Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

Post by Lily left the valley »

One batch of randomness before I head off to bed. I will write back about responses later today, though, after that rest time.

Willa's birds on a frame made me come back here to hunt for the bat post. Somehow, that got me to start re-reading this post from the start. I had to stop myself not long after I started because the hour for sleep draws near, but WOW reading all those posts was illuminating. I can only imagine what it will be like when I can make time to re-read it all.

It's amazing to me in the almost three months since we closed on Beebe all that has transpired, been sidetracked, discovered, pondered, discussed and shared.

There are some days when I feel like I've managed to make things worse at Beebe, even though in my brain I know sometimes a mess has to be made before a fix can happen. There are others when even finally getting around to something (like fixing the stairwell 3-way switches) makes me giddy.

I don't even remember when I stopped thinking about the "Sloop of Frustration" we were trapped aboard for that short while, but it was really nice to realize that it's now in the past. That ship has sailed, and now we have our lovely wonderful Beebe to live in--something we honestly thought (and I mean home ownership in general) a few times we might never see in our lifetimes. It's also amazing to me that although we lost her once, we got her not too long after.

There were all sorts of other little memories I'd forgotten in whole or parts of that were neat to re-read. Same with folks' responses and all the suggestions, discussions, sympathizing and cheering on what we share through my posts.

I am so grateful for that recommendation over at city-data to check out this site. It really has become a comfort and a much appreciated resource.

So let me say "thank you" to all you fine District folks. You make this place a swell cyber home away from my new old home. :thumbup:
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

Post by Lily left the valley »

One side note I've meant to mention. In the downstairs bath, I have found evidence of blue paint that is similar to the glass tile blue we found in the basement. This rather cemented my thinking that the tile was in that bath at some point, and not half of a fireplace mantle, since there are layers of pink as well. Both are on that tile.

Still, we decided that since the sconces down there aren't as starkly deco as upstairs, we'll be doing the downstairs bath like that awesome more Arts & Crafts image I found, and the upstairs is likely where it will go. We're not exactly sure where yet, but it might wind up a decorative piece on the laundry chute I'm thinking to make. Time will tell.
awomanwithahammer wrote::crazy: Oh no! I think I'd put a piece of tape over the newel post hole till you get to it! Amazing, if you'd been trying to hit the hole, you wouldn't have been able to.

I understand what you are saying. I often have to fight my ADD because everything's a priority. I'll be working on one thing when all of a sudden the light bulb goes off about how to do something else so I have to go try it. Or I'll go looking for a tool and see something else that needs to be done, so I start to do it then realize I was already in the middle of something and have to drag myself back.

The first time my sister saw my house, she had no words, except, "There's a lot of work to be done." I don't mind the work because I can already see the end result in my mind's eye, but all she could see was all the work. You're right, though, when you talk about what needs to be done, it does sound like complaining, and folks that don't know want to know why you put yourself through it! But it certainly is the most satisfying feeling in the world to have created order from chaos with your own hands.
The funny thing about covering the hole is we had a hat over at various points to prevent exactly that from happening, but one day I had an errand to run, grabbed the cap that was there and never put it back. I had thought of taping something there, but the hat idea seemed better only because in my mind the cap was a visual reminder that this should get fixed. :lol:

I do get distracted easily at times, myself. I've been sitting on my hands, as it were, from not removing the paperbacked wallboard in the downstairs bath. The colors of the bath overall are so dull and blah, and the pattern on that wallboard is just so...*sigh*

Sean did plead with me all throughout the house search that we would "not live in constant construction" because he too remembered our studio where every room except the kitchen (the building was an illegal apartment both before and after we were in there) was being done at about the same time, since we had to gut most of the place. I think the only thing we changed in the kitchen was the floor and fixed a switch.

phil wrote:I had promised to post about how to make the missing bit of molding detail that you have missing on your handrail.
I keep forgetting to photo the tool dad helped me make but here is something similar

https://theschoolofthetransferofenergy. ... ck-cutter/
{snip}Phil
Thank you for that, Phil. I'm hoping to get back over to Chair Town tomorrow just in case they do have a match, as I've realized two other pieces of trim were damaged worse than I'd realized. If we get the rain though, it's attic cleaning for me *cringe*. One it's just a bit of the edge got hit, but the other split when the top came off (what on earth were they doing to that poor post? Removing furniture by throwing it down the stairs? If so, no wonder they had to repair/paint the wall at the bottom of the stairs. :D )

Oh, and FWIW, we change our BRITA filter quarterly, as instructed by the box. Never had a problem with that.
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

Post by Lily left the valley »

As the rain pours down outside, I'm realizing I may have committed myself to a really dirty task later on today. The weather report is saying it might taper off near lunch, but we'll see how the day goes.

Still, it has to get done. Now the question is...where is our orange extension cord? I've found the others just fine...but not that one. (Of course, we don't have any convenient plugs that are 3 prong close to the linen closet, nope. That's why I need the 3rd cord.)

Today felt uneventful because chore type stuff overtook Beebe type stuff.

Oh, the rain did remind me that I realized recently that some of our weeping holes in the aluminum tracks are indeed clogged up with various weather sealants. This explains why so many sills inside the frame are weathered--the water has nowhere to go. :naughty:

The other day, when I was online chatting with a friend in Costa Rica (you make friends all over the world in online games, I find), we were talking about Beebe, and we got to talking about how "unsafe" it was to have a French door as a front door. Understand that I'm talking to someone who lives in an area were robberies happen with some regularity, but it's not considered a slum or even a bad neighborhood--it's just how things are there. So the idea of having glass so near the handle was crazy. Another friend that I think lived in D.C. at some point concurred. The words "bars" and "at least a grate" came up a few times.

I didn't have the heart to tell them that the doorknobs have set pins on either side of the door. So an intruder could simply unscrew the set pin, and fish wire up to pull the deadbolt open. No breaking of glass needed. :D

Perspective is an amazing thing. I have lived in some wild places with neighbors I was worried would be drunk enough to barge in the wrong front door if we left it unlocked, but I guess I've never really lived in a high crime area ever.

One last thought for the night...so I've been looking at as many images of stencils & freizes as I can get my hands on that are "period", and I'm finding some that are in more well to do homes, and therefore are sometimes unique. That's when :icon-idea: . Although I like acorns and poppies and such, why not have planets and comets, or otters and waves, or bees and hives, and...? Something to discuss with the Floor Manager when he gets home from work.

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--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

Post by Lily left the valley »

Lots of "shouting to the wind" related blather. No specific projects, just cooking my noodles, if you will.

I thought the lull of the wind and rains would send me off to sleep, but instead I found myself up and about, researching. When you image search long enough, sometimes all that's left towards the end is modern facsimiles or somethings that aren't even near what you searched for (I search for craftsman murals and now it's showing me Greco Roman walls from the 80s?), and sometimes you finally find the image you'd been looking for in that open minded and without a real clear notion sort of way (Ooo, that looks interesting. Oh there's a story behind this too.)

I stumbled across yet another craftsman blog the latter way, and one thing jumped out at me as I was reading an early post. The entry was written in 2012. The owner of the home was talking (yet again) about caretaking for his home. Then he mentioned doing it for 25 years. The house had been bought in 1988. This was someone who was in it for the long haul, reflecting on this rare gem he stumbled upon that was turning 100 years old.
It was lucky too that the few owners prior to my buying it in 1988 hadn’t altered the footprint or ‘upgraded’ the exterior. For the ensuing quarter century I’ve been stewarding this heritage resource, gradually correcting its errors of decor (kitchen, bathroom, back porch, damaged built-ins) while enjoying the many artistic touches in a house skillfully contrived to be intimate with its setting.
Unlike many blogs I've stumbled upon of late, of the few entries I've read from this one so far, I have found one thing absent that was a typical theme with many others: he was in no rush. At no point that I've seen so far does he talk about having to get things done by X or the living room paint better be dry before the relatives arrive for Xmas dinner they can't believe they volunteered to host, et al. No deadlines with the bank as to when the "construction portion" of their loans was expected to be done, no stories of all nighters, nothing like that at all. A lot of the blogs I've found lately are all written by folks who feel pressed for time. Maybe this fellow got all that other stuff out of the way before this blog. Maybe it's just not in his nature. I don't know.

Yet it reminded me of something my psychology prof told me in undergrad: "Type B people live longer than As. They also tend do get as much done as the As are always rushing to do because they have the time to do it." I remember resolving to myself that day that I would live the B life. I even managed it, for a long while even after I got married, started a new business and all sorts of insanity. Then somewhere along the way, things started unraveling, and the trying times brought my A side out with a vengeance in survival mode. The house hunt here was actually the last reason I really had to let my A flag fly free or go nuts. But now...now all that insane work A-me did, B-me can now take a darn deep breath and step away from. Really far away from. I miss that calm, even when it was hard to build habits that helped the B-me stick around.

My last post I made here touched on the notion of perspective at the end. Here it was again, sneaking up on me. Except now it was perspective of time, not place.

I am a child of the 80s. Maybe that's part of why the bought date of '88 grabbed some part of my brain and shook it, I really can't say. At any rate, disposable culture and folks near nipping at the heels of the Joneses was gearing up full steam for the coming age of replacing everything within the two (2) year maximum paid extended warranty because by then it would be "obsolete" anyway. And by replace, of course we mean replace in full with the latest and greatest. I remember taking a walkman that had broken back to whatever store it was we bought it from, and, thanks to that lifetime warranty I'd paid for, the salesman took it from me, said, "Well, they don't make this model anymore, and it can't be fixed because that's not how they made them either." He then walked a few paces away, compared my walkman to a few models in front of him, then handed me one and said, "There you go." I remember asking him about what would happen to the old one. "Trash, sadly. But there it is. So much for the green '70s."

The age of the internet is everything can be had RIGHT NOW. Well, with expedited shipping, free for PRIME subscribers, of course. The blog entry may have been written five years ago, but here's someone who is the tortoise in the race. (Since I'm beating onion belt imagery to death, let's go the whole yard.) Yet here I am now, reading about that, with a list longer than my body of all the things I wish I could take care of RIGHT NOW.

I feel a bit silly. And young. Wooo does that feel good, the younger part.

I know this isn't anything new. It's completely in line with the logic of waiting to do things and letting the house speak to you and all those important bits of advice that are offered here on a near daily basis. There are also lots of folks here on the District that are getting things done as they can. There are also folks doing things at a pace that amazes me and sometimes stuns me--how do they do it? When a day goes by and I find myself cringing while cheering that all I managed to do was fix a 3-way switch, or pull 40 dandelions, I feel like I'm not keeping up, that's me harrowing me. No one said I must get X done by X. I also know that with our budget, Beebe as an overall project was never going to be "completely done" in a year or even five, possibly 15, I think I had admitted to myself once.

Yet it was the first time since we bought the house that I was seeing the mention of such a large span of time, and for whatever reason, that caused something to click differently. I think ten years was the longest before that blog. A quarter of a century, for some reason, is just a marker that hit home harder to me, I think. Maybe because it's half of what I could, in the best of all worlds, have left on this rock in space.

Then a thought sprang to mind. Is this why so many folks get a "fixer upper" as their first house, then they go broke? Do they simply take on too much, in their anxiety to be done, that they dig the debt hole deeper than they can handle, and then lose the house?

Now, in our case, we had many conversations about works in progress and budget and what have you. For him, to not live in constant construction. For me, for him to never have buyer's remorse if the budget got away from us.

So although I did ponder that aspect of why so many folks lose fixer uppers (bad mortgages aside, obviously), I also realized in that smack your head obvious way that at best, we've got maybe 50+ years here. That's twice what that fella has been working on his place, minus a bit.

Sure, some bits were already where we want to be, but what is here for the most part is functional even if it's not right or perfect or whatever.

This is not my first rodeo. I already know sometimes it takes a while for things to come together, especially when lots of bits and pieces are involved. So what's my rush? I have been taking breaks. I have been trying not to lean on Sean too much...and apparently we are doing it right. I've also, for the most part, been holding back on a lot and trying to focus on important stuff first like function over form.

Yet at the same time, I've been talking the talk, and not really walking the walk. I've certainly not been living the life.

Time to find my B hat again. I know it'll take time to get the boxes unpacked to find it (please forgive the metaphors), but I've done it before, and I can do it again. Even if I screw up a few times trying to remember how. :lol:
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

Post by Lily left the valley »

Welp, we had some epic failure at Beebe today. We finally mustered up the courage to try to get the chifforobe upstairs, only to find out we can't fit it under the ceiling after we take it so many steps up the curve, nor can we get an angle that works around the tight curve at the bottom of the stairs and newel post. We had hoped maybe we could cheat a bit with the bathroom door, but the angle is all wrong for something that deep or wide with the newel post. :cry:

One bonus, though, was I realized the moulding on the ceiling over the base of the stairs really is nice. The center bit has a bump that ate up another almost 1/2". :lol:

I even measured the height, because I thought, "well, we got the vanity up there." Guess what? It's 62" tall as opposed to the 49 1/2" wide of the vanity. That's if we take the remaining two caster legs off (the others had come off during the move, one from the PO and the other from apt. to here). We actually decided to do that already, though, once we realized the original metal [I don't know what they are called, but they are very shallow, so I don't want to call them feet--gliders, maybe?] were still on the piece. We can use the wheels elsewhere.

So, now I'm contemplating something I didn't think I would ever do--take it apart. We just don't have the funds to rent a lift to get it upstairs even if we took out a window. Taking the base off isn't enough, we measured. Until I take the backing off, or give the piece another look over from the front, I'm not sure even just removing the center would do it. I'll likely have to take off at least the back and one side, if that's even possible. It all depends on how it was constructed framing wise. If I recall rightly, it's not three individual columns, the framing goes all the way across, but I'm not certain.

The only other alternative is taking apart the newel post and the rail, and I think that would be worse than trying to take apart the chifforobe. Especially since I know first hand not very small nails are involved.

So, since I still haven't found the 3rd extension cord (which I am now wondering if it got left somewhere by accident), if it rains tomorrow, I may be opening more boxes trying to find my small steamer just in case there is glue. So far, I'm seeing a lot of nails, but I might need to fall to steam if there is glue. (The cord, some folks may recall, is so I can shop vac out the attic. Which I am getting really close to just going up there with a broom and dustpan. :problem: )

We're a bit frustrated and disappointed at the moment, so I don't have the umph to take another look at it tonight. I might, though, finally restring some of those vintage turned-out-to-not-be-blinds-but-are-actually-curtains if I feel up to it. Time will tell. :confusion-waiting:

If anyone didn't see my post of the beastie in the antique section, here it is, as well as a listing photo of the stairs. Click to embiggen.
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Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

Post by Lily left the valley »

I did some digging in boxes today, and didn't find things I was looking for the immediate projects yet. I did spend some time with the chifforobe, and I wound up thinking about the electric winch we still have from our studio days, and taking out a window in the bedroom, and how we might make that work instead. I'd have to check the weight rating and cable length, but I think it might be ok. I'm loathe to break the piece apart, especially with all the curved veneer which definitely has glue. One spot needs a touch up, actually on the center section top.

I did brave trying our new used washing machine today because I'm tired of hand washing. I used appliance rated extensions (the two we've had--still haven't found that third) since we still haven't had the electrician put in the dedicated, and it ran fine until it was time to spin. Then, nada. It makes a sound like it wants to spin, but then it stops and goes quiet. I spent a good hour on the web looking up various possible fixes, and nothing worked. It's a holiday, so of course the place we bought it from was closed (local, not a chain), but I left them a message and we'll see when they call back. Of course idiot me, after I made sure it was filling with no leaks, didn't think to test each stage of the cycle, so of course there was laundry in it. I am an idiot. :doh: At least all they needed was a wring and rinse and wring before drying. I also did a small load (for much the same reason I should have tested the entire cycle), so that was a small saving grace to my idiocy. I still need to finish bailing out the water. I don't know if he can fix it on site, but I hope so. Another reminder that the sink is still cracked down there, so I'll have fun trying to pour down the narrow washing machine drain if I don't want to haul it upstairs. :lol:

Rained most of the day, cleared up late afternoon. The local Memorial Day services even got moved indoors here.

I know I did quite a bit today, but it's one of those days when I feel like I got diddly done. I think I need to find a small project to focus on so I can have a start, middle and end to make me feel like the longer term stuff is ok taking longer. I could start checking all the screens we have to see which ones need fixing. There's also that not really roller blind project too. :think:
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

Post by Lily left the valley »

Yippee! :dance: One fixed switch later, and the washing machine is fully functional. This will save me so much time now that I don't have to hand wash stuff.

He didn't charge for the visit, so I offered him the 4' stove cord we replaced with the 6' as a thank you for coming over so fast. I know it wasn't a great tip, but he can use it, we can't, all good.

I did realize after he left that he had reverse hooked up the hot and cold. I only realized this when the rinse couldn't kick in because I had shut the hot water off after the initial fill. (Still haven't fixed the bathtub leak, so we've been using the cutoff for the plumbing in that area to keep the boiler from having to reheat every hour as the drips get wasted.) A few turns with a trusty wrench later, and all is well.

I'm killing time now until lunch hour will be over at City Hall. Then I've a few places to visit so I can hopefully move forward with at least one project here at Beebe. :popcorn:
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

Post by Lily left the valley »

Sean was off work today, and we've been talking "future thoughts" about projects around the house.

Phil posted some interesting info on my picture of the stairs, so that's one thing we are thinking about instead of popping a window out, and my least favorite option--dismantling the chifforobe. This inadvertently could also help me get stuff out of the interior of the newel post when we remove the nails for the handrail if we do make it removable.

Two other looking into the future projects we discussed today was the porchelette and the guest room.

We are considering that when we have the porchlette fixed up and the stairs moved to the back end, to also incorporate windows. We're thinking just storms for the winter, but we're early in the planning about the project overall. I think we'd like to at least get the landing redone to help shed water and the stairs facing the backyard this year, plus small fixes and scraping/painting. We are thinking about holding off on the storms until later, but we're also thinking it might be nice for me to be building storms without having to remove the aluminum tracks for the main part of the house so I can get a sense of what I'm doing without leaving a window completely exposed as I learn.

The other project we discussed is the guest room. We've had various concerns about that step up/out from the odd landing just outside the door. What we thought about today was that if we move the door from the hallway to inside the room and connect it to the front craft room, that would eliminate the hazard there. Since we don't plan to use the craft room as a bedroom, it will be a bit more inconvenient for guests to have to walk through it to get to the hall/bath/stairs, but it also eliminates any chance of someone tumbling down the stairs in the night because they aren't used to that step down there. We did think about pushing that wall that separates the craft room further in, but we're fairly certain it's structural, and really wouldn't completely address the potential stairs safety hazard just by virtue of pushing the doorway further north on that wall in the hallway. Getting rid of the door on the wall will also help for a full sized bed placement in the room. Since his parents are older and will be more the more frequent guests, they won't have to deal with a bed pushed against a wall on the side folks tend to swing their legs around. This will give more comfort to any guests, and we hope the consideration of their safety by moving the door away from the odd landing will make up for the extra few steps' walk to the bathroom.

This would change what was likely the original floor plan. However, we'd use the same trim/frame/door as well as floor moulding in the transition. We think we could fairly easily use whatever piece we remove to make room for the door in the craft room and put that were the door was in the hallway to continue the line of the trim to the edge of the stairs. There will be a seam, but we'll do our best to blend it as best we can. The hardest part will be moving the lathe and then having to put up new plaster and blend the whole lot. I know I can drywall instead. I don't want to, and I don't mind if folks think I'm being stupidly stubborn about this. ;-)

There was a third thing we talked about, actually, and that was our bedroom. Because of the placement of the radiator, bed, and windows, we're looking into whether using the smaller closet as a seasonal/storage only, and moving the bed to that wall so there's better wall space for the chifforobe and vanity. The other idea, not one most folks would like, would be to move the door to that closet to the craft room, and have the entry that way. We're not married to that idea at all, but we are also thinking that if it's going to be long term storage anyway, it might make more sense.

Next week I'll grid out that entire floor and see what could work or not if we do either of the door moves. I'll post something when I've got something worth seeing. :-)

I know we likely won't start on the non stair rail projects this year, but it is something we are seriously considering. We've already been wondering what to do about the too small attic access, and the door moving stuff sort of unfolded as we talked about where we might fit even just a pull down stair, since we don't want to remove the linen closet and there's no way to make a pull down work there. There really isn't room to widen that hatch much either in there.

So that's what we were up to today, in between the general chores and trying to let him rest a bit. Nothing shiny, but it's all part of the process of feeling at home in our home.
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

Post by Lily left the valley »

Well...Sean met a local beekeeper a few days ago. A very friendly and encouraging chap. Long story short, there is a huge support network for beekeepers in MA. Gardner is also very bee friendly, it turns out. I now have a ton of reading ahead of me before we hopefully attend beekeeper classes next spring. There are some workshops and meetings we might attend this year, but we both think this year is not the year to start a hive, despite the encouragement otherwise. I'm still not sure we'll be ready for this even then, but we'll just have to see at the end of the year. :P

Two nice things that have already come out of that info he gave Sean is that I now have a great site for plant ID in MA, and a few bits of info regarding how homeowners can assist towards helping pollinators overall.

When I dropped off payment for the water/rubbish/recycle bill, I made a few other stops at City Hall. We had received a request to bring over a copy of the survey plan from our mortgage purchase, which I did and they were thrilled since our home hasn't changed hands since it was first built. I also found out the the Historic Commission only has a mailing address at City Hall. There is no actual office, but I do know when the meetings are now, and they are public. It does seem that their primary purpose is non residential buildings from what little info I've managed to put together. I also found out what the set back is, and that same office also gave me contact info for the local "house history" buff since no one thinks there is a homeowner related organization or club in Gardner yet. They said if anyone would know about folks interested in historical housing, it would be him. Unfortunately, I had completely forgotten to ask about rain gardens, rain barrels and water features. I was in the one office for quite some time and I had other errands to do. I even have photocopies of when Baker Street was extended when they were adding the cross street of Leamy Street to our west.

Still, armed with the number I'd been missing, which also seems to match how it's measured out on the survey, it seems the slope was deliberate in its placement, because that and the bottom steps' end close to perfect match the set back where the city sidewalk width would extend.

Speaking of missing numbers, while we were out figuring the edge, we spent a short bit looking for the missing house number, to no avail. So now we're trying to decide short term if I'll just paint all three on and take off the others, or if we'll just buy a match for the short term.

I don't know that I mentioned it before, but I did finally try to look at the one boarded over window on the driveway side, and from the inside, it seems to be fine--except someone put fiberglass insulation on the outside before putting a plywood plug on with those square hole screws. I have to go digging, because I think I have that bit somewhere, but I'm not positive. I did find a star bit when I was cleaning outside, but not a square. I noticed too that a few of the screws on the porch are the same kind. Most of the wood is nailed, which just added to dismantle time when we do the porchlette. I still have not seen if they completely removed the window where they put the dryer vent through, but that had ply on both sides, so I am worried it might not be there anymore even though the place I managed did have the original window still there in a similar set up with the vent, with the ply on both sides...so maybe. :handgestures-fingerscrossed:

We are at a standstill with the chifforobe. We have talked about it and the vanity for days now, and one thing that came up that surprised me because my immediate reaction wasn't "nope" was the idea of selling them, and using the funds towards a built in that works better for us. I'm at that point where I have no idea what's best. So we're just going to not talk about it for a week, and then see how we feel.

I had started gridding out the compost bays, and remembered all the branches I had gathered and had thrown in a corner of the back yard near what was the somewhat recent "dump" place. I thought about all the vines we have, and then I thought...instead of using the plastic shutters, we could maybe instead do a woven wattle hurdle enclosure. Well, that led me to start searching some old links, and then I found fedges when the cuttings used to weave are intended to grow. I discussed that with my Floor Manager, and he seemed to think it could work just fine. I'd rather use the wattle, honestly, even though it will be more work. So I'll give it a go. I did find a place in VT that supplies willow cuttings, so I'll look into that further before I get started on that altered project. That place might be the death of me. They have a purple variant that is near black, and a wonderful warm yellow too. I'm envisioning bumblebee stripes for another project idea I got from their site. Yes, I'm insane. It's ok to say it.

I did something a bit unlike myself yesterday. When I was walking errands on Friday, I noticed on the way home that two blocks east, the undeveloped steep slope there had new woodland flowers popping up all over. I dragged Sean out for a walk after he got home, with a few tools and a small pot, and we nabbed one and planted it in the woodsy section in the back. It was hilarious at the time, because just as we found the first batch of them, some teens turned onto Baker nearby, and I felt like the crazy flower lady. This was someone who was well known where I went to undergrad. She used to ninja plant things on people's properties at all hours. She was also the lady who for years ran the only cable company that serviced the town, and she wouldn't allow Mtv because it was Satan's work. Anyhoo, this flower--it's a really common one, though I couldn't name it to save my life. I found a few possibles via image searching, but I'm totally doubting myself. I'm hoping to take some pictures later when the sun is up. This week is going to be another rainy week. Some things in the yard just can't be put off anymore, so I may have some wet gardening ahead of me. Another reason to get rid of as much grass as possible. If you mow it wet, it tears and...ugh. :snooty:

I have also been remembering a lot in the last month and change as the boxes oh so slowly vanish from view that I've forgotten what it's like to live in a home with no wall to wall carpet anywhere. I no longer have a dust mop, and that's something I need to fix. I also need to figure out how to dust better between the balustrade in the hallway. I think we might still have a loopy hand mitten that is supposed to be for cars, but I bet it would work well.

Many things on my mind right now, but the sun is finally looking strong with not much to speak of for clouds. So I should get going in the gardens before the rains start later today. :happy-smileyflower:
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Gothichome
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Re: Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

Post by Gothichome »

Square hole screws, a Canadian invention. EH! :thumbup:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._L._Robertson
Most likely you will be asking for a #2 Robertson screw diver at the hardware store.

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