The Historic District

Feliz Navidad!

About 60 years ago, my mother pulled into the driveway with a piece of furniture sticking out of the trunk of her 1953 Oldsmobile and a sheepish look on her face. "Oh, jeez," my father teased. "She's been out trash-picking again." My mother described the small cabinet as a "commode," intended to hol...

Awaiting staircase pictures.

Skim-coated the dining room ceiling yesterday. Sanded (it looked like the surface of the moon) and primered (it looked smooooth - go figure). Ceilings are awkward to work on!

Since you asked... 2608 Ceiling has final skim coat and will be ready for sanding and primer tomorrow. I smoothed out the awkward gap between the picture rail and ceiling, and gave it a good vacuuming. Walls will need an additional skim coat. I needed inspiration, so I went and picked out paint for ...

Autumn is when the sasanqua camellias begin to bloom. The sasanquas are similar to the far-more-popular Camellia japonica , but with smaller leaves, smaller flowers, and a subtle but wonderful fragrance. Here is variety 'Leslie Ann,' which I bought at Mobile Botanical Garden's plant sale last year. ...

Long overdue, I'm turning my attention to the dining room restoration. The room had been serving as my window restoration station, and storage for a lot of materials. Of particular note is the condition of the ceiling. I scrubbed the left half with TSP, then scuffed with coarse sandpaper, to achieve...

Thanks, Ron. Ever since Trinity Church in Newport, Rhode Island painted their church building exterior a vanilla ice-cream color (chosen as a result of a chemical analysis of the earliest layers of paint they found) and I saw that mellow color against the blue sky, I was hooked. In this hot climate,...

One down, eight to go at the front of the house. 2603 This is the dining room window, and the last window restoration of the season until the weather warms up again in the spring. The color is not quite as vivid as the phone camera and afternoon sun make it appear. It's a rich and pleasant (to my ey...

I meant at my house. Ah. So you haven't thought of a use for it there that you find acceptable to you and/or the historical district overfolks. Got it. ;) I know I posted this in "Thornewood Antics" but I'm so pleased, I'm posting twice. I found a use - traditional privacy for a bathroom window. 26...

Looking forward to your photos. An entry porch is a great thing for keeping the house clean(er).