Presto Change-o! or Weird Deja Vu?

Continuing the dining room update:

Thursday I put on two coats of varnish, sanding between coats




I finished the last coat on Friday morning and knew we'd have to really hustle to get the room finished before going back to work on Monday. We had talked about two possible colors, both from the Sherwin Williams Arts & Crafts palette: "Portrait Tone" and "Roycroft Adobe." I got samples and painted 2 x2 foot squares of each around the room. Everyone's first choice except youngest daughter's was Adobe. Even the neighbors concur, and they have to look at our dining room at night when they are in their kitchen. Saturday night I primed everything and then started in on color Sunday morning








I was leery of using a red paint and wondering if I'd need extra coats to get it to conver evenly, but it went on easily. Even though it is an S-W color I still went to my Mautz paint store (they are owned by S-W now) and by using the best Mautz brand, and since I have an account with them, I also get a discount, so I got a much better price.




I think we did a great job of covering the spot where we had torn out plaster. I ended up using a texture product that I added to the primer to get the same bumps as the original plaster had. Compare this picture below with the third one from the top in this post to see what I'm talking about.


At our old house we had Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper border in our living room and dining room, we will use the same pattern here. At the old place we used the "Prairie" border in the "Natural" color family. Here at Foxcroft we will use a ligher color family "Thatch." You'd think we picked the wall coler with the border in mind, but I didn't dig up the sample until after everyone picked Adobe.


I'd finished the second coat by noon and then late this afternoon I started moving furniture back in and haning pictures back up.




So after not having a dining room for a week, we celebrated with our corn beef and cabbage dinner a day late.


After I took this picture I was reminded of a March dinner we hosted at our old house 6 years ago. The photo below was taken by our by our now next door neighbor, before we had hatched up any of this moving stuff. You can just barely see the border paper at the top of the dining room. And while we left those curtains behind we bought another set just like them, which are in our dining room again. We certainly like what we like!

"you cannot bear to see a stain upon him..."*

* The quote in the title is from Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman, born 1813. And like Henry, I cannot bear to see stain upon me, either, so today was a good day in that the stain ended up on the dining room floor, and not me.

I started off this morning by taking two pieces of baseboard outside and stripping the varnish off them. We had removed them when putting in the support columns for the new gable 2 years ago, I cleaned them and brought them back inside. Since I had Pete’s compressor and finish nailer I installed the one in the dining room



And the one in the hallway


Then I went to the hardware store to get some new base shoe for those two spots. Each section was just over 8 feet long, so of course the only length they had in unfinished oak was 8 feet. This isn’t a big deal in the dining room as the splice will be hidden behind the buffet, I tried to get a fairly inconspicuous spot for the hallway. I also wanted to pick up another quart of stain (it doesn’t come in gallons, not even from the company's web site. By now I really don’t need an entire gallon anyway! OF course it was out of stock, but as I was ready to leave in disgust, the young punk worker (who had not been particularly helpful up to that point, said that “Gunstock” is the very same color as “Mission Oak.” I took it and went home and sure enough they are the same number, 263.

I got out the hand miter box and cut my pieces, I had to hand cope one joint as well. Here is the exterior miter at the end of the hallway.


And the original coped shoe (left) fitting over the new (right)


The I puttied nail holes and got ready to sand the floor. I rent an 18 inch by 12 inch random orbital sander and went over the floor first with 120 grit screen then a 150 grit screen.


I went and returned the sander. When I got back the putty had dried in the nail holes so I sanded the baseboards and shoe with my hand sander. I vacuumed and wiped everything down with a tack cloth. I started to stain the baseboards and had just finished when Lisa came home. Together we started on the floor, spreading stain on with a pad and then wiping it up and evening out with paper rags.


In a little over an hour we had the room finished



Tomorrow morning I will put on a coat of varnish, with luck I could put on the second tomorrow evening.

I'm on Vacation?

It's Spring Break this week, so I've started on the dining room floor. I haven't had a good step by step process post in a while, so here we go. The first thing I needed to do was move out the chairs, some of which ended up in the library



Then I put the dining room table in the living room. I unloaded the buffet and put the boxes in the library. Then I put a rug under the buffet, and with Lisa steering, I pushed it into the living room too.



Since we took out the radiators when we put in the geothermal system I needed to patch the holes in the floor. The holes look like this:





I started by splitting the wood between the hole and the baseboard and getting it out. On one side one board was completely cut and another was slightly cut.I removed the completely cut board first.



I then took out the other one, luckily it was a short one so I removed the whole board.



Then I took my dremel and cut the other board even with the first



The other side was easy because only one board was cut by the pipe. I took out the cut part and did a dremel cut for an even line.



Since Pete took his saws home I couldn't cut the replacement boards. I also took the girls to stay with their grandparents tonight. When I got back home I started stripping the floor.



Lisa worked a half day, so when she came home she started in too.



Once we were nearly over the floor once I went to rent a sander for tomorrow and go to Pete's to cut floor boards. To get these to fit in I needed to bevel the groove side so that it will slip into place. After I cut the boards I gave Pete a ride to get his car at the garage, and brought back his compressor and finish nailer. I put the boards into place and nailed them in. Here's how they looked after stipping them.





To finish we used the floor buffer with rough nylon pads then with fine pads. Here is the floor after we were finished


And once it was all done we let our newest family member take a stroll through. This is Hailey, we got her at the animal shelter on Dec. 30th. She is five years old and is some kind of lab mix. She is truly a wonderful dog.


Tomorrow I will put the baseboard in that we took out to put the
support columns in the wall back in June of 2005. then I'll sand everthing very lightly and stain.

Here is the Upstairs with PICTURES!

Since we had our official upstairs party last week, I've heard a clamor (yes in my book two people asking counts as a clamor. So for my brother Jim and Stucco House, both of whom have GREAT blogs and very cool projects) Here are some pictures.

Most of the upstairs has been finished for a while, at New Year's we finished the master bedroom and moved into it. I told Lisa it felt like we were vacationing at an inn to be able to sleep somewhere new while on vacation. Here are shots of the master from the three corners I could easily stand in. (I didn't want to go stand behind the bed)







The master is in the front gable, the only space that was somewhat defined when we started. The room is 15 x 15 so we had plenty of space to put the bed on the diagonal, which is the same way I laid the floor. The bed I bought from my grandparent's estate sale, the black trunk held everything my great-great grandparents and their 7 children brought to America from Luxembourg in 1880. Lisa's dressing table and matching chest of drawers (it isn't pictured) came from her grandparents.

The closed door in the last picture goes into our closet. Here are some pics of that:







The closet is 8 x 7 and is in the eaves so the ceiling height drops from 8 feet down to 5 1/2 feet. I really like dressing and undressing here, the bedroom is kept so much neater. We have another door in our bedroom(not shown) on the wall opposite the one that leads to this closet. That door goes into a slightly bigger closet that is primarily younger daughter's, but we will put a few storage things there.



The door inside the closet leads to "deep storage"





"Deep storage" is also 8 x 7 but with a ceiling height of 5 1/2 feet dropping to 2 feet, it doesn't feel quite so big.

One last item to show from our bedroom is the Valentine's Day present I gave Lisa, a light for her side of the bed:



It is an antique and all original, but I have ordered new wire from Sundail wire to re-do it soon. It looks good on the wicker table.

Walking from our bedroom back toward the back of the house here are the girl's bedrooms:



Our 9 year old's room complete with shag area rug, lava lamp, and round chair



5 year old's packed with dolls...

And at the back of the house is the sitting room created by the new gable we put on the back:





As I get older I really like the idea of putting as much wicker (easy to carry) upstairs as possible. Upcoming posts will need to deal with the big cupboard and the old photos.

Speaking of Prayers

I posted the Home Remodeler's Prayer the day the ice storm hit. Maybe lighting the candle saved us? For even though we were lucky, others in our small town of 1000 surrounded by Iowa City were not.

Three blocks from us is a small house whose entire front yard was a gigantic multiple trunked maple tree. Rowan and I would walk by it on Fridays coming home from school. This tree was VERY dead and the front was hollow. Nearly every time we would go by I would tell her that a dead tree like that was dangerous and it should be removed.

Well, it went down on Saturday, and to add insult to injury it took out the NEIGHBOR's house!

Here is the county assessor's picture of the tree, you can only see about a third of it in the picture:


Here is a picture of the neighbor's house:


Here is a picture from 2003 that gives you an idea of the size of the tree and the placement of the two houses. 24 has the tree 30 is the neighbor:


Here is a photo from the Iowa City paper this morning:

What you may notice is missing would be the chimney from the neighbor's house, there is also major damage to the roof, windows and front portico. The paper said the tree was 22 feet in diameter (I believe this since it was about 5 trunks all together and if measured on the long part of the oval base that would be about right!) Here is what the paper had to say:

"At 9 p.m., University Heights police were patrolling when they also heard what police Chief Ron Fort described as a loud "explosion" or "crash." When officers arrived on the scene, they saw that the tree, 22-feet wide in diameter, had fallen into the roof, took off the chimney and caved in the east side of the two-story house. It smashed the front the home, took out the windows and part of the porch and also brought down a power line." Iowa City Press Citizen

Tonight and tomorrow's forecast is for a storm at least as bad again. I think I'll go home and light that candle...

The Home Renovation and Remodeling Relief Prayer

We had our “Second Story Party” Friday night to celebrate finishing the upstairs. Our bedroom was papered right after New Year’s so we moved in up there, completing the major work upstairs.

The centerpiece of the party was of course our centerpiece on the table: the Home Renovation and Remodeling Relief Candle that was a Christmas present from my brother Jim and his wife Joyce.

Here is the text of the prayer on the candle:
Home Renovation and Remodeling Relief:

I place my feeble soul in your hands that you will come to my aid in my home renovation/remodeling project. Protect me from skyrocketing cost over runs, unreliable and incompetent workers and contractors who say “weeks” but mean “eternity”. Spare me the indignity of low flow toilet regulations and ensure that the paint on the walls actually somewhat resembles what I chose. And on my knees I beg thee that my home will not resemble a war zone forever. Amen.

Directions for use:

Sweep sawdust off available surface, place candle on blueprints and light. Repeat prayer once for every contractor fired. In extreme cases repeat prayer continuously and consult “do it yourself” books. Good Luck!


It comes from Every Day Icons

I think EVERY house blogger needs one (or more!)I'm serious, go to their site and order them right now!

We were VERY fortunate to have F & L Construction as our contractors. Everyone should be so lucky. So I made a logo for them, and had a dozen t-shirts printed with it safety green. They are much better than the old blue uniforms!


I also had a magnetic sign made for Pete’s truck. I think John and Taryl may them too. For this to all make sense you really do need to go to the F & L link above, especially the comments, to get several different takes on the history of F & L. Pete has always been a Hunter Thompson/Ralph Steadman fan so it wasn't too difficult to add a clip art hammer and a few other touches...

As to the remodler's prayer, I am daily grateful for how our home has turned out. There were so many opportunities for things to go south in a big way. Losing the house, my marriage and my sanity were all within the realm of possibility. But today I watch Lisa and the girls here and know that it was worth every bit of sweat and toil.

Out of Hibernation

Between finishing a lot of projects at home (we are now sleeping in our bedroom upstairs, and the sink in the first floot bathroom works), getting very busy at work, and breaking my digital camera, it's been a while since I've posted, however I'm back due to Stucco House having "tagged" me in a blog game where you must post five thing that others probably wouldn't know about you.

I've focused on what happens in our home renovation, so some things that certainly haven't come up here at Foxcroft:

1. I am a member of the Iowa Art's Council's "Iowa Artist Directory" The photo is now 15 years old, and the address isn't current, but that is me.

2. I can wiggle my ears. Sadly I was an adult before I discovered this talent.

3. I have an MA in school administration. I've worked as a 5th grade teacher, an elementary gifted ed program teacher, and as a staff development facilitator.

4. Growing up I was "not the handy one" in my family. As I often tell students "It's all about your norm group." It wasn't until I owned a house that I realized I could fix a lot of things. My younger brother, Tom, was, and still is, "the handy one."

5. I proposed to my wife next to her furnace. Granted she lived in a basement apartment at the time and what passed for the kitchen was a work sink in the basement next to the furnace, but that was where I proposed to her. In my defense, I would have done it at the restaurant where we had our first date, but she decided to invite her upstairs housemates along to dinner that night.

From Whence We Came: 1926 Plan Book

Over on the American Bungalow Bulletin Board not too long ago was a link to a bungalow site called Antique Home that has a GREAT Collection of old house-plan books. I looked through, and sure enough the 1926 Standard Homes Company catalog is there. This is a catalog I know well, since it was in the "Mother Lode" of materials I found in the attic when clearing out Foxcroft. Our house is based on the 1926 Standard Homes model The Monte Cristo.

What surprised me in looking at the Antique Home site is that the Standard Homes Plan Service Inc. is STILL in business! I sent them an email saying that our home was based on one of theirs, and that I had their 1926 planbook, as well as three letters from company president, A.G. Johnson, to the original builder. I received a reply from Leigh Cameron, A.G. Johnson's granddaughter, and the third generation in the family business. They have moved the headquarters from Washington D.C. to Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.

Here is a composite picture I made comparing the Monte Cristo to Foxcroft:

Here are Bess' notes to the local architect she gave her plans to with changes:
Here is Bess' description of how she wants the house changed from the example to what was actually built:

ATTIC
"Increase the pitch of the roof making the attic higher. Have it high enough so two or three rooms could be finished off later if desired. I want window at the east (front) as shown in the picture, then would like one on the north and one on the south. The roof pictured is not high enough for these last two but when you increase the pitch, I think they can be put in. Saw a house this style not long ago that had them. Want them all so they will open, with weights like those down stairs."

PORCH
"Use pretty brown and tan brick instead of the cobblestones. Make the two pillars brick, as high up as that brick trim shown in the picture. I don't care for the openings at each side of the steps at the floor level. Wide low steps as shown on the picture. Have a small window at both the north as south side in foundation for ventilation. Floor of wood, painted like house."

CHIMNEY
"Fireplace chimney to built of brick similar to that used on the porch, and thick enough on the outside so it won't be discolored by the fire as some I have seen. Constructed to meet the most rigorous fire insurance requirements"

As long time readers know, 78 years later we are finally folowing through on Bess' plan for second floor, by having "two or three rooms could be finished off later if desired".