I have a door on my bedroom, complete with salvaged hinges and a doorknob and plate that match all of the hardware original to Isthmus House. Since that hasn't been a reality for a few months now, I'm taking the night off to enjoy it.
Night!
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Check another one off the list! Katie has a door! Part II
Y'all, there's a time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Generally, I think that's when the whole job is done but, tonight, I'm making an exception.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
The 3-5 Rule
As tax time draws near and I'm itemizing every receipt for Isthmus House (which is still a rental, friends) I'm reminded of the old adage that if you do work in an old home yourself, it'll probably cost you three times more than you thought and take five times as long. Alternatively, you can pay someone five times more than you thought it would cost and it'll take 3 times as long.
Never has this been truer than with the installation of casings.
After the drywall was installed downstairs and I finished so. many. patches., we had pretty walls but they looked patently unfinished.
To fix this, it was time for casings.
I'm obsessed with old woodwork but, sadly, Isthmus House doesn't have a ton of its original trim left. What was left was staying right where it was so I only had two options left: find salvaged trim to match or have trim made to match the existing. Since four and a quarter inch casings weren't coming up on Craigslist, I really only had the option of having trim custom cut.
It's true that custom millwork isn't inexpensive, but it's worth every dime to have cohesive trim throughout the house.
Once all several hundred feet were delivered, I had some painting to do. So. much. painting.
I could paint 5-6 pieces of casing at a time and every piece needed at least 2 coats of paint before they could be installed.
Needless to say, this was a bit of a long process but I got it done within a few days.
Each nail hole then had to be filled with a paintable putty, sanded down (I used the finest steel wool), wiped down and then repainted over.
After the drywall was installed downstairs and I finished so. many. patches., we had pretty walls but they looked patently unfinished.
To fix this, it was time for casings.
I'm obsessed with old woodwork but, sadly, Isthmus House doesn't have a ton of its original trim left. What was left was staying right where it was so I only had two options left: find salvaged trim to match or have trim made to match the existing. Since four and a quarter inch casings weren't coming up on Craigslist, I really only had the option of having trim custom cut.
It's true that custom millwork isn't inexpensive, but it's worth every dime to have cohesive trim throughout the house.
Once all several hundred feet were delivered, I had some painting to do. So. much. painting.
I could paint 5-6 pieces of casing at a time and every piece needed at least 2 coats of paint before they could be installed.
Needless to say, this was a bit of a long process but I got it done within a few days.
Each individual piece had to be cut perfectly to size and pieced together. With the walls being at least a bit wavy, I didn't feel that my carpentry skills were good enough for the perfect copes necessary for this trim installation so I called in my carpenter. That's where the five times as much money part and at least three times as long rule came in.
Each nail hole then had to be filled with a paintable putty, sanded down (I used the finest steel wool), wiped down and then repainted over.
The casings made the rooms look much more complete just in time for our Christmas party.
Now if only I could have baseboards, too...
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Old houses have closets!
Is it possible to only have one project going at a time? Around Isthmus House, the answer would be, unequivocally, no. No, it's not.
It's not that I have a short attention span or that I'm impatient or even that I'm in a rush. I think I continue to work on multiple projects at once because it allows me to see little bits of progress all over my house.
While the upstairs bathroom is in progress, there's been no exception to the rule: multiple projects continue.
Old homes aren't exactly known for their storage capabilities and the House on the Isthmus is no exception there either. When I moved upstairs and into what was once the upstairs living room, there was no closet. Heck, there was no wall between the "living room" and the "kitchen" so really a closet would have been a bit too big a dream at that point.
With Isthmus House moving firmly back to being a single family home, however, it was time to add some storage.
To get started, I needed to figure out where I could even put openings for doors without massive amounts of demo. There were lots and lots of measurements and lots and lots of tape involved.
Eventually, though, I was able to fit in a doorway - taped out, of course, and make the closets decent sized. For my old room, the only way to add a closet was to take away from the nook in the master.
As you can see, that meant closing off the master closet (pantry?) door (that's the door on the left in the photo). That's a story for another day. Trust me, it deserves its own post.
To do that, we removed the door, casings and jambs from the opening before adding 2x4s for screwing in the drywall.
After finishing that bit of framing, we demo'd part of the archway turned wall for the opening into the closet from the bedroom.
Once it was fully opened, we were able to build the back wall of the closet.
The framing went up pretty quickly (it's about 6 pieces of wood) and we were able to finish it up with additional framing around the doorway for drywall installation.
We did a quick rinse and repeat for what I affectionately call the blue room - framing it out with 2 by 4s. If you happen to be a builder and notice there's a missing piece, we did add it before drywalling!
And then there were closets - decent sized, even, in an old house! Only one problem... you didn't want to actually put anything in them. Right?
Love the House on the Isthmus? Like our Facebook page!
It's not that I have a short attention span or that I'm impatient or even that I'm in a rush. I think I continue to work on multiple projects at once because it allows me to see little bits of progress all over my house.
While the upstairs bathroom is in progress, there's been no exception to the rule: multiple projects continue.
Old homes aren't exactly known for their storage capabilities and the House on the Isthmus is no exception there either. When I moved upstairs and into what was once the upstairs living room, there was no closet. Heck, there was no wall between the "living room" and the "kitchen" so really a closet would have been a bit too big a dream at that point.
With Isthmus House moving firmly back to being a single family home, however, it was time to add some storage.
To get started, I needed to figure out where I could even put openings for doors without massive amounts of demo. There were lots and lots of measurements and lots and lots of tape involved.
 |
| Hint: this isn't exactly where this door ended up |
As you can see, that meant closing off the master closet (pantry?) door (that's the door on the left in the photo). That's a story for another day. Trust me, it deserves its own post.
To do that, we removed the door, casings and jambs from the opening before adding 2x4s for screwing in the drywall.
 |
| The framing here is left over from when we initially installed drywall to separate the living room from the kitchen |
We did a quick rinse and repeat for what I affectionately call the blue room - framing it out with 2 by 4s. If you happen to be a builder and notice there's a missing piece, we did add it before drywalling!
With the framing complete, my drywallers could come on in. Fast as always, they managed to mud and tape everything while I was away on a trip.
And then there were closets - decent sized, even, in an old house! Only one problem... you didn't want to actually put anything in them. Right?
Love the House on the Isthmus? Like our Facebook page!
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Fixing up fixtures
It's incredible how long a tiny room can take to finish. The upstairs bathroom is about 6.5' by 7' and it's still not quite done.
We're close though, so close. Especially when you consider where we started.
When thinking about modifying a bathroom, there are a few things to consider. Ventilation, light, color - and water. Water's probably the most important of these items. Where is it coming from and where is it going?
A few weeks back, I talked about the rough in plumbing that had to be one of the first things we touched when walls and the floor were open.
Of course, we passed that inspection (pull permits - they protect you) and went on to waterproof, tile, and install my shiny new (hahaha, new) vanity with its shiny new soapstone top.
Still to go was the remainder of the finished plumbing, things like the tub and a toilet. You know, where the water comes from and where it goes...
Let's start with the tub. It was perfect.
This is a really small bathroom that I've made every centimeter as large as I could by moving a wall as much as possible into the adjacent bedroom, which wasn't much. To meet code for the spacing around the toilet, I needed a really small tub. In Madison, code requires 30 inches of space from side to side and 24 inches of space from the front lip of the toilet to any item. In our case, that's the vanity.
Originally, I'd considered putting in a stand-up shower but ended up moving to adding another clawfoot because it was surprisingly more cost-effective and more historically accurate. Add that eventual parents living in Isthmus House might want a tub upstairs for kiddos and my decision was made.
I found a tub in Eau Claire (about three hours northwest of here) that was 48 inches (a comparatively rare size to the usual 60-66 inch tubs of the era) and met the seller part way between our respective cities. Yes, Mom, I took a friend and met in a public area.
When I first saw the inside of the clawfoot, I thought it had already been refinished. It was in beautiful shape on the inside with only a few coats of paint on the outside. It was way better than I'd hoped, however - original inside that gleamed, only a few chips and had all its original feet - having been taken from the third story of a Madison home slated for demolition.
As usual, I would have preferred it survive in its own survivor home but I'm grateful I could at least bring it back to Madison and to an old home that could appreciate its beauty.
After giving a quick wire brushing to the outside and taping off any holes and the lip, I gave it lots of high gloss white spray paint (rust inhibiting is best) and spray painted the feet silver. Generally, a can of spray paint will give a patchy single coat to a clawfoot.
The tub sat in my front sunroom for about a month before my soapstone installers and electrician gracefully "offered" to take it up the stairs for me. It took all three to get it up the stairs without damage to it or my stairwell but it made it!
And then it sat in a room again. This time, it was its forever home, just not its forever spot.
Once my plumber made it out, we finally got the tub to its home and hooked up the water and drain.
I happened to be a little fussy on this plumbing and definitely splurged on the polished chrome set complete with pretty taps and waterlines, a sunflower showerhead and a hand shower.
The same day the tub went in, my custom ordered toilet also went in. I saw the toilet at a local business and thought it would look good in my bathroom so I took a picture and went to my handy dandy local plumbing supply store, Howe Brothers, and hunted it down with the owner, Regan (pronounced Ree-gaan).
Funny enough, I made a bit of a mistake with the special toilet. I forgot to order a toilet seat. Naturally, the seats are backordered 6-8 weeks so we'll be waiting a while before that comes in. In the meantime, I put a $20 Target toilet seat on my fancy, expensive toilet. You know, after I tried three others to see if a different one might work - they didn't.
So now we have water and place for it to go. What do you think of our beautiful fixtures?
We're close though, so close. Especially when you consider where we started.
A few weeks back, I talked about the rough in plumbing that had to be one of the first things we touched when walls and the floor were open.
Of course, we passed that inspection (pull permits - they protect you) and went on to waterproof, tile, and install my shiny new (hahaha, new) vanity with its shiny new soapstone top.
Still to go was the remainder of the finished plumbing, things like the tub and a toilet. You know, where the water comes from and where it goes...
Let's start with the tub. It was perfect.
This is a really small bathroom that I've made every centimeter as large as I could by moving a wall as much as possible into the adjacent bedroom, which wasn't much. To meet code for the spacing around the toilet, I needed a really small tub. In Madison, code requires 30 inches of space from side to side and 24 inches of space from the front lip of the toilet to any item. In our case, that's the vanity.
Originally, I'd considered putting in a stand-up shower but ended up moving to adding another clawfoot because it was surprisingly more cost-effective and more historically accurate. Add that eventual parents living in Isthmus House might want a tub upstairs for kiddos and my decision was made.
I found a tub in Eau Claire (about three hours northwest of here) that was 48 inches (a comparatively rare size to the usual 60-66 inch tubs of the era) and met the seller part way between our respective cities. Yes, Mom, I took a friend and met in a public area.
When I first saw the inside of the clawfoot, I thought it had already been refinished. It was in beautiful shape on the inside with only a few coats of paint on the outside. It was way better than I'd hoped, however - original inside that gleamed, only a few chips and had all its original feet - having been taken from the third story of a Madison home slated for demolition.
As usual, I would have preferred it survive in its own survivor home but I'm grateful I could at least bring it back to Madison and to an old home that could appreciate its beauty.
After giving a quick wire brushing to the outside and taping off any holes and the lip, I gave it lots of high gloss white spray paint (rust inhibiting is best) and spray painted the feet silver. Generally, a can of spray paint will give a patchy single coat to a clawfoot.
The tub sat in my front sunroom for about a month before my soapstone installers and electrician gracefully "offered" to take it up the stairs for me. It took all three to get it up the stairs without damage to it or my stairwell but it made it!
And then it sat in a room again. This time, it was its forever home, just not its forever spot.
Once my plumber made it out, we finally got the tub to its home and hooked up the water and drain.
I happened to be a little fussy on this plumbing and definitely splurged on the polished chrome set complete with pretty taps and waterlines, a sunflower showerhead and a hand shower.
The same day the tub went in, my custom ordered toilet also went in. I saw the toilet at a local business and thought it would look good in my bathroom so I took a picture and went to my handy dandy local plumbing supply store, Howe Brothers, and hunted it down with the owner, Regan (pronounced Ree-gaan).
Funny enough, I made a bit of a mistake with the special toilet. I forgot to order a toilet seat. Naturally, the seats are backordered 6-8 weeks so we'll be waiting a while before that comes in. In the meantime, I put a $20 Target toilet seat on my fancy, expensive toilet. You know, after I tried three others to see if a different one might work - they didn't.
So now we have water and place for it to go. What do you think of our beautiful fixtures?
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