The Historic District

Welcome! That woodwork is beautiful. If only the POs of my house had similar tastes...

For anyone near West Michigan, I want to draw your attention to the 8th annual Old House Expo, scheduled for January 5, 2013. This year, they're partnering with the Grand Rapids Antique Market - the $10 entrance fee includes entry to both events. I found last year's expo to be very helpful, especial...

I've been reading about steam boxes on John Leeke's site, and just read about the vertical vs. horizontal - that seems like the best way to go. Many of the storm windows are quite large - 3' x 5' - so I'm thinking that I'll build a tall box that can either do one storm or two sashes, rather than san...

Work started this morning. There are quite a few layers: plaster, wallpaper, backing paper, paint, wallpaper, wallpaper. The lead could be in any of them. The painter is using a lot of water to get the wallpaper off, so I'm not worried about lead issues. The crown molding (actually picture rail mold...

We're getting ready to paint what will become our almost-two-year-old's new bedroom when he's kicked out of the nursery to make room for his soon-to-arrive younger sibling. When we purchased the house, I had a full lead test done ($$$!) so that we knew exactly what we were dealing with. The room to ...

I've meaning to take a better picture of ours, but I keep forgetting. Until I remember, here's the best picture I have: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8285/7851386288_0fdebd7fd0.jpg The storm door obscures it a lot, but the basic design is visible in this picture. It has the original Corbin mortise l...

Looking good! I agree that the roofers did a good job matching it up.

How much square footage are you gaining? From the pictures, it looks like you're almost doubling the size of the house.

I actually can use a level in my house - it was incredibly over-engineered. The floor joists are 2x10's, and the main beam is 4 2x10's sandwiched together. It has settled either uniformly or not at all.

As a new old-house-owner, I'm still working on amassing the necessary tools. What tools do you have that you'd consider indispensable? Of course there are the standards (hammer, drill, screwdriver...), but I'm especially interested in the specialist tools for various projects, such as restoring wind...

I gained a few unexpected hours of free time last night (cancelled choir rehearsal), which I used to install the light fixtures that we purchased to go over the kitchen peninsula: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8477/8219705514_bc5aee1471.jpg The fixtures ( Belle Pendant by BoBo Intriguing Objects ) a...