Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Ceiling down!

Yet another ceiling bit the dust.  It just couldn't fight the weight of the blown in above, the cracking and sagging was beyond repair.  Side note-it was RED at one point!



Sunday, February 12, 2017

Under the wallpaper, over the fireplace and um, wow

I've been busy scraping the wallpaper in the hall and stairs


Under one the paper next to the door frame into the dormer bedroom there were some numbers and a word


And above the stairs on the wall


I think the "official" build date might be wrong.  This is the second time I've found what appears to be a date of 1923.  I am guessing this means April of 1923.  The other time was the dated lath.

The living room is coming together.  Finally the little bump out over the fireplace is done-it's framed with 2x4's then covered with osb and finally drywall.  There's an outlet and cable there ready for a flatscreen.  It looks SO much better in drywall!  And I kind of like the light gray.  I might paint the room this basic color with white trim.  It looks pretty classy with the fireplace.


Lastly, the um, wow.  This is what is left of a cottage I looked at before the Bungalow.  It was in rough shape and it was a little difficult to reach-only via staircase or water.  Apparently it was a little rougher than I thought.


Sunday, February 5, 2017

More drywall and a before and during

Drywall is still progressing along.  I had some peeps promise and swear to help and bail, but one rock star is still going strong-and doing a damn good job!  I think I will probably be bidding this out next time since it doesn't pay to believe in some people.  It'll be quicker and leave me more time to focus on other things, like tile and trim and door repair-although I hope I don't find too many that have the doors this messed up!

Some pretty damn nice drywall mudding, that I did NOT do because I am actually quite bad at it



The downstairs half bath-the bottoms of the walls will be beadboard.  I think I decided on Sherwin Williams Sea Salt for the upper wall paint color.



(the kitchen isn't as blue as it looks for some reason-it's just the lighting)



This is the corner where the chimney cupboard was


This is the before of that corner from a little further back


From even further back


Why I need to focus on trim and door repair

















Saturday, February 4, 2017

Some progress on the built in

Did a bit of work on the built in today.  Added a little shelf above the fridge spot for bread or small items.  Instead of just buying some new plywood or something, a couple shelves from one of the old cabinets upstairs were repurposed into a new shelf.  They didn't fit perfectly tight, but I am leaving the gaps so some air can circulate behind the fridge for cooling.  Obviously this isn't done, but it's getting there.

This stamp was on one of the shelves.  I turned this piece upside down so when I paint the shelving it's preserved for the future:

Kitchen side


Den side:


Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Peeling the wallpaper

I am trying to decide if I want to skim the plaster in the hall/stairwell.  It's survived the best off all of the plaster and if I can save any, it will be this.  So I am peeling the wallpaper.

The neat part (to me) is that this area was never painted, so the plaster beneath it is "raw"-except for a little bit along the bottom where they got paint from the trim on it, before putting up the paper.

The ivy pattern was the second layer, there is another older layer below.

The plaster itself is really rough and wavy, so I might not find it effective to try to smooth it out.  But I might try anyway, since it's both a chance to learn how and a chance to save some original plaster!