Just Ask Hollywood

There are few things I love more than lights. Light can help set a scene, a mood and give those in its presence an impression. Just ask Hollywood, lighting matters.

Perhaps that's why I so deeply despised my living room lighting until just this week. 

When we moved in, the light was non-existent. One of the first things I did upon move in was put up a fan.

That dealt with some of the stifling heat (it was about 90 degrees inside at that point) and some of the style issues but didn't go nearly far enough for my taste. 

Still, as long as we didn't have air conditioning, the fan was necessary. 

Once I did put in AC, the fan wasn't leaving simply because I had too many other things on my plate. Just a few months later came new drywall and paint and I found myself wishing for new lighting.  

Funny enough, I got forced into my wish. 

During the drywall installation, my contractor took down two fan blades to cut around the fan (we couldn't get it down!) and put the screws in a piece of tape for later replacement. Sadly, I didn't know that and a small ton of masking tape went into the trash shortly after installation. I'm guessing the tape with the screws was one of those pieces since we never found it.

Without the balance provided from all of the blades, it sounded like a freight train about to fall off my ceiling every time it accidentally got turned on.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I decided I'd just run over to my favorite salvage shop, pick up a new (to me) fixture, rewire it and hang it. 

I'm sure this will come as a shock, but it wasn't quite that simple. 

I got all the way up to hanging the fixture when we realized that the bracket that holds it to the ceiling had been stolen at some point in the last hundred years. 

We couldn't hang my shiny new light fixture and I was forced to put up an ugly shade fixture that was wrong for my home in so many ways. On the bright side, it did provide light. 

This week, however, I was able to undo the wrongs of my past (or at least these particular wrongs) and hang a period correct light fixture in the living room at Isthmus House! 

My favorite salvage ship came through yet again with a bracket that we rigged a bit to attach the lamp to the ceiling. Then my electrician, who was already coming over to take care of another project, hung it up for me!

The fixture had four matching shades too, so those went right up. I think the chip in one of the shades adds a little character- what do you think? 

I definitely have some work to do, smoothing out that ceiling, but the living room is almost done! I can't wait to show off the final product!

How to Repair, Reuse and Move a Door to a New Location

I grew up in a home with one and a half baths. Honestly, for a family of four, that was perfectly fine. Turns out, that's not really sufficient for four unrelated people living under one roof. That's a little squishy.

It's not that The Roommates are hard to live with, it's more that it's not quite as kosher to be in the same bathroom with all of the bathroom-y things happening at the same time when you're not immediate family.

That meant, with two new Roommates moving in within the last month, that we needed more than one bathroom - pronto.

We left off in the bathroom upstairs with a shiny "new" vanity that has running water, storage, and lots of counter space - especially when compared with the downstairs pedestal.

Now it was time for yet another door!

Since I know we talked about doors last week (I really do have quite the collection - the original Roommate aids and abets this addiction - I mean, collection - with some regularity), I'll skim over the door a bit for you all.

We had to entirely reframe out the bathroom doorway when we pulled permits to move the wall between the bathroom and bedroom a few inches. The city feels that a second floor bathroom should be accessible so it had to become 32 inches instead of the intended 30 inches I really wanted.

Is it the end of the world? No. Is it a little vexing? Yes, because I couldn't reuse the existing door. That one went into my collection.

Instead, I stole a door from the downstairs living room that divided it from the foyer since I think it was added when Isthmus House was converted from single family to a duplex. Why do I think that? It was signed and dated!

To get the door ready to move upstairs, we had to prep a little. After taking it off the door frame leading into the living room, I pulled off the board covering it up just like the door we exposed in the kitchen. That's when I found the nifty signature above. 

There was also a modern doorknob hole that was both unnecessary and unwanted - large holes are generally frowned upon for bathroom doors.

Filling in a hole in a door is super simple. First, lay the door flat on a work surface. If you're anything like me and a little too lazy to bother getting out your sawhorses, at least protect your floors.

Next, use wood filler to fill the hole - leaving it slightly concave. I used wood weld - a product designed to be a quick filler for wood repairs. You just knead it for a couple of minutes - it smells awful - and then squish it to whatever you need to fill.

It dries really quickly (about an hour) and is rock hard once it does.

After it's all dry, a quick fill with joint compound levels it out.

Since I hate hanging doors with a fiery passion, my contractor took care of that part, complete with egg and dart doorknob and fleur de lis hinges to match the rest of the original doorknob hardware around the house.

So now we have a bathroom door - it even has a lock!

Only one update left before the final reveal! Can't wait!