As referenced in our fridge post, we needed to switch around our kitchen layout a bit. The house’s back stairs turned where you see the blue steps end and went into the kitchen. In place of this hole, was the refrigerator, which meant a long walk whenever you needed something cold. The cool thing in this demo was tearing into the stair walls, and finding evidence that the stairs used to also turn right and go into what used to be Dr. John Hatton’s office. Once we got the tear out done, we framed the wall behind the new in-kitchen (fancy!) refrigerator, and started the stair build. We’d like to add stair drawers like the ones here, but at least for now, we have usable stair treads. Drywall is up next!
Back Hall Tear Out January 1, 2013
Real Friends Bring a Saws-All to Dinner (UPDATE: Or Sawzall) August 31, 2012
We were wrapping up summer projects at the house when my friend Steve Wilke-Shapiro, who is a designer with Silent Rivers Design Build came over for dinner with our families. We were talking about my next round of projects, and I was showing him my plans to change the direction of my staircase so that I could move my refrigerator into the prep area of the kitchen. I was saying that I was familiar with demo work with lath and plaster from my work at the Greek Lady, but I really didn’t know what I was doing when it came to demolishing drywall.
I should preface this by saying that Steve is a very funny, smart, Jewish man, who knows his stuff about historic preservation. He’s a talented architect, and he’s worked restoration from a paperwork and a hands on perspective. But I wasn’t quite ready for him to say “Hey, you know, I have a saws-all in the back of my car.” I mean, there’s ready to help with a construction project, and then there’s driving around with tools at the ready! So while my husband was picking up the kids from swim lessons, Steve showed me how to cut a stair access through a wall, and by the time the family was back, the fridge was in the kitchen proper (well, it was in the kitchen, it took another few months to drywall everything back to proper).
And then we sat down for family dinner. Best contribution to a potluck dinner ever….until someone brings me a router. (Nah…you really can’t top a saws-all).
UPDATE: Apparently, it’s called Sawzall. Excuse my proper/improper spelling.
Fence Lust August 1, 2012
While on our road trip this Summer, I got to catch up with my childhood friend, Scott Nadelson. He’s an author who writes amazing short stories that you should read, but more important to this blog is this beautiful fence he had built in his backyard. It’s so lovely and perfectly suited for our lot, it has ruined me for big box basic fences from here on out. Another project to add to the Spring/Summer list.
Fence Project….Done! June 13, 2012
If you look down the right side of the Hatton House, you can still see the dirt path of where we moved the fence from. It’s now set to the back of the house, and no longer leaning over the sidewalk. We decided to move it back mainly because that narrow strip of backyard was my least favorite part, but it turns out that moving the fence back so that you can see the entire house has been a huge hit with not just us, but many of our neighbors! Anyone who has shade plants to donate to the landscaping of the north side of the house that we’ve now exposed, I want to talk to you! Give us your poor overgrown hosta, waiting to be divided!
Restoring Painted and Dingy Door Hardware May 24, 2012
One of my friends from the State Historic Preservation Office told me that if you soak your old, dingy, painted hardware in a crock pot filled with water and a little dish soap on low overnight, the paint will fall off and it will be clean again! This I had to try!
Turns out, it works like a charm! Now if I could just find matching strike plates, I’d be all set!
Local Business Find: Bygone Era Consulting May 2, 2012
River Bend is full of people who are super smart about home renovation done properly. No one better exemplifies that than David Sweet of Bygone Era Consulting. I found out about him because he’s one of very few people who work on steam heat in Des Moines, and he’s about the only one with expertise in our single pipe system. He also restores antique gas and electric lighting, old plumbing, and does pre-purchase evaluations of older homes. But we became friends over woodwork.
As I was working on refinishing the trim for our bathroom addition, people kept mentioning that I should talk to David, because he’s so knowledgeable about refinishing trim with historic accuracy. He doesn’t just strip wood down and slap a coat of poly on it. He restores the original finish using old world chemicals and techniques. I finally called him and made an appointment to have him come check out our projects.
As luck would have it, our appointment was for April 16, 2012, Greek Easter Monday. When David arrived, he touched our mezuzah, so I asked if he was Jewish. He said no, but he was active in the Greek Orthodox church, which led me to share that while I was Jewish, my non-Jewish grandmother was Greek, and I was thinking of her and the Greek Easter traditions she had taught me. Suddenly, David was singing (beautifully) Easter hymns in my kitchen, and I was ready to hang out and absorb knowledge as long as he wanted to stay.
In addition to being well versed in various traditional religions, he’s a genius with wood trim. He lifts decades of wax and grime off gently, respecting the history and soul of the wood, and then rebuilds the finish to it’s original glory. It’s mesmerizing to watch him do it, as he tells stories of lazy house maids who would go for years without properly stripping the wax of the house trim. I thought the trim would be the biggest chore (OK, it still might be by the time I finish the miles of it in this house!) but it was a pleasure taking lessons in wood finishing from David Sweet.
Bygone Era Consulting is too old school for a website or Facebook page, but you can reach David at 515-729-4169 or davdsweet@aol.com.
Chicken Coop Moving Day! April 30, 2012
We found a chicken coop on Facebook for the low low price of “you have to move it out of our yard.” When I first went to see it, it didn’t seem like that big a deal, but as we measured and planned, the coop seemed to grow. It’s 4×8′ and wouldn’t fit on my friend’s trailer, which meant that we had to rent a trailer and have several friends help with loading it. You could write a joke about the engineer, the architect, and the contractor trying to figure out how to get this coop out of our benefactor’s back yard without hitting their house, garage, or trees. I deeply regret not getting this exchange on video, but at least I have this photo, with Gregory Barnum (the contractor) getting out of the van, having just moved the coop, while Steve Wilke-Shapiro and my husband, Doug Jotzke (the architect and engineer respectively) were still discussing various clearances and angles. It was pretty classic.
We never would have gotten this thing moved (or have been so entertained) without the help of Steve, who is an architect with Silent Rivers, Gregory Barnum of ConcretEquity, and Mike Hildbrand, who is the President of the River Bend Neighborhood association (although he was helping in unofficial capacity!) You won’t find nicer people to work with/neighbors anywhere!
Local Business Find: Southpaw Furniture Refinishing and Restoration April 20, 2012
The good news is the Hatton House came with it’s own architectural salvage in the attic: a huge pile of historic trim, bullseyes, plinth blocks and more. The bad news is that most of our salvage was in very rough shape. I started out pulling pieces that I could scrub down and clean up myself, but I quickly ran out of “quality” pieces and wasn’t too excited about stripping paint out of the detailed carving of the trim we needed to add three new doors as part of adding the first floor bathroom. Fortunately, I found Southpaw Furniture Refinishing in Valley Junction. For $1 per foot, Kevin will soak boards in a stripping bath that pulls most of the paint off even the boards that are paint on bare wood.
Hatton House Diaries 