just tell them it's research . . .

Need to kill some time today?

(Follow the links down the rabbit hole)

Beautiful National Trust Interiors

Countless Antique Wallpapers

Proving that old houses are truly the perfect marriage of art and science

As for house related happenings, we're having 45 mph gusts and it is glorious to not hear the sassafras pummeling the tower.  Also, I have a load of laundry in the wash, and the sanding and first coat of waterlox is on the counters!

singing the blues

Well, more like singing the praises of the blue-greens . . .

Obviously we're not done yet, although the list has grown considerably shorter (finishing the painting, cut the shelves for the built-in, install the gas line etc . . . ). But at least I can wash clothes again - those that have to be around us should appreciate that, although with the miserable weather they won't dry anytime soon.

As an aside, we thought long and hard about building the laundry room on the second floor. The vibration issue is one we hadn't thought of, although hopefully it'll be somewhat rectified by the addition of the reinforced floor and pedestal - however we did do what we could to minimize the chance of a catastrophic water leak.

Watts Intelliflow

This device takes the place of the standard laundry water supply - it has a floor sensor that detects tiny amounts of water and will turn off the water in case of a leak. It also only allows water through if the washer "requests" it. Obviously the braided supply lines are a must, and we also ran a bead of clear caulk around the baseboard to prevent water from flowing down the walls before the sensor can detect it. The only thing we gave up was the pan the washer previously sat in because the pedestal drawer wouldn't have opened.

it's big, it's heavy, it's wood!

All this mess can only mean one thing. We were hit by a tornado.

In addition to its swath of destruction, it seems to have left some countertops in its wake . . .

They haven't been fastened down or finished yet obviously, but you can add me to the legions of Ikea butcher-block fans that already rule the internets. As it stands now, we plan to finish them the same way we refinished the upstairs pine floors - first coat is 25% stain (half minwax red chestnut/half dark walnut) and 75% waterlox, with three additional coats of just waterlox. I did learn two things today; first off, to poly the underside of the slab that sits on top of the (will be) dishwasher to protect it from moisture, and second, to caulk before the waterlox, as the caulk won't stick to the waterlox. I'll be finishing the straight piece in the next week, but the corner will be waiting till we have some time to do some more tweaking of the cut and leveling.

how to win friends and influence people

Has anyone else with spooky old houses noticed that giving tours gets you contractor discounts? Although we have a number of people we work with regularly, we're not above giving come-hither looks to worthy looking contractors working in the neighborhood. Last fall the neighborhood was having some of its sidewalks replaced because of gas line replacements - we knew this was coming, and we had hoped and prayed that it would be OUR side of the street that was torn up and replaced. But alas . . . Undeterred, for a month we chatted up the owner of the company doing the work, and when he began working near our house he asked for a tour. Suffice to say, after his second tour a week later he poured 120 feet of new sidewalk, dug out a new driveway (returning it to its original location), and installed 6 new tree spots for cost. In return, we owe his wife a tour if he's working in the area again. I can live with that.

In that same vein, we had someone come out today to give us a quote on pouring some gravel in the new driveway to conquer what most closely resembles the Swamps of Sadness (we leave mud tracks all the way down the hill). After chatting about old houses and restoration for 45 minutes, he takes a glance at the driveway, adds up his material cost, and tacks on $100 bucks to cover the delivery from 45 minutes away, labor with a bobcat to remove the mud, lay fabric and dump the limestone. I don't know how the house does it, it's certainly not her stunning good looks or winning personality, but I wish I had her people skills (however, the 36 x 40 framed original photo in the entry may help incite conversation, as does the fact that in our main contractor's and real estate agent's phone we're "spooky house").

don't let the dusting of gravel fool you.
this is a pit of doom!

In other news, work continues, but I've come to terms with the fact that if I want to keep posting I have to let go of my rather controlling nature and see what my fingers type. Thus, chronology be damned!

for your viewing pleasure

I've been nattering on about the laundry,
and despite the work that's gone into the room, there's only so many pictures I can post before I lose your attention for good. I also don't want to talk about it much because it broke my heart just a little yesterday. I'm good at lots of things, but as it turns out, wallpapering is not one of them. Admittedly, trying to work in such a confined space (the built-in) might not have been the best way to start, but what's done is done. I thought about lying to you and blaming it on the paper, but then I worried the wallpaper would fall off in spite. So, it's up, it's pretty, and it's in a closet where hopefully its issues will go unnoticed.


Let's change speed then and start talking about the kitchen. When we bought the house no one could understand why I loved it; but it had windows on three sides, it's original hearth and monster chair rail, a swinging butler's door, it's own porch, huge built in, and hopefully had original floors and plaster hiding under the glue down outdoor carpet and dropped ceilings.


We've slowly been picking away at it (and had no running water for 9 months), but it's finally beginning to look like the space we'd envisioned. I'll post project by project descriptions over the next few days as a lead up to our countertop install and plumbing everything from scratch. Much like dryer sheets, I can't wait to buy dishwasher detergent, it's been 2.5 years!

We were inspired by a number of vintage kitchens in working on the space, I've been collecting photos from the internet for years. Now everyone organizes these on Pinterest, but since mine are saved to my hard drive and I don't have the sources, I hesitate to post them there. Instead, I'll post some here just to share what I dream the kitchen will look like someday (the kitchen we're finishing now, much like the staircase, is only semi-permanent). Today, lets see some period kitchens in the colors we're working with (the green is the original wall color, while the woodwork was stained a mahogany color, we will paint the walls yellow inspired by the original paint on our salvage cabinets).