Gothichome wrote: Matt, that looks great. I can see all the work has paid off. Nice appropriate lighting as well. I see you kept the pull chain on the one, so Iwill assume it has always had a pull chain light. The trim round the window, well all the trim actually looks perfect. Well done.
Thanks, GH. The lighting is still something of a work in progress. I'm under the impression that the hanging Virden-like fixtures are 1920s, but I'm not certain. The one I have in the front bluish/greenish bedroom is earlier. I found it in a pile of rust at the Elephant's trunk for $5 and made it my mission to fix it. I like the way it looks but much prefer the original finish, like the one in the back dark green bedroom. The pull chain light is very Deco and feels like a bit much for a working-class subdivision house, but I like it nonetheless. It's on a pull chain because the bedroom door swings to the left so I can't put a switch behind the door and to the right, there's two abutting moldings for the bedroom door and the closet door, so I can't put it there, either. Plus, as you pointed out, the late-1930s replacement fixture that was there had a pull chain--probably just like the original. The room is so small that you can take one big step in and reach the chain without having to navigate around any tripping hazards in the dark--so it's all good.
GinaC wrote:Wow, that looks amazing! Those fixtures are so pretty, I'm so glad you were able to use them!
What year is your house again? I have the almost the same trim on my doors and windows, minus the little squares on the corners. Yours are fancy! We also have the same baseboard molding.
Our sashes are identical. How were they to restore? Mine aren't painted, and I'm not sure I need to strip and refinish them, or just clean up the white paint sloshes where they very messily painted the rooms. Also, I noticed that your windows don't have the little screws on the inside of the lower frames to facilitate taking the sashes out.
Gina, I think the house is between 1919 and 1926. I was certain it was 1923, but the cast iron skirted tub in the upstairs bathroom was stamped "25". But the house appears on a 1923 Sanborn map. Who knows? Maybe one day my research will yield more concrete information/data. I'm crazy, so I'm sure I'll uncover it at some point.
The sash were a bear to restore, honestly. I would definitely do it all over again, but it just takes SO MUCH TIME. I feel like a real old-house enthusiast when I'm done, though
The spatter is harder to remove than you think. I'm dealing with that now with the baseboard moldings on the first floor. I'm going around with a dental pick and popping them off. I cover a 10' run in like 3 hours. Holy smoke is that a test of mental fortitude. The downstairs sash are unpainted but they're dry, spattered, have broken glass, and the outsides have horrible peeling paint and failing glaze (see the above photo). I pulled them all and have completed 75% of the restoration. Another BEAR but damn, do they look good. Most of the lower sash have dark staining to the lower corners of the wood from years of water damage. Though the PO told me the windows always had storms, me thinks not. The stain color I used was a match to the darker areas of the woodwork and it helps to hide the damage. The finish on the molding has largely darkened and toned over time and the original finish would have likely looked a few shades lighter than what I chose. But I prefer a patina or aged look. Ross at the Cross House prefers a total restoration, bringing back the look of when the house was first built. I prefer patina--signs that the house has weathered the years, as opposed to pristinely withstanding the test of time. It's purely preference. You might call my approach a mix of restoration and conservation. I'm completely comfortable with that.
Re: how to remove my sash--I pop the stops, remove the bottom sash, WRESTLE the parting beads out (usually without breaking them--if I do, I glue them back together), and then get to it. There are slotted screws holding the covers to the sash pockets, so I can easily access the weights. I've been re-chaining, rather than using rope. I like the sound better when they go up and down and the copper finish is a nice peripheral benefit.
