All Blog Posts (300)

When we first bought he house the kitchen was a relatively small room with some cheap cabinets and an old wood/electric stove. What was interesting was the vitrolite tiles used on the walls. The main bath upstairs had the same glass tiles. This was added probably about 1925-1930. Behind the glass we found plaster etched to look like bricks.

Cheap Cabinets and Vitrolite Glass tiles…

http://maine.craigslist.org/zip/2985380083.html

      As mentioned in previous postings, shortly after moving into our new Old House, we had a major roof leak.  The interior walls in the first floor dinning room got wet, but we got lucky that the ceiling escaped the rainwater. Unfortunately, the built in hutch got the worst of it.  So, in the mid fall of 2005, we ended up gutting around that built in hoping we could save it. 

      A little surprise…

For 145 years the main staircase of our old house has been the only access to the second floor.  Many people have come and gone over these stairs.  Along that same time, many coats of paint have been applied.  And I’m talking many. Many of assorted types of paint.  Oils, latex and I’m sure a few layers of lead paint have been slapped over these stairs.   And as you see someone painted roght up to the edge of the stair runners.

Originally, I was going to just…

That Sinking feeling

     For some time now, the faucet sink in the master bath has had a slight drip from the hot water. We were aware of it but it wasn’t so bad that I needed to fix it asap.  Well, recently the drip has pick up speed.  No only was it not good for the water bill, I could hear it at night. The drip…drip….drip was causing me to loss sleep. …

I am a co-chair for the Members Gallery at this year's Furniture Society Conference.  We are delighted to invite all Furniture Society members to submit to the Members Gallery at this year's conference. Design, Community & Sublime Conference will be held at Maine College of Art from June 14-16,2012 in Portland Maine. The exhibition is a wonderful opportunity to show one's work to your peers and other conference attendees. We encourage all Society members to…

Here is a couple of Before Pictures:

This is the back

Front Corner View

Now this…

This is an amazing story about a grand old house -- history, hauntings, and restoration-in-progress of a pre-civil war Georgia home and family. Do not miss it!  In case the link doesn't work, you can find it here:

http://www.squidoo.com/haunted-historic-home-in-oxford-georgia

I bought an acreage two years ago and there was an early 1900's home on the property, not for sure on the year built.  I salvaged all the woodwork from it before it collapsed.  I have attached some pictures of the flooring and woodwork.  I have window and door trim, base and baseboard corner posts.  I was also able to salvage all the hard wood flooring (fir and maple - all nails are pulled and tongue and grove in…

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Well all the drywall is up...added to existing framing to make 2x6 and then added new insulation. Previous insulation was peat moss! Yuck! Kitchen is being moved from the back of the house to the front. Taping is not done yet, nor are the cabinets, but it's coming! Back of the house will be a family room overlooking our backyard.

Here's are a few shots of an American Foursquare in Kansas City, Missouri. I've posted photos of dozens more restored historic homes in the Pendleton Heights Neighborhood Virtual Tour. …

Foaming of the roof:

Attic half that was previously finished:

The unfinished side of the attic:…

We are trying to get a picture of the original mantle. It was supposedly very ornate and matched the 1/4 sawn oak trim and corinthian columns in our stairway. It is missing, and there are two areas of thought. It was either stolen or the old man who owned the home and may have had some dementia, let it go some how.

In any case it was not there when we bought the house:…

The house has and intricate inlay in the foyer as seen below:

The dinning room is maple:…

The pictures below show the walls and ceiling repairs post electrical install. Interesting note. We looked inot repairing the plaster ceiling where it was cracked and weak. These plastic washers with sheetrock screws are used to pull the plaster up tight to the lath.

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Rewiring the whole house. We could not help but to cut into the plaster walls and ceilings. Our contractor promised that he had a guy who would be able to patch it and make it look great. We are holding our breath. Below are sample pictures of how the wiring was run. At lease we did not have to damage the floors.

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I am a little late in updating. The major work has occured during the month of November 2011.

The original roof was shake shingles and was replaced sometime with asphalt. We replaced the old shingleswith Owens Corning Duration Premium, which provides that same shake-like look. This was finished between snow storms this week.

The main chimney was rebuilt so that a new gas boiler could be installed. A liner will be put in as well. The chimney was only rebuilt back up to the level…

I have never had a kitchen that I designed to fit my own cooking style until now. While so many people are taking down walls to create an open design, I was very happy with my kitchen partitioned off from the rest of the first floor.

I love to cook, but if I am sitting at my dining table, I don't want…