The Historic District

If my house had had radiators I would definitely have kept them and installed Mitsubishi systems for A/C. I grew up with radiators and they were just wonderful for (mostly) quiet heat - the occasional clanking or hissing was oddly comforting. My house now had an old electric furnace which had to be ...

Cedar Lane, the BIN primer and the BM alkyd paint changed the dark wood cabinets you originally showed to the white painted cabinets? Wow! That's what I want to do in my kitchen, because I have red (gulp!) walls and a red-and-white stove. The fact that the BM paint you used seems to be a bright whit...

I think your solution for using the pocket doors is very ingenious. You really get to see the beauty of the wood plus the nifty hardware as well. What a neat way to adapt something old to a new use!

Thanks for the tip about the Endust, Alfort. I usually use Swiffer dry cloths, but sometimes there is more than a little dust to remove (four cats and I don't like to dust.)

Hey gothic - some of us can't help that our stupid PO's ripped out the original windows and installed vinyl windows and put vinyl siding over the (asbestos) shingles underneath. I've spent HUGE bucks to stabilize the foundation and remove moisture from the crawlspace to preserve the house's underpin...

Perhaps when you talk to your neighbor you could use the words "classic" and "vintage" rather than "old". For some reason, probably a lot of HGTV and house magazine, classic and vintage imply a "cool" factor and increased value, whereas "old" implies...

If the ProVia storm windows are as good as their storm doors, you should be very pleased. I got two this past year to replace two Larsons that had been installed since 2003, and they were much heavier. They also closed with more force and insulated better as well.

My house has original baseboards. The quarter round at the bottom is mitered. The flat portion above that is butt-jointed, and the curved top portion is mitered against corner blocks. Even though my house has drastic changes in humidity from summer to winter, there's never been any movement in any o...

That second article sounded a lot more favorable toward preservation (or at least it made the non-preservation people sound pretty stupid), plus the comments were entirely pro-preservation. Kudos. I certainly hope that they don't allow the withdrawal of these properties; it would be a travesty.

If I remember correctly, McCall's PO put crinkled tissue paper with glue over the entire ceiling - not a real attractive surface look.