Coat Rack

We bought a coat rack that looks like it was made in the 20s and very Arts & Crafty.  It is currently full of coats and hats and bags.  Clearly, it must be working out.  We were pretty excited about this furniture find.

Hard Choices...

We spent a lot of time painting.  We had like 2 days to pick a color and paint before we moved our big things in.  That is a lot of  pressure!  I do not want to get the wrong color and then have to paint again.  That is not much fun.  We did that with our first house.  It's possible that we painted the living room 4 times before we found the right color.

We got some good advice and chose SherwinWilliams Golden Fleece for the living room and dining room.  I was going for a warm neutral that would look good with our new floors and existing furniture. We are loving the Golden Fleece!  We also chose Dover White for the trim.  We're going to hold off on painting the wood that divides the living room and dining room.  Hope that it was just painted somewhat recently and I can remove the latex paint.  Lead paint would be a total bummer.  I'm not really willing to poison myself while heat gunning and sanding lead.

Living room is done.  We finished around 11pm in a non- air conditioned room.  It was hot, humid and smelly.  We'll move on to the dining room.  We're still arranging furniture and unpacking, so it's not ready for the big reveal.  Soon.  Very soon.

Painting edges and taping was taking us forever!  And not turning out quite right.  We headed to the dreaded Home Depot with a shopping list determined to find a better way to paint the edges.  We found a pretty good painting tool.  While not perfect, it was way faster than taping and then painting with a brush.  We got a chuckle out of the slogan, but I think I recommend the Zibra "no tape edge-n-roll"  I still prefer the "hiring a professional" route...but whateves...  We did it!

New Floors!

Ohhhhhh....can't wait to walk on them.

Can't wait until I can shop

We're so far away from the finishing touches, that I can't really buy anything.  But I can always look ;)

This is a pretty cool site: http://www.artsandcraftsman.com/

Definitely going to need these copper switch plate covers   There are some hand made ones on the internet, but those might get a little expensive.  I might just have to have the "inspired" piece and not the "authentic" one.

This site pretty much has everything we'll ever need.  It could be dangerous.  http://www.oakparkhome-hardware.com/default.asp

Searching for Dining Room Inspiration

I really like these two Arts & Crafts dining areas.  I like the style of tables, chairs and the rugs.  Now to find something like that on Craigslist ;)  I'm realizing that I've always really liked the clean lines and simplicity of furniture.  I just wasn't sure what decade it was.  Now I know I am a fan of the 20s and 30s.  I do still really like Art Deco, but that is not quite what fits with our new home.

Naked Floors

We went to go take a look at the progress the floor guys made today.  It looks REALLY good.  The naked floors look nice, but I am holding out for the dark stain.  They patched up a few holes and it looks GREAT!  I'm excited. We won't be able to set foot into the house into Saturday....so at least I will be able to rest a bit.

Hidden Treasures

We've spent a loooooooooonnnnnggggg time talking about what to do for floors in the kitchen and the bathroom.  I looked at restoration tiles and found a great site for ideas: American Restoration Tile

Then last night, we uncovered wood floors in both the kitchen AND bathroom under about 4 layers of vinyl and linoleum.  Jackpot!  As long as they are in good shape, we will refinish them and have them match the rest of the house.

In addition to that, we took carpet off the first stair leading into the upstairs.  Just to see what might be under there.  Beautifully finished stairs covered in decades old carpet and dust!  With a good cleaning....we might be able to leave them as they are.  It was really like we hit the jackpot.  Maybe the rest of the steps aren't as great...but we're leaving that project for later.  It brought some excitement to the staple pulling.

Speedy Decisions

We were presented with some color samples for the wood stain for the floors.  The floor guy hands us the sample book and asks which one we want!?!?!?  GAH!  I need several days to make a lifelong color decision!  Geez!!!  Fortunately he had a slip of paper with the colors on it -- not the actual wood pieces.  But I suppose it's better than nothing.  We narrowed our choices from 27 to 2 in record time.  It's between Early American:

 OR English Chestnut

I like the color name of the first one because Early American goes with our Arts & Crafts restoration idea....  But I think our final decision is English Chestnut.  We have natural in our house right now, so I figure might as well go a bit darker and mix it up a bit :)  Plus, it looks like Arts & Crafts homes tended to have a darker stain.

The Luna Inspection

Before we left our new home for the night, Luna had to do a final inspection.  Here she is staring at probably the most worn section of the floor.

We had a pleasant surprise in terms of the quality and condition of the wood floors.  They had the original stain and varnish on it, so it had never been refinished.  The floors are even, the wood is beautiful and we are pretty excited about them.  There were a few spots that had to be repaired because of the old radiators...but overall....amazing for 1924 floors.  Mission accomplished on our first night of work!

The floors uncovered...

There is carpet throughout the majority of the house.  I've never pulled carpet and figured "how bad could it be?"  Rip some carpet, padding and tack strips out.  WRONG!!!  I did not know about the staples.  OMG!  It's quite possible that I pulled 14,000 staples between 1:00-10:00pm yesterday.  Wrists hurt, fingers hurt and my legs hurt *insert whine here*.

Before:

 Pulling Staples:

Staple free!  Three bedrooms, 1 hallway, 1 dining room and 1 living room.  Whew!

Closing!!!

It's officially ours!!!  We closed yesterday at about 10ish and started on our first official project at 1pm.  

The Window Problem

So, most of the windows on our future new house have been painted shut.  Huge bummer.  I figured that we would replace them all since they are the original windows.  Everyone says that old windows are bad....until I started researching and read otherwise.

The house has the old Mission style windows.  They are complete with broken ropes and weights.  All this equals a LOT of work.  But these windows were designed to last a lifetime.  They are made of old growth wood that is irreplaceable today.  It's possible they are made out of hickory or walnut.  The old glass is pretty too.  While the project of restoring does not sound like a lot of fun at all...it will add to the charm and character of the home.  And you can't get anymore Arts & Crafts than old Mission windows.  *sigh*
Interesting reads:
http://www.oldhouseonline.com/how-to-restore-sash-windows/
http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25935

Looking for inspiration...

We haven't closed yet, but I am looking for inspiration.  We've got to work on the kitchen and I want it in the 1920s style, but with all the modern amenities.

So, I like the light fixture, the draw pulls and the style of cabinet.  Not loving the white marble countertop, but a white quartz might look lovely ;)  I've been seeing a lot of white subway tiles in old kitchens.  Something to consider.

A New Adventure Starts

We said we would never start another house project again.  One fixer-upper was designed to last a lifetime....until we found the perfect location in the right city.  So, we are off to a new adventure in home repair.  I think it will be worth it, but it's not the move in ready place we were hoping for.  Now I am consumed with doing research on the American Arts & Crafts Movement.  We are excited to restore the house to its original Arts & Crafts look.  It's just going to take a while.  I'm going to record the journey because I wish we would have done it on our first house.