Downstairs Bathroom Part 3, A Bathtub!

What an exciting day. While I was doing the Antique Show on the Green in Sutton, MA Cy drove down to Stonington, CT to attend a farm sale where we had seen teeny tiny pics of an old bathtub. While I am selling, chatting, buying and packing up at the show, Cy is waiting while they sell all the Victorian furniture. While I am locking myself out of my new minivan, and getting the charming Sutton policeman to unlock me, Cy is still waiting down in Stonington while they sell every last Victorian piece of china before they move onto the barn. Geesh! Don't they know I need a bathtub?

Anyhow, since I was otherwise detained with the van in MA, Cy decided to try and bring it home in the convertible with the top down. As you can see it was a success.

We had been considering building a Japanese soaking tub or buying a new spa type tub. Both required a lot more money and time. This tub is like the best of all worlds. Unlike most Victorian tubs it is straight up and down, and quite deep. No more cold shoulders. I'm not sure it was actually a bathtub. Maybe some farm thing. Anyhow, its a bathtub now. It is made of single cedar boards and is lined in old copper with just the best patina. All square nailed to boot.

Even the bottom of the tub is a single cedar board.

Now the fun begins.

Thankfully this new tub is narrower than a modern one, and shorter too. All of which is a good thing for our newly smaller bathroom.

Do I look happy?

Dear readers here is where I would like your opinion. Here is a pic of the tub across the back of the bathroom. You are standing in the keeping room looking into the bathroom. The copper bowl and plastic container are where the vessel sink/drysink would go.

Here is the other option. You are again looking into the bathroom from the keeping room. The bathtub is on your right next to the toilet which is thankfully behind the door. The copper bowl is where the vessel sink/drysink would go in the back corner. I like this option as it gives you more room to move around in. What I like about the first option is you see the old tub straight on, which is more dramatic. Anyhow, send me an email, or leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Downstairs Bathroom Part 2

You remember this picture from the last blog, right? This is/was the back wall of the bathroom.

Well, here is that wall now. A little elbow grease and voila! You can now see straight into the back bedroom.That pile of wood on the back wall is the sheathing off the reverse, or bedroom side of the wall.
One of the things we want to do with this remodel is to restore the size of the back bedroom In the '60s they took 2' out of the bedroom and added it to the bathroom and furnace closet. Which resulted in a bedroom too narrow for a double bed. And its such a potentially lovely room with a tiny fireplace and a view over the woods out back. Reputedly it was the office of the sea captain who once lived here. Anyhow, we're taking the 2' feet back out of the bathroom, and putting it back into the bedroom.

Here is a view of the removed wall area from the bedroom side. (Remember I said it was a potentially pretty room, obviously not right now.) You can see the 2' of original plaster and lath in the ceiling and back wall.

Another construction anomaly. Here is a piece of tree trunk holding up our lovely chestnut beams under the bathroom floor. I guess it was a good idea at the time. As you can see another area of the house with a crawl space(if you're a small child, or maybe a dog) under the floor.

I wish I could somehow leave this view open, its the back of the bake oven and fireplace. Wouldn't it be lovely to have a shower somehow cascading down the rocks? Oh, well dream on. As Cy pointed out it would also cascade across the floor.
That's all for now, time out for the Sutton show in 2 days. You remember, pack pack pack, load load load. See you soon.

Downstairs Bathroom

Finally, at last my dream is coming true. I know, who would think a pile of rubble and plaster dust in their house is a dream. Well, me for one. The crowbar is going to take out our lovely circa 1968 (thank you newspaper folded in the walls!) bathroom. My favorite is the neon green and copper fleck masonite wall covering.

Nice huh? Think the Jetsons would approve.

Blind window, they added the kitchen on in back of this window with a great view of sheetrock.

More great stuff. Actually the removable shower head is very handy for washing dogs.

Cute "Colonial" copper light fixture. Wave it all goodbye.

Here is Cy going to work! Goodby badly finished ugly sheetrock. Goodby silly window. Welcome piles of trash. Maybe a visit to the dump today. Think I can recyle the sink. Not for me but someone might like it.

What a mess, but I love it. Progress is being made!

This I can hardly believe. Here is a picture of the ceiling, where they added strips of wood over the original plaster and hung badly finished sheetrock. How silly is that! We are taking off the wood and doing a little plaster repair, and voila, original 18th plaster ceiling.

This is the wall behing the sink. What a joke, not a straight 2 x 4 anywhere. If you look you can see the back of the sheathing boards on the bedroom beyond.
Well this is the first installment, check back for more progress, hopefully next week, then a break for Brimfield.

"New Room" Part 3

This is before. Remember this? If not see New Room Parts 1 & 2 on this blog. This is the structure of the ceiling of the new room. If you remember we than had spray foam sprayed in so we could get insulated in this drafty old house, and still see the nice old beams.

After the insulation came the long grueling job of covering the foam ( fire regulation) with plaster. Because the sprayed on foam is wavy and hilly, we had to use a tiny trowel. All hand plastered and all hand sanded, two coats no less. Took all winter. Here is Cy helping out with the sanding.

Oh, my gosh its done! But don't the beams look great? Wasn't it worth it? After the plastering and sanding came the painting and antiquing. Yes, more work.

After we installed the 18th window sash, and Cy made the trim.

Next, we have to enclose the heat duct that runs through the ceiling. We're going to enclose it in wood, so hopefully it'll look like a big beam. You should see the fun Cy is having making the sides to fit up next to that wavy ceiling plaster.
We'll that's all for now. Love to get this room done, but the garden is calling!

Hawaiian Vacation Part 1

I promised everyone pictures of the trip to Hawaii to see our son get married. I had never been to Hawaii before so it was very cool to get to go. Good job, Jesse and Satomi for choosing Hawaii for their wedding.

Here is Cy looking very satisfied with his convertible we rented for the trip. You have to rent a convertible when you go to Hawaii, right? We came a week early and stayed in Kailua, which is a beautiful bedroom community NE of Honolulu. If I was moving to Hawaii, I would move here in a heartbeat, I felt right at home immediately. We had a cozy studio exactly 1 block from the beach, so every morning of course we had to walk down to the beach. You would walk down the road where there were all these people running and walking their dogs, and there were little access pathways to the beach which is public between the million dollar homes on the beachfront. Something for everyone! Several mornings we saw the crews of the outrigger canoes going out for a run, and once we saw a couple getting their wedding photos.

Of course the first thing we do in Kailua after our walk and a hearty breakfast of pancakes with macadamia nut sauce, is check out the antiques stores. Yes, there are a few antiques stores on Oahu. Here we are in Heritage Antiques a font of traditional antiques. The owner is holding a pair of beautiful prints from the '30s.

Among my favorite things we found were these traditional poi bowls made of Koa wood.

Who knows how this carving of a buffalo landed up in Hawaii, wish it would have fitted in my suitcase.

Lots of stuff in this store. This is where we found the stone fruit, and well, a few vintage Tori Birch dresses for me.

More typical wares. Fun for your kitchen.

Next day the drizzle started, but we headed out to the Ahoha Stadium Flea Market anyway. Of course I had to buy a cute umbrella in a Hawaiian print. Here we just had to stop for a fresh coconut.

This is how they cut them open. How come they don't cut their hands off? Skill and talent I guess. After you drink the coconut water, they scrape out the soft coconut meat for you to eat.

Muumuus!

Rainy the next day so we decided on a field trip up to the North Shore to see the surfers.

A fun Mexican restaurant on the North Shore.

And we just had to stop at the best shaved ice place on the island. Here is the young man above making the icy treat.

Cy looks happy. Who cares if its raining.

Yes, rainy again. We drove to the east coast of the island, and during a letup in the rain, went to a beautiful botanical garden built in a volcanic crater not too far from Diamond Head. This side of the island is quite dry, so the plantings reflect that.

So pretty here.

 I think this was my favorite place. I wish I could remember the name. A small botanical garden on the south side of Kailua using native plants is being planted on a native Hawaiian spiritual place, it looks across the largest marsh on the island. So peaceful here.

We took advantage of a break in the weather, and took a drive out to an overlook where you can see whales. Well, maybe a stop for ice cream. Here is my green tea and coconut ice creams. Yummy!

Here is where you start your hike up the hills. Hope the rain holds off!

Here's the view part way up.

What a view huh?

Well get out your magnifying glass. There are whales out there. We saw a momma and baby and a single male. Well parts of them anyhow. Hey, a flipper is good!

Well, we couldn't leave Kailua without a visit to Pinky's Puupu bar. I had my first MaiTai and some Puupus (appetizers). Tomorrow we're off to Waikiki, where the wedding will be. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our trip.

Hauling Brush, or Why We're Not Getting More Done On The House!

Several people have asked me lately why I'm not showing more progress on the house. So I am showing you why. In the picture above you see the before. Look at all the broken off branches, the result of the October storm.

Here is the area right below those trees, broken wood all over the place. You can see where we have cut the branches off the firewood tree parts.

Above are two views of our road frontage, where we have hauled the brush for (hopefully!) the city to pick up. This is just the brush from the approximately 1 acre meadow next to the barn. Think of what remains to do on the other 7 acres. Yes, I am using this meadow now for an agility field for my fabulous Aussie Freckles, seen above. She is wondering why I am standing in the middle of the road, not playing with her.

 Above you can see Cy pulling down a "hanger", a broken off tree top of limb. Some of these are quite large, and called " widow makers". Hum, maybe having Cy do this work is not such a great idea.

 Here's the mess in the back of the meadow, fallen wood everywhere. We use the lawn tractor to haul the heavier branches up to the road.

 

You can see what a long fun process it is just to clear up. More work waits when we get to cut and split all the firewood. At least we won't be cold next winter!