Repairing Rafters

Before

After

It was hard to know what condition the roof rafters were in when we bought Old Farm, but we knew we would be replacing parts of them of least. Once the upstairs rooms were gutted and the drop ceilings removed, Alex cut off any protruding nails from the original ceiling boards and we painted everything. Now Bill is replacing parts of rafters with similar beams we bought six years ago for this job. The guest bedroom is now finished.

 The ceiling beams downstairs were in good shape, but most needed much sanding in the cracks etc., and prep work before painting. They are all lovely painted white now, except for one room with ceiling beams and boards never painted or showing any damage. They are above original floorboards which we did paint white. This ceiling had insulation, lathe and plaster at one time so we have compensated above it by using a large, thick oriental rug on the bedroom floor upstairs.

There are two rafters left in the large loft bedroom to be repaired now.

Choosing An Entrance Light

The side entrance to this farmhouse is the main entrance since it directly leads to the driveway. I have recently found a distinctive antique style light for this spot which is similar to the zinc plated ones we have needed to install earlier. It was the last fixture to find and came new from a private owner. I feel the finish, unique glass patterns and style will go nicely with the nearby greenhouse metal planters besides work well with a single LED Edison-like bulb.

Here are the lights which replaced missing or broken ones when the farm was bought. The front porch light, the barn (vintage French farmhouse) and side garage/barn lights.

Below is the light installed. It is larger than usual since we wanted to emphasize this door and light much of slated area in front of it and path to it.    

A Custom Rope Rail

Now that the stairway at Old Farm is completely finished, our custom rope rail from StairRopes.com UK looks lovely and works great. Our choice of rope is hemp and cotton with a sailors knot, and I also ordered similar Monkey Fist rope tie-backs for the linen closet curtain at the top of the stairs (from their Stonk Knots products).