The Historic District

Here are a few pictures of the nearly done bathroom. Plenty left to do, starting with the windows, crown molding, and linen closet. Apologies for the poor pics as I took them quickly prior to getting ready to turn in.

View from the hallway.

Semi-frameless doors. We learned the hard way that subway tile need no spacers. The kitchen went much quicker.

View from the commode area. That mirror was salvaged from a late 1800's house overlooking the Hudson in West New York, NJ.

Where I do my best thinking. Notice the Field Guide. This is the second entrance to the bathroom from the office.

Some exposed brick we decided to keep - sealed with satin finish Duralock to protect against water.

Ober, that's lovely! I really like the dark blue and crisp white together. Nice job!

I think it's pretty neat that the warm brick sort of pulls in the unpainted door shown in the same image. (Not clear if that's the hall side for the door, but likely, as it seems the other side is painted if I'm reading the pictures right.) It's still a neat color play to me even though that door is likely closed more often than not. I like little touches like that, that helps meld separate spaces with shared whatever well.

Nice find on the mirror too.

Did you have the mixed metal debate? Or were you thrilled to have the various shades?

Lily left the valley wrote:I think it's pretty neat that the warm brick sort of pulls in the unpainted door shown in the same image. (Not clear if that's the hall side for the door, but likely, as it seems the other side is painted if I'm reading the pictures right.) It's still a neat color play to me even though that door is likely closed more often than not. I like little touches like that, that helps meld separate spaces with shared whatever well.

Nice find on the mirror too.

Did you have the mixed metal debate? Or were you thrilled to have the various shades?

Thank you! Yeah, the door is being left as is - natural pine - on the inside. The mirror really is in fantastic shape and has the right amount of "antique."

The mixed metals was more unintentional than anything. However, we do like the way it plays. We still need to get a light for above the toilet, and that will match the one over the sink. All in all, we are very happy with the way it came out. The wainscoting was A LOT of work. My brother spent hours doing it as I helped. A lot of people would have done the sheets, but I think this turned out to be very nice. The thing that we spent money on is something people probably do not even notice until told - we had all the trim milled to match the rest of the house. So all of the window and door casings are an exact match and flow nicely into the bathroom.

I don't blame you for having the trim milled to match--I would have done the same thing. I got lucky; even though I added rooms to the house, all the door frames and trim I took out (and there were 4 doors all in one small area!) will be reused in the new doorways. I have lost some baseboard to rot, so I'm either going to steal from the bedrooms to replace what was lost in the public rooms and just use 1x's for that or I'll have new baseboard milled. Won't be that much, so it might not be too expensive.

We have a great mill near us with decent prices, but it is still a lot. I am headed over there in a bit to get the stairs trim done since it was removed for that putrid green carpet.

Ober51 wrote:We have a great mill near us with decent prices, but it is still a lot. I am headed over there in a bit to get the stairs trim done since it was removed for that putrid green carpet.

Happy to report the mill had what I needed in stock. Should be here Thursday I'me feeling pretty good so I put in several hours of work tonight knowing Thursday's treatment and the cruddy days are to follow. However, I am a glutton for punishment and couldn't leave well enough alone. I just had to strip the inside of the corner cabinet. It looks better already.

Here is the dining room before anything (listing pic) was stripped at all.


Here it is post-heat gun, pre-chemical stripper.


Here is the corner cabinet post-chemical stripper. Notice those white shelves. I can't leave that be. I am hoping to get them done and ready for the painter's touch by Monday. Hopefully I am feeling up to some work come this weekend.

UPDATE: The back patio is done! The front walkway 95% done, as well. A few quick notes regarding the materials. The brick used in both applications is reclaimed from old buildings in NYC. They are actually "jumbo" brick, 2 and 3/4s thick rather than the usual 2 and 1/4s. The blue stone in front of the steps was kept and incorporated. The border on the walkway is actually NYC cobblestone. My brother answered a Craigslist free ad, believe it or not. After holding on to it for 4 years or so, and moving the load (what you see was only about a 10th - maybe less - of what we have) three times, we were finally able to use it! We are thrilled with the way it all came out. While we need a ton of fill and landscaping, we are finally on our way to beautifying the property. I hope you enjoy some pics!

A before shot of the back patio.

A during shot.

A few complete shots. The patio is 660sf.




The front walkway, before.

The front walkway, after.

Oh, my goodness, that's really nice, Ober! It blends beautifully with the style of the house, and so nicely done. I love the history, especially the CL score! Good job!

awomanwithahammer wrote:Oh, my goodness, that's really nice, Ober! It blends beautifully with the style of the house, and so nicely done. I love the history, especially the CL score! Good job!

Thank you! It's nice to finally not sludge through mud into the house when it rains!