Painting The Library

We inherited a historic palette of paint colors in the library of this farmhouse which includes the living room and dining room. Most of the same colors will be used in these rooms after the repairs are done. The library was stripped of peeling paint, sanded, primed and had new shoe moldings installed before painting.

The light green paint is called "seedling", the off white walls and trim are "white dove", and the windows as well as exit door are "northhampton puddy". All are by Benjamin Moore and the first is part of the "Affinity" historic collection while the third is a lighter shade of one. A darker green called "boreal forest" is also an Affinity paint and on the dining room fireplace surround. The green living room walls are "pine brook". All are lovely names and colors while in the eighteenth century, green pigment was expensive and a status symbol. 

The window seat wall had a hole repaired with new sheet rock. The fix allowed us to discover that this part of the house was also very old and originally brick insulated, although conventionally insulated in the 70's. Two original; wavy window panes were broken and Christian removed several from a matching old window found in the garage to replace them.

  

Here is a picture of the Royal Govenor's Palace bedroom in Williamsburg, VA. A beautiful green and white room via Pinterest.

An Antique China Closet

The dining room china closet is now finished with narrow enough black iron hinges I found to hang the old plank door. Bill painted the original thumb latch hardware to match and added a stabilizing bar to draw two boards back together, inside. Material costs to build the closet were about $100 for sheet rock, finished plywood shelves, hinges and a replacement thumb latch part.

Christian rewired the ceiling light from a pull chain to a wall switch.

Patching Plaster And Sheetrock

We are now patching up the remaining holes in walls and ceilings here resulting from burst pipes. It seems all of the plumbing in the house needed to be fixed and the ceiling as well as an exposed plumbing line in the plaster wall of the library have now been repaired with new sheet rock.

Christian has rewired the ceiling light at this time, in order to eliminate a wall switch usually hidden behind a door. The wall plumbing has also been insulated with Roxul which now includes PEX water lines that heat the main bathroom floor. Installing a track light here seems best, to highlight books and artwork while keeping the house somewhat contemporary.

Some ceiling and floor trim was removed to make the repairs and I found a missing piece of long trim stacked in the barn.

It has taken initial coats of plaster before spackling, to make these repairs.

Stripping Wood And Walls

This kitchen had a lot of paint peeling from the walls and woodwork since the pipes had burst and the house was empty for eleven years. I am using "Ready Strip 15 Minute" stripper from Home Depot which is a few more dollars than the 30 Minute product, but is extremely effective with much less fumes to it. Bags of cheap 2" brushes, rubber coated gloves and 0000 steel wool (for a final finish); all come from Home Depot as well. An enormous stack of old newspapers help cover things and catch the mess.

These three wooden scraping tools by Stortz, are terrific for scraping flat, curved and deep crevice surfaces. They can be found in a good paint store. The thick; peeling wall paint is also easy to remove this way.

Most of the wood in this old farmhouse has taken two or three applications of stripper to remove the previous coats of paint, which isn't bad and makes a tremendous difference when properly sanded and painted again.

All of the kitchen cabinets in this room are made of 1" thick, good quality beaded wood and will be stripped also to be saved. What a worthwhile effort.

Installing A Chimney Liner

I found a new "Z" Flex Chimney Liner Kit" on craigslist which is recommended for the wood stove used in this old farmhouse, and it was delivered by the seller for 1/4 the price. We wrapped it with 1/2" required insulation on sale from ebay and installed it ourselves after Christian inspected and measured the chimney length. The boys worked together on the roof while Bill directed the project including removing the wood stove and reinstalling it. Securing ladders on all slate roof surfaces was important, especially with unexpected early rain.

 I will order a custom chimney plate from "Fireside Chimney Supply" next so that the stone chimney cap can be used again instead of the commercial set-up we installed temporarily.  Bill created a custom hearth plate from a sheet of copper we had, which is now siliconed back into position above the wood stove.

The 1/2" pipe insulation which is mandatory as well as a code requirement, came from "Rockford Chimney Supply" in a kit. This insulation covered with a fireproof sleeve, allows the stove to now burn with much improved draw.

The insulation is spray glued, taped and clamped on at both ends of the liner pipe; before it is cut to size using a hacksaw and pulled down the chimney with a heavy chain and clothesline attached. A few extra feet of pipe are initially added to the length to allow for bends in the flu. This stove will burn overnight and heat most of the house. How nice to have the job (about 5 hrs. and $500 for materials) done before Thanksgiving and major cold weather sets in.

Creating A China Closet

This open space next to the dining room fireplace had been opened up to make burst pipe repairs. There was no door frame besides missing and broken plaster walls. Bill built a door frame to fit an old plank door I found in another part of the house. The space was gutted, sheet rocked, wood trimmed, and fit for five deep shelves  recessed 2".

This closet is 3' wide X 2' deep with a ceiling light towards the front of it; and seems perfect for the crystal, white ironstone, china and colorful linens etc., that will be stored here. Christian stripped remaining door paint with a blow torch and scraper. The shelves are built from a 4' X 8' piece of finished, one-side plywood; face trimmed with a thin piece of pine and painted white. 

Staining The Deck Rail

We waited all summer for more than a week without rain, so we could stain the power washed deck and railing at this old farmhouse. The newer Benjamin Moore deck stains require the wood be completely dry and this weekend we managed to solid stain the railing white and will wait until next Spring to paint the deck floor with Arborcoat "Platinum" colored solid stain.

We were happy to find an earlier acrylic version of this stain since it completely covered the railings in one coat and cleaned up so easily! All of the solid constructed; pressure treated wood here seems like new after it's cleaning of molds or mildew, sanding and painting. Although Bill has always been a strong advocate of oil based paint and stains, we are finding the newer options work well if you follow the application techniques.

Wood For Winter

Recently, we rented a local log splitter for $75.00 to split a dying ash tree felled at the farm and much hard wood we collected at our own house. We filled an old barn foundation and tractor shed for the coming winter with four of us on hand.

Leveling An Old Brick Walkway

The curved brick walkway leading to Old Farm, was upheaved from accessing the nearby septic tank at some point. It became easy to trip on, so Bill removed the affected bricks to the side, re-leveled the ground, and filled the cracks with Sand Mix Cement after the bricks were back in place. Below is the walkway earlier; just after planting the garden.

A Gorgeous Garden Table

The latest of Bill's ceramic tables is just gorgeous. I am hoping to use it in my studio since it is such an artistic piece. It should be in the center of the room so that you can see all of the lovely sides to it. Bill's glazing is truly art.

 

Extending A Plaster Wall

This part of an interior dining room wall has been replaced with new sheet rock after the electrical switch was upgraded and an outlet added to it. Originally this was framed for a door leading to a small room or root cellar I believe and both sides needed replacing. The pictures are the "after" and then the "before". The wall was insulated with Roxul R15 since the exterior wall here is insulated with old brick.