1888 Victorian (Shingle style???)

[Munch517]

In my past few days off I've gotten a few things done, mostly focusing on the windows. I've stripped the window sashes in that room and sanded them most of the way, the inner curved edge needs a little more attention then they'll be ready to paint/varnish and then glaze. I finished all the stripping I had left on the inside and outside of the window frames including the exterior trim, I also removed the pulleys and took off the window weight doors. All I have left to do there before I shellac/paint is to sand the trim inside and out then do some minor repair work on the exterior trim.

A couple non-window related things... I got a bit impatient and pulled down more drywall in my back stairwell area. They had drywalled the ceiling above the stairs parallel to them for some reason, the original plaster extended all the way to the second floor ceiling which I like much better. I'm not going to get much more done in this area in the immediate future but it, along with the second floor of the tower, are my next two projects. Besides that I also continued with the plaster securing and shellacked the other side of the door I was working on, just a quick sand and a couple more coats on both sides there.

I feel that I'm finally hitting the long-delayed homestretch on this room as I'm getting down to finish work. Once I finish the sanding and shellacking of the baseboard and windows I'll be ready to plaster, then wallpaper, then refinish the floor and I can finally have a decent bedroom.

The inside window frames:

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Sashes stripped and mostly sanded:

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The outside trim as was stripping it today, I took the picture just before dark but I managed to finsh stripping all of it except the trim piece that runs under the bottom sill.

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[Gothichome]

Munch, you That room will once again be as it should. It’s always satisfying. Interesting your top sash is such a short one, or is fixed in place at the top of your window having three sashes in total. Gothichome’s stop sash has the curve but is a full size sash.

[Munch517]

Yeah, the top sash is fixed and the bottom sash only opens maybe a foot or so. I've seen the double hung windows with curved upper sashes like yours on some of the larger and fancier old houses in my area, it's a detail that always catches my eye.

...And I forgot to post the picture of my now opened up back stairway, lots more work to come here. It should be a nice spot to put a small chandelier of some sort:

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[Gothichome]

Munch, my inclination would be to open up that stairway, back stairs are so convenient. Were does it lead? Most lead to a kitchen or work space off the kitchen. Some times they empty out onto a landing on the main staircase with a secret door that mimics the paneling.

[Munch517]

Munch, my inclination would be to open up that stairway, back stairs are so convenient. Were does it lead? Most lead to a kitchen or work space off the kitchen. Some times they empty out onto a landing on the main staircase with a secret door that mimics the paneling.

It basically goes to the kitchen, right next to the entrance to it. I was thinking of opening up the wall facing the kitchen and putting in a railing on that side. All of that will come when I'm done with the upstairs and take over the house all for myself.

[1918ColonialRevival]

Be glad they left the back staircase intact. My house lost its back staircase and the butler's pantry at its first floor terminus to an ill-planned 1960s kitchen renovation. Apparently it was fashionable to rip out back staircases and butler's pantries in the '60s because several other houses in my neighborhood lost theirs around the same time in favor of an "eat in" kitchen. I intend to rebuild mine one of these days.

[Munch517]

Be glad they left the back staircase intact. My house lost its back staircase and the butler's pantry at its first floor terminus to an ill-planned 1960s kitchen renovation. Apparently it was fashionable to rip out back staircases and butler's pantries in the '60s because several other houses in my neighborhood lost theirs around the same time in favor of an "eat in" kitchen. I intend to rebuild mine one of these days.

That sucks. My house has had it's fair share of poor remodeling decisions but removing the back staircase wasn't one of them. It really isn't even an option in my house as the front stairs are obnoxiously narrow and they turn on their way up so without the straight back stairs you'd never get even moderately sized items upstairs.

[Munch517]

I've managed to get a little more progress made in the past week or two. I finally finished the oval leaded glass window that I let sit for the last year and got in installed in my front (green) room, that's particularly satisfying for myself. I had been holding off because I had a piece of the interior of the sash that was missing and I had to piece it in, I was trying to be a perfectionist which led to me not doing anything at all. I finally just decided to do what I could with the tools and wood that I currently have and while it's not as good as I'd like it's acceptable, I may revisit my repair later.

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I finished with stripping, sanding and painting the exterior trim in the room I've been working on. I have to remake the contoured trim that went inside the top arch but that can be done sometime later. One small thing I did that made a huge difference over here was to paint the electric service conduits brown to match the siding, I think that made as much of a difference as refinishing all the trim. I have yet to decide whether to piecemail in new cedar shake where needed or to replace it all back here, that probably is a couple years down the road.

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I also got the exterior of the window sashes painted and one coat of spar urethane on the inside of them so far. I initially thought these sashes were more or less beyond repair and as I've tried to strip and sand them and make all the dents and scrapes look ok I'm thinking my initial assessment was right. I will finish and install the windows because I need this room livable but I think I will end up replacing all or some of these sashes. I have eight windows of this design and at least a few of the others are far beyond repair so I'll just make a couple extra an swap these damaged ones out when the time comes.

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Besides all that I continued work on the interior trim in that room, once I'm done with messes it'd ready for shellac. Now I need to build up the courage to dive in and do some of the plaster. I also painted a room downstairs for the guy I rent to, he offered to pay for half and help so I couldn't say no:

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[Gothichome]

Munch, that is a lovely glass panel and looks even better in your window. I could only hope to get my wood that clean. Were these all painted fore you started.
Good decision on painting the electric conduit, although it doesn’t disappear it’s not so obvious.

[Munch517]

Munch, that is a lovely glass panel and looks even better in your window. I could only hope to get my wood that clean. Were these all painted fore you started.
Good decision on painting the electric conduit, although it doesn’t disappear it’s not so obvious.

Thanks. Yeah, virtually all the wood in my house was painted when I bought it, only the pocket door and the mantel near the front entrance were unpainted. The before pictures of these windows are in the third or fourth post of this thread, the oval window was dark blue and the other sashes were light blue.