Hinge and keyhole/handle

This is a vintage/salvaged knuckle hinge from sometime in the late 1800's. We paid half of today's prices and this thing has character and works amazingly. It probably has another 100 years left. Just have to polish it and get some sparkle. Oh year, notice the door. It is hung. Not by me though. Tom was the "hanger".

This is the detail of the door handle and key hole cover on the salvaged door that we bought. Pretty sweet eh? Only issue is that we didn't realize that there was a camber on the door and while we knew we had to switch the hinge direction, didn't know the sides of the door were cut at an angle (the wrong way). If we ever redo the bedroom, I think we can swap this door and put it in there.

Molding and updates

So, I have given up on L blogging much about the project. I think she is overwhelmed with work and the thought of sitting down and typing up work, well it probably feels like work. So in the spirit of moving things along, I am going to to figure out how to post photos from my phone as I think that is a much manageable task. If this becomes a blurry construction photo blog, so be it. At least it will have entries.

Still working on the living room. This really feels like the project that won't end. But the end is indeed near! In the time that it has taken us to gut the room and put it back together, the seasons have gone from so hot that a t-shirt was oppressive to snowpocalypse 2011. The good thing is that I have learned a lot. I know the process now in more detailed and intricate way and feel like the next project will come much faster and easier. Materials will be ordered on time and schedules will be kept more precisely.

Also, by posting the following shots, you'll see tha

t the floor is done. Didn't realize we never actually mentioned that we had received all of the salvaged lumber from the Midwest and put it in. Small detail to miss. I'll post some action shots of that as well soon. So much to catch up on.

This past week has seen a big push from half-ass'd, close to finished stage to let's just paint the trim and touch up the walls. I got stuck for a long time on crown molding. It wasn't that I couldn't conceptually get upside and backwards on the saw, it was that the ceiling is in fact not at a 45 degree angle and I was getting frustrated with my gaps. In comes Tom, who has his plus's and minus's but he does know how to do crown molding and so with his help (or his work) the crown went up. Am I ashamed of the helping hand? Not at all. It had been three weeks since I put my last piece up and since I am

going away for 3 weeks very soon, wanted L to finally have a living room in which to entertain herself. Reclining in bed all of the time gets a bit old.

Here is a detail of the apron and casing for the window. This is unpainted but installed! A cool little "colonial" touch. Wasn't really planned but that is how it worked out. I really like it and think it fits with the room.

Outside corner baseboard that I did today. This shot of the floor is a little prequel to the glory shots.

Accidental Purchase

After making a trip to get salvaged doors at Demolition Depot, we realized we needed new old hinges for said doors. We headed to our local salvaged goods provider, Moon River Chattel. After an uninspiring chat with the sales clerk who told us "we don't carry those". A quick look around revealed cabinet hinges, but no door hinges.

Disappointed we went to a nearby vintage shop, Portmanteau.  There we found a chandelier that we had seen at least six months back. It was priced a little high, so we made a bid to the sales clerk. She said she would text the owner. After about five minutes, she told us that the owner had texted her back, okay!  Here's a photo of it still in the store. Now to get it home...

Demolition Depot

The living room has sort of been done for a month or two now. I tried to cut the molding one day but was pretty uninspired since we didn't have doors and before I could put in the molding, had to frame and hang the door. Thus began a two month journey with Dyke's Lumber trying to find a door on the cheap. After a few visits and a lot of work travel, we finally decided to salvage the doors - as we had done for the floor. So we took our maiden voyage to Demolition Depot. (www.demolitiondepot.com/ ) This place is great and we'll be back. We ended finding the exact doors we needed at less than the price of the "standard sized" doors at Dykes. We got a hallway door and a closet door. The hallway door came with some great hardware including a handle and a keyhole cover. Old school in the best way. Now to hang the doors... and finally, finally use the living room.

New least favorite thing in the world

Crown molding. Pictures to come and one of us will back post for the last 3 months...

Paint Colors!

QUICK POLL: Which paint color do you like best for our living room?  I have 24 hours to decide!

Colors: Clockwise from top left - Buckwheat, Natural Twine, Heath, Ginger Root, Fledgling 

Paint samples in the jar.

Here's a photo of our couch.  Pillows will change!

Old Levi's

It’s hard to stay environmentally friendly and equally important health friendly when doing any kind of construction or home improvements.  Everything is made of toxic chemicals and many companies market themselves as green, but what does that really mean?  For example, we went to Home Depot and bought the Pink Panther fiber glass insulation.  It says on the packaging that is it certified “green approved” and even talked about using 40% recycled glass content.  All of this sounds great, and you can even get a tax rebate for making “green” improvements.  However, the fiber glass insulation contains “trace” amounts of formaldehyde.  I won’t go into why formaldehyde is bad for you, but it is. 

After installing our Pink Panther “green” insulation, we decided to take it down and replace it with recycled cotton (Levi's jeans) insulation from our local eco-friendly home repairs store, Green Depot.  I think in the end we made the right decision although it was not the cheap or easy one.

Ryan installs the recycled cotton insulation.

Close up of the insulation.  You can see the bit of blue jean here.