The Papered House

Rockstar

2016-10-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

My husband moved a ton of rocks this weekend. That's not an exaggeration or a figure of speech: he literally moved 2,000+ pounds of rocks, stones, and slate into our backyard this weekend. We now have a slate patio and a meandering path in the yard. Let's jump to the good stuff, and then I'll backtrack and tell you about our process.

Here is what the yard looks like now:

Now for all the gritty details:

After a summer of tedious tasks like stripping paint and patching plaster, we were feeling frustrated about the lack of visual improvement to our house. For the sake of our emotional health, we decided we needed a "quick win": a project that would boost the appearance of our home and provide us with a satisfying sense of accomplishment without requiring an enormous investment of time or money. In other words, we needed a project like those featured on HGTV, where a room/house/yard is completely transformed in a mere 72 hours.

Since we bought this house, we've talked about installing two patios in the backyard. Our backyard has two sections: an upper level near the house, with walkways and a small patch of grass. Right now, this is where we keep our barbecue, saw horses, and some construction materials. It's not a particularly pretty space. We'd eventually like to have a large patio up here.

Our yard also has a much larger lower level; it's reachable either by a short flight of stairs or by walking down our gravel driveway. We also envisioned a small patio in this lower level. When we moved in, this was just an enormous patch of grass. About a year ago, my husband S created a vegetable garden with raised beds. He also created a diamond dust path from the driveway to the garden. Since then, he's slowly been planting perennials and natives to make our yard a haven for all sorts of critters.

Backyard, Fall 2015. Looking towards house.

Backyard, Fall 2015

We hadn't planned to do any major work in the yard this year, since we have so many unfinished projects. But over the summer, my husband and father-in-law installed a slate patio in the backyard of his childhood home. My inlaws had quite a bit of surplus material, and generously offered it to us. They even offered to drive the slate to our house. Our largest car is a Honda Civic, so we especially appreciated their offer to help with transportation. Suddenly, the patio project seemed like it could be our "quick win." With the donated slate already in hand, we would just need to purchase diamond dust and any other decorative rocks we wanted. The cost of the project would be relatively minimal.

Thanks to a fair amount of planning, this project came together over the course of four long, sweaty non-consecutive days.

Day 1 (Saturday):

This first day is spent mapping out the patio and prepping the ground. As I mentioned earlier, we'd eventually like to have two patios: one on the upper level near the house, and a smaller one on the lower level. We decide to start with the smaller patio, based on the amount of slate we have. S charts out a 10'x10' square between the oak tree and the dogwood. Our goal is to create a patio large enough to accommodate some outdoor furniture (either a dining set or a lounge set), without significantly decreasing the amount of grass. We also talk about creating some paths: one from the stairs to the patio, and another towards the side of the yard.

Our backyard slopes away from our house at a pretty steep grade. This is great from a drainage perspective. However, it's a challenge when you need to create a flat surface. Most of day 1 is spent creating a level space for the patio. S ends up creating a 4-6" berm and filling in the 10'x10' space with dirt to create a smooth surface.

Day 2 (the following Friday):
S has taken a vacation day to work on the patio project. I'm feeling pretty grateful: not a lot of people would be excited to spend a vacation day pushing around rocks, but he is. As I leave for the office, the local quarry delivers three yards of diamond dust. This will be used under the slate tiles and in the walkways. All the diamond dust will eventually make its way down the driveway, then back up the yard towards the patio area. Here is a visual of the long journey that S and that diamond dust will take together, over and over again:

While I'm at work, I get a text from S. He wants to know what type of rocks should go around the edge of the patio. We agree on pond stone, as well as some larger rocks mixed in for texture and visual interest. At lunch, I go outside and snap a picture to send to S. These are the larger rocks I'd like to see interspersed with the pond stone. They are apparently called river jacks.

This picture feels like such a fashion blogger cliche...

I return to our house 11 hours later, and the yard has been transformed. More than half of the patio is complete and both paths are in progress. I'm so thrilled that I forget to take a picture.

Day 3 (Saturday):
S continues laying the slate tiles on the remaining portion of the patio. I'm now able to witness how labor intensive this process is. Much of the day involves tamping the diamond dust before installing the slate to ensure the surface is as level as possible. Several times, I catch S lying face down on the ground, trying to get a good read on the level (or perhaps he is taking a much-needed break...I can't be quite sure). He also continues filling in the pathways with diamond dust, and tamping those as well.

I have a dentist appointment first thing in the morning, so I'm out of the house for three hours. My dentist is 40 miles away, and this is one of those times when I'm kicking myself for not finding a local dentist after we moved here. Apparently, I'm too lazy to research a new dentist, but not too lazy to drive an hour for a dental cleaning. It figures.

When I'm back home, S is putting pond stone and river jacks (those larger ones I requested) around the edges of the patio. Based on our bank account activity, I now know that S went to Lowe's six times on Saturday. He also went to the garden center three times. We needed a ton of rocks for this project, and you can only load so much into a small car. Luckily, we live close to both stores. But now there are even more rocks that need to be moved from the driveway to the yard. I help by moving 50 lbs of pond stone. S suggests that I leave this part to him; apparently I am lifting with my back and it concerns him.

Here is the part where I totally pull my weight: I leave for another three hours for a riding lesson. If you are thinking that I sound like a prissy princess, I can't say I blame you. La-di-da. My husband is moving rocks to build a patio. All by himself. I'll just go off and ride some horses. Isn't this a relaxing weekend?

For the sake of clarity, I should explain that the riding lessons are an occasional thing. This is only the third time I've ever ridden, and I'm very much a beginner. I received a package of lessons as a gift from S (as if you needed any more evidence that he's a wonderful husband). The lessons were not cheap, so I want to be sure I use all my lessons before they expire at the end of October. I'd love to continue riding in the future, but I'm not sure whether that will be possible. It's quite a commitment, both of time and money. By the way, if you'd like to see a picture of me riding, feel free to check out my Instagram account.

On my way home from the stables, I stop at an orchard to pick up S's favorite variety of apples, as well as some hard cider and some cider donuts. If there is ever a day when he should feel free to indulge in comfort food, it's today. Back at the house, I trim back some of the dying plants and rake the leaves from the front yard. Then I head inside to straighten up the kitchen and start dinner. Tonight, we're having margherita pizza (for homemade dough, I like this recipe from Smitten Kitchen). If I'm not helping with the manual labor, the least I can do is to prep something tasty and filling for us to eat.

At the end of day 3, the yard looks like this:

Day 4 (Sunday):
A pallet of fieldstone arrives from the garden center. Our neighbors must think we're planning to build a wall. My father-in-law also stops by. He and S have plans for a few hours in the morning. While they are gone, I paint window sashes in our basement workshop and do some laundry. When S returns, he moves the fieldstone, arranging it along the edges of the patio and paths. He also uses it to create a boundary between our grass and the mulched flower beds. This, along with more tamping, takes most of the day. I run errands and make another filling dinner: kale caeser salad and roasted butternut squash soup with bacon.

We have a few odds and ends to finish up before we'll call this project complete. Next spring, we will add some furniture to the patio so that it is fully functional (the adirondack is just there temporarily to show scale). But this project has definitely satisfied our need for a "quick win." Feel free to tell my husband he's a rockstar. I'm probably biased, but I tend to agree.

The Tortoise Wins, Right?

2016-10-14T07:53:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I think that I should have chosen a different name for this blog. The Papered House is fine, as far as names go. It's accurate and descriptive: it's true that our house was completely covered in vintage wallpaper when we moved in. It's also true that I spend far too much time and energy thinking about what type of wallpaper I'd like to install when we're at that stage of the DIY process.

To say that I'm a wallpaper nerd is an understatement. Case in point: for my birthday last year, my husband S bought me a 300-page book on the history of wallpaper. It was shipped from the UK, because no copies were available within the US. I've been known to exceed our cell phone data plan while browsing William Morris and Sanderson wallpaper designs. If I ever win the lottery, my first purchase will be hand-painted de Gournay wallpaper murals for our dining room (actually that's a lie. First I will order orchestra section tickets to Hamilton. And then, I will buy de Gournay).

Although I wasn't clever enough to remember the more common meaning of a "papered house" when I selected the blog name, now I take perverse pleasure in imagining some 19th century rascals dressed like the cast of Newsies covering our Victorian house with toilet paper. I know that's a highly improbable scenario. In all likelihood, the primitive toilet paper available during the late 1800s would have been expensive enough to prevent frivolous use. But reality aside, imagining this scenario gives me the giggles nonetheless.

Anyway, The Papered House works fine as a blog name. But if I had known then what I know now, I might have named this blog The Tortoise House. You would then know to expect verrrrry sloooooow progress from us. I'm a big fan of managing expectations.

This is how I often feel about the pace of our DIY projects:

We sometimes feel like we're spinning our wheels with this house, and it can be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have learned that instant gratification is not compatible with rehabbing an old home. When I'm feeling frustrated with the pace of our rehab, occasionally I'll give myself permission to take the night off and relax after work with a glass of wine. But more often, I tell myself, "this house isn't going to fix itself." That saying is a constant mantra in this household, and it's usually enough to kick myself into gear and get back to the task at hand.

Since I last posted (in June), we've made progress on several big projects. Actually, I should say that my husband S has made progress on these projects. As much as I hate to admit that he does the heavy labor, it's true. I'm in charge of painting, cleaning, and otherwise containing the chaos that comes with having an open project in nearly every room. In the past few months, "we" have installed new electric for five of the seven overhead lights on the first floor. The overhead lights in the kitchen and back porch still need new wiring, and then we'll be ready for inspection. Since we were already drilling holes into the plaster in order to install the new wiring, we decided it would be a good time to repaired cracked plaster ceilings along the way. So far, the ceilings in the dining room and front hall have been repaired (though I still need to sand, which tops the list of my least favorite projects). In between those projects, we have also continued to chip away at other tedious, time-intensive projects on our list, like stripping and repainting all the original molding and restoring our windows.

Unfortunately, this summer we also encountered several house-related setbacks. I had a long, protracted post written about those frustrations, but I'll save that for a different post. Spoiler alert: it involves a slate roof, leaky pipes, an old HVAC system, and structural concerns about our porch. I think it's important to be transparent about the challenges of owning and rehabbing an old home, so I'll publish that post at some point. But today is not that day.

I'm determined that this post will be about the things that are going well at The Papered House. Like the family room! Our family room is coming together quite nicely. Our goal for this room is to give it an Arts and Crafts/Mission-style aesthetic, while still coordinating with the rest of our decor. We aren't done yet, but here are a few shots of what the family room looks like today:

As of my June post, we had checked off the first six steps in rehabbing the family room, including:

1. Install two new outlets. Run new wiring to overhead light (will be active after inspection)
2. Remove all the baseboard, window casings and door casing
3. Purchase, cut, prime, and install new window and door casings. Patch nail heads and caulk if needed
4. Repair plaster using Big Wally's Plaster Magic. Patch and sand walls after repair
5. Prime two walls (other two walls will have existing wallpaper)
6. Paint two walls (other two walls will have existing wallpaper)

In the past three months, we checked off the next six steps on our family room project, including the following:

7. Paint new molding
8. Repair ceiling plaster. Patch and sand ceiling after repair
9. Prime ceiling
10. Paint ceiling
11. Restore three windows (strip paint on sash, channel, and sill; apply new glazing; install new weatherstripping, sash cords, and new parting bead; prime and paint sash, channel, and sill)
12. Install wallpaper border to coordinate with existing wallpaper and wall color

When we moved into this house, there was crown molding in this room. Like the existing baseboards, window casings and door casings in this room, it was clearly not original. However, all the woodwork was covered in chipping paint that was beyond repair, so it had to be removed. Rather than installing new crown molding, we decided to hang a wallpaper border from Bradbury & Bradbury. We used the "Aster Border" in Aesthetic Green from Bradbury's William Morris Woodland Roomset. We couldn't be happier with how it complements our existing wallpaper and the color on the walls (Craftsman Gold at 70% intensity from California Paints).

These pictures also show the detail of the new Craftsman-style trim that we installed around our doors and windows. We're so happy with the new trim. This was a design that my husband S created after researching and speaking with an Arts and Crafts expert. He spent a lot of time down in the basement using the saw to cut this molding, but it was totally worth it (says the lady who has only used the saw once in her entire life).

The antique swing-arm curtain rods were an eBay purchase. We have very similar ones in our bedroom (those can be seen here); we like the style, and the price was right. For the three sets in our family room, we paid just $60 including shipping. There is a downside to buying antique hardware: several of the brackets are a bit cock-eyed and bent, which causes the rods to be out of alignment. We might tinker with them in the future to see if we can get the curtain rods to appear more level. For now, they are fine. The curtains are a sheer linen fabric with embroidered medallions. They previously hung in one of our guest bedrooms, and were a last minute purchase at HomeGoods when we were hosting houseguests. Initially, I just hung them in the family room as placeholders, thinking they might be too modern for the family room. But now that they are there, I like them. S pointed out that the medallions on the curtains are similar to the medallions on the wallpaper. He's right.

We still have a few tasks remaining in the family room. Some of these tasks are small, like hanging artwork. Other tasks, such as stripping and repainting the doors, will take more time. We've decided to hold off until stripping the doors until winter. There are five(!) doors in this room and we need to make some space in the basement workshop to strip them safely. We've also decided to prioritize some of the more time-sensitive tasks before winter sets in.

This weekend, we are tackling a number of exterior projects. It's also time for us to decorate for Halloween! In the meantime, I'll leave you with a creepy picture of our family room just after dawn. Tell me this does not look like the promo poster of a horror movie.

-The Papered House dares you to pull a Halloween prank. Go ahead, try it.

Family Room Update: A Slow, Dusty Road

2016-06-20T07:27:00.002-04:00

When I last showed pictures of our family room, it had a split personality. From one angle, the room looked fairly decent. We had a comfy couch, a handmade coffee table, and an antique Stickley Mission-style chair. I dare say our family room almost looked inviting in these pictures.

But from a different angle? It looked like a completely different room. Two of our family room walls looked like they fell victim to the exuberance of the KoolAid guy (oh, yeah!):

In mid-April, my husband and I decided to tackle the family room in earnest. We relocated most of the furniture to elsewhere in the house, and started the long, dusty task of rehabbing this room. I've mentioned previously that we love the wallpaper in this room. We're not sure how old the paper is, but we suspect that it may be handprinted because of slight variations in the color. When we moved into the house, the same wallpaper was on all four walls in the family room. However, the paper on two of the walls was peeling so badly that it was beyond saving. We removed the wallpaper from the walls where it was peeling, but decided to preserve the wallpaper on the other two walls. After removing the damaged wallpaper, we decided to paint those two walls in a color that would complement the paper.

The color we chose is called Craftsman Gold and it's from the 20th-Century Collection by California Paints. It's a very rich, intense goldenrod hue that looks striking next to the white woodwork.

We are aiming for an Arts and Crafts aesthetic in this room since it seems consistent with the earthy colors in the wallpaper. The Arts and Crafts style will come mostly from the decor, as well as our new molding. Our normal preference is to preserve the existing molding whenever possible. However, the existing molding in this room was not original and it was quite plain, so we did not feel guilty when we made the decision to replace it. In addition, the door casings, window casings, and baseboards were covered in layers of chipping, peeling paint. If this molding had been original, we would have considered stripping it of the paint. But that's a time-consuming, laborious process that we didn't think was worthwhile for plain, non-original molding. We'll also install new crown molding since the existing has the same problem of badly chipping paint. The new door casings, window casings, and baseboards consist of pine 1x4s that are edge-trimmed with a 1.25" strip of pine, creating a dimensional profile. My husband S developed the design after looking at catalogs from the Arts and Crafts period and consulting with an antique dealer who specializes in Arts and Crafts decor. This was a fairly simple profile, but even so, he spent hours in the basement cutting the new molding.

Craftsman-style baseboard

Craftsman-style door casing

One of the largest projects in this room is updating the electrical work. This room only had one outlet when we moved in. The lack of outlets hasn't been much of a problem thus far because we're a bit old school in our electronics usage. But even so, we'd like to have more than one outlet in the room that will be our primary entertainment space. New wiring also needs to be run to the overhead light in this room (and in fact, to all the overhead lights on our first floor -- but that's a story for another time). I'm very grateful that this is a task we'll be doing ourselves. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I'm not doing any of the electric work, other than occasionally helping S fish wires through our plaster walls and calling out "How's it going? Can you see/hear/reach the wire yet?" But I am very grateful that S will be doing the electric work with guidance from his father, who has extensive electrical experience. We applied for and received a permit to do this work, and S spent a lot of time researching the code regulations. It's fortunate that we don't need to hire a professional for this project, because I am sure it would be a budget buster. Even so, I'm not looking forward to the inspection process.

New outlet in family room

New wiring for ceiling fixture

Significant plaster repair has been needed on both the walls and the ceiling since we bought this house. We created additional damage to the plaster when installing the new molding and fixing the electric. These walls will never be perfect, but considering the severity of the cracks, we are pleased with how our plaster repair turned out. This is what the wall looks like after using Big Wally's Plaster Magic, and about 12 thin layers of spackle. Not pictured: the piles of dust we vacuumed up with the shop vac. It was unbelievable.

And this is what that wall used to look like:

Other major projects include fully restoring the windows in this room, and stripping/repainting the doors. There are five (yes, 5!!!) doors in this room alone, and two of them are French doors.

Since the middle of April, we have been diligently working away on this room and chipping away at our task list. Initially, I planned to post updates frequently, in an attempt to depict our real-time progress. But it's tricky for me to find the energy to rehab a house in the evenings, and then maintain the momentum to blog about the process as well.

Here is an update of the progress from the past two months:

1. Install two new outlets. Run new wiring to overhead light - DONE
2. Remove all the baseboard, window casings and door casing - DONE
3. Purchase, cut, prime, and install new window and door casings. Patch nail heads and caulk if needed - DONE
4. Repair plaster using Big Wally's Plaster Magic. Patch and sand walls after repair - DONE
5. Prime two walls - DONE
6. Paint two walls - DONE
7. Paint new molding - IN PROGRESS
8. Repair ceiling plaster. Patch and sand ceiling after repair - IN PROGRESS
9. Prime ceiling: Status - NOT DONE
10. Paint ceiling. Status - NOT DONE
11. Restore three windows (strip paint on sash, channel, and sill; apply new glazing; install new weatherstripping, sash cords, and new parting bead; prime and paint sash, channel, and sill) - IN PROGRESS
12. Install and paint new crown molding - NOT DONE
13. Install quarter round molding - NOT DONE
14. Strip, paint, and rehang five doors. Status: NOT DONE
15. Purchase new Mission-style ceiling light fixture, curtains, and media stand: NOT DONE

Once we finish the first 12 of those 15 tasks, we'll be far enough along in this project to move the furniture back into the family room. That will be a very exciting day. At the moment, our entire first floor feels chaotic and cluttered since all the family room furniture has been shoved into the dining room and living room. We still have several tasks ahead of us in this room, but we're pleased with the direction so far.

Thank you for reading, folks! This week my goal is to finish painting the molding. I've learned that it's a challenge to paint the woodwork without accidentally painting the vintage wallpaper at the same time, especially since the wallpaper is too brittle for painter's tape to be an option. Slow and steady is the name of the game...

Progress in the Upstairs Hallway

2016-03-07T07:59:00.000-05:00

Since we moved into The Papered House, our upstairs hallway has been in rough shape. I didn't take a "before" photo, but I'll try to describe what we were working with: The baseboards, crown molding, and door casings were covered in multiple layers of chipping paint. The floors were covered in a beige-colored carpet. The carpet must have been beautiful and plush when it was installed over twenty years ago. However, our house's only bathroom is on the second floor, at the end of the hall. As a result, this area has gotten a lot of foot traffic over the years, and the carpet had definitely seen better days. A previous owner had removed wallpaper and applied a coat of primer before putting this house on the market. However, there is no window in this hallway, and the space always felt dark and dingy despite there being light primer on the walls.

To add insult to injury, we definitely made the hallway worse. We knew we wanted to rip out the carpet, so we didn't make an effort to protect it while working on any other home improvement projects. We dripped all types of paint, paint stripper, and spackle on the carpet and it soon started to look much worse. Like a Jackson Pollack painting gone terribly, terribly wrong.

We've now made some progress is the hallway and it is starting to look so much better.

My husband stripped all the paint off the baseboards and door casings. There are five doors in this space, so that process took at least a month. The wood trim has been painted with a fresh coat of "Relative White" from California Paints. As I described in my last post, my husband agreed to let me use caulk around the edges of the trim, and it made all the difference.

We ripped up the carpet and discovered beautiful hardwood floors underneath. Given that this hall leads to our one and only bathroom, we had to be a bit creative about refinishing the hardwood if we were going to stay in the house. We decided to do a "quick refinish": we sanded off the top layer of finish, but didn't remove any stain. Then, we applied a new coat of finish immediately before going to bed, being sure to work our way towards the master bedroom. We were able to walk gingerly on the floors the next morning, provided we were barefoot. We repeated the process the next night to apply a second coat of finish.

As I mentioned, there is limited natural light in this space. Rather than fighting the space and trying in vain to make it light and bright, we decided it would be better to work with what we have. Our goal became to make this space feel warm and cozy, rather than bright. Once we decided on this approach, choosing the paint color was much easier. The shade we used is called "Asian Jute" and it's from California Paint's Historic Colors of America collection. It's a deep beige with rich gold undertones.

According to the folks at California Paints, this particular shade has been used in almost every architectural period in American history: Colonial, Federal, Greek Revival, and Victorian. We like feeling this connection to the past and knowing that we've selected a color that has been used in American homes for hundreds of years.

Our bathroom does not have a linen closet, so we store linens in this antique washstand. We believe this dates to the 1920s or 1930s. The marble top is one of my favorite features, as well as the intricate hardware.

A small antique lamp sits on top of the washstand. Its twin lives one flight down, on a table in our entry hall.

If my husband and I ever need to get ready at the same time, this mirror comes in handy. I can work on my hair and makeup out in the hallway, so that he's free to use the bathroom. It's just an added bonus that this mirror casts a shadow resembling the Bat Signal.

Last but not least, this cherished piece of artwork was a wedding gift from a former boss. His wife is an artist and she made this lovely mixed-media piece. The gold and olive green tie in perfectly with the wall color and the runner we chose for this space.

As with all of our projects, this one isn't quite done. We still need to repair some cracks in the ceiling and give it a fresh coat of paint. One of the baseboards was in very bad shape, so we pulled it off and will be installing a new one soon. Not seen in this picture is our attic door, which still needs some work. We're waiting for the weather to warm up so that we can remove the door from its frame and take it to the basement to finish removing the paint.

Thanks for reading, folks. Have a wonderful week!

The Caulk Fight

2016-03-04T07:35:00.000-05:00

My husband and I recently had a fight. A major difference of opinion, if you will. About caulk.

Yes, caulk.

Are you picturing two adults wielding caulk guns, battling it out like a glorified Silly String fight? I wish it were that fun. It was not. This was a verbal tiff. Fortunately, we were able resolve our differences without resorting to projectile home improvement materials.

This is what happens when you've been in a relationship with the same person since you were both 19 years old, and you have nothing else to argue about: at this point, we agree on all the big things, like family priorities, finances, career goals, politics, and religion. Sure, there are small things we disagree about. He doesn't like that I squeeze the toothpaste right in the middle of the tube, every.single.time. I don't like that he hangs his towel on the shower curtain rod, rather than using the empty towel rack.

After a while, we get tired of arguing about toothpaste and towels. We just decide to let it go, because we do not care that much about toothpaste or towels. Instead, we fight about caulk. And the stakes start to feel very high, because we argue so infrequently. We are both strong-willed and accustomed to being in control. It's not a great recipe for compromise.

When I posted detail shots of our master bedroom, you may have noticed the gaps between the plaster and the crown molding:

Or those little crumbly holes hiding in this corner behind the lamp:

Perhaps you were so enchanted by our lovely antique lamps that you didn't notice the holes (Ha!). Or perhaps you noticed the holes and gaps, but were too polite to point them out. I suspect it's the latter. After all, this is a blog written for people, not magpies. I'm sure you were not fooled by the shiny, pretty things in front of the very imperfect things (I wish that strategy worked, but it doesn't). Thank you for graciously ignoring our house's imperfections.

When my husband S sees those holes, he thinks of words like "character" and "authenticity."

When I see those holes, I think of words like "sloppy" and "unfinished." And also, "vexing." Very vexing. I've painted these walls with two finish coats, so presumably the walls should be done. I should be moving on to other projects. But now that I've seen those gaps and holes, I cannot unsee them. I fixate on them every time I come into the bedroom. And similar gaps can be found in other places in our home, as well.

I figured the solution was to fill in those gaps with latex caulk, then touch up the bedroom wall (or repaint the whole wall if needed.) In hindsight, I regret not spending a bit more time prepping the walls, because repainting an entire wall will take much longer. When I suggested filling in the holes with caulk, S looked horrified and very emphatically told me, "I am not okay with using caulk on our plaster walls. Definitely NOT." His objection is not that it would be a waste of time to redo the nearly-finished work in this room. This would be a fair point, but it's not the point he's making. His issue is with the caulk itself.

Keep in mind: I am not suggesting we use caulk to fix structural issues. To repair plaster cracks, we used Big Wally's Plaster Magic. It's a pricey product, but the results seem worth the investment. To repair larger issues in our walls, my husband has been teaching himself how to apply plaster (brown coat, scratch coat, skim coat...the whole nine yards). I am only suggesting using caulk to fill these tiny, hard to reach holes that are purely aesthetic. The caulk would serve no structural or functional purpose whatsoever.

Whenever I'm told I can't do something, I demand to know the reason. And then, once the reason has been supplied, I tend to be enormously skeptical about the validity of the reason. It's not a trait I'm proud of.

My husband says that historic preservationists often discourage caulk because it does not bond with the plaster. Apparently, the caulk just sits on top of the plaster. I agree with my husband that we should do everything in our power to preserve the plaster. If there is any risk that the caulk will damage the plaster or the woodwork, I don't want to use it. But if caulk doesn't damage the plaster, then I can't see the harm in using it.

I admire his dedication to history and to honoring historic methods, materials, and tools. I think many old homes fall victim to repairs that do not respect the original materials or architecture. I doubt that either of us will ever be guilty of intentionally compromising our home's character. But at the end of the day, I'm also interested in a satisfactory result. I don't want it to look like we cut corners. I want to see the proof of our hard work.

So, I challenged my husband to produce the evidence: I wanted to read the articles/blog posts/forum conversations/technical papers for myself. Tell me precisely which preservationists have determined that we can't use caulk. Because if I have to keep looking at these holes and gaps on a daily basis, I want to know who is to blame for my discontent (I'm kidding...sort of). But I genuinely wanted to understand why it would, apparently, be so detrimental to use caulk on our historic walls. What's the danger of using caulk on plaster?

I gave my husband a ten day ultimatum: produce satisfactory anti-caulk evidence, or else I am buying a tube of caulk.

I was victorious:

Before the end of the ten day period, my husband surrendered. He told me to go ahead and buy the caulk. I'm not sure what happened. It's possible he relented when he saw how much those holes were bothering me. It's possible that he wasn't able to locate the anti-caulk articles. It's also possible that he invented the "evidence" all along. I'll never know. But it doesn't matter because caulk is a go!

Don't tell S, but in truth, I was about to surrender. I had nearly resigned myself to looking at these holes every day. After all, the man agreed to light pink in our master bedroom. That counts for a lot in my book. It should have been my turn to compromise, right? But S is a better, less stubborn person than I am.

To celebrate my success, I experimented with the caulk gun last weekend, filling in the gaps around the door casings in our upstairs hallway. Here are a few before and after photos.

The upstairs hallway has now been freshly painted and the caulk made all the difference. I can hardly believe how good the hallway looks, thanks to a little caulk. I'll share the hallway makeover in a few days. And in the coming weeks, I'll be filling in all those gaps in our bedroom. Hooray!

~The Papered House has a strange definition of success

Master Bedroom Progress, Part 3

2016-02-12T08:11:00.000-05:00

With the windows mostly repaired and the walls painted, we're at the fun stage in our master bedroom. Now, most of the remaining work is about finding the right furniture, adding decorative accents, and optimizing storage.

Once again, I need to apologize for the poor lighting in these pictures. As I've mentioned before, this room actually has a wonderful amount of natural light; I'm just doing a terrible job of capturing it.

Lighting
We're really pleased with the new (to us) light fixtures in this room. The porcelain table lamps were Ebay finds, and according to the seller they are converted oil lamps. My husband isn't convinced these lamps are as old as advertised, but even if they aren't, I still like the style. I have never ordered anything this fragile from Ebay before, and I was not sure if the lamps would arrive in good condition. They did. Each piece was carefully wrapped in bubble wrap. The shades were included in the purchase, and arrived in an entirely separate box to protect them from the heavy lamp bases.

The lamp bases are green with gold accents. The artwork and area rugs in this room have sage green elements, so these lamps work well in the space. We have an antique botanical print on one wall of the alcove, and an Asian silk painting on another of the alcove walls. The lamps work very well with these pieces. I like seeing these two photos next to each other, because it's a great example of how the paint color changes in this room based on the lighting conditions.

Antique botanical print. Natural daylight only.

Silk painting. Natural daylight, plus lamps

The brass chandelier is the real showstopper in this room. It was a Craigslist find and the posting said it was a converted oil lamp. We're positive that this chandelier was actually used as an oil lamp, because in many places we can see traces of oil residue. The chandelier needed to be rewired, so it was listed for a reasonable price. My father-in-law is very experienced with electrical work and has shared a lot of that knowledge with my husband, S. At this point, S has rewired a half dozen antique light fixtures. Rewiring lamps and hanging light fixtures is starting to feel like second nature to him.

Even so, rewiring this chandelier was a bit of a challenge. Parts of it were rusted and corroded, making it difficult to disassemble in order to replace the old wire. We special ordered the thinnest wire we could find, but even so, it was a very tight fit to get the wire through the narrowest section of this lamp. The first time he rewired the chandelier, the wire was short by about 1" so we had to start from scratch. Oops. It was a learning process, to say the least. The rewiring process took a couple of weekends and we're not quite done: One of the lightbulbs keeps burning out, so we need to troubleshoot that issue on some weekend when we feel like shutting off the second floor power.

The shades are my favorite part. They have hobnail details, and the glass is mostly clear, with milky white near the ruffled edges.

And when the chandelier is on, it casts a lovely glow around the room.

Storage
The one downside to this room is that it has limited storage. There's a single 36" wide closet, which you can see on the right side of the picture above. 36" may have been a sufficient amount of storage for a Victorian couple, but we have a very modern amount of stuff. We decided that my husband would store his clothes in the closet in our bedroom and I would store my things elsewhere.

But it wasn't really working out:

There were no shelves built into this closet, so he tried using a wire storage unit left over from his college days. But those wire storage units are never very sturdy, even when they are brand new. His was at least a decade old. It was so rickety that the shelves were constantly collapsing, so he ended up stacking his clothes in higher and higher piles in the closet. And on the floor. Outside of the closet. He was doing the best he could, but his closet was so dysfunctional that his clothes were always a mess. And then I would get cranky because of the lack of organization.

Two weekends ago, he built some custom shelving in his closet and it has made a vast improvement. There is still room to hang his suits and dress shirts. But now he has five cedar shelves for all his folded items.

We decided to use cedar because 1) it will deter moths and 2) the closet already had cedar paneling. Cedar is a pricey wood so the raw materials were about $60 for this project. The advantage of this custom unit is that my husband was able to build himself precisely what he wanted.

Fun fact: no sandpaper was used in the creation of these shelves. S decided to plane the cedar boards using antique wood planes. He has been building a collection of antique tools and has been experimenting with them for several weeks. He finds enjoyment in trying to use historic tools and methods when possible.

Antique wood planes

Cedar shelves, after the boards were cut and glued together. There are three shelves pictured here.

Furniture

For the time being, my belongings are spread among the closets in our guest bedrooms (yes, plural closets. I have a lot of clothes. And shoes. And handbags). Eventually, we're looking to find a better storage solution for me. In my head, I'm picturing some sort of massive wardrobe with options for both hanging and folding clothes. If the wardrobe can transport me to Narnia, I'll be thrilled. But if the wardrobe holds my clothes, I'll be satisfied. I'm also considering some under-the-bed storage options from The Container Store to really maximize our usable space in this room.

We're also on the hunt for a pair of nightstands. We've checked several antique sores, but haven't found anything suitable yet. I'm not precisely sure what style we're looking for, but I think we'll know it when we see it. The clearance on either side of our bed is somewhat limited, so we'll need to find narrow nightstands. The wood tones don't need to match our bed exactly, but we want them to be in the same general family. In the meantime, we're using my husbands childhood nightstand and a red nightstand from a thrift store. Other than the nightstands and a wardrobe, there isn't much other furniture we'd like to add to this room. From a decorative standpoint, we'd like some sheer curtains (samples are on the way) and I think we could use a focal point above the headboard. But this room is coming along and it's a very comfortable space.

Thanks for reading, folks. Have a great weekend!

Master Bedroom Progress, Part 2

2016-02-05T07:01:00.000-05:00

When I last posted about our Master Bedroom, the walls were mostly painted and we had restored the first of the five windows. The bedroom was habitable, but far from complete. At the time, I had divided our remaining projects into "short-term" and "long-term" tasks. Here is that list, and an update of where we stand thus far:

Short-Term Project List
*Repair all windows - 75%
*Paint crown molding - NO
*Prep and paint narrow walls to the left of the alcove - YES
*Stencil ceiling - 5%
*Repaint and rehang entry door - YES
*Repaint and rehang closet door - NO

Longer-Term Project List
*Purchase new/antique nightstand(s) - NO
*Purchase antique table lamps - YES
*Purchase small antique chandelier - YES
*Hang some additional artwork - YES
*Refinish husband's dresser (not pictured) - NO
*Improve storage (maximize space in closet and under the bed; find/create some storage solution for me) - 50%.

As you can see from that list, we were a bit flexible with our approach to prioritizing tasks. We moved on to some of the long-term tasks before completing the short-term ones. This probably sounds like poor project management, but it was the right choice.

In this post, I'll talk specifically about repairing the windows and the walls next to the alcove.

Windows:
We've now restored four of the five windows in this room. They've each gotten soup to nuts restoration: first we stripped the old paint from the wood and hardware, then applied new glazing, new oil-based paint, new sash cords, and new brass weatherstripping. After repairing the first window, we identified three areas for improvement: improved speed, improved craftsmanship of our glazing, and improved craftsmanship of our paint job.

We've done a little better in all those areas, but we still have lots of room for improvement. But there was one area where we did far worse: keeping the glass intact.

When we repaired the first window, we removed all the crumbly glazing. We then removed the panes of glass completely, primed the window sashes, reinserted the glass and applied new glazing. When we tried this same approach for the second window, the glass shattered. On both the top and bottom sashes. When the first pane shattered, we thought it was a fluke. We were heartbroken, but figured that perhaps there was a hairline crack that we hadn't noticed. Then we cracked the second pane, and we became more concerned. Clearly we were doing something wrong.

We had no obvious explanation for the broken glass: we did not drop it or bump it against another object. We lifted it carefully and set it down carefully.

These are large panes of original wavy glass, and it turns out that they are so thin and brittle that simply holding them incorrectly can cause them to break.

When the glass broke, I was reminded of a conversation I had with an antiques dealer. He said that one of his biggest disappointments is breaking an antique that he knows has been treasured and passed down from generation to generation. There are few feelings worse than knowing that you are responsible for ruining an item that had otherwise stood the test of time. He was so right.

We were especially devastated when we learned that this glass was somewhat unusual for a house like ours. Our house was built c.1880 and glass manufacturing technology had recently made great strides. However, large panes of glass were still very costly. For this reason, most houses in the 1880s had windows that were built with two (or more) smaller panes of glasses on each sash. This is called a "two-over-two" configuration, and it's what we have on the rear windows and most side windows. On the front of our house, however, the windows have a single large pane of glass in each sash. This is known as a "one-over-one" configuration. I've seen these types of windows on the Victorian mansions in our town, but rarely on more modest homes like ours. The previous owners likely made a large investment when choosing these one-over-one windows, and I'm sure they were a point of pride for the house's inhabitants. The fact that the one-over-one windows are only on the front of our house shows that they were too costly to use throughout. We were so discouraged when the glass broke that we ended up stepping away from window repair for a few weeks and reevaluating our process.

When we resumed the window repair, we replaced the broken glass on the second window with old glass from an antique store. It's not as old or wavy as our glass, but we figured it would be a better approximation than using new glass.

Note: I apologize that these pictures are so dark. This room gets a lot of natural light, but I'm having a hard time capturing light in any pictures I take of this room.

For the third and fourth windows, we decided to restore the windows without removing the glass, given our bad track record. In addition, both of these windows already had small cracks in the glass (not our doing!). We thought preserving the original glass was worthwhile, even if the glass isn't perfect. Our solution for now is to leave the original glass in place, and put a thin layer of epoxy over the cracked section. We'll see how well it holds up. If we ever have children, we may decide on a different approach. With our previous approach, we replaced all the old glazing. With our new approach, we just removed any loose glazing, then applied a thin layer of new glazing over the existing, intact glazing. We did not attempt to lift or remove the glass. Here is what the restored third and fourth windows look like.

I'd say that we're about 75% finished with the window repair in this room. Windows three and four still need new interior stops. We also still need to repair the fifth window (not pictured). When we finished the fourth window, it was late November or early December. Since we need to remove each window for about a month in order to restore them, we decided to wait until spring to tackle the fifth window.

Here's another close-up picture of the restored window. The new brass weatherstripping has done a great job of eliminating drafts in this room. To make the seal even tighter, we added temporary weatherstripping cord for the winter months. In the picture above, it's that squiggly stuff. It looks terrible, but it's keeping our room warm, so we'll live with it for a few more months.

Walls:

When we removed the wallpaper from this room, we were in for a surprise. In the section of wall next to the alcove, the plaster was in very bad shape. Large pieces of plaster fell away from the wall, exposing our brick chimney. And we were in for another surprise: it appeared that several of the bricks had been chiseled away, leaving a hole the size of a dinner plate.

According to our mason, this hole in the brick likely resulted from a potbelly stove being piped into the chimney. At some later point, the stove was removed and the wall was patched with a new layer of plaster, without replacing the missing bricks. As you might expect, the new plaster was weak in this section since there was nothing (i.e., no bricks) for it to adhere to.

This chimney is nonfunctional, but from a structural standpoint, we didn't particularly like the idea of the missing bricks. We asked our mason to fill in the missing bricks to the best of his ability. Since we were already doing so much exterior masonry work, the incremental cost for this repair was relatively minor.

This is the last picture I posted of this wall, which shows the repaired brick. At the time, we were considering leaving this small portion of brick exposed.

I love the look of exposed historic brick. However, after staring at our exposed bricks for several weeks (or was it months?) we decided that it just looked unfinished. We tried putting a picture frame around it, but it still didn't look right. We decided that this section of exposed brick was just too small to look intentional.

We had two options: 1) remove more plaster, exposing a larger section of the chimney. Hope it looks right, or 2) repair the missing plaster.

Ultimately, we decided to repair the plaster. My husband balked at the idea of tearing perfectly good plaster off the walls. He's also not fond of exposing masonry that wasn't originally intended to be seen. He's a purist that way, I guess.

So, no exposed brick for our bedroom. I will just have to enjoy other people's exposed brick via Instagram and Pinterest. The struggle is real.

We repaired most of the walls in our bedroom using Big Wally's Plaster Magic. I've spoken about Big Wally's before, and it does a fantastic job of repairing small and large plaster cracks. But it's not intended to repair holes the size of a dinner plate. So, my husband learned how to use plaster and patched the hole. Then I applied several coats of joint compound, smoothing the surface as best as I could. Our repair isn't perfect, but it's pretty good for our first time using plaster.

My husband enjoys all the imperfections in the plaster walls, with the thought that it gives our home character. I haven't come around to that viewpoint yet. I tend to focus on every bump and dimple in the plaster, and wish I had spent a little more time prepping the walls before painting. In hindsight, I might have applied one of two more coats of joint compound to get the surface as smooth and straight as possible.

Even so, compared with where we started, I think this wall is a case of "done is better than perfect." There's no longer a hole in our chimney or our walls. That's a good thing.

Stenciling:
In my short-term project list, I planned to stencil the ceiling. In some of the pictures above, you can see that I started the border. I am happy with how it looks so far, but I haven't made much progress. I'll finish this project eventually, but it turns out that stenciling a ceiling is an incredibly slow process. I'm doing it by hand and working in small sections. Each 4-6" section of ceiling requires climbing down the ladder, refilling the brush, and climbing back up the ladder. The ceiling is going to look lovely when it's done, but it's been moved to the long-term project list. I can't quite remember why I thought stenciling the ceiling was important enough to be a short-term project.

We've also added a few decorative touches to this room, like new table lamps, an antique chandelier, and some better storage. I'll save those for a future post. Thanks for checking in, friends!

The Past Three Months

2016-01-27T07:10:00.001-05:00

Hi, folks! I suppose I should take this opportunity to say Happy (belated) New Year. I should also offer some explanation for the lack of posting over the last three months.

Honestly, we have been working on home improvement projects and we've made some progress. However, most of those projects are still partially unfinished, so I delayed posting updates in the hopes of having some dramatic before and after pictures. I finally realized that if I wait to post until each of these projects is completely finished, I would leave you hanging until 2017.

And in the spirit of full disclosure, there's another reason I haven't posted much: some of our projects have been so tedious that I was worried they wouldn't make good blog content. But the truth is that rehabbing a historic home always includes tedious tasks, like stripping 19 million linear feet of trim, removing wallpaper from every room (or thinking about and dreading wallpaper removal), or glazing windows and waiting two weeks for the glazing to dry. These tasks, tedious as they sometimes feel, are part and parcel of any historic restoration. So, here's an update of what we've been up to these past three months.

Family Room

When I last posted about our family room (here), I shared that we had preserved the wallpaper on two of the walls by covering it with a clear sealant. Those are the two walls that you can see in the picture above. On the other two walls, we started to strip the wallpaper because it was in particularly bad shape. Our plan is to eventually paint the two walls after we remove the wallpaper, selecting a paint color that complements the colors in the wallpaper. The good news is that the wallpaper preservation technique has held up well since that last post, which was about 8 months ago. There are no rips and the preserved wallpaper has not started to peel away from the wall.

The bad news? In those same 8 months, I haven't made appreciable progress in removing the rest of the wallpaper. We use the family room on a daily basis, and on a daily basis, this is what I see while watching TV:

Behold: Wallpaper Massacre

Hideous, right? Can you believe that we've had house guests about a dozen times with the wallpaper looking this way? I should be ashamed to have people see our house in this condition, but I've become desensitized to how bad this room looked after seeing the Wallpaper Massacre on a daily basis. But rest assured: I've got a hot date with a steamer this weekend and will remove the rest of that wallpaper. (I know, I know...I'm so punny).

Since the wallpaper removal is incomplete, we also haven't repaired the plaster in this room as yet. There are some severe cracks in this room, so we know it will be a challenge.

Nonetheless, we've added some furnishings to this room and it is starting to feel very cozy. Based on the colors of the wallpaper -- brick red, olive green, and burnt umber -- we decided to decorate this room in an Arts and Crafts/Mission style. One of our favorite recent additions is this antique armchair with a hunter green leather seat.

It came from a local dealer who specializes in Arts and Crafts/Mission-style antiques. He showed us a medallion stamped on this chair, indicating that it was manufactured by L. and J.G. Stickley in the 1920s. Elsewhere in the house, we have a piece of contemporary Stickley furniture that is very special to us because it was our first major purchase as a married couple. We were thrilled to find an authentic 1920s Stickley armchair for the family room, especially since Stickley furniture was so prominent during the Arts and Crafts period.

Another recent addition is this Arts and Crafts-style barrister bookcase.

This was a particularly serendipitous find. The previous owner had a barrister bookcase in this room and we loved the look. We searched for months for a barrister bookcase, but every time we saw one in an antique store, it would either be too expensive or already reserved by another customer. When we saw this one, we felt like we'd hit the jackpot: it was a great price and it just so happened to have some Arts and Crafts elements as well. We're currently using this as storage for our antique and rare books, as well as some old glass bottles.

Last, and certainly not least: this coffee table.

My husband made this. For less than $50. While I was visiting family in California.

I think I should go to California more often.

He texted me a picture of the table the day before I flew back to NJ. Meanwhile, I was texting him pictures like this:

My husband builds furniture. I go to Catalina. That's a fair arrangement, right?

I felt a little bit guilty that I was having such a great time with my family in California while he was at home, going to the office and then working on our house in the evenings. But I won't let that guilt stop me from admiring that coffee table.

There is an interesting story behind the legs. In my husband's hometown, there are designated clean-out weeks when people can leave trash by the curb. One of the large Victorian homes in his town was being renovated, and the owners had discarded an assortment of original woodwork. It was all solid black walnut, and most of it was intricately carved. It's hard to believe that anyone would throw that away. We rescued a few things from the side of the road, including the five large posts that we repurposed for our coffee table. I believe these were previously newel posts from a staircase. There were at least five identical pieces being thrown away -- perhaps more -- which suggests that there were several large, elaborate staircases in the same home. I would love to have seen those staircases in all their original glory.

These posts previously had several coats of dark varnish, which my husband removed. He also added a coat of walnut-colored stain, but kept the stain light enough that we can still see some of the wood grain. He trimmed four of the posts to an appropriate height, and used the fifth to make an apron for the table.

After we found the "legs", we started looking around for something to use as a top for the coffee table. This vintage leather and wood table top was an eBay find, and cost us less than $40 including shipping. The leather has a few nicks, but is otherwise in great shape. And we particularly like the gold filigree detail around the edges.

Once the weather warms up, we'll take this table outdoors and add a layer of varnish to better protect the legs. We still have a few more pieces of scrap salvaged black walnut, and we're thinking of ways to use that as well. I wish I could write a step-by-step tutorial of how my husband made this table, but unfortunately, I'm not knowledgeable enough about woodworking to write detailed, informative instructions.

Exterior Projects

I've been feeling a bit better about the exterior of our house because the chimney saga is finally wrapping up. We had new copper flashing installed on both the side and rear chimneys. On the side chimney, which will remain non-functional, we had a copper cap installed at the top to keep out critters and protect the restored masonry from the weather. We asked our contractor to install the cap in a flush-mount configuration, so the cap isn't visible in these pictures. You'll just have to trust us that it's there (and honestly, we just have to trust our contractor that it's there, too!)

Want to see our new chimneys, all decked out in their shiny copper flashing? Here there are!

New copper flashing on rear chimney

Another view of the rear chimney

New copper flashing on side chimney

Pretty right?

We also asked the same contractor to evaluate the condition of our slate roof and gutters. We're rather fond of both our slate roof and the built-in copper pole gutters. Several of the grand Victorian homes in our area still have slate roofs and copper gutters. But on a more modest home like ours, slate roofs and copper gutters are somewhat rare. TPH's previous owners invested in maintaining these historic details and we'd like to do our best to preserve them for as long as it's practically and financially feasible.

Our roofing contractor said that most of the roof is in good condition, but he recommended replacing about 100-120 slate tiles on the left rear portion of the roof. These 120 tiles had exposed nail heads, indicating that those particular tiles had not been correctly installed. He also recommended replacing a deteriorated pole gutter on the left rear side of the house. Most of the gutters on our house are copper, but this one section had been replaced with aluminum. When our contractor came to evaluate the roof and gutters, this was the problem area he identified. You can tell where this gutter was replaced with aluminum because the color changes from green to brown.

We were glad to hear from our contractor that this was the only area needing immediate attention. We suspect that this gutter has been in poor condition for quite some time. The trim/soffit closest to this gutter was (and is) showing signs of rot, which we're attributing to years of poor drainage. When we had heavy rain, water would slosh off the side of the house rather than running down the gutter as intended.

Here is what the left rear portion of our roof looks like now, with the new slate tiles and copper gutter:

At the moment, the new gutter stands out because it is so much shinier than our other gutters. But in time, it will develop that same lovely green patina that's on our other copper gutters. From a functional standpoint, it's been very reassuring to have this repair complete. We received about 28" of snow in last weekend's blizzard, and as the snow started to melt, we've already noticed improved drainage in that section of the house.

The other exterior project we're working on is building/installing custom storm windows. I'll share more about that in a future post, once we've actually installed them. But for now, here's a picture of the first custom storm window we built.

We've also made some progress in the upstairs rooms, which I'll share in a few days. Thanks for sticking with me, friends!

Scrap Paper: Good for the Soul

2015-11-04T07:44:00.001-05:00

The month of October was good for the soul.

First there was a family party to celebrate my husband's birthday. Then my youngest brother flew in from California, and he and his girlfriend stayed with us for a night on their way to an NYC getaway. Then we had a quick vacation in Vermont with my husband's family, to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday (you can read about it in this post). And then my parents visited from California for a weekend. While they were here, we explored Natirar, a 404-acre estate formerly owned by the King of Morocco and now open to the public. At first, I couldn't figure out why a Moroccan king would want to own property in central New Jersey (I mean, I love this state. But it's not exactly known for being...regal). And then I saw the property and understood. It's stunning. The 40-room mansion is, unfortunately, not open to the public. But even so, we enjoyed the walking trails and impressive views. That same weekend, we went apple picking with my parents and sampled some of the best Cuban food around.

This is what a 40-room mansion looks like.

Did I mention that the leaves were incredible? If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this already. But I couldn't resist re-posting. I mean, those leaves! It doesn't get much better than this. It's hard to grumble about going to work when the view from your office looks like this.

And if all that hadn't been enough, then there was Halloween. Halloween! This was our first Halloween in TPH. Our neighbors had warned us that it is quite an extravaganza, but we were still surprised by how lively our town became. Our block was all decked out in Halloween decorations -- some spooky, some kitschy, some clever, and some classy -- but all contributing to the festive atmosphere in our community. We gave out approximately 1,000 pieces of candy in less than 2 hours. To say that there were a lot of trick-or-treaters would be a massive understatement. It was one of the many times when I felt proud to be a resident of this small town.

Here are a few picture of the interior of our house, all dressed up for Halloween.

This piano in our dining room was left by TPH's former owner. We're not musically inclined, and even if we were, the piano isn't really play-able in its current condition (hopelessly out of tune, missing foot pedals, etc). But it's a beautiful piece. Right now, it serves as our "bar". Plus it's great for displaying seasonal decor.

I swear, that mirror is making it look like we have more alcohol than we actually do...

When we moved into TPH, we didn't have any living room furniture (this house is much bigger than the apartment we lived in previously). Just before my parents visited, we stumbled across this Victorian living room set at a local antique store. I was so determined to buy it that I stood outside the store for twenty minutes in just-above freezing temperatures, waiting for the doors to open, wearing nothing more than a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. This set was such a great deal that I went to the antique store straight from yoga, afraid that someone else would buy the furniture if I didn't get there quickly enough. One of these days, I'll come to grips with the fact that not many folks are in the market for the style of furniture that we like. But how could someone NOT want to buy this? It's mahogany. And it's intricately carved. And it's over 100 years old. I would have been devastated if we had missed out. For the price of an Ikea loveseat, we were able to purchase two chairs and this settee. The upholstery is a lovely ivory damask, which will work with whatever color scheme we eventually choose for this room. Even though we won't be completing the living room decor for some time, it's nice to finally have some seating.

Don't mind the dishtowel on the floor. It's reminding us not to sit on this couch until we repair the left rear leg.

All that to say, October was pretty spectacular. Here's hoping that November is just as great. We had some chimney/roofing work completed this week, which is likely to be the last professional work we have done this calendar year. I'll be back soon with details on that project. Thanks for reading!

Vermont Maple Syrup Scones

2015-10-20T06:25:00.000-04:00

My mother-in-law recently celebrated an important birthday. To make the milestone extra special, my in-laws rented a beautiful vacation home in Vermont and invited the extended family to stay for the weekend.

From where we live, driving to southern Vermont takes just over four hours. But the weekend was so incredible, and the environment was so relaxing, that it was hard to believe we were just a few hundred miles from home.

The oldest part of the rental home dated to the mid-1700s. But it had been expanded and restored lovingly through the years. It now has 7 bedrooms, 5.5 bathroom, and nearly 5,000 square feet. Despite the spaciousness, every room was warm, cozy, and welcoming. Staying in this home felt like stepping inside an issue of Martha Stewart Living. I mean, just look at this porch.

This is not my home...

I'd never been to Vermont before this trip, but I'm already itching to return. New England is famous for its vibrant fall foliage, with good reason. This was the view from the back porch:

These three beauties live on the property. They are rescue horses that will eventually be available for adoption.

When we weren't enjoying the beautiful scenery or watching the horses, we spent plenty of timing eating and laughing with family around this farmhouse table. This breakfast room faced the backyard.

The breakfast room was one of the newer parts of the home. The architects and builders did an incredible job of replicating the historic character that is in the oldest parts of the home so that the entire home felt like it was cohesive.

In short, it was the perfect place to spend a weekend away and I'm so grateful to my in-laws for arranging it.

I would give my right arm to have this fireplace and mantle in my home. Don't worry...I'm left-handed.

Until we have a chance to make it back to Vermont in person, I'll just have to remember the weekend by whipping up a batch of these Maple Pecan Scones. These are different from a traditional scone recipe because there is no sugar in the dough. Rather, rich maple syrup provides subtle, natural sweetness. I like to sprinkle sugar on top of the dough before baking and drizzle a maple glaze to add a touch more sweetness.

Vermont Maple Syrup Scones

By The Papered House. Adapted from Simply in Season
Flavored with the richness of maple syrup and chopped pecans, these scones are perfect for any fall breakfast.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups flour

1 cup chopped pecans

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2/3 cup unsalted butter, chilled

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 cup milk

1 Tb sugar

1 Tb milk, optional

1 Tb maple syrup, optional

2 Tb confectioner's sugar, optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, use a wooden spoon to stir together flour, pecans, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Stir in 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1 cup milk, until liquid is just incorporated. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead approximately 6 times, until dough is relatively smooth.
Pat dough into a rectangle, approximately .75" in thickness. If desired, sprinkle sugar on top of dough. Using a sharp knife, cut into eight squares. Then cut each diagonally into two triangles.
Transfer scones to lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden.
While scones are baking, mix together final three ingredients in a small bowl to form a glaze. As soon as scones come out of oven, drizzle glaze on top of baked scones. Allow to cool slightly, then serve.

Yield: 16 scones

Notes: Recipe can be cut in half for 8 scones.

Thanks for reading, friends! Here's one more shot of that gorgeous fall foliage, this time as we were leaving Vermont and headed back home.

Brick Behemoth

2015-10-07T06:50:00.000-04:00

Full disclosure: This is a long post, filled with too many words and too few pictures. I won't be upset if you skip it entirely!

Here's the short version: Our chimneys are a pain in the butt. We stupidly spent $$$$ repairing a chimney, then discovered that it would never be functional. Our fireplace is ugly. I complain a bit. We have issues with some masons. I complain some more. One year later, repairs still aren't done. Winter is coming. Where is my wine?

Here's the much longer version:

One of the projects that's been hanging over our heads -- both literally and figuratively -- has been the chimney repair. We have a chimney on the side of our house and a corresponding fireplace in the dining room. Here is what the side chimney used to look like.

We also have a rear chimney that is the exhaust for our oil burner (hence, no fireplace). Here is what the rear chimney used to look like.

When we moved into TPH, we knew that the exterior of both chimneys would need extensive repair. This picture doesn't accurately show the state of disrepair. When we moved in, we could see through our rear chimney because it was missing so much mortar. Bricks were coming loose and I couldn't help but think that the chimney resembled a game of Jenga, just before the blocks topple. The side chimney wasn't quite as far gone as the rear chimney, but it was still in bad shape.

We also knew that there was a good chance that our side chimney would need a new liner. We decided to tackle the exterior portion of the project before relining the side chimney, to avoid any further deterioration. This turned out to have been a bad decision, as I'll explain later.

In November of 2014, shortly after we moved in, we reached out to several masons to request a quote. We must have called a dozen masons to schedule a visit, but the response rate was abysmally low.

After a few weeks of waiting for responses, we were getting impatient. We asked the local historical society to recommend a mason. They spoke very highly of a professional who had worked on several historic buildings in town (We'll call him Mason 1). After looking at his past projects we knew Mason 1 was the right choice. And honestly, since none of the other masons had returned our calls, he didn't have much competition.

He wouldn't be able to do the work in the winter, so we waited for a few months to take further action. The chimney repair was going to be pricey, so we didn't mind holding onto the cash for a few extra months, anyway. We resumed the process in February, submitting the necessary paperwork to our town. And once the weather and our mason's availability synched up, he rebuilt/repointed both chimneys. His work was completed some time in late April/early May.

Here is a picture of our repaired side chimney. (Apologies for the poor photo quality)

And here is a picture of our completely rebuilt rear chimney.

I don't know much about chimneys, but I think they look great. Mason 1 used historic reproduction bricks and lime-based mortar to best replicate the construction and appearance of our original chimneys. Our goal with TPH has always been to restore "in-kind", using original materials and methods whenever possible. We were glad to find a mason who shared this commitment. I can't say enough positive things about this mason and his crew members. They were polite and considerate through the entire process, and left a clean work space. (if you're located in eastern PA or central NJ and need a mason, I'd be happy to provide a reference!).

The only downside to Mason 1 is that he does not install or inspect liners. But he gave us the name of another mason (I'll call him Mason 2) who does. We reached out to him to schedule a visual inspection and request a quote. Mason 2 came in mid-May and inspected the interior of our chimney. We learned some interesting info from him.

See this fireplace? If you're thinking that it doesn't look particularly Victorian, you're right.

Why is this NEW thing in my old home???

Mason 2 told us that this fireplace was likely installed around 1920-1930 based on the type of bricks that were used. The fireplace was built using butter joints, meaning that two bricks were "buttered" with mortar as if they were slices of bread and pressed together like a sandwich. In addition, he mentioned that the bricks on our fireplace were actually meant to be used for exterior masonry. It's a bit odd that they were used in an interior application (I have a theory about this, but I'll save it for another time. This post is already too long). Finally, the diagonal orientation of the firebox is not original. The original fireplace would have been built flat against the side wall.

The good news: This fireplace is solid and well-built. Mason 2 was impressed by the quality of the craftsmanship.

The bad news: From an aesthetic standpoint, this fireplace is all wrong. Before we even set foot inside TPH, I could tell from the realtor's listing pictures that this fireplace was a later addition to the home. It's not historically appropriate and it doesn't match the character of the house. I also think it feels too big for the room. Based on what Mason 2 told us, the original fireplace was likely built to accommodate a coal-burning stove. It was never meant to have an open fire, although we can clearly tell that previous owners used this fireplace to burn wood. The fireplace does not draft properly, which explains all the soot and smoke stains around our mantle (yes, I know I need to give that brick a good cleaning!).

The very bad news: Unfortunately, whoever built this fireplace in the 1920s didn't foresee 21st century code requirements. The flue is so narrow that our only option is to install a wood-burning stove. If we choose to install a wood-burning stove, we cannot select a simple stainless steel liner. According to Mason 2, there is precisely one (one!) liner product that will pass code and fit into our chimney. It would be some sort of specialized cement liner that would be custom-made for our chimney.

Mason 2 happens to be one of the licensed installers for that liner product. He warned us that it could be a very expensive repair, but we requested a quote anyway. This was in May. But it's now October and we still hadn't received the quote, despite several attempts to follow up. We had a good feeling about Mason 2 when he came to visit, but he doesn't seem interested in our project anymore.

Since we couldn't make any progress with Mason 2, we scheduled a third mason (Mason 3) to inspect our chimney. Mason 3 did a visual inspection and told us that a stainless steel liner might be possible, but not easy. We started to feel hopeful that this project wasn't a lost cause. We also started to feel hopeful that the project might be more affordable than we initially thought.

Mason 3 came back a second time to do a "Level 2" inspection, meaning that he viewed the inside of our chimney with a digital camera. This time, the news was not good: at its narrowest point, the flue was only 4" wide (narrower even than Mason 2 had realized). That's too narrow for a stainless steel liner. It's too narrow for any liner, so this fireplace cannot be safely used. Mason 3 then suggested several short-cut options that led me to doubt his familiarity with historic building materials and his adherence to code requirements. As if that weren't bad enough, Mason 3 repeatedly called me "sweetie" throughout the inspection. I've never been called "sweetie" by a stranger -- certainly not a male stranger. In this context if felt simultaneously unprofessional, patronizing, and too familiar.

So, almost a year after we started this process, we're back to the drawing board. We've resigned ourselves to the fact that our side chimney will never be functional unless we rebuild it from the ground up. This is not the conclusion we wanted to reach after doing pricey exterior repairs. A total rebuild would involve tearing down plaster and disturbing walls. It would also cost a fortune, so it's at the very bottom of our priorities. We're kicking ourselves for spending thousands of dollars fixing the masonry on a non-functional chimney. If we had known that the side chimney would never be functional, we would have delayed its repair and allocated our resources towards other repairs. We're rookie homeowners and our inexperience got the best of us. We were overeager to cross projects off our list and didn't do as much due diligence as we should have before starting the chimney repair. But hindsight is 20/20 and we learned valuable lessons.

Although the side chimney will remain non-functional, there are still some associated repair items we need to complete before we move on from this project. The side chimney needs to have a cap installed so that critters won't intrude. We still need to have copper flashing installed on both chimneys, since the existing flashing is in poor shape. The flashing isn't leaking yet but it's only a matter of time, especially with wetter weather on the way.

But there is a silver lining: We had set aside a significant chunk of cash for The Chimney Liner That Wasn't. Now that we aren't lining the chimney, we may have the budget for some other important exterior work. We'd like to bring in a roofer to do some maintenance on our slate roof and reline our Yankee gutters. We assumed that we'd need to wait until 2016 to do these projects, but now it looks like those projects might happen this fall. Or, we may use the extra funds to replace my 13-year-old car. In either scenario, we'll be glad to have the cash on hand.

Painted Wicker Furniture

2015-09-30T07:06:00.004-04:00

We're currently experiencing a rainy spell here in New Jersey, with showers predicted for the next five days. But over the weekend, we had clear skies. It was the perfect opportunity for me to repaint our wicker furniture.

Our front porch has an assortment of wicker furniture which we've gathered over the course of several years. Some of it was purchased at Pier 1. Some of it was handed down from college roommates. Some of it came from an antique store. And some of it was even found on the side of the road,as I described in my previous post. After staring at our porch furniture on a daily basis, we came to the conclusion that the wicker looked exactly like you would expect it to, given it's hodge-podge origins. The styles and colors didn't work together.

I tried painting some the furniture light yellow earlier this summer, but the result wasn't what I had in mind. I was going for sunny, lemony yellow. The result was more buttery...fine if you're making dessert, not so good if you're painting chairs.

This weekend, I gave the wicker a good cleaning following these tips from CoCo at the Crowned Goat (thanks, CoCo!). After the wicker was completely dry, I applied Valspar satin finish indoor/outdoor spray paint in Hubbell House Golden Maize. Two coats and five cans of spray paint later, the wicker is now a rich goldenrod color.

In all honesty, I would have preferred if this color had less orange and more mustard in it. I also might have preferred a glossy finish rather than satin. But when you're working with canned spray paint, the options are somewhat limited (and I don't foresee us spray painting enough to justify purchasing a compressor and making our own spray paint). Even so, we're very pleased with the new color. It works better with the overall look of our house, and it's a noticeable improvement from the previous mismatched look. Several of our neighbors have already mentioned how much they like the new color. It's always gratifying to get positive feedback from one's neighbors.

Since I was already giving the porch so much attention, I figured I might as well decorate for fall as well. The porch decor is simple: just some dried hydrangeas, a mason jar full of corks (thanks to this inspiration from 2 Bees in a Pod), and some faux leaves. On the other end of our porch, we also added some gourds and hay, which you may have seen on Instagram. It's beginning to look like fall around here!

Thanks for stopping by, friends. Hope you enjoy the rest of the week.

One Man's Trash

2015-09-25T06:48:00.001-04:00

Over the summer, we picked up several pieces of antique furniture. First there were the vampire chairs that we found at a garage sale for $25. But we also brought home four more chairs and a sideboard.

In my husband's hometown, there are designated "clean-out" weeks during the summer. Residents purchase a permit which allows them to dispose of oversize garbage. Things like old mattresses, broken lawn mowers, and old TV sets...any household trash is fair game. But here's the kicker: people also throw out perfectly good furniture. Sometimes the furniture needs a little TLC, but other times there are no discernible defects. It truly is a case of "one man's trash is another man's treasure."

During clean-out week, residents put stuff out on the curb on the weekend. By the following Friday, anything still on the curb is picked up and tossed out by the town. But in the interim, it's the perfect opportunity for a little treasure hunting.

This year's haul: an Adirondack chair, a channel-back armchair, a rocking chair, a wicker armchair, and a wood sideboard. We found these with the help of my inlaws, who have a great eye for furniture.

Here is the Adirondack chair. When we brought it home, the wood was a bit beat up and it was missing several wood plugs. My husband spent some time repairing the wood and I'll be giving it a fresh coat of paint soon.

We also found this upholstered armchair. I believe this style is called a "channel-back chair." The current upholstery is dated, but it's a well-made piece of furniture. Despite its smallish size, this one of the heaviest chairs I've ever encountered. It's also surprisingly comfortable. I once dozed off in this chair while my husband and six of his friends were playing a raucous card game...in the same room. No joke.

This chair is currently in our living room. We'll have it reupholstered in the future when we redecorate this room (probably not for a year or so).

Then there is this petite rocking chair. We're not sure how old this is, but it is a lovely oak piece and it's in great condition. My mother-in-law mentioned that this was likely a ladies' sewing chair. I believe the idea was that the chair would be armless to allow the chair to fit under a sewing table or to free up the lady's arms for embroidery projects. This rocking chair is currently in our bedroom.

This wicker chair was another find. I don't think this is particularly old; I seem to remember this style being sold at Pier 1. This chair is currently on our front porch, which has an assortment of mismatched wicker furniture. I love sitting here with a hot cup of coffee and the Saturday paper. I'll be spray painting this a cheerful yellow .

Last but not least: this wooden sideboard might be my favorite find from this year's haul. It has such interesting details. We haven't quite decided where this piece will end up. Although it's a sideboard, the style is a little too whimsical for our dining room. I'm thinking it could work as a dresser in our guest bedroom. Right now, this paint reminds me of overcooked brussels sprouts. Not good. I haven't decided on a color yet, but this will definitely get a fresh coat of paint. And those wooden knobs are begging to be replaced with something more appropriate!

There were a few other items we brought home, but don't have pictures of. My inlaws found a beautiful antique wicker tea cart (sort of like this one). It would look lovely in our living room. We also found a number of dismantled balusters from a grand Queen Anne Victorian home. They are the size of small tree trunks. We haven't decided what to do with them yet, but we picked up about five of them, with the hope that they can be repurposed somehow (amusingly, I saw the same balusters -- likely from the same house -- turn up in an antique store a few weeks later. Glad we scored ours for free!).

Mudroom/Rear Porch Makeover

2015-09-21T07:58:00.003-04:00

For several months, I've wanted to spruce up our mudroom/rear porch. This space has always had a lot of potential: there are large windows on three sides and ample storage on the fourth side. The mudroom connects to our kitchen, and it lets in lovely light. This space is also the primary access to our home, so we see this space several times a day.

But for far too long, our mudroom was a cluttered, disorganized mess. There was so much extra stuff taking up floorspace that we barely had room to maneuver. I'm almost embarrassed to show you these pictures, but it's necessary for the full before and after impact. So here is our dirty laundry. This is the sight that "greeted" us every time we left for work in the morning or returned home:

Yikes! Some welcome, right?

And after a weekend of decluttering, organizing, and scrubbing, our mudroom is now a much more functional space.

There is a utility cart for things we like to keep easily accessible: reusable bags, barbeque tools, an extra vase, a citronella candle, etc. I love the cerulean color, the shelves, and the fact that it folds up for storage. The cart is metal, so it will be easy to clean. It also has wheels, which has turned out to be a handy feature.

The utility cart was from HomeGoods, and it was a great price. This gray caddy was another HomeGoods find. It has six compartments, which makes it perfect for organizing other outdoor items, like sunscreen, bug spray, gardening gloves, and small gardening tools.

This pine bench was on the porch previously, acting as a catch-all for many of the things that are now in the gray caddy. I painted the bench a cheerful shade of yellow using a combination of Annie Sloan Arles and Annie Sloan English Yellow.

We usually keep our shoes on inside the house, with the exception of things like hiking boots and dirty "work" sneakers. Those stay out on the porch so we don't track mud and grime through our house. (By the way, isn't that a great little doormat? It was on clearance at Lowe's!)

Next to our shoes, we keep a couple of umbrellas so that they are easy to grab on our way out the door.

We are fortunate to have several different kinds of songbirds in our yard. Before, their birdseed was just kept in large bags on the porch floor. But the bags were cumbersome to move and once they were open, it was difficult to keep the seed from spilling. Now we have a much better way to store birdseed. This plastic container holds 40 pounds of seed, and it came with a matching scoop.The slim profile saves floor space, and the wheels are a great feature. Birdseed is heavy, so I like being able to roll this around on our porch. This was also from HomeGoods.

By the way, I swear that I mopped this floor...twice. It just never looks clean!

We hung a couple of quirky pictures to add some visual interest. These were things we already had on hand, but hadn't yet found a place for. I think the bright, cheerful colors work well out here. That horseshoe is a family heirloom. Fingers crossed that it will bring us some good luck (we need it, with all the work to be done in this house).

Our mudroom already had some built-in storage, and we're now taking better advantage of it.

In our general storage area, we have extra automotive supplies as well as most of our gardening supplies (fertilizer, soil acidifier, seeds, leaf bags, etc).

One of my favorite features about this mudroom is that there is nicely-sized cleaning closet. This closet has plenty of space to hang brooms and mops. Plus, we added a shelving unit to maximize storage for cleaning sprays, sponges, brushes, microfiber cloths, etc. I don't particularly love to clean (does anyone?), but having a nicely organized and colorful way to store my cleaning supplies certainly makes the process more enjoyable.

The woven blue baskets were from Lowe's, and they are a great size for holding our various cleaning products.

Last but not least...aren't these guys adorable? They're microfiber cleaning cloths from Daiso (it's a Japanese dollar store, popular near my parents' home in California). They're a great deal at $1.50 each and the quality is superb. Plus, dusting is a lot more fun with a lime green frog or a fuchsia hedgehog. Trust me.

Thanks for reading about our mudroom makeover, folks!

Window Repair Progress

2015-08-26T07:39:00.000-04:00

I am happy to report that we now have one fully-functional, fully-repaired window in the master bedroom. This is cause for celebration! Let's pop a bottle of bubbly...just don't point it towards the newly repaired window, please. If that glass cracks after all this hard work, I will scream.

We started this process approximately two months ago and, in truth, the repair still isn't quite complete on this window. We still need to paint and install new interior stops and then, we'll be done. But I was anxious to write this post. Plus, once the stops are installed, you won't be able to see as much of the window's "guts" as you can see now. For an "in progress" post, I thought it would make sense to have pictures that show more of the window's interior workings. (Here is a diagram with window anatomy, in case it's helpful).

When we toured The Papered House prior to purchase, the left window looked like this:

Sorry for the crummy photo. But as you can see, the left window wouldn't close completely. An old shirt was stuffed in the opening to keep out drafts, dust, bugs, etc.

When we started to repair this window, we removed each sash from the wall. They looked like this:

And now, the left window looks like this. It opens and closes. Progress!

So, what took us 2 months?

We* started by removing all the old, chipping paint from both sides of the window, as well as the window lock (we discovered a copper lock under all that paint!). Then we removed the old, cracked glazing and reglazed the windows. The new glazing took 10 days to dry. It's been humid here, and we're hoping that the drying time will decrease when the humidity does. Both the inner and outer sashes received a fresh coat of oil-based primer, plus two finish coats. Painting took about six days total, since each coat of oil-based paint required 24-hours of drying time**. We installed bronze weatherstripping to increase the energy-efficiency of our windows. The old parting strips were in bad shape, so we cut and installed new ones. We also installed new sash cords as the previous ones were brittle and frayed. The pulleys were cleaned and lubricated, and then we rehung the sashes. Finally, we routered and cut new interior stops, which will be painted over the next few days.

*I say "we" did this work, but it was predominately my husband. It's just awkward to keep typing "my husband" in every sentence, and he'd prefer that his name not be used. Just know that he did all the hard/skilled work. I just painted!

**I thought long and hard about the decision to use oil-based paint on our windows. I also consulted with a local paint expert whose family has been supplying paint in this area for over three generations. He recommended using oil for the windows because of the beautiful, durable finish. Oil-based paint is also less likely to "stick" in humid conditions, which is an important consideration in our climate. We used latex for the walls and trim, since the clean-up is so much easier.

The good news is that much of the repair time is inactive, so we were able to tackle other projects in the meantime. We're hoping that our pace and workmanship will improve as we become more experienced at window repair. This was our very first attempt, so there was a lot of trial and error. In terms of effort, I would give ourselves an A. In terms of actual execution? Perhaps a B-. Luckily, we have at least 27 more windows in need of repair, so we'll have plenty of opportunities for improvement. These are a few of the issues we'll be looking to improve:

The second window is in our basement at the moment, about half-way through its repair. We'll let you know how our second attempt goes.

Gothic Revival Chairs (aka "Vampire Furniture")

2015-08-07T07:10:00.000-04:00

At the moment, The Papered House is sparsely furnished. In the dining room, we have a small drop-leaf IKEA table (like this one, but cheaper) and several mismatched chairs left over from my college days. Even by college-kid standards, this stuff was cheap. Our "dining set" is functional, but it looks so out of place in our 14' x 20' dining room. It's a room that is meant to have grander furniture than we currently own.

We're furnishing this home slowly, for a few reasons. The first is purely financial. The chimney project is still in progress (more about that next week) and we're also saving towards an oil-to-gas conversion for our heating system. Both of these are pricey, important repairs so we need to make sure we allocate our resources accordingly. Secondly, we're trying to furnish this home primarily with interesting antiques, so we expect that it will take some time for us to find exactly what we're looking for.

But over this weekend, some new dining room chairs made their way into our home. I'm no expert in antique furniture, but I have a hunch that these chairs were crafted in the Gothic Revival style.

These chairs have three prominent arches, lending an ecclesiastical aesthetic. They are quite similar to this pair available from a UK antique seller. But more importantly, these chairs look like they belong in Count Dracula's home, which everyone knows is the true hallmark of the Gothic Revival style. (kidding!)

I wish I had a better story for how we came by these chairs -- something like Victoria Elizabeth Barnes' quasi-maniacal quest for her kingdom mirror. In actuality, the way we acquired these chairs was very ordinary. I was just running weekend errands and happened to drive past a garage sale. We hadn't been in the market for vampire chairs, but there they were. The seller was offering four of these chairs for the very reasonable price of $25 total.

$25?! I'm not sure what I was expecting to pay, but it was far more than $25. I tried to maintain my composure when the seller told me the price, but I'm not sure I did a very good job. I would be a terrible poker player because I'm far too transparent.

Look at those details!

My husband was at home so I texted him a picture to ask his thoughts. His chief concern? What will we do with just four of them? Don't we need more chairs for the dining room? And I thought, "Okay, so he doesn't hate them." Sold!

The fact that there are just four doesn't bother me. We'll still look for an antique dining room set with 6-8 chairs. These will be for occasional usage, whenever we have more people eating with us (which is not very often, especially since our house is not really ready for prime time at the moment). Besides, with the state of our current furniture situation, we just can't be too picky.

The joints are loose and some of the wood is scratched. But for such a decent price, I'm willing to put some work into these chairs. I like the current upholstery and it happens to be the precise color and style that we wanted. Some of the upholstery is stained, but we'll try to spot-clean it. These chairs look to be oak, and my husband would have preferred something with a less prominent grain. When we fix these up, we may try to stain them a dark color to look more like cherry or mahogany. The seller and I settled on $24 for the set, since that was how much cash I had in my wallet.

And then I did something that would make my mother very proud: I fit all four of these chairs into a compact car. At the same time! My mother was an engineer by training and she has superb spatial awareness skills. This means that she is the master of fitting lots of things into a small space. She is also very, very good at Tetris and other geometry-themed games. My Tetris skills are mediocre at best (when those blocks start falling quickly, it gets stressful!). But enough of my mother's spatial awareness rubbed off on me that I was able to transport these chairs home efficiently. Thanks, mom!

-The Papered House invites you to Transylvania

Scrap Paper

2015-07-31T07:28:00.002-04:00

Occasionally I feel like writing about topics that are only tangentially related to restoring our home. Ideas that have been swirling around, half-formed, waiting to be shared. I'm not sure how often I'll write these mishmosh posts, but each time I do, they'll be titled "Scrap Paper."

By the way, there is an interesting article on the usage of "scrap paper" vs "scratch paper." I was raised primarily in California, and "scratch paper" is the term I heard most often on the West Coast, as this article suggests. But I currently have approximately five dozen bug bites, so I do not want to think about the word "scratch" more than absolutely necessary.

Bitten
The Papered House is the first home that my husband and I have owned. It's also the first time we've had a yard of our own. It turns out that I like gardening more than I thought I would. If you give me an empty five-gallon bucket and a few spare hours, I'll spend the entire afternoon weeding. Even the unpleasant parts, like the dirty fingernails and achy back, don't really bother me. Unfortunately, I'm a mosquito magnet. I've tried multiple methods of insect repellent, but none of them seem to work very well. I counted my mosquito bites last night and stopped counting when I got to 65. I know the chances of contracting West Nile Virus from a mosquito are quite small. But surely, your chances must increase when you have been bitten >65 times?

I have a theory that wearing a full neoprene ensemble, like a wetsuit, would offer excellent protection from these pint-sized airborne vampires. But if I traipse around in a wetsuit in our backyard, I'm sure the neighbors would worry about my well-being.

Not Coloring Books, but Color Books
About two weeks ago, I was listening to the radio and heard about a study claiming that coloring is therapeutic for adults. I don't doubt that artistic endeavors are beneficial to our mental and emotional well-being. But I filed that information into my brain's compartment for "Things That Would Be Good for Me But Are Unlikely to Happen." It's the same place where I file advice like "Drink eight glasses of water each day" or "Don't eat anything for four hours before your bedtime." How am I supposed to enjoy a glass of red wine or a piece of dark chocolate at 10 pm if I follow such a regimented schedule, drinking all that water and eschewing all those late-night sweets?

But that coloring study must have caught on quickly, because I have noticed that Coloring for Adults has become a thing in my daily existence. To wit: I attend classes at a local fitness studio that focuses a lot on mind/body connectivity. Sometimes, the classes are a little New Age-y for my taste. The instructors say things like, "As you move through tree pose, push your arms out to the side and imagine that you are pushing away something that is holding you back." We are meant to imagine things like anxiety, or stress, or fear. But my mind is relentlessly literal, and so I tend to envision physical things like our pain-in-the-butt chimney. Our chimney has been quite difficult to repair, and we are delaying several other decisions about the house until we know what's happening with the chimney. But when you are standing on one leg with your eyes closed and arms out to the side? It is awfully hard to maintain your balance while envisioning yourself pushing away some brick structure. I readily admit that I am not good at mindfulness. But! The instructors are friendly and there is a wide variety of class offerings. I am trying to be more open to new experiences. Embrace uncertainty. Relinquish control. That kind of thing.

Anyway, after one of the classes, the instructor handed each student a sheet of paper with a medallion-type thing printed on it. We were told about therapeutic Coloring for Adults and asked to color the medallions at home. Sometime in August, all the colored medallions will be hung in the studio.

I don't think I scoffed or rolled my eyes. But I might have raised my eyebrows slightly. This sounded very much like a third-grade assignment. Like I said, I'm still working on that "open to new experiences" thing.

However, just yesterday, I was at Barnes and Noble. At the entrance to the store and by the register, they had entire displays geared towards Coloring for Adults. Perhaps two dozen coloring books for the young-at-heart. So, Coloring for Adults is officially a trend. I may give it a try after all, if I can remember where I put the crayons.

In the meantime, I've been perusing more Victorian writings about paint color usage. In 1883, architect William Comstock published a book called Modern House Painting: Containing Twenty Colored Lithographic Plates. It was republished under a different title by Dover in the recent past, but it can be hard to find. I purchased a used copy online and it arrived this week.

Comstock includes brief chapters on color theory and paint application, but the real appeal of this book is the section of full-color plates illustrating recommended color schemes. The plates show gorgeous, deep, rich earth tones meant to resemble natural surroundings. When bright whites and light colors are used on exteriors, Comstock finds that "the result has been that violence has been done to nature by glaring effects and contrasts that are hideous." He encourages readers to experiment with more expressive colors than had been used in earlier architectural periods, during which "the old puritanical hatred of color...found its natural outcome in white houses with green blinds." A puritanical hatred of color. Isn't that a memorable turn of phrase? Those Victorians had a way with words.

Ironically, the exterior of our house is currently painted a shade of white so bright that it is named "Incandescent." I would bet every penny to my name that Comstock would find our house color glaring and offensive. The previous owner repainted just before selling, so we're not planning to paint the house in the near future. Eventually, I love would to see The Papered House painted a light sage green or a warm cream.

Minor Functional Obsolescence
Speaking of memorable turns of phrase: when we purchased The Papered House, the appraiser's report said that it "suffers from minor functional obsolescence" because it only has one bathroom and the fourth bedroom is really more of a loft/sitting area. Linguistically, isn't that a bizarre phrase? I don't believe that "suffer" and "minor" ever belong in the same sentence. There is no such thing as minor suffering. There just isn't.

I hadn't been familiar with real estate lingo, but it turns out that "functional obsolescence" is a common term in the business, particularly when speaking about older homes that lack some of the modern conveniences and design features. I admit that the layout of our home can seem inconvenient in comparison to modern homes. Honestly, the floor plan works for us and we know exactly where we'll add a second bathroom when finances permit. But I found it amusing that the appraiser failed to mention something of major functional obsolescence: Our boiler from the 1950s.

The Scuffle
We ran out of printer paper recently and I urgently needed to print something. All we had left was a stack of college-ruled loose-leaf paper. Why do we even have this type of paper? We have no children and I can't remember the last time I needed to take notes at home. Perhaps I've held onto this stack of paper since grad school as some sort of strange tribute to my days as a compulsive note-scribbling student. Perhaps I thought I would use it for scrap/scratch paper. But that means that I would have packed and unpacked the loose-leaf four (4!) separate times. At least it's not wide-ruled, I suppose. That would really be embarrassing.

In a fit of desperation, I tried using the loose-leaf to print the first page of a 20- page document. The first page worked like a dream. So I printed the remaining 19 pages. Big mistake. The printer looked like it challenged the paper to some epic battle of "rock, paper, printer." Printer lost, by the way, and it didn't recover quickly.

~The Papered House, with glaring effects and hideous contrasts

Master Bedroom Progress

2015-07-29T07:53:00.003-04:00

Our master bedroom is still a work in progress, but it's looking loads better than it did previously. I think this is my new mantra: it's not as bad as it used to be.

The walls are (mostly) painted and we've hung a couple of pieces of artwork.

I still need to prime and paint this wall. The masonry was repaired recently, and we needed to wait for the mortar to cure before we could repair the plaster. Now that the mortar has cured, we're considering leaving that small portion of brick exposed, if we can make it look intentional. We're still thinking about this, so this section of wall has remained unpainted for now.

We've moved our furniture into the bedroom, and it feels like a functional, cozy space.

We really dislike those lamps, and the fact that they have mismatched lamp shades. But we found them in the basement, left behind by a former owner. Our love of saving money trumped our dislike for these lamps. We'll replace them eventually, but they're fine for now.

We even have a door on the doorframe (Wow! Getting fancy at the Papered House!). It's not the right door for this room, so it doesn't close completely. We took this door from another room while we repaint the actual master bedroom door. Having a door on one's bedroom hardly seems like something worth celebrating. But in this house, it is.

We've refinished the wood floors and found some pretty rugs. Apparently I didn't vacuum/sweep very well before I took this photo. Sorry about that.

The window repair is in progress. The alcove is missing the left window, which is currently in our basement for repair. So far, window repair has been pretty straightforward. However, we're reglazing each window and it took 10 days for the glazing on the first window to dry. I'll be repainting with oil-based paint later this week. It's my first time painting with an oil-based product, and I understand that it typically dries more slowly than latex-based paint. We've got about 50 windows in this house, so we're projecting a window completion date of roughly...2080. Hooray, just in time for our home's 200th birthday!

In the meantime, we're using heavy-duty plastic, painter's tape, and duct tape to keep the bugs and other flying critters out of our room. There's no particular reason for the use of two types of tape; we just used whatever we had on hand and could find quickly. Apparently, we have tape in all sorts of hideous colors.

Window repair supplies

Here's another of the master bedroom windows in sore need of repair. I considered moving the fan before taking this picture, thinking that it would make for a more attractive photo. But honestly, when your windows look like this, the fan is NOT the problem. The ropes on this window are broken, so the fan is the only thing keeping that sash from slamming closed.

I've got 99 problems, but the fan ain't one.

And when this is the view next to the window, suddenly those windows don't look so bad in comparison to the closet door. I'm not sure why we're still keeping clothes in that closet...

Don't worry, that closet door is being fixed. We've been using safe chemical strippers to remove the paint, and it will get a new coat of paint soon.

Here's a quick look at the remaining projects for this room.

Short Term Project List
*Repair all windows
*Paint crown molding
*Prep and paint narrow walls to the left of the alcove
*Stencil ceiling
*Repaint and rehang entry door
*Repaint and rehang closet door

Longer-Term Project List
*Purchase new/antique nightstand(s)
*Purchase antique table lamps
*Purchase small antique chandelier
*Hang some additional artwork
*Refinish husband's dresser (not pictured)
*Improve storage (maximize space in closet and under the bed; find/create some storage solution for me)

By the way, I just set up an Instagram account. I've been posting a lot of pictures of our garden, which looks a lot better than our master bedroom does. And feel free to follow along on Facebook and Twitter as well, if that's your thing. Thanks for stopping by, folks!

History of Our Home

2015-07-23T07:05:00.002-04:00

A few months after we moved into The Papered House, my husband and I ventured to the county historical society to see if we could learn anything about the history of our home. The helpful folks at the historic society recommended that we start by researching our deed at the Hall of Records. Once we had a better idea of our home's ownership through the years, we would be able to return to the historic society to peruse their genealogical records and learn more about the home's prior owners. The Hall of Records is only open during the week, so my husband and I made a mental note to visit the next time we scheduled a day off from work.

In the meantime, though, the volunteers handed us a few binders filled with historic photos. The photos were not cataloged or organized in any particular order, and many of them were unlabeled. Most of the photos were of people or of public buildings, so it was unlikely that we would find any pictures of our home. The historic society folks warned us that it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack...and the needle might not actually exist.

My husband and I each took a binder, flipping through the photos quickly, without expecting much. After about three minutes, I heard my husband gasp in amazement. He nudged me and whispered, "Hey...look at this. Isn't that our house?"

Sure enough, that house on the right is ours. I would recognize the roofline anywhere. The kind folks at the historic society allowed us to take photos with a phone, so long as we promised not to use the flash.

And here is a closer view, admittedly a bit grainy since the original document was on the small side.

We were pleased to discover that our house looks relatively the same today as it did in this photo. We noticed a few differences: this photo shows a light paint color on the body of the house, with light shutters and trim, as well. Our house is currently white with green shutters, which is true of approximately 20-30% of the homes in our town. We currently have a railing on our porch (those pesky code requirements!), and some of the porch trim looks different now than it did in this picture. There was a picket fence, which must have been removed at some time. But otherwise, the house looks substantially the same. It's hard to believe -- and also gratifying -- that the house still looks so similar after 135 years.

After we returned home from the historic society, we did some subsequent research and concluded that this photo was likely taken sometime ranging from the 1890s to early 1900s. We knew that this photo had to be pre-1920 because homes were built across the street starting in 1920. We looked at the Sanborn insurance maps for our block through 1910, and discovered that a business near our home burned down between 1895 and 1910. Part of the original photo was cropped out when we snapped these pics, but it showed a building with significant fire damage. We've surmised that this picture was primarily intended to document the fire damage -- perhaps for a news article? -- and our house just happened to be in the background.

A few days after we visited the historic society, we came home to a lovely surprise. There was a packet of papers on our front porch, neatly sealed in one of those goldenrod envelopes. One of the volunteers at the historic society went to the Hall of Records on our behalf and researched several of our deeds. He dropped off copies of the deedd back to the 1890s, and left us a nice note telling us the book and page where the original deed from the 1880s was recorded. He said he didn't want to "ruin all our fun" by finding the first deed.

We were blown away by his kindness. We can't believe someone would go to so much effort for a couple of strangers. We're continually amazed by how friendly and welcoming everyone has been in this small town -- but that's a post for another time.

We still haven't been to the Hall of Records to track down the original deed, but I've got a vacation day scheduled in a few weeks and getting a copy of the original deed is high on my priority list. After reviewing the deeds back to 1895, I skimmed census records and obituaries to learn as much as possible about the previous owners. So far, this is what I know (I'm not using full names, to protect the privacy of TPH's former owners and their descendants):

*In 1895, the house was purchased by a Mrs. H, who was the wife of a prominent lawyer. I suspect that this house was used as an investment property, rather than as their primary residence. Most of the prominent professionals at the turn of the century would have lived in the grand homes on Main Street, rather than in a more modest house like ours. In addition, Mr. H's obituary mentioned that he owned several properties in our town, which he "enjoyed improving."

I don't have a good theory for why the deed was solely in Mrs. H's name. This seems like an uncommon occurrence for the time. Perhaps she was financially independent or received an inheritance and wanted to make her own investments. I suppose it will always remain a mystery to me. Mr. H passed away about 15 years after they purchased this house. I did not find an obituary for Mrs. H, but I believe she passed away about 10 years earlier than her husband, based on the details in his obituary. When Mr. and Mrs. H had both passed, TPH was left to their daughters.

*In 1927, TPH was purchased by the B family. I was not able to find much written information about Mr. B, although a long-time resident told me that the "B" family were masons by trade. However, there was plenty of information available about Mrs. B. She was the second wife of Mr. B. and they were married after his first wife passed away. Based on genealogical and marriage records, I believe the second Mrs. B was the younger sister of Mr. B's first wife. During Mrs. B's life, she worked in many "pink collar" jobs and she lived in this home until she passed in 2013.

*In 2013, Mrs. B's estate sold TPH to a Mr. F. Unfortunately, he experienced a job transfer shortly after purchasing the home, and needed to put it back on the market. We purchased the home in fall 2014.

It is incredible to me that this home remained under a single family/owner for more than 80 years. Based on Mrs. B's obituary and conversations with neighbors, it is clear to us that she was well-known and well-liked. Many of the people in this town still think of this as her home, and we can certainly understand why.

When Life Gives You Lemons

2015-07-17T06:41:00.003-04:00

I've mentioned a few times on this blog that The Papered House has a slate roof. It's beautiful and historic, and tends to be very durable. Our roof is in pretty good shape, all things considered. But every once in a while, individual slate tiles become so weathered that they chip and fall off our roof. This is most common after particularly bad ice storms; the ice thaws and slides off the roof, taking small pieces of slate with it. When the ice and slate hit the ground, there is quite a ruckus. I'll tell you, seeing pieces of your roof on the ground, a good 30 feet from where they are supposed to be, is a pretty terrible feeling. We've been checking the attic for leaks after every storm, and, so far so good. We're also planning to have a roofer perform routine annual maintenance on our roof as a preventative measure. We have a plan to keep our slate roof in good repair. But still, seeing broken pieces of roofing material on the ground is an unsettling occurrence to say the least.

Throughout the winter, I gathered those slate scraps and stacked them into a pile. For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to throw them out. I kept thinking, "Suppose we could do something with all this slate. It'd be a waste to throw it out." So I collected little pieces of slate for several months. It's similar to my hoarding of "good" boxes. I will save any cardboard box that is particularly sturdy/well-proportioned/potentially useful, with a definitive proclamation that "This is a good box. We can do something with my box. We shouldn't get rid of this box." My husband doesn't like this tendency; his response is typically, "Yes. We can do something with that box. We can recycle it."

Anyway, back to these pieces of slate. I decided to give them new life as DIY garden markers. If that's not an overly-optimistic interpretation of the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" I'm not sure what is.

Repurposing these slate scraps into garden markers was simple. I just selected pieces of slates based on size and shape. Most of these range from the size of a playing card to the size of a checkbook. That's probably an antiquated description...does anyone even use playing cards or write checks these days? Anyway, that was the size I was going for. I cleaned them with mild dish soap to remove the dirt and grime. When they were fully dry, I just labeled them using a white paint pen. A chalk pen would have worked as well, but I didn't want to worry about the chalk rinsing off the first time I watered the plants. We already had other markers for several vegetables and herbs, so we used my DIY markers to fill in the gaps.

I considered writing a tutorial on these garden markers, but decided against it for a couple of reasons. First, these markers are so simple that I don't really think a tutorial is warranted. But more importantly, it would have been the least relevant tutorial ever. Can you imagine? "Step 1: Buy an old house with a slate roof. Step 2: wait for an ice storm. Step 3: Hoard materials that most people would consider trash." Not a helpful set of instructions, at all.

So, I'm not going to presume that everyone else has easy access to a historic slate roof. But if you do, or if you've got slate scraps lying around your house for some other reason, consider putting that old slate to use. Make the best of a less-than-ideal situation. In fact, some folks have made a business of selling reclaimed, repurposed slate. I suppose you could buy slate markers if you felt so inclined, though that's not really the point of this post.

I was pleased with how this easy DIY project turned out. The garden markers were very useful in the early days after the seedlings had sprouted, when we were having trouble remembering what we had planted and where we had planted it. The markers add fun visual interest as well. In particular, I was delighted to find I could select a self-referential slate shape for the Northeast natives markers. If you use your imagination -- and don't look too closely at a map -- the Northeast natives marker is sort of shaped like the State of New Jersey. That kind of thing makes me giddy. Ironically, the natives never bloomed. Aren't they supposed to thrive here?! No matter. We're ready for next year. Our native plants will have a dedicated marker whenever they decide to sprout.

Garden versus Groundhog (0-3)

2015-07-15T06:49:00.003-04:00

The Papered House has met its match. On three separate occasions, we have been bested by a pudgy groundhog who skulks through our backyard. He has an insatiable appetite for leafy greens and seems to view our garden as his own personal salad bar. I've taken to calling him our nemesis. My husband has a much stronger name for him, not fit for this blog.

When we first planted the garden, we knew we would need to take some measures to keep the animals away. So we surrounded all the beds with a chicken wire fence. That worked for a few weeks, until our peas, cucumbers, and broccoli seedlings went missing. A groundhog had found a way in.

Our next step was to douse all the plants with a homemade pesticide made from habanero peppers boiled in water. This measure worked for about a month. But then our nemesis must have developed a spicy palette, because he kept munching away, this time on kale and bok choy. Seriously? He likes kale? It's as though we have a hipster groundhog who thinks he's entitled to eat all the kale because he was eating kale before it became a trendy superfood. Whatever, groundhog. I didn't really care about the kale anyway. We just grew it because, you know, it's supposed to be good for us. And also, kale chips are oddly delicious.

After the second round of vegetable thievery, we doubled down and protected each individual vegetable bed with fine black netting. The netting made it more difficult for us to weed, but we figured that would be a small price to pay for keeping the groundhog at bay. Right?

Unfortunately, this is the mess we discovered in our vegetable garden after the groundhog's most recent escapade. It's almost impossible to see in this picture, but the groundhog ate the plants through the netting. He got our lettuce, arugula, and beets. He also got the second set of broccoli seedlings, which we planted recently to replace the ones he ate. From what we can tell, he sat on the netting until the vegetable leaves poked through the holes in the netting, and ate to his heart's content.

He's one determined bugger. I have to admit that I'm sort of amused by his tenacity and resourcefulness. On the other hand, it's hard not to feel deflated after devoting so much thought and time into a project that isn't going to flourish (at least, not this year). My husband carefully picked out the vegetable varieties from the Hudson Valley Seed Library, even going so far as to select the Calabrese broccoli variety because it dates to the 1800s (apparently it's not sufficient to paint our rooms historically appropriate colors. We are also trying to grow the very same type of broccoli that previous owners might have. If you're rolling your eyes right now, I don't blame you. We're obsessive, I know.) Anyway, we planted some of these crops back in the winter, setting up fluorescent light bulbs and heating pads in our basement so that we could grow the seedlings when the ground was still covered in ice and snow. The seedlings grew really well in the basement, and we gradually hardened them outside, then transplanted them when the weather was warm enough. We were really looking forward to enjoying the fruits of our labor.

I hope our nemesis enjoyed that organic heirloom broccoli.

Vegetable Bed 1: Formerly lettuce, arugula, beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, & peas

This is Bed 1. It used to have lettuce, arugula, beets, broccoli, peas, and brussels sprouts (not all at the same time). The groundhog has eaten everything except the marigolds that we added to keep the bugs away. He also left us all the weeds, generous fellow. As you can see, he knocked over several of our plant markers and pushed the stakes askew, as well. In the adjacent beds, he has helped himself to the cucumbers, kale, bok choy, and beans. He also depleted the parsley in our herb garden. It appears he knows the value of a garnish.

If I gain weight this summer, I'm blaming it on the ground hog. "Gosh, I had every intention of eating a kale salad for dinner. But since all our kale is gone, I guess I'll just have to eat pizza and cupcakes instead. He has left me with no choice." It's entirely the groundhog's fault.

But other than our green vegetables, most of the garden seems to be doing well. We have tomatoes, corn, onions, shallots, and potatoes growing. We've harvested the first potatoes and could hardly believe how buttery they taste. Here are the remaining three vegetable beds.

Vegetable Bed 2: Tomatoes, Onions, and Shallots

Vegetable Bed #3: Corn and Squash

Vegetable Bed #4: Potatoes and Zucchini. Formerly cucumbers and kale, as well

The rest of the yard is also doing well. We've chosen a mix of perennials and annuals in the back and side yards so that we won't need to plant as much next year. We also planted primarily from seeds and/or bulbs to cut down on cost. We tried to select plants that could tolerate our shady yard, while also incorporating sufficient biodiversity to encourage bees, birds, and beneficial insects to make themselves at home. This sketch provides a basic idea of how we have arranged our yard.

When we moved into The Papered House, the upper half of the backyard (the part closest to the house) was covered in ivy. Over several weekends, we ripped out the ivy and had a blank slate to work with.

We planted peonies, liatris, ranunculus, and black-eyed susans. We also planted dahlias and poppies, as well as a shade garden and a bird lover's mix. The ranunculus and poppies never took, but the other plants fared well. Here is what has bloomed so far, in roughly chronological order. After such a long, harsh winter, we are enjoying the profusion of color in our yard.

Peonies (picture taken early June)

Baby Blue Eyes, Shade Garden (picture taken early June)

Annual Candytuft, Shade Garden Mix (picture taken mid July)

Shade Garden (picture taken mid July)

Bird Lover's Mix (picture taken early July)

Bird Lover's Mix (picture taken mid July)

Dahlias (picture taken mid July)

I'm anxiously waiting for the liatris to bloom. They look like they'll be ready any day, and I have a feeling that they will make quite a dramatic entrance once they are finally ready. In my mind, liatris are like the supermodels of the flower world. Tall, slender, and rather showy. They take forever to bloom, but they know how to strut their stuff. We kept the liatris far away from the humbler shade garden and bird lover's mix, to be sure the liatris don't steal all their thunder.

If you planted a garden this year, I'd love to know how your plants are faring!

Blush Pink for the Master Bedroom

2015-07-08T06:53:00.002-04:00

I almost named this post "In which my husband agrees to a blush pink bedroom, because the Victorians said so." But that title was far too long. Plus, I thought it might imply that my husband lacks strong opinions about interior decor. That would be misleading. In fact, he's so committed to historically appropriate decor that he agreed to paint our bedroom a color that looks suspiciously like ballet slippers, in spite the fact that he doesn't really like the color.

Anyway, let me provide some background before I bore you with paint color research.

Last night, I came across an email I wrote to my sister-in-law. Among other things, I mentioned that we would be working on our master bedroom over the weekend, hoping to make significant progress. That email was dated March 6. It's now solidly July, and the master bedroom is still a work in progress.

Since the day we bought this house, the master has been one of our favorite rooms. Thanks to five large windows, there is abundant natural light throughout the day. As an added bonus, it has beautiful baseboards and trim surrounding the windows and doors (the same trim we're trying to replicate in our guest room). But along with all those positives, it also boasted many of the typical old-house problems: floor-to-ceiling floral vinyl wallpaper. Plaster walls that were badly cracked. The ceiling had suffered water damage some time in the past. The woodwork had been coated in layer upon layer of paint. Many of the windows wouldn't open -- and one of them wouldn't close.

Here is a shot of the room from when our house was on the market. See that red fabric stuffed under the left window? That's the window that doesn't close, and the red flannel shirt was wedged under the lower sash to block bugs/draft/etc. Only the finest materials are used at The Papered House.

In March, my husband started to repair the plaster walls and ceiling in the master. This took at least a month; it was so long ago that we can't quite remember. Then he spent two more months prepping the woodwork for a fresh coat of paint. For far longer than we liked, the master bedroom looked like this:

Once the tedious prep work was (mostly) finished, we started to consider paint colors.

If you’ve met me in person, you know that I take a shine to the color pink. I have several pink coats, not to mention fuchsia luggage, a hot pink water bottle, and light pink cooking utensils. It’s probably no surprise that I’d eventually paint a room pink. On the other hand, if you’ve met my husband in person, you know that he has no particular affinity for the color pink.

When we chose a color for our entry hall, we used original source materials to help us select the color. We took the same approach to determine what colors would have been used in a Victorian bedroom. I came across this passage from Ella Rodman Church’s 1880’s guide on interior design. She was speaking about wallpaper selection, but her thoughts on color were helpful nonetheless.

According to Church, "wall-paper in a bedroom must in a measure be determined by the fact of a northern or southern exposure. In the former case, a delicate pink, pale green, or dainty buff will give a more sunny tone; while French gray, blue, or cream-color may be used where there are floods of sunshine" (81).

We're not going to install wallpaper in this room, simply due to the cost. However, we're applying the same color principles to our paint selection. It seems that common color choices in an 1880s master bedroom would have been light green, beige, or pink, followed by dove blue or gray. We ultimately decided on pink through the process of elimination. Here’s how the decision unfolded:

Green: We’re planning to use green in the living room and dining rooms – and perhaps in the kitchen, as well. Having yet one more green room seems a bit much.

Blue: The master bedroom is sunny enough that a Victorian reader following Church’s advice might have chosen a dove blue color. However, in looking at the particular shades of blue paint available from the historic Victorian color collections, none of them seemed to match the subdued, calming color schemes that Church describes. The only Victorian blues we found were bold and bright (like this one from California Paints), and they all seem too saturated and dark for a bedroom.

Beige: We considered beige, but decided that it seems too neutral and safe. Given that we are decorating a Victorian home, we figured we should take advantage of our opportunity to use some vibrant colors that we otherwise might not if we were decorating a non-historic home.

Gray: Ruled out, for the same reason we won’t paint the room beige.

So, since we’d already eliminated our other options, that left us with pink. Here are a few paint chip samples of the colors we considered:

I was particularly interested in the color Calamine from Farrow and Ball. It’s a light blush pink with cool undertones and the color looks subtle and welcoming, without being overly pink (by which I mean, too delicate or too girlish). We compared the color card to the wood tones of our furniture, and the colors seemed to complement each other. And the best part? According to Farrow and Ball's description, Calamine is similar to colors that were used starting in the 1870s*. The only problem is that F&B paint retails for about $100/gallon here in the US. Online reviews say the cost is worthwhile. That might be true, but at this stage in our restoration, when we’re still saving towards so many big projects, buying super premium paint just doesn’t feel like a good use of resources.

So, we turned to a few other paint lines to find a color that would be a good approximation of Calamine. Historic Colors of America does not offer any Victorian pinks. Benjamin Moore’s Queen Anne Pink was pretty, but too peachy. Valspar’s Champagne Glee and Tender Shell both looked quite similar to Calamine. Plus, both of them were on the same color cards as Victorian pinks (Lyndhurst Victorian Rose and Lyndhurst Roseglow, respectively). The Lyndhurst shades are from Valspar's collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, so we convinced ourselves that using a lighter shade of the historic color could be appropriate. After trying samples of both on the wall, we went with Tender Shell, as it seemed to have the same gray undertones that we liked in Calamine.

The walls are shaping up nicely with Tender Shell. We're quite fond of the end result. Rather, I'm thrilled with the color and my husband tolerates it. So if you average our reactions, I think "fondness" is an accurate description. But in all seriousness, one of the things we enjoy about this color is that its appearance varies dramatically depending on the time of day. The first shot was taken in the early evening, and the second shot was taken on the same day, just a few minutes later.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I took those photos in late May and we've made some significant progress in the master bedroom since then. We've refinished the floors and we're finished painting, with the exception of minor touch ups. We still need to fix the windows, but we've made enough progress in this room that we were finally able to move our furniture in here and start hanging some pictures. I'm hoping to share more photos soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Resources

Church, Ella Rodman. How to Furnish a Home. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1882. (link to electronic copy)

*It appears that the Farrow and Ball online description for Calamine has since been updated and no longer provides a historical context for the color. However, the physical color card does mention that it was popular starting in 1870.

The Papered House Project List: January - May Update

2015-05-06T13:33:00.002-04:00

Back in January, I posted a list of projects we wanted to accomplish by the end of March. And now that it’s May (May!), I’m finally providing a long-overdue update on the progress we’ve made thus far. Summer is just around the corner, and we’re not yet finished with the things we wanted to complete by March. With each project, we're coming to the realization that everything takes much longer than expected. I suppose that delays are just a fact of life with renovation projects, particularly when working on an older home.

Once I started to update this list, I realized that we actually have accomplished quite a bit. Obviously, we’re not nearly as far along as we wanted to be, but we’ve still made some good progress. Here’s where we stand as of today:

Exterior:

*Repair missing tiles on slate roof (hire professional): Done! There was a bona-fide hole in our roof when we bought this house. As soon as we moved in, we started searching for a contractor to repair our roof. It turns out that most roofers aren’t interested in working on slate roofs, so finding a contractor was more difficult than we had anticipated. Every time it rained or snowed, I felt like crying. But we eventually found a roofer, and as of January, the hole is gone. This fact alone is worth celebrating.

*Repoint side chimney. Repair/install liner if needed (hire professional): In progress. The mason hasn't started repointing yet, but is evaluating the condition of the side chimney. He initially thought that it would just require repointing, but is now thinking that a full rebuild might be needed. He's going to examine it more this week and give us details. If a full rebuild is required, it will change the cost of this project considerably and we might need to go back to the city for another set of approvals. I'm hoping a full rebuild won't be necessary, but it might be. At this point, we’re not certain what work will be required on the liner, either.

*Rebuild rear chimney. Repair/install liner if needed (hire professional): Also in progress, at this very moment. As I type this, the mason and his apprentice are chipping away at our rear chimney and preparing to rebuild it. We also have this awesome piece of construction equipment in our yard for the duration of the project:

*Install flashing on chimneys (hire professional). Outstanding; will happen once other chimney repairs are complete.

One of our first realizations about exterior work is that it’s (of course!) highly dependent on the weather. We’ve had the permits and town approvals for the chimney repairs since late February. However, our mason wanted to wait for a stretch of warm, relatively dry days before starting repairs on our chimney. This is especially important since he’s using a lime-based mortar similar to what would have been used when our house was built in the 1880s. Apparently, this type of historic mortar takes much longer to cure than modern mortar, so one should avoid masonry work when there is the threat of inclement weather. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I thought we could have all this exterior work done by the end of March; my expectation wasn't realistic given that we were still getting considerable amounts of snow in late March.

Guest Room:

We've made decent progress in the guest room, which is fortunate since we're looking forward to having lots of house guests in June. The full post on our guest room progress can be found here.

*Paint Guest Room walls: Done!

*Repair plaster on Guest Room Ceiling: Done!

*Paint Guest Room Ceiling: Done!

*Decorate Guest Room (rug, artwork, curtains?): In progress. We purchased a new rug and curtains, but still need to hang some artwork. We have a number of art prints that are ready to be framed and hung (Impressionism, because I'm not that original), but we haven't wanted to spend the money to have them framed just yet.

* Install new molding around windows and doors: In progress. Baseboard molding is primed and painted, but not yet installed. My husband is still researching how to replicate the beautiful molding that appears around the windows and doors elsewhere in the house. He’s been playing around with a router and has gotten close, but it’s not right yet. More to come…

Bathroom:

We've also made decent progress in the bathroom. This is an old bathroom and it will never be perfect. But the new wall color looks fresh and it's a clear improvement over the busy paisley wallpaper that was there before. The full post on our bathroom progress can be found here.

*Remove wallpaper: Done!

*Prime/Paint walls: Done!

*Bleach grout: Done!

*Decorate bathroom (new towels, artwork?): Mostly done. We may still add some decorative touches such as a shelving unit and a cheery vintage-inspired wallpaper trim.

Family Room:

Preserved wallpaper in family room.

This poor wall news LOTS of loving attention.

Our family room has a split personality at the moment. The wallpaper on two walls has been preserved and it looks pretty swell. The sealant lends the walls a slight luster that’s quite lovely (on the other hand, the seams are now more apparent due to the higher sheen. But I guess that’s to be expected). On the other two walls, we’re at that stage where I removed most, but not all, of the wallpaper. As a result, there are stubborn little bits of wallpaper still clinging to the plaster. At the same time, the cracked plaster is now readily visible, and it’s in very rough shape. In the picture above, you can see a rectangular outline of plaster that is whiter than the surrounding plaster. We've discovered that there used to be a doorway there, which was closed up at some later point. The two types of plaster must not have been completely compatible, which contributed to some deep cracks along this wall.

*Strip paint from basement door: Done...sort of. Door has been stripped of its 147 layers of paint, then painted in a fresh coat of glossy white paint. However, the white paint that we used looks too stark, almost as though it has blue undertones. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's just not working with the brick-red wallpaper. We'll be repainting the door a creamy white at some point, but it's not a priority just now.

*Remove paint from door hardware: Done, but we still need to reattach the hardware to the door

*Remove existing wallpaper from two walls: Mostly done

*Preserve existing wallpaper on other two walls. Done!

*Repair plaster on family room walls: Nope

*Repair plaster on family room ceiling: Nope

*Prime/paint family room walls: Nope

*Prime/paint family room ceiling: Nope

*Decorate family room (hang pictures): Nope

Master Bedroom:

The master bedroom is another space that looks like it had a run-in with the Tasmanian Devil, particularly since it’s serving as both tool storage and an active work area at the moment. In addition to the projects that are listed below, we’re also prepping all the woodwork in the master bedroom to be repainted.

*Remove existing wallpaper: Done! (admittedly, this was the peel and stick wallpaper, so removal was a breeze)

*Repair plaster on master bedroom walls: Done!

*Repair plaster on master bedroom ceiling: Done, but still needs to be sanded

*Prime/paint master bedroom walls. Outstanding; we're hoping to prime this weekend, and paint if we have time.

*Prime/paint master bedroom ceiling: Outstanding

*Remove carpet: Outstanding

*Refinish wood floors: Outstanding

Garden:

*Prepare for growing season: Done! Our garden is coming along really nicely. We planted about 80-90 varieties of plants/flowers, so if all goes according to plan, we should have a really lush, colorful garden in a few months. That is...if the deer don't discover our plants first. They've already decimated several of our vegetables, which upset me more than it probably should have.

*Purchase lawn mower: My in-laws generously gave us a lawn mower, which was such a thoughtful (and useful!) gift.

I'll write a separate post exclusively on the garden. My husband has put a lot of thought, planning, and hard work into our garden, and it definitely deserves its own post.

Foyer:

View of the entry hall, from the living room

View of the stairwell from the second floor hallway

*Prime/paint walls: Mostly done. The entire entry hall is painted, with the exception of the wall with the radiator. We'll be painting that soon, once we can remove the radiator.

After the long process of choosing a color for our foyer, we’re thrilled with how it looks so far. As recommended by the paint store owner, we used a coverall product that was specially formulated for the color paint (Stagecoach from Historic Colors of America) that we chose. The coverall is essentially a very thick, opaque basecoat that approximates the color of the finish coat. With this coverall, we only needed to use two finish coats for full, even coverage. I understand that walls often need six or seven coats of red paint before the coverage is satisfactory. We were very pleased with the performance of the coverall. It’s more expensive than ordinary primer, but definitely worth the added cost. In the pictures above, we had applied the coverall plus two finish coats. The pictures below show how the wall looked along the way.

In order to paint the stairwell, we needed to purchase an adjustable telescoping ladder. We ended up with the Werner 22' model, which I highly recommend. It's sturdy, easy to use/adjust, and feels safe. The only downside is that it's a bit heavy at ~50 lbs, so I enlisted my husband's help to reposition it every time I needed to move up or down the stairs (not only because of the weight, but also because our stairs are somewhat narrow and there wasn't a lot of room to maneuver with the ladder. We found it was easiest to have one person holding each side while moving it). By the way, we shopped around before purchasing this ladder. Lowe's was selling it for $199 in store. Home Depot's in-store price was $129. Use that information as you see fit : )

The Harsh Reality of Winter in an Old Home

2015-03-27T06:52:00.000-04:00

According to the calendar, spring has officially sprung. I’m still a bit skeptical that winter is really, truly, finally over, particularly since my evening commute on the first day of “spring” looked like a scene from Narnia.

Nonetheless, now that the cooler days are apparently behind us I’ve been reflecting on our first winter in our new home. We moved into The Papered House in late fall, so we just had a brief period of time to adjust to our new home before the seasons changed.

All things considered, we survived the winter very well. There’s honestly not much that we can complain about, especially in comparison to what so many others experienced. We didn’t have five feet of snow weighing down our roof. Our house is well insulated and the ancient heating system kept cranking all winter. We had a frozen pipe, but it didn’t burst. In other words, we consider ourselves pretty darn lucky.

But even though we didn’t have any weather-related catastrophes, we still felt the full force of winter. Here are a few things we’ll be glad to leave behind.

Astronomical Heating Bills

Our heat and hot water is supplied by an oil-burning boiler that is old enough to join AARP. I wish I were exaggerating, but I’m not. All evidence suggests that our heating system was installed in the 1950s. So far, it’s been surprisingly dependable. We have cast iron radiators and the steam heat keeps the house cozy and comfortable. We also haven’t had significant issues with hot water (there were a few weeks when we could only take hot showers for about 4-5 minutes. But that issue hasn’t occurred recently).

Despite our boiler’s good qualities, it is enormously inefficient. We knew that oil heat would be more expensive than gas. This is almost always true, even when the oil boiler is brand new. But the age/inefficiency of our boiler amplified the costs. This winter, we used approximately 1100 gallons of oil. Multiply that by $2.50-$3.00/gallon, and you have an idea of what we spent to heat our home. Oil prices were unusually low this winter, and I shudder to think how much we would have paid if prices were in the more typical range of $3.50-$4.50/gallon.

And here’s the thing: At 2,200 square feet, our house is spacious, but not sprawling. We have good insulation and we didn’t even set the thermostat very high. This winter, we kept our house at 64 degrees when we were home. When we were out of the house or asleep, we would turn the temperature down to 60-61 degrees (I know this sounds chilly, but it really wasn’t that bad. The humidity created by steam heat results in an environment that feels warmer than the temperature would indicate. In fact, I felt warmer at home than in my office, which has forced hot air and a temperature of 70 degrees). Anyway, all that to say that our oil consumption can’t be blamed on the size of our house, or poor insulation, or keeping the thermostat set too high. It was purely caused by the inefficiency of our ancient boiler.

Since our hot water is also produced by our boiler, we’ll continue to burn through oil even when the weather is warm enough that we no longer need to heat the house. The good news is that we have the option to convert to natural gas at any time. Most of our neighbors have converted and the gas company might pay the cost of running new gas lines. Once the work is complete on our big-ticket projects(roof, chimney rebuild, flashing), we’ll be soliciting quotes to see if it will be feasible to do the conversion before next winter. It would be a pricey conversion, but we estimate that we’d recoup the initial investment within three-four years, especially if oil prices creep back up.

Uninvited “Guests”

Shortly after we moved in, we started hearing occasional scratching sounds in one of our walls. The sound was very sporadic – just every six weeks or so – and only when there was heavy rain or wind outside. Strangely, the scratching sound never moved through the house. It was confined to one particular spot: near a window in the office/sitting area on our second floor. We feared that we might have a squirrel or other rodent making itself comfortable in our walls. We checked in the attic to see if there was evidence of critters. We knew that there had been a squirrel problem in the past, since a previous owner had installed wire squirrel cages under some of the eaves. But when we went into the attic, we didn’t see any evidence of an ongoing squirrel problem.

In January, we called a wildlife control specialist (how’s that for a euphemism?), who thought we had a different problem: bats. He didn’t find any evidence of bats in the attic, but there were small holes in our siding large enough for a bat to enter. There was also a trace amount of guano near the window where we had heard the scratching. According to him, most of the local bats head to a nearby cave to hibernate in the winter. Our bat must have missed the memo, so he sought alternate shelter in our house once the temperature dropped. So not only do we have a bat living in our wall, but it’s a stupid/lazy/procrastinating bat. Great…

In all honesty, we were relieved to learn that it was a bat rather than a squirrel. Squirrels tend to wreak havoc on a house, chewing through wood and electric wires. Bats are relatively harmless, so long as they don’t have rabies. Still, we don’t want our bat friend to make himself too comfortable. Perhaps he’s a hospitable fellow and will invite other bats to join him. And perhaps they’ll discover the attic and start to roost there. Perhaps the bat is actually a female bat and will give birth to little bat babies, who will then inhabit our wall. None of these are good scenarios. The wildlife specialist recommended filling the holes with a caulk-like substance so that the bats don’t have a way to enter our home.

Ideally, we would have liked to have had this rectified as soon as we identified the issue. However, the caulk that will be used to patch the holes won’t set when the outside temperature is below 40 degrees, so we had to wait. The wildlife specialist will be coming in the next week or so to patch all the holes. He’ll also set no-kill traps for the bat(s), as they’re a federally protected species. Later this spring, we’ll also be putting up some bat boxes in our yard, to encourage the bat to make a new home outside of our house. Bats are one of the most effective natural forms of pest control, as they eat many harmful insects. We’re happy to have them around our garden – just not in our home!

Exterior Damage

As is common for many Victorian homes, our house has decorative woodwork adorning the roofline and the front porch. Some folks refer to this as the “gingerbread” look. The bargeboard under all four gables was intact when we bought the home – until some time in late January. After an ice storm, my husband and I came home from work to see shards of wood lying on the ground. We looked at the roofline and discovered that the bargeboard was no longer attached to the rear gable. Based on the appearance of the shards, its seems that the bargeboard was starting to suffer from wood rot. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before it became detached anyway, but we can't help thinking that the harsh winter weather must have accelerated the process.

Now, we'll need to have a new piece of bargeboard custom made to match the existing ones. Here's a quick sketch to show you what the bargeboard will look like once the missing piece has been replaced. I'm no architect, but this will give you idea of what I'm talking about.

We felt dismayed when this happened. The exterior details are one of the primary reasons we bought this house. The Victorian homes in our town all have slightly different gingerbread; it's what makes each house so wonderful and unique. We're committed to keeping our home's historic character intact to the best of our ability, and we're determined to replace this bargeboard...eventually. We're not sure how extensive or costly this project will be, so there's no timeline to repair it until we do more research. And given that we have so many other items to repair, we might have to push the bargeboard repair to the back burner for a few months or even longer. The good news is that the missing bargeboard is on the rear of our house, so the damage isn't visible from the street. However, if this particular piece of bargeboard was brittle enough to fall on its own, we're worried about the condition of the identical pieces on the front and sides of our house. It's possible that we may need to replace additional bargeboard in the near future.

In addition to the bargeboard, we're also noticing other exterior repairs that we'll need to do in the future. Our porches are showing signs of wear and tear that are much more significant than when we moved into the home. The constant snow/ice and the accompanying salt treatments really did a number on our porch steps.

This winter has taught us that these little mishaps are par for the course with an older home. We didn't have any major disasters this winter, but even so, we're left with several maintenance issues that need to be addressed. As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, we made it through the winter relatively unscathed. My husband and I have repeatedly said to each other "well, it could have been much worse."

Guest Room Ceiling

2015-03-16T07:17:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post for today -- we finally finished the guest room ceiling! In my first post on the guest room, you could see that that there were quite a few cracks in the plaster, which we (ie, my husband) repaired. But then it took me ages to sand the ceiling after the plaster repairs were completed. Sanding is easy, but it turns out that standing on a ladder and craning one's head/neck upwards while a fine mist of plaster/spackle dust descends on one's face is not the most enjoyable way to spend a weekend.

But the end result was worth the trouble. There are still some imperfections and I wasn't able to sand the ceiling completely smooth for fear of reopening some of the cracks. Still, it's an improvement. Here is what the ceiling looks like now:

The paint color looks white in this photo, but it's actually a light greenish-gray that's reminiscent of sea glass. The color is Amelia from California Paints and it works nicely with the Cottage Green that we used for the walls.

And here is what the ceiling looked like after the repairs, but before it had been sanded, primed, and painted.

That's all for now. This week, I'm planning to repair and preserve the wallpaper in our family room. If all goes according to plan, the preserved wallpaper should look exactly the same as it does now (sounds like that will be a boring set of "before" and "after" photos, right?).