Cross another one off the list: Katie has a bedroom!

Many of you know that I travel a lot for work. Like, I’ve spent almost as many days in hotels this year as I’ve owned Isthmus House. Perhaps that’s why, as I sit here with my square, plastic Delta spoon in my hotel room munching on grocery store salad bar fare, I’m feeling slightly reminiscent for my recent visit from my parents. Let’s be honest, the best reason is probably getting home cooking that I don’t have to cook but I always get a lot done around the house, too. 

This most recent visit was no different. It wasn’t the original plan for the weekend, but we ended up putting in a wall between the former upstairs living room (now my bedroom) and the former upstairs kitchen (now my workshop but it will be the master bedroom eventually) and a door leading to the hallway.

There was one obvious problem with this plan from the beginning: I didn’t have a door that fit the opening. I had an existing door jamb and stops, but not a door that fit.

There were a couple that had come with the upstairs apartment but neither was a viable option. One wasn’t the same style as the original doors (you can stop laughing at me now, I won’t put in a door that doesn’t match the originals!) and the other had been chopped up like crazy (think rhombus).

Here’s what the original doors in the house look like. As you can see, this one was cut down and a deadbolt added to make it the upstairs unit door. In case you're wondering, it's also a rhombus:

 

Once I figured out that I wasn’t going to find a four panel door to match my existing ones at either of my local Restores, I tried online but couldn’t get one I found in Ohio to Isthmus House in time for the visit.

I did get a door in time. A while back, The Roommate and I stopped by Ace Hardware on Willy St. picking up a couple of things for Isthmus House and met one of their employees who also restores antique windows and knew of a salvage shop in Madison. Naturally, I couldn’t remember anything about it but I still had his card (because I’ll probably need to restore some windows at some point) and he gave me directions when I called.

The owner, Roxy, has been in business for 30 years and helped me put together a full 4-panel door (that matches the original doors in the house) including mortise, doorknob and hinges. I even picked out the screws that attached the plates to the door. We spent a couple of hours on this project but it was worth every bit for the final product – and was about half the cost of the door in Ohio before shipping.

The second day of their visit, my dad and I built a small wall frame out of 2x4s to fill in the archway so that the drywall would have something to attach to. Since it fit with minimal shimming (there’s no such thing as a straight wall in a 100 year old house so you’ll have to shim something) and I didn’t cut off any appendages, I’m calling it a success!

Once the wall was in, we put up the drywall I already had from one of my first projects around the house. I’d never drywalled without a contractor present but it turns out it’s not that easy to mess up. As long as you get the screws flush or sub-flush in the wall and you hit studs (and lath, in my case) with every screw, you’re good to go. Both of those steps are important!

Normally, you hang drywall top to bottom and stagger the seams of the sheets. Because the sheets were perfect for the height of the walls we hung them vertically. They went up in about an hour, not including cutting one of the three sheets to size. Since I’m still a work in progress with mudding and taping (it’s a skill to get the seams and screws to blend in nicely, and not really one for beginners hoping for a decent final product), my dad, who’s very good at it, handled that part.

While we were waiting for the first coat of mud to dry, we cut the door down to fit the opening. It took a while due to the floor having a slight slope (the floors are never level either) and we ended up making it swing right so that it wouldn't scrape the floor but it did finally fit in the opening.

Although the long-term plan is to use some re-tinted paint whose color I didn’t like the first time throughout the upstairs, it’s not re-tinted yet and using it would have just been a waste of paint. Instead, we gave it a quick coat of leftover primer+paint from the living room. Once we moved my bed to that wall it looked a lot more complete.

 

I don’t see myself ever hanging a door on my own because they’re just too unwieldy. We couldn’t quite get to hanging it during their visit so I had a contractor hang it for me. It took a few phone calls and a couple of pairs of hinges but its done and it opens and closes smoothly!

 

 

The Roommate and I sat on my bed for a couple of minutes enjoying another finished project and reminiscing about Isthmus House when we first moved in. As she said it: This is why I bought Isthmus House; for the feeling of accomplishment and contentment that comes along when another line on my to do list gets crossed off. What do you think of our final product?