MY WEEKEND

     Despite spending 22 of the 48 weekend hours working on the porch this past weekend,  I simply adore my front porch on Hawthorne Avenue.  After a full day's work Saturday we enjoyed an evening on the porch during a thunderstorm.  Cold beer, hard cider, diet Coke, pizza and good company made it all the more pleasant.

    Picture the house with these colors....

Rockport Gray on the stucco

Magenta on the door

White trim

Cape Blue ceiling

Gunmetal Gray on the floor

Despite its state of disrepair, the porch suits Miss Magnolia just fine.

   

WINDOW SOLUTION

      Many may recall that there are a few diamond-pane windows in this house.   What you do not know is what we have done in attempts to restore the damaged pair in the dining room.  Only 1/2 of the original window remains. 

 

We have looked into having half made to match the one which remains (close to $1000 for an 

18" x 36").  We considered having the entire window duplicated in modern materials of aluminum and double-paned glass (again at least $1000 and it would have the modern between the glass grids...not to my liking).  We have searched salvage shops in the area and on the internet to find a suitable  replacement.   This is where we have found some success.

A single window of the same era and close to the size we are looking to fill

Unfortunately in the shipping it was greatly damaged

   It is time now to make this newly acquired window work.

Adding approximately 1.25 inches on all sides makes it a snug fit into our opening

Bondo  comes to the rescue again,  filling gaps and making the extensions appear to be part of the original window.  Removing the broken glass, cutting new diamond panes and pointing the glass makes the window ready for the painters to paint.

I will install the window this weekend.  Removing the plywood from the window opening will allow the light to come into the dining room from the west.  Check back to see how it looks!

EVEN THE BEST LAID PLANS....

    This past weekend had been designated to 'build the balustrade'.  I made a special trip Friday to get  the lumber we required (2 trips actually because my car could not handle the full load in one trip).  As it turned out, the  building of the balustrade was postponed so that we could take full advantage of the hydraulic lift that is scheduled to be returned today.

    A week ago we spent removing the modern bead board and the buckling old bead board from approximately 35% of the porch ceiling.  Doing so unveiled an extremely poor support structure installed by the previous owner.  Before we could install the new bead board (milled to match the original) a new support had to be built.

Removing modern boards

Removing trim supporting buckling old boards

We discover the ceiling needs proper support

Building the supports

The lift comes in very handy

Having completed that and having taken delivery of the reproduction bead boards, we could spend this past weekend installing the ceiling.

Man with nail gun and lift.....enough said

Notching the wood to fit snuggly

Patching with new wood

How beautiful!

EXIT STAGE RIGHT

    The container which has lived on the property for a year is now gone!  This monstrosity has been a help and a hindrance since day 1 of our project.  It has been a place to store tools and architectural salvage (help) and at the same time blocked progress on moving forward with certain projects (hindrance).  It will be nice not only to move forward with building the back stoop and trimming the trees in the backyard , but also to not have that monthly bill to pay.

And soooooooooo.......

             These guys are back to clean up some big trees and grind some stumps.

I will continue to use Arborscapes for all our tree needs.   

And

The contractor can build the back stoop off the addition.

A CLUE! A CLUE!

    We've been playing detectives this week.  It is time for the original trim and architectural pieces to come back into the house to be re-installed and primed.  The nails were all removed back in January.  In some haste to get rolling on the demo last March and April, not all the trim was adequately marked.  Now for some pieces, like the arched door trim or the interior columns, it is obvious where they go.  Some of the trim was marked by me or the original carpenter and this too is helpful.

Far too much of the trim, however, is unmarked and of shades of peeling white.

 What it takes is matching size, cut, nail holes, and paint chips.  Sometimes there is a clue such as the hot pink paint on the sides of the entry trim.  (Thank goodness for sloppy painting.)

The hot pink on the walls of the entryway upon purchase is a clue to location of trim

Determining the placement of the columns was an easy feat.  Re-installing them required patience, muscle and skill.

Entryway left column

Entryway right column

Wallace and Donnie place the entablature above the columns

Entablature in place and ready for the capitals

A NEAR PERFECT MATCH

     In reproducing the balustrade ,which originally lined the roof of the front porch, we encountered a huge snag.  We have assumed for the past year that the 125 gorgeous balusters we found all over the house upon purchase were the original balusters removed in the early 80's by a previous owner.

  

As time approached to reconstruct the balustrade we realized that these pieces of architectural salvage were just that....salvaged from another house.  They neither match in shape the balusters on the first floor...

nor are they the correct length to have fit with the original post and rail we have used as a template to build the reproduction posts.

In a quandary as to what to do, we started getting estimates here locally from wood mills to determine what the cost might be to duplicate the original balusters.  We were just looking for ballpark figures and, given estimates of anywhere from $35 - $110 apiece, we decided we could not even afford a ticket into that ballpark. 

    I started searching online and came across Mr. Spindle .  And here is where we get excited.  Not only are the folks at Mr. Spindle pleasant to deal with and knowledgeable about their products, but also they are up to the task of reproducing my baluster at a VERY decent price.

    Here is how it has worked for me....

1.  I sent Mr. Spindle a photo of my porch spindle next to a tape measure.

A baluster from the first floor porch

2.  Kary out at Mr. Spindle (a long way from Virginia in Fargo, North Dakota) made a scaled drawing of the proposed turned baluster.

                               

3.  Upon approval, the spindle is turned and a sample photo sent.

                                     

4.   The next day the spindle arrives on  my doorstep.

An overnighted package arrives on my porch

5.   It is a near perfect match and I give Mr. Spindle the thumbs up to reproduce "X" number of balusters at a crazy fabulous price.

All of these things happened in under 5 days.  We eagerly await the arrival of all our balusters.  The folks at mrspindle.com say the shipment should be here next week.  We will be working on the handrails this weekend.

I am so excited to see how it all turns out! (pun for Wallace)   Check back to see photos of the finished project.

GOING UP !

     The view from the peak of my house is unique.......a point of view I will perhaps not have ever again.  I went up the other day on the lift the painters are using to work on my house in order to angle grind numerous protruding nails and to remove hardware left behind by old telephone wires.

Here is a taste of what I saw.

A POST POSTING

The time has come to reproduce the balustrade on the roof of the front porch....

starting with the posts.

  

Using a post found in the basement, we started and assembly line.

Fir boards are cut to size

Pressure treated wood is run through the table saw and given  a bevel .  Result....8 post caps

The fir boards are primed and nailed together into boxes

Each box forms a sleeve around the 6 x 6 pressure treated post built into the  roof structure

Each post box is leveled and attached, leaving an inch of space between post and roof

The next carpentry project for me is fabricating the rail and building the balustrade.  

BEAUTY REVEALED

Our front door has it's pilasters

obstructed by a wood jamb that formerly housed a screen door.

To remove the frame would expose the entire pilaster and its beauty. 

I scored the joint with a knife. Squiggle means "all clear" and X means I hit a nail.

I used a wood chisel to split the wood.

Donnie used the reciprocating saw to cut to the chiseled  area.

The wood  split and we easily removed the entire jamb,

fully revealing the pilaster.  

Cleaned up and primed the entry's beauty is revealed.