Another Snowball Project

Working around the house, there are often small repair jobs that quickly snowball into more involved projects. The railings on the front steps were getting loose, and I wanted to tighten the bolts that held them to the brickwork. Since it was a nice day, it seemed reasonable to allocate 15 minutes to this task.

 

Of course, once I looked, one was loose because a brick it was bolted into was loose. As were a number of adjacent bricks. The other railing was also loose, due to missing bolts, leading me to suspect some other issue there as well.

So, next step was to remove the railings, and as long as they were off, and it was a nice day, scrape/sand/wire brush the flaking paint and rust so that I could prime and ultimately repaint them.

Almost had enough primer to complete this.

So, let's repair the brick work. Mixed up the mortar, and placed most of the loose bricks. Not enough mortar to finish that part of the job.

But it was a nice sunny day, so it was not unpleasant to spend all of Sunday afternoon working on this.

Today I will go to the home improvement store for additional primer, paint, mortar mix, bolts and inserts, masonry drill (and check out prices on new power drill, as it seemed to be dying during the wire brushing).

Peeling Brick

I was sitting on the deck, looking at the buildings across the street from us in Wiscasset, and noticed something odd. Apparently, this damage occured during the storm a week ago (and it seems to have progressed further). Look out below!

Summer Hats (and frames)

Labor day weekend is over. The summer hats will be put away until next year (unless we make a trip south this winter).

Stripping Chairs and Making Decisions

As you have probably heard over and over again on Antiques Roadshow, "Never remove the original finish/decoration from antique furniture". However, in the real world, the decision is more nuanced than that. In this case, I was given three mid-nineteenth century chairs. They had seen hard use, but retained some of the original decoration.

The problem is, they are not particularly attractive or significant examples, and while somewhat charming, they were essentially "factory products", akin to Victorian "cottage furniture". Not really usable as is, and good candidates for re-decoration. Fortunately, the one with the worst structural issues was also the one retaining the most decoration. I have decided to clean and slightly refurbish this one, keeping as a document of the original decoration.

The other two have gone onto the stripping table. They will be readied for reassembly and painting over the winter (when they will have recovered from this summer's extreme humidity). Will follow up with progress at that time.

Another Project Underway

Note to self: In the future, do not buy anything that needs stripping.

Things purchased for myself to "do something with" often sit in the garage for years. I finally decided that stripping and repairing this would at least have it ready to paint over the winter, when it is too cold to go outside with the heat gun and/or stripper.

This New England dressing or side table is a common form, and were originally painted. Over the years they either were stripped and varnished, or as in this case, done over with one of those "antiquing kits" in the 1970s. The heat gun removed the plastic-like top coat, and I used citrus stripper on the rest, which worked fairly well. I can see now that this was originally painted yellow, but there was no trace remaining of any ornamental painting, if it ever had any.

I will probably do something stenciled/striped, possibly on a red/salmon base, since I already have a yellow dressing table.

It's in the Bag

Since Mandy's primary occupation is looking for new ways to cause trouble, it isn't really newsworthy anymore. But the other day she got her comeuppance when she decided to steal a paper sack with an inconvenient (for her) handle.

The Fireboard Project Part III

I primed the board I had cut to size, and then put the base coat of a light beige on before taking it to Maine where I had more room to work.

In spite of a cold/allergy situation, requiring frequent naps and Sudafeds,I was able to do the stenciling fairly quickly, thanks to the use of fast-drying acrylics.

I forgot to bring a print-out of the layout, so I had to do this from memory.

The finished board is now ready to be installed. I will configure some clips, and some moldings to match the fireplace surround, in order to hold it in place.