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".

Dark as a Dungeon

I worked on several things Sunday. Pete and I cut the boards we will use for trim in the first floor bathroom. I’ll post about that when we install them. We also moved the neighbor’s swing set across the street and into our backyard. Thanks to my nephews for the muscle. I then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening clearing and cleaning up my basement workroom.

I built the shelves out of ones that were along the west basement wall that we took down when we put in the deadmen. I mitered them to use my corner space efficiently. There were about 100 (I am not exaggerating) apple boxes in the house, we kept about 30, Lisa’s sister got a dozen, and the rest were sold at the estate sale.


I now have all the paint together in one place, and even labeled it all. I also consolidated my painting tools and junk. I finally located all my tack cloths and have them together. Same for painting tape.


Now that there is enough room to get in the place I can actually WORK in there. I started painting my last 2nd floor storms last night


I strategically didn't take pictures of the messy half of the room, but how hard could it be to organize the rest? Having a whole bunch of drawers, from a house we salvaged from last year, meant that I could have all eight of my hammers together. It's great to have a whole drawer full of saws too. I'm also thinking that the boxes of Coors pottery that are packed away under the the workbenches won't stay there after we finish the dining room, right? I won't be messy again in three months, will it?


I forgot to get pictures of Thanksgiving on Saturday night, but we all had a great time. Everyone was very happy to be able to use a first floor toilet.

It COULD Have Been Fatal

I haven't had any really serious house related injuries since the Wild Parsnip incident, so I guess I was due.

While working on Sunday I got a tube of silicone caulk to seal around the first floor shower. I put it in the gun, cut off the tip, and went to get a skewer from the kitchen to pierce the seal. It bounced right off and poked me in the finger. Not content to admit defeat I went out to the garage to get a piece of wire thinking that the smaller diameter would do the trick. Of course it didn't and not only did it not work I forced it so hard that it bounced out and REALLY poked me in the finger. It drew blood and hurt quite a bit, so I went in and put a bandaid on it and worked the rest of the day. When I finished working outside and took my gloves off I noticed it had swelled, but wasn't concerned.

That night I got my fiddle out to play along with my daughter's practice and I couldn't move my finger at all and it was quite warm. Now I'm right handed and this was my left index finger, but as a musician I would give up a right hand digit before I'd ever want to lose one on my left hand. We were supposed to concentrate on a duet that we will play for her receital next month, but I couldn't do my harmony part. I knew I'd better call the doc first thing Monday morning.

She looked at it and and said time for a new tetanus even though my last one hadn't expired yet. She also prescribed big time antibiotics and said that if the red moved farther down my finger to call her and we'd visit the hand surgeon! Here's what it looked like Monday night when I got home. I've dislocated this one a few times in the past and that big bump at the knuckle is not usually there. The puncture wound is barely noticeable down and to the right of the knuckle.


I managed to get through the banjo lesson I had scheduled with one of my students Monday night, it's easier for me to substitute on banjo than fiddle. Last night I had much more movement and got through Rowan's practice and went off and had a rehearsal with my band, so I'm on the road to recovery.

Just Add Water

I finished painting bathroom trim over the weekend. I carried the salvaged pedestal sink up from the basement as well as the new toilet and put them in to place:


Now I wait for the plumber to come and hook them up.

I do have a few more things to finish yet. I took the door and the cupboard door down into the basement yesterday and began painting them:




As you can see from the first picture I also still need to paint the medicine cabinet door and the laundry chute door. Also when the wallpaper comes I'll hang it then install the trim piece for the top of the beadboard. That seems like a lot yet to do, but having the luxury of a first floor bath again after 6 months, I'll overlook the remaining details.

Too Much Mustard

When I was a kid my parents bought an Edison cylinder phonograph player. One of my favorites was the Europe Society Ocrchestra’s “Too Much Mustard,” a classic early jazz standard

Too Much Mustard is what I always thought of when we walked into our first floor bathroom:


I finished trimming the bathroom Wednesday night. I was working after the girls went to bed so I turned off the air compressor knowing I had few nails to shoot and could do it without worrying about the compressor kicking in. The other thing I did was drag out my old hand mitre box to cut boards.


Using the hand mitre really brought back memories. This is the third bathroom I’m covering over the fake tile plaster with beadboard. The other bathrooms were at our old house. I cut all the trim for those bathrooms with my hand box. I didn’t have to cut much with it on Wednesday. You have to hand cut the copes anyway, I really only used it to cut to length.







I will be finished painting everything by Sunday and the plumber will come Monday to set the sink and stool.

A Poem as Lovely as a Tree?

It's dark, but this is our neighbor's enormous oak tree. People tell us all the time that that tree must be at least 150 years old, but Mike next door and I laugh because we have a photo of the two houses in 1929 with no tree there! When the new subdivision Foxcroft is in was platted in 1926 the land was all pasture. The realtors planted at least two fruit trees in the back of every lot and gave owners a choice of elm, white pine, or catalpa for the front. Only some of the pines are still left, but there are lots of BIG trees in our neighborhood.


Here is that photo:


And here is how our two houses looked from the same spot in May 2006:


Today is our last leaf vacuuming day, so we've spent even more time than usual raking.

We have four large walnuts. The story is that Bess brought these as seedling from the family farm when they moved to Foxcroft in 1928. I am tired of walnuts. I know I should be collecting and shelling them, but after a wheelbarrow load full in early October, I've been dumping them in the back ravine. I've put 7 wheelbarrow loads down there. This year they all lost their leaves in nearly a single night. Here are two in the front yard


Here is the really big one next to the garage:


This is a look at our side yard with our crabapple, and our neighbors giant oak and maple:


This is a look toward the far yard, we have another walnut, a black cherry, some hackberry, and then the neighbors pines:



Here is the oak across the street, it must be a pin oak since it still has all its leaves:


And with all these trees we then get a 3 foot high wall of leaves when we rake them to the street:


And here's a pile of walnut leaves and hosta debris:


This is what the street looked like when we left this morning, tonight they will all be gone:

Take a Look at This!

I worked Friday night and Saturday and painted the first floor bathroom ceiling and I must say it looks great:



Now for those that are a little underwhelmed by this you must know that the old ceiling was quite bad and I resorted to drywalling over it. Here is a shot with a little bit of context:



We started on this bathroom way back last spring, but haven't done anything until the last two weeks. Longtime readers (all three of you) may even remember all this but here's a quick recap:

May 2006

• The Mushroom Factor
  
• Mushrooms Galore
  
• Something Underfoot
  

July 2006

• 7 Days of Frenetic Work
  

So two weeks ago I got 1x8 boards and Pete and I put them down for our baseboard





I spent the last week heat gunning the old paint off the casing for the door, cupboard, medicine cabinet and laundary chute. After that I painted the ceiling as noted above.

On Sunday Pete and I started installing pine wainscoting to cover the badly cracked fake tile plaster.





We worked together for about 2 hours and got the short laundary chute wall and the long wall with the medicine cabinet finished



After Pete left I started on the window wall and got it started. I probably could have finished it Sunday night but I went with my neighbor Mike downtown to hear Illinois senator Barak Obama speak at a Democratic rally.



I came home from work Monday night and finished the window wall



Then I went back and put 1/2 inch base shoe on top of the baseboard and put 3/4 inch quarter round at the bottom of the the base.



I then went down and brought up the primer so I could put that on the wall where the plumbing is, my thought is the sooner I can him back to install the toilet and sink.



I finished about midnight last night

Who You Gonna Call?

The phone rang last night about 9:00 PM. Lisa answered and said hello then said, "Oh no! Oh my God! Yes, he has stuff for that, I'll send him over!"

It turns that Ben, our neighbor behind us, had gone into the bathroom at their place (a rental) and shut the door. He went to leave, but found that the latch bolt in the lock was stuck and he couldn't get out. He managed to pull the hinge pins, but with the door in the jamb that doesn't really help. Amy, his wife, called Lisa.

I went over with my wonderbar (big flat pry bar) and my pussyfoot (smaller trim pry bar) to offer assistance. I asked Ben if there was a set screw on the door knob on his side of the door (There was) so I passed a butter knife under the door to take the set screw out. When we got the knob and spindle off, it was apparent the spring in the latch bolt had failed. I then pried off the stops on either side of the door (in hindsight I only needed to do the lock side) and with the stops off I could see the latch bolt. Ben slid the butter knife through and pushed and I went from the other side with a putty knife and we got the latch pushed back so Ben could open the door.

He was embarrassed and grateful, Amy was happy she hadn't been the one locked inside as she said she would have hyperventilated after about 10 minutes. Ben said from when he discovered he was stuck until we got him out was only an hour.

In talking to my colleages at work today the comment was made:

What would have happened if Ben had been alone or lived by himself?

The answer of course was that he wouldn't have bothered to shut the door.