You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2011.
Even though we finished the bathroom in April, we never installed the door. Well it’s about time, so we need to make and install the stops. Here are the 1×3′s next to their future home.
After running them through the router table to give the profile and cutting them down on the table saw here they are installed.
Interestingly the 1900′s reno millworker used the same profile on the doors, trim, paneling, etc, so once we found this unique router blade online for the new doors we made we have it for all our other projects! The stops are a perfect match to the original.
We are finally putting things back together and I am working on the trim.
The old door frame, like much of the house, has had a long history as you can see on the jambs.
We used a router to cut out the bad wood at the hinges & lock, but made sure to leave some of the original frame to fasten too.
Then in went the new wood with adhesive, nails, and a few screws at the hinges. Don’t forget the wood putty.
Now on to the casing. Being ‘sustainable’ we reused a lot of the old trim (of course after sanding off all the old paint globs). The sliding door also got all new jambs; reused casing still to come.
Unfortunately while trimming the sliding door we realized that this reused door had a ‘slight’ warp to it so here is our attempt to straighten it. We’ll see how that goes!
After some long days of spackling and sanding our hall…
And a lot of vacuuming up of drywall dust and wiping down of walls… it was finally time to prime our hall!
Here’s my new Purdy xl cub (shortie brush)! I only use this brush but my first one bit the dust (it was on its way but then I made the mistake of using it with oil based paint- don’t do that!). Anyway, in my opinion good quality paint brushes are worth the expense when you spend as much time on perfecting your walls and trim as we tend to do… but it no longer looks this clean:
Standing on a chair- still not reaching much… but I rocked the bandana to keep the paint out of my hair…
After prime time (4 hrs!). We’re stopping this paint job at the top of the steps, hence the bit of tan:
It looks like a monster but the future wall grill, light, and smoke detector go here…
And stop peeking at the new door trim to the little bedroom! Rob will post about that later.
December 29th, 2011…. goodness gracious it’s the end of the year, and {surprise!} we’re not “done” yet but that doesn’t mean we haven’t “done” anything. Oh quite the contrary. We’ve been busting booty over here on Madison Square all year and it’s time to look at the glass as half-full. (Don’t forget that last New Years Eve we were still showering in the basement!*)
Here’s a month-by-month highlight of some of our projects.
January: Installing the paneling in our bathroom!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/01/02/new-years-day-resolution-finish-the-paneling/
Feb: Repurposing an old dresser into a custom vanityfor the bathroom!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/test-fit-vanity/
March: Finished the bathroom tile!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/red-stripes-be-gone/
April: Finished the bathroom (ugg, grout)!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/shower-deets-part-i/
May: Electrical close out!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/pushbuttons-looking-glam/
June: Garden Time- planted our garden & deck, then organized a clean up & entered our block in some tough competitions with great results!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/
July: Cleaned out the basement!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/basement-power-hour-pt-2/
August: Kicked off the little bedroom project by ripping out the purple carpet… then promptly tore out more walls to kick off the closet-creation project!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/see-ya-carpet/
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/08/28/easy-as-1-2-3/
Sept: Framed & drywalled the closet project!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/
Oct: Fit out our new linen closets with fancy shelves & doors!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/
November: Totally rebuilt the exterior little bedroom wall & installed a new window!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/
December: Plastering, triming, sanding and generally magically transforming the little bedroom!
http://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/
Whew… no wonder the last 365 days flew by. Good thing next year is leap year…
* In general this post is directed to me because I feel like nothing has happened this year when in fact, Kelly, if you look back at your own blog, www.madisonsquare.wordpress.com, you may notice that is not the case. So happy new year!!
There’s plans in the works but unfortunately no WOW shots tonight… Sanding and priming the altered bathroom and bedroom doors:
Painting away:
Meanwhile Rob sanded and spackled the hall upstairs:
I’m not just talking about smoother walls and lack of patched hole… corners are looking squarer, and detail work crisper…
Ceiling:
All will be getting primed later this week!
Our cork spent a whirlwind 5 day weekend riding thru MD & PA in our trunk after we picked it up last Friday morning on the way out of the city… Finally last night we were able to check it out:
So far it seems soft underfoot and the color is pretty consistent. For $1/ SF, it’s perfect. Final wall color choice is the large sample to the right:
Like any natural products there are pattern and shade variations that we’ll want to consider in the layout. We’ll be going thru all the tile boxes first to select the tiles we like the best. To paraphrase the secret message on the back of the old bathroom beadboard, ‘use the best tiles first’.
Adjacent 2nd floor flooring, tones look pretty close!
Last week, Rob and I checked out the annual Christmas Village at Love Park… Very festive, live music, lots of shops to browse, ornaments galore and delicious foods like crepes, German pfeffer nussen and Austrian strudel. If you’re around the city you should check it out:
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