim mustard or antique-white, to complement the red & black. Oh dear, the electric meter is blocking where I need to put a shutter. That window will have to wait!!

Everbilt galvanized Corner Braces to support shutter bottoms.

Close-up of spacers.

Mission accomplished! You can see one window that still needs a shutter....I ran out of shutters. Well now I have an excuse to again check out Brooklyn Restoration.

After painting those angle braces red....

Even nicer after cutting the grass

Meanwhile back on the farm

This vine is mimicking the curlicues on the iron hanger. would that be Morning Glory? And the orange/yellow flowers have been in bloom all week...thanks to anyone who can tell me what they are.....

Zucchini starts as yellow blossoms

Sunflowers in foreground & background. Tomatos are along the bamboo fence. Zucchini at bottom right.

After 9 weeks, sunflowers are as tall as me. They looked to be growing 6 inches a day lately...up to my belly one day, then my sternum, then up to my acromioclavicular ligament the next!!

Check out this bird was strutting around my yard last week......gorgeous coat of light-brown, with red face....thanks to anyone who can tell me what kind of bird or fowl this is....

Closet door replacement

2008-06-23T21:57:00.023-04:00

Saturday once again I hit Brooklyn CT where Rudy sold me half a French door set, $60. The twin door was in bad shape, so Rudy was willing to sell me just one piece. It is to replace the closet door, on right in photo! If you say the French door looks too big, I have to agree! This post is all about cutting it down to size, a 6 hour project.

Prying off the catch, where it would latch with its twin....

Measuring where to cut....place the old door on the new door & trace the shape.
Beginning to cut, photo below. The blue clamps are holding the door to another of my old doors, so nothing slips during sawing. Do circular-saw work outside (last time, half my basement was covered in sawdust). See the notch below saw blade? I forgot to set the blade low enough! Minor mistake, it only took a minute to saw 3 inches for another pass to saw off the bottom!
Re-sized door! Those sticks behind the door are the side pieces that were sawed off.
After a scrubbing it looks very fine....
preparing to chisel a hinge mortise. Line up the new door with the door your're replacing, so the new hinges will line up with their counterparts in the door frame.
starting to chisel

In photo below, the new hinge is set in place. Don't tighten the screws completely until you hang the door on the frame hinges. That way, the new hinge on the door will tighen in the correct alignment.
vive le French door!

Still to come.....
- patching where the old door latch was
- new knob
- fabric, or faux stained tint or etched-glass tint behind windows, so the cotton balls do not display so prominently....

the moldings are primered because the hallway awaits new paint.

Sunflowers at 7 weeks

2008-06-08T20:31:00.012-04:00

Russians 2 ft. hight today, 7 weeks after planting seeds. The Music Box & Italians are barely off the ground, but have a big leaf spread! The veggies were planted 3-6 weeks ago.

Everything and weeds too.....

Sal's wisteria, morning-glory seeds, & Dennis's rasperrie cuttings were planted next to the mini-barn. (hidden from view in picture below). Evening light is hitting trees after rain storm.

Next Room
The yellow room is upstairs guest bedroom, ready for paint!

Except I am not sure what color to paint it!!!
This image below, is generated by my Lowe's Valspar Virtual Painter ($5.95 at Guess Where)! It lets you choose colors from Martha Stweart, Eddie Bauer, Laura Ashley and the like, then define areas to add color! Unfortunately I haven't yet decided on colors that I like!

more extreme makeover

2008-05-31T21:24:00.068-04:00

Part I - Polo Painting

David and Tammy, who sold me their home, used their downstairs front room as the master bedroom. Now under new ownership, it is to become the library! The plan is, paint the walls Derby Red, trim Pocket Watch White, & install crown molding. The color scheme was inspired by a room in a fancy Northampton furniture store.

Master, taken during the first showing....

Another pic from the showing - view of back room in what was the master suite.

Ralph Lauren paint
First, removal of the flower borders. They were stickers of the worst kind! Because the adhesive. The gummy residue came off slowly & very carefully using a razor scraper.
Cover up the goodies....White primer over blue trim....
Cleaning & taping supplies....
Time for Derby Red!! How will it look???
I did not get far with Derby Red. This photo is as far as I got with Derby Red. That color did not work for me, I could tell right away! Derby was a cool red, but I was looking for a warm red.

Back to Home Depot for the probably the 8th time since I moved, this time, to choose another color!!!! Duke Red, on the left, had the effect I was going for. Derby is on the right.

The paint was going on thin & runny, and it took 5 or 6 coats! This picture below is after 3 coats, where I had to wipe up an unusually large incidence of drips using a brush. The darker color is heavier paint around where I had to wipe off or even out the drips. Later, I learned you should prime the walls with tinted primer, to avoid too many coats. And drips could have been avoided by using 1/4-inch-nap rollers. I started out using half-inch nap rollers, which caused the paint to go on splotchy. For the final 2 coats, I purchased & used 1/4-inch nap rollers.
Crown Molding

I put the table saw to good use cutting angled supports for crown molding.

The mitered angles are complex because the angle relative to the wall was 77 degrees. 45 would have been easier! Below, you see the saw blade at a 61-degree angle, & the guide was set to 60.5 degrees for the horizontal corner angle. And I was still slightly off!

Priming the molding sections!

Homemade brackets, installed into wall studs with 2-inch finishing nails.

Molding strips going up...

Upon inspection, the molding was too narrow for my liking, because the window moldings appeared wider and still dominated. See below, I installed a narrower strip below the crown molding, and the proportions came out much better!

Cleanup

Finished paint job. I will paint the window frames white, once I get the window grilles which are on order.

At Bob's Furniture , I got this beautiful leather chaise for the library all the way home, to realize it wouldn't fit down the hall! Off to return it tomorrow! Is it not sad, such a beautiful decadent indulgence is not to be....Furnishing the library wil have to be a future post.......

Behold! Furnishing & carpeting will be the subject of a future post.

Part 2 - Doors

From a previous post, the 3 doors from Brimfield. From L to R: 5-panel to become upstairs bathroom, 3-panel for former master-suite, and 3-panel for basement door!

Close up showing fine detail

The fine Brimfield doors are wider than the hollow-core doors I am replacing. I pried out the door jamb, then reset them for the correct door width. 1 1/2-inch finishing nails.

I chiseled out mortises (1-inch chisel) to fit the existing hinge placement, and used the existing hinges.

Hollow-core door...I've got 8 total to replace!

Lawn - mowing break!

Installing door knob hole using Irwin template.

4-panel door for one of the upstairs bedrooms. It had been stored in a barn rafter on Cape Cod at Andrea & Karl's for many years! The door needs to be sun bleached and dried out for a few weeks, because of mildew & squirrel-nest deposits. Here it is, sunning behind the garage.

Prying out door-jamb to set it back

Scraping the 5-panel door....

The 5-panel door needed to be stripped & scraped, because of so many previous paint coats, the woodwork details were lost. After hours of scraping & 5 rounds of stripper/scraping over 2 days, I hadn't got one side finished. Time to let go & hand it off to the pros!!! Eric of Eric's Restoration, Norwich, CT, stripped the entire door to bare wood in less than a day, for $125.

Rte 12, Norwich CT near Eric's Restoration

After priming, I cut the door to size, but cut too much off at the ends. Here is some of the bottom replacement, which involved reconstructive surgery including replacing part of what I had sawed off, #48-3-inch dual torq screws, Elmer's interior wood filler putty (heavy duty), & various wood laminate strips & other remants.

The repair....

Drilling for door knob hardware. Hardware stores sell coring kits for drills with the proper hole sizes. They require a half-inch drill; shown, Craftsman 5.5 amp 1/2-inch drill. Core at max speed, 800 rpm. Predrill pilot holes for lock set using 1/8-inch bit. Note how I filled in the previous rectangular lockset hole with wood board cut to size & wood filler, see side of door just below the blue & yellow Irwin template. Modern locksets require round holes. The older-style uses rectangular. Let putty harden a couple days before drilling. Even when hardened, I had to nail the wood in place, since the lockset is partially screwed in to the new wood, which is held in place weakly by the putty. It needs to survive years of door slamming!

Garden snake in basement hatchway, discovered during cleanup.

The 1/2-inch chisel was used to chisel out a recess for the door latch insert. The recess is called a mortise. I used a mini-sanding drum (120-grit) on a dremel 300 rotary-tool at 1800 rpm to make the mortise a little deeper as needed to seat the lockset. The knob is a Schlage nonlocking "Plymouth" model in aged bronze finish, $20.95 / set at Lowe's.

Finally I found decent outdoor lanterns. Amber bulbs.

Basement door! I had to move the catch on the frame back 1/4 inch for the door to fit snugly without wiggling when shut. Arrange for a visit if you wish to operate a perfect door!

Upstairs bathroom door, primed, till I decide how I will paint the upstairs! Note how I had to plane back the frame (see natural wood color to right of door) where it bulged out slightly. That was typical of many battles in fine-tuning the door fit!! And I had to move the jambs twice. Now it opens & closes perfectly. The knob is Kwikset white porcelain, on clearance from Home Depot.

Sunflowers, week 5

2008-05-23T08:09:00.017-04:00

Sunflowers

Spinach, planted a week after sunflowers (apr 27).

(Tomato at top of photo - tomatos planted one week ago, bought pre-grown from Deercrest Farm).

Brimfield Part 1

2008-05-14T22:13:00.014-04:00

The Brimfield Antiques Fair is Wed - Sun. in Brimfield, Mass. this week. No work for Andy today because he went to Brimfield on Day 1 of the fair to get the best picks on antiques for the new house!

I arrived at 9AM after an hour drive. Some of the parking lots were already full. But I found a good space for $7.

Aerial shot. It's a HUGE affair with tent-stalls of hundreds of antiques dealers and traffic, food stands, and people everywhere, try not to run anyone over!

Typical scene at the Fair. Not shown in the picture, I thought better of buying a Samurai sword, thrones from 1800 ($2500), and a church altar!

My booty today: yellow bench, red book case, and 3 old panel doors. The bench is to become my TV stand. The stereo and everything else can go on the handy lower shelf! The red bookcase is to become a night stand.

"the yellow bench was a factory work table at the Winchester gun factory in Connecticut" said Ellen. The factory closed 12 years ago and Ellen had bought the bench and used in her house.

"this door was originally in a colonial house built 1920 in Kew Gardens (Queens, NY). we are re-doing the house and selling some of the old doors." Said Latif's wife about the white 5-panel door in the picture below. "the house was probably built by Irish workers because a we found a cross in the wall beams. Then a Jewish family owned the house, and now we own it and we're Muslim!" said Latif's wife who's name I did not get. The other two doors I bought for $25 apiece from another vendor, who loaned me the yellow tiedown cord (you can almost see it on my car in the picture below) because I was one short. Those would fetch $200 each new as custome doors at Home Depot. These antique doors probably weigh much more, and are of better quality, than a new Home Depot door would.

Refinishing the doors will be a project for a few weeks! The doors will become the basement door, downstairs bathroom door, & door to the two far rooms downstairs. I'll probably hit the fair again Saturday for more furnishings...

Floored!

2008-05-04T19:55:00.036-04:00

It took all weekend to refinish the hardwood floors in two rooms. I think they will look great!

The living room floor finish was worn thru in the center, and worn or faded or stained all around.

Bedroom was in even worse shape (pic below), with gouges left by probably years of bed frame moving and sliding around. I won't go any further with that one. The Home Depot drum-sander was $50 for 24 hrs use. Picture BELOW shows part of the original finish, and the lighter wood is what I had sanded thus far. How to sand: Sand by going from coarser to finer grit sandpaper. The drum sander uses special band sleeves that slip over the drum. You can see an unused sandpaper - black thing in front of sander. I used the following grit-sizes: 24, 36, 60, then finally 80 (higher number means finer - or smoother - grit). It took about 4 hrs per room with drum sander, then the edges took 12 hours.

The edges took TONS of time! Because the drum-sander does only comes to 3 or 4 inches from the wall, can you see? Around and around and around the rooms. I finished 3AM Sunday morning. Here I am covered in saw dust. The orange machine by my shoe is a Black & Decker "Dragster" 3" x 21" (sandpaper size) sander - $40 at Home Depot . Same as with the drum sander, I used 4 grit-sizes. The Dragster has a low profile front, good for getting under baseboard heaters!!!

After sanding and much sweeping, vacuuming, equipment repair (I accidentally got a drop cloth wound into the sander!), showers, scrubbing the walls, not without chiropractor break then sandwiches with Heather at Plum Tomato, then more sanding, I was ready to lay on the polyurethane. I did not stain the wood, because I am going for a "natural" wood look and feel, and want the floors to be bright and cheerful.

Bedroom after 1 layer polyurethane is shown below. The brand I used: "Pro Finisher by Parks - Water-Base Polyurethane for Floors - Crystal Clear Satin finish". I applied successive coats with lambs wool pad on a paint pole attachment.

Living room floor, from stairs. The diagaonal streak is sunlight thru front door - the bright streak is the "real" floor color!

Some floor-finishing goodies: Sanding belts, drywall sanding strips (150 & 220-grit - good for buffing between polyurethane coats), vapor mask, lambswool pad (yellow package).

View of apple blossoms from deck chair, on which I collapsed after a ton of cleanup such as washing poly & sawdust out of buckets, wiping sawdust off tools and electrical cords, organizing. I made 4 trips to Home Depot during the weekend!

And more spring blossoms.

This week, 2 more coats poly then done! I can put furniture back next weekend because you should wait a few days for the floors to fully cure.

Sunflowers Part 2

2008-04-29T20:01:00.009-04:00

This evening I arrived back from hydraulics training at Storrs to find the sunflowers have begun to sprout! To me, the early arrival of sunflowers is a spiritual sign.

The sunflower seeds were planted 8 days ago 3 varieties (listed as planted from east to west): Russian Mammoth (could grow to 8 ft), Rainbow mix (pretty small) and Italian White (about 5 ft when mature).

The Russian Mammoth package said 15-20 days to sprout but these mammoths sprouted in 9.

Photo of Three sprouts !!! (not including the weed in foreground)

Hebron sunset, neighbor's garden sheds in foreground

Planting last weekend was a row of veggies: zucchini, carrots, spinach, watermelon, marigold.

Part 1 - planting of the sunflowers - has to be a future post...the picture disk is at the office.

What did you mean by Ferdydurke?

2008-04-14T22:30:00.002-04:00

Gosh my last post might have sounded a bit gloomy. A wee ache is all.

2008-04-12T19:05:00.013-04:00

A Haiku for what was not a Mensa moment:

My dreams for this weekend were crushed

when I pulled my back trying to lift manure

The garden will have to wait

because I am a Vertebrate

_________________________________________

Surfing the internet over the years, I have saved images that I find to be artistically interesting. This morning, I filled a barrel with manure at the dairy farm then tried to lift in to my Jeep. The barrel didn't budge, but I pulled my back. The cows were all, moooo, moooo. I emptied my barrels then went home and lied down.

In place of the garden-tilling blog that did not happen to day, here is my collection of Cool Art by Others.........

More Blog Soon

2008-04-04T20:22:00.002-04:00

Posted from the office

The house move was all good cheer & a perfect day. Before the day was thru, the TV was up and running with the Kansas vs. Davidson game, and the four of us went through a Heineken minikeg & a growler of Berkshire Brewing Pale Ale. And the neighbors came by with welcome cake.

It might be a week before the next post, because of the move & DSL will not start at the new home of The Histories until next Tuesday!

2008-03-10T21:21:00.039-04:00

We the People

The Declaration of Independence, and now my report, two great documents penned at Philadelphia….

Visual observations and permeability testing indicated that a peat and clay layer may significantly impede vertical migration of contaminants. An average flow gradient of 0.01 ft./ft. and approximate velocity of 40 ft./year in the water table aquifer were estimated. No significant tidal influence on groundwater at the site was observed.

- me, earlier today.

After the progress meeting, and before writing more brilliant prose, Chris was kind enough to take me into the city for its fine offerings. 15 or 20 minutes down the Old Marl and back over the Ben Frankin Bridge gets you into the historic district! But not before the best lunch ever!

Cheesesteak district (South Philadelphia near Passyunk & Washington)

Three kinds of peppers & and a jar of pepper-sauce are condiment options at Pat’s King of Steak.

I went for all three. The pepper-sauce was reddish brown and gritty with ground-up powder like paprika. Magic.

Pat’s or Gino’s are where they say you should go for cheesesteak, according to Chris.

Pat’s would be better, I said, because the signage at Gino’s is way too flashy. And flashier signage means worser food...in my experience. My contribution in deciding at which cheesesteak emporium we shall eat.

Pat’s sells mainly cheesesteaks, 8 options: plain, American, Provolone, or cheese-whiz; with or without onions. Order by saying “American Wit” (with onion), “Provolone Wit-Out” etc., or get back in line till you say it right!

Philly cheesesteak is best eaten outside so we ate outside at the tables with our Pepsi's. The steak in my American Wit was thick n meaty, very good compared to the thin shredded variety served in New England in my experience!!!

Celeb pics absove the ordering window!

Through the plexiglass these gents tend the grill.

Lunch, Part 2

…these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

- Declaration of Independence

In the spirit of brotherly love, Chris showed me round the Independence Hall area. We parked on the second level underground. Up the staircase to a large open grass area surrounded by two visitors centers & independence hall! The weather was high 40s.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

The Bell is roped off, in one of the modern visitors centers, but no longer in a glass case.

Independence Hall plaza was entirely rebuilt in the last couple years. Foundations for slave quarters were discovered during construction. The Liberty Bell is inside a new building, and the Indepencence visitors center is huge and modern (but we didn’t have all day to check out ). The Philadelphia Mint is around the corner.

Free admission to the Liberty Bell. It’s a National Park.

Visitor Center Gift Shop

What is not brilliant about this tee shirt as a gift for Samantha’s 5th (March 31) along with fake Ben Franklin glasses?!

…except the shirt didn’t come large enough for a 5-er. I ended up with the glasses for $3.99 & will have to find a larger-sisze kite shirt online!