Friday, January 31, 2014

she wears snow well

The weather is finally looking up, so keep your fingers crossed that the ice releases it's evil grip off our roof and gutters soon.





We've managed to stay busy though, doing something that we finally have time to work on, the third floor! When we bought the house, there wasn't a single room up there that you couldn't see through to the outside in multiple spots, the ceilings included. After living in a sieve the first winter and spring I now have a new-found fear of rain, snow and thunderstorms. These leaks weren't bucket leaks; they were put plastic sheeting on the floors and try to direct the torrents down the stairs leaks. After restoring the slate roof and copper built-in gutters we no longer have "skylights," but there is ample daylight coming through the raccoon sized holes in the soffits and eaves, which paired with the collapsed plaster walls lets in quite the howling gale. Repairing the last 5 spaces (the landing, three bedrooms and a bathroom, the fourth bedroom is already mostly done) consists of cleaning out the rooms, removing the painted wallpaper from the walls and ceiling, repairing the eaves and plaster, and doing the floors. All of the windows are in dire shape, but that's a project for a (much) warmer day. Since my hands are killing me from scraping for the past week (5 hours a day, and one room is done!), how about I just post some before pictures?









 





Bear in mind these before photos were taken from strategic angles in order not to terrify our parents (yes, these are the rooms' "good sides"). I don't know why it didn't occur to me to ever take more, but maybe someday the memories will fade without the photographic evidence to remind me.


9 comments:

  1. Ms Au Lait - Google+ ate my page and my comments, my apologies! Warm has been a tough nut to crack this winter, we've resorted to wearing blankets. Hopefully we can keep up the momentum and get this old girl sealed up!

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  2. Wow--that's an incredible house! Good luck with it-Jim

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    1. Thanks Jim! We're just happy she's starting to look like herself again.

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  3. Hi I love your house and blog! I found you on Pinterest! Keep up the good work saving a great house!

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    1. Thank you Sue! I think I may have pinned half your Pinterest pages...

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    2. Wait, are you here in Pittsburgh too? How cool!

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  4. Yes I'm in Pittsburgh too! I lived at 4625 Winthrop in our beloved little house that we sold after 28 years. We brought it back from the land of rot when we were in our late 20's. We have since moved (still in Oakland) to Schenley Farms. I'm still sad to have sold my little Winthrop House, but in Schenley Farms there is historic designation, and a bit more protected from big universities that gobble up property as they did in our old neighborhood. Many of our 6 little houses there (we were landlords) have already been torn down. It's sad to see our little village torn down and our hard work erased. You talked about wishing you had started soon working on your house and here we are in our late 50s starting over on another needy old house without a decent garden. But that's life and we will embrace the next project. Unlike our last house this one does not have snow blowing in while we work on it! ha ha. Oh the memories of house restoration!

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    1. Seeing that would absolutely devastate me, and it's one of the reasons we bought in Edgewood. The house I restored when I was 22 was ruined by the people I sold it to, so I understand some of your pain. Schenley Farms is stunning though, and I think a lot of gardeners may be starting from a blank slate with this winter we've had lol!

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