Downstairs Bedroom

Your remember this pic right, the downstairs bedroom after we
tore out the wall between bathroom and bedroom. You can see on the ceiling where they took about 2 feet out of the bedroom and added it to the bathroom. Well, we put it back. I mean really, you couldn't fit a double bed in that little back bedroom. Charming room on the back of the house, window overlooking the garden, nice little fireplace, perfect bedroom right? Well, not if you can't fit a bed into it.

So here we're framing in the wall between bathroom and bedroom.

Looking backwards, here is the fireplace and wall between parlor and bedroom, all covered in lovely newish paint over the original blue.

Here I'm just starting to scrape off the newish paint, look at the weird hourglass symbol on the wall between parlor and fireplace.

Hey, some insulation and sheetrock to finish off the wall between bathroom and bedroom. Looking a little better?

Found 2 nice wide 18th C floorboards to replace those they took out of the bedroom, and put down linoleum and plywood in the bathroom. Yuck!

Cy hard at work.

Hey, I've been getting a little work done too! Here is the wall between parlor and bedroom in its original blue paint. Yeah!

Starting on the fireplace surround.

 

Another day's work.

 

Here's a funny story. I've been looking for an 18th C door to put here and replace the 1970's one that was there. We went to a sale up the road. There was a nice boxy 18th C cupboard with a perfect door, except it was already sold. Sighhh... But being me, I found the man who bought the cupboard, and he only wanted the back and side boards to build a table top. Hurray! $20 later and a little work with a screwdriver and I have a perfect fitting 18th C door. It was meant to be.

Another 3 days work. Boy this work is just tedious.

Another days work, the top of the door frame.

And here's a pic of my 2 best friends, a big old shop vac to eat up the paint dust, and a radio to relieve the boredom a bit.

That's all for now, hope to get this room done soon, but as you can see it's slow going, scraping away 1/4" at a time.

New Project! Upstairs Bedroom

 Here is a view of my next project. While I wait for Cy to plumb the bathroom, and hang the special sheet rock that goes behind the tub, I'm going to tackle the upstairs bedroom. This room was plastered and trimmed out I think about 1810. This simple 3/4 cape probably had more of an unfinished attic space up here. Later on they added the luxury of plaster walls and a door to this space. As you can see it has been repainted and decorated several times. But it retains its original horsehair and oyster shell plaster, albeit with a few cracks. It also has its original coat of buttermilk paint in light blue. I'd love to keep it, but later decorators have dripped so much white paint on it from various ceiling coats of paint. And then there is the extensive crayon decoration. I've tried scrapping off the white drips in various ways, but so far no luck.
Meanwhile I'm going to try to restore the trim. I've taken a heat gun to all the different areas to see what it was originally.

 Here is the inside of the door. I wasn't sure if it was the right door, but look at the matching light blue paint on the door.

 There is a piece of trim here with a few hooks for hanging clothes, I would assume. Hum, I've never thought about collecting clothes from the period. Hummmmm.

 Here is the light blue paint under the lovely pink paint.

 Here is the trim next to the door. Sort of a light brownish red underneath.

 Here is the trim on the floor, luckily it matches the door trim.

 Here is the trim next to the window, looks like the light grey from downstairs over the original reddish brown.

Here is the floor, another project. The original wide floor boards have been painted shiny brown, oh goodie!
As you can see I have my work cut out for me. Stay tuned!

Why the new bathroom is not getting done

Here is our future new old bathroom when last seen. Since then we've done a show everyweekend.
And not to mention dog shows almost everyweekend.

Here is a pic of the show at Waters Tavern in Sutton MA last weekend.

Then there were the delayed projects. Cy replaced this window last spring, but some reason I didn't get around to scraping and painting until now. Last minute, naturally. Winter is coming.

Look better now?

 We added these 18th C windows to the New Room in the spring. Do you think I could putty and paint then? Clearly not.

Look better now?

View from the inside. Wish you could see all the bubbles and blobs in the glass.

I centered one bubble over Freckles in the front yard. See it now?

Here is the real reason nothing is getting done in the plumbing department. This is Cy out west with his antelope. He is on a real hunting trip with his brothers. No I will not have antlers on my wall, but I will have meat in my freezer!
See you next month, hopefully I'll have more progress to show you.

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.