What I did at my house today...

[Willa]

I've driven off some folks who thought my front retaining wall was an ok place to sit and partake of various legal and illegal substances, so I can relate!

OMG ! I hope they weren't eating your lead paint chips !

[Corsetière]

Actually, some days I wish they *would* eat them, all of the lead paint chips. It would solve so many issues at once. (I'm kidding. I don't actually wish anyone harm.)

[Lily left the valley]

Woo...the progress parade continues! Great stuff.

I took kind of a mental health day today and played hooky from work-work and house-work. It still ended up being kind of house related though! I ordered a push button dimmer switch, some brass dust corners, and randomly found a beauty of a period sofa on Craigslist!

And today I learned what a dust corner is. They are neat! Thanks for that.

~~~
The other day I finally broke out the new Robertson bit we bought and removed the piece of plywood covering the sole east cellar window to see what was going on. The storm isn't there, and I'm not sure if I've seen it with the other random window bits, so I'll have to check. They had stuffed pink insulation all wrong in there before nailing (yes nailing) thick plastic on either side of the window/storm frame, but apparently decided it was ok to cut the screen out to put the insulation in. Easy fix. The storm...if I can't find it, that might take a bit of doing.

It is amazing how much brighter it is in the cellar with this third window uncovered. So glad I did it! Before and after, though I still haven't removed the plastic inside yet.


Today we finally picked up the bucket candles I had seen at the local dollar store. Good thing we did, as they were down to two trays, and my measurements said we'd need at least more than one of them. The best thing? All citronella candles were on sale 25% off, which these happened to be. Less than a buck a piece. Why did we get these? This is part of the bits for our rain chain project over the rain barrel. I'll post more about this in my garden thread later.


The weather is being fickle today with showers every time we pull the ladder outside to work on the bittersweet. We're expecting boomers and storms around 3pm, so perhaps I should just clean out the front gutter instead, since it's got things growing in it and all.

[Corsetière]

Today I am starting the arduous process of getting retaining wall quotes. Pray for me. I'm a little scared to see the prices. lol!

I am designing it around the beautiful old cast iron urns that I bought and restored 2 years ago! Can you believe that I bought the urns before the house? ha ha!



I am thinking some design along these lines:

[Corsetière]

And today I learned what a dust corner is. They are neat! Thanks for that.

Aren't they though?! I am excited to finish up those stairs! The dust corners will be the cherry on top!

[Old house lady]

Can you believe that I bought the urns before the house?

Yes, yes I can. They're beautiful, how could you resist?

[Corsetière]

I got to work on the entryway fireplace summer cover. Cleaning off the rust took longer than I expected. The color and finish were pretty rough looking after I got rid of the rust, so I decided to paint it to match my radiators.

Before:


First coat on:


Now:





Tomorrow I might add a little more highlight on the details to kind of match my newel post lamp more.

[Ober51]

Great job, that looks fantastic!

[Manalto]

My mission today was to get the remainder of my equipment for painting, which meant a brush and a small bucket to hang from the ladder (I'll use a bent coat hanger) and to get a replacement lock for the studio/workshop. I was locked out and had tried to find the key that worked (among many) and the credit-card method, but nothing worked; I finally surrendered and called a locksmith to pick open the door. It's not a bad little space; sturdy with a concrete floor. It needs renovation, of course, like everything else. This is exactly as I found it:

Studio by James McInnis, on Flickr

On the way out of town, I stopped at a little antique shop that specializes in lighting fixtures to see if he had a replacement for the broken glass globe in bathroom. He sent me to an "estate sale" (more like a high-end flea market) in Mobile they have every couple of months, and I found this for $3.50. It all needs to be cleaned up, but I wanted to be sure it fit:

Bathroom light shade by James McInnis, on Flickr

Yesterday I picked up an electric stove to hold me over until I get the gas-on-gas stove assembled and all the gas service working properly. Frankly, it was the lousy breakfasts in restaurants that compelled me to get a stove so I could cook my own. So today I had a hankering for eggs, so stopped and went grocery shopping, came home and made hashbrowns with onions, egg and cheddar on my ugly, modern (but convenient) stove.

A little wiped out from the heat and humidity, I thought I'd sit in the air-conditioning a while, look at garden books and ponder a landscape plan. That didn't last long. Today must be the day to work on fireplaces because I glanced over at the filthy hearth, painted that phony "brick" color and decided to clean it up a little. Paint was already flaking, so:

LR hearth 1 by James McInnis, on Flickr

And, then in about half an hour, it looked like this:

LR hearth 2 by James McInnis, on Flickr

I guess the heat from the gas logs baked on the paint a little more thoroughly closer to the fire. I tried a brass brush to finish the job, but that wasn't the right tool. Maybe coarse steel wool? Anyway, that's for another day. I'm having a big slice of watermelon.

[Willa]

It's not a bad little space; sturdy with a concrete floor. It needs renovation, of course, like everything else.

On the way out of town, I stopped at a little antique shop that specializes in lighting fixtures to see if he had a replacement for the broken glass globe in bathroom. He sent me to an "estate sale" (more like a high-end flea market) in Mobile they have every couple of months, and I found this for $3.50. It all needs to be cleaned up, but I wanted to be sure it fit:

[

Wow - that little workshop looks great. It needs a little work but looks very serviceable. Find an artist to inhabit your house while you are away.

Man ! I was looking for a pair of those lights, but the $$$$$ Ebay prices had me flinching so I am green with envy at your $ 3.50 score ! This has been a fine run of members getting excellent scores for $, between you and Corsetiere.