kitchen trim work and front exterior door replacment and corbels

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........

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Testing MS Word

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revised landscape

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

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

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

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

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.