The Historic District

So we've come a long way. Our flooring went in a few weeks ago, the new stove is in place and working. The dishwasher is there but not hooked up as is the rangehood. They measured for the counter this week and took our new sink with them to make sure it fits. We have one more cabinet which is the china cabinet to pick up next week. Toe
kicks and the curved decorative pieces need to be measured, cut and installed. The soffit above the cabinets needs to be framed, then the the wood for it needs to be measured cut and installed.

those face frame cabinets look so nice! Ive never seen a sink and dishwasher combined like that.

If you mentioned this and I missed it apologies...but what did you do with the old window that you replaced?

Lily left the valley wrote:If you mentioned this and I missed it apologies...but what did you do with the old window that you replaced?

Our electrician took the window and the plexiglass storm I made to install in his camp in Vermont. I must say as much as I like the new window we've had six birds hit it one that died since we made the swap. Last week I moved all the feeders to a new pole forty feet from the house to cut the window strikes. We never had one hit until the switch over to the insulated window. I guess there's something to be said for keeping the old windows.

nhguy wrote:We never had one hit until the switch over to the insulated window. I guess there's something to be said for keeping the old windows.

Was the old window wavy glass? Maybe it had something to do with the way older glass reflects light. I know there are some low tech methods to prevent strikes, though some aren't very "tidy" looking. It's a shame you had to move the feeders, but if that works in prevention it certainly is the better option.

Hrm, I tried to do a search to see if there was any science to wavy glass being better for bird safety. Among the not just hang string/netting in front of the window or hang a crystal inside sorts of ideas, like glazes and films that add texture birds can supposedly see that we cannot, there's even a special glass that won an award based on the idea of what birds can see that humans cannot. I'm thinking wavy glass might inherently offer its own bird detectable pattern they'd know to avoid, just never looked into how UV transference or reflection ( not sure of proper word choice) differs with wavy versus modern from the outside view.

One last thing I just spotted...this site says the optimal distance for feeders/water is with within 3 feet or past 10 feet. It also says window mount feeders do not seem to add to strikes. The reason for the within 3' is the birds slow down to approach the feeder.

The old window didn't have a storm window, so I made one from a large sheet of plexiglass and some wood screen stock. The gentleman that took it to his house is going to bring it back so I can install it over the new window. I talked with neighbors about the bird strikes and it has to to do with the high tech coatings used to make the windows highly energy efficient, this gives the window a mirror like reflection.
We had three more strikes since I wrote my last note all purple finches. Yesterday, I put a screen over the window and heard to telltale thumps from birds hitting.

The counters go in today, yesterday we installed the china cupboard and the remaining original door trim.
Tomorrow the cabinet company comes to measure for the decorative curved under cabinet pieces. These are located at the toe kick and directly under the uppers which will hide the undercounter lighting. We are getting close to done finally.

Wow, your cabinets are looking amazing! Can't wait to see the next update pic.

I wonder if something that looked like a cat were on the window sill, would that deter birds?

phil wrote:I wonder if something that looked like a cat were on the window sill, would that deter birds?

Since we have counters now, we also have a cat who enjoys counter surfing. Those excursions on the counters includes watching birds. Stewie is not far off from your example. Everything is now operational in the kitchen, the last of the trim will be in next week or early the following week.

what a beautiful Cat. Stewie has job security:-)
The cabinets and the kitchen look so nice. Very high end. I built mine with my dad, he was a cabinetmaker , then a carpenter and the resulting design of the cabinets look similar.
He showed me some older techniques while he still could which I am grateful for.

That chair behind Stewie also looks familiar. I have a set of 4, two like that, two have arms. the covering is rush (bullrushes) redoing them looks like it might take some special skills. Mine were reportedly brought from England. the problem is you need to remove the covering to disassemble the joints and they are a little wiggly. I learned there is a later product which is sort of like a twisted rope that looks a bit like cardboard that comes in a roll. With that it can be a continuous wrap and I found instructions to do that.
The bullrushes I do have access to you usually can't mess with them for environmental reasons but we have a place with lots of them. I read they used "European bullrushes" but I dont know what the difference is. I considered working on them , tucked them in the attic. I'm not sure if I have the patience for it. I was quoted about 100 per chair to do them with the rope stuff. but old kitchen chairs dont seem to have a real lot of value. One of mine had a little indecent where the plug in kettle got put on an element, picked up and the seat got soaked in molten aluminum

Does a stove like that need a vent or just the hood fan and gas line?