More plaster repair

2 parts StructoLite to 1 part Diamond Veneer Finish makes a good scratch coat to repair the plaster that fell off the walls when the baseboards were removed in the living room.


I sprayed the old lath with water before applying the plaster. It is fairly easy to work with. Especially when I know it will be totally covered up.


This is an outside wall so repairing the plaster helps cut down on the drafts. It has been cold here.

I am so glad to be putting things together rather than tearing them apart. Still lots of trim to strip, though.

A New/Old Light

This was the light in my dining room this morning. It has been hanging there for about 6 months. The 5 years prior there was no overhead light due to the "Oops-I-cut-the-wrong-wire fiasco of 2002" that lead to the loss of all overhead lights. There were lots of floor lamps for a long time. The original dining room light was long gone when I moved in and there was a 5-arm brass and globe light there until I cut it down. I finally put in a new box and wiring.

I found a beautiful old light at the Habitat Restore. The glass shade was designed to hang from three ball chains. I have similar lights in the two bedrooms so it seemed like a good match for the house. But, the light shade was so heavy that I did not trust the chains to hold it. I have been looking for some other way to use the shade. Ideally, I would find a vintage fixture to match it. I also looked at lighting stores for possible solutions but none were within my budget.








Then one day at the ReStore I found this monstrosity. Bright brass, crackled glass--- but still....

A little priming and some faux rubbed bronze spray paint....

















And a new/old light. I am satisfied with how it turned out. I think it is pretty. There are few things that are pretty in my house at this point in the restoration. It is a big light, about 18" across. I have it on a dimmer switch and I like the shadows it throws on the ceiling.
It is a good solution for now. Until I can pair it up with a proper vintage base.

Sewing table

I sew a lot. Lately I have been sewing baby slings for distribution by a local home visiting program to new families. I have made over 300 at last count. This was my sewing table. When I am not sewing slings, I sew quilts and a large table makes quilt wrangling more manageable.

I found a nice set of drawers at the local Habitat Restore. It is solid wood, with nice gliding drawers and it was just the right height to fit under my table. But it stuck out past the end.


I kept my eye out for a new table top and the ReStore came through for me. It is wider and longer and I like the gray color better than the false wood grain. So I decided to recreate my sewing table with the recessed machine for a flat surface to work on.

I used a jigsaw to cut the opening. I hung a little shelf using four 4 inch bolts that I countersunk into the table top. My sewing machine is shown with the front removable section taken off.


I then routered out a little lip to hold a piece of custom cut Plexiglas (actually, it was a clipboard in an earlier life). This pops out to allow me access to the bobbin case.
The locking nuts on the end of the bolts allow me to fine tune the machine placement so I can get it level. I need to make some plugs for the holes left by the bolts.



A much larger sewing table with drawers for the stuff I use. I moved most of my sewing things into my extra bedroom. I am still working on insulating the attic and it is dusty upstairs. I also cleared things out in anticipation of painting the space and replacing the carpeting.


A dog's-eye view of the sewing studio as it is now.

Too darn difficult

This was difficult. This the last overhead light that needed to be wired. The house had all knob and tube wiring when I bought it and I have been working the past 5+ years to rewire it. It is a 1 1/2 story cape code with walk-in attic space in the upper level. This has made rewiring fairly simple. Lift attic floor boards for complete access to the ceiling fixtures in the rooms below.
This light is in a hallway nearer to the center of the house- not easy to access. There is a carpeted, finished room above. I could write about how I did it but would take too long. I used a fish tape, wire hanger and a metal hook you stick in the ground and hang a plant on, no kidding. Maybe I could have cut more holes in the wall but I hate patching plaster. Just one access hole cut in the upper right of the picture.

Yes, I still have my Christmas tree up... 12 days of Christmas or something like that..

Here is the access hole.

















I have cool arches above my tub and toilet in the bathroom and it is weird to see them from above. I swear I can hide a family in there during the occupation... sshhh

What you see on the right is the vent pipe for the bathroom exhaust fan. A bit of insulation work needed there. There is the arch above the toilet just below the cardboard square. You can see a portion of the arch above the tub and the shower pipe entering the ceiling of the arch. Make sense?? But this is not the area I needed to access.
...
















Here is the flip side...
..pictures of the bathroom work to come another time...

This way....
There is the wire, the old and the new. I just need to hang the fixture, put in the switch, patch the access hole near the ceiling, hook it up to live power and ... take down the Christmas decorations.


We have had lots of snow in the past few weeks.
My dog, Rosa.

Oooh, Wavy Glass

I bought these at my local Habitat Restore a while back. Both of them! They are very tall. I have big plans for them... There were several units available and various pieces and parts, too. I bought a couple extra glass doors. I was told they came out of an apartment building that was scheduled to be torn down. Many layers of paint to strip. My plan is to put the large one up in my sewing studio. I will have to remove the upper portion with the solid doors as it is about 10 feet tall. The smaller one I plan to use in two pieces. I will use the lower base cabinet for an rolling island and hang the upper cabinet on the wall above my stove to add more cupboard space. My fiestaware will be on display at last.

Plaster repair

I did some work in my dining room repairing several areas of plaster that needed attention. Here is an outlet that was poorly patched. Can you see the large divot? This outlet was in a bad location, is not wired to anything and there is another outlet on the same wall 2 feet away. I decided to close the hole entirely.
















There was also some failure of the plaster below the window due to some previous water leaking. I took the opportunity to open the space below the window enough to add insulation. The walls were insulated from the attic above and the areas below the windows had no insulation.
I removed lath and put loose cellulose into the wall then replace the lath. There is also an opening for a new outlet to be added one day.

The area pictured below had a poorly done drywall patch. I imagine it was due to the removal of a beautiful old cold air return that was replaced with a small ugly metal grate. Argghh. There is another opening on the other side of the wall and the grate is visible. I filled in the area with scrap lath.
I am using the "Worley method" of plaster of repair that I have read about on several housblogs. It is a three layer system using different mixtures of 2 types of plaster-- Structolite and Diamond Finish plaster. It was a bit of a challenge to work with but I finished the first two layers.
The other ongoing project is stripping the paint off all of the baseboard trim.