Let The Sun Shine In!

This is a defining moment in the saga of our house! Jake from Lambdon Windows cuts an opening for a new window in our south wall, and the sun pours in!! (Well, the light anyway!) I was so excited!



We'd always suspected that there were originally two windows on this wall; because our house is very symmetrical. When he cut the opening, he did indeed find the framing for the original window. One inch off our new hole!! What idiot would cover up two south facing windows to create a long, dark hallway of a room?


This is the west wall. We took out the horizontal, 1970's window and replaced it with a vertical window to match the originals. Now the room has three identical windows. You could feel the house breathe a sigh of relief, I swear!

Looking to the backyard from inside....




And looking into the room from the back porch...




Here's the finished window.



I took this while the workers went to lunch. Tomorrow (if we don't get the 15 cm. of snow predicted!), I'll take another of the finished product!

Red Pine Plank Floor

Well, this is pretty much the state of our t.v. room right now. (Anyone want to buy a hockey table?) In this view we are looking from the middle of the room towards the front of the house. The 1970's baseboards have been removed, and the plywood floors ripped off. This end of the room's floor has paint only around the perimeter.



In this fuzzy picture, we are looking towards the back of the house. This part of the room has a brown paint on it. Only one layer though. See the little jog in the paint cover in the top photo? It's the same on each side of the room, so I wonder if there was an archway wall dividing the room up. That's what we have on the other side of the house...




Here's a close up. It's like this on both sides of the room. Any ideas?




Here is the trap door we uncovered in the front hallway. In the middle of the photo you can just see the stairs going up. Directly across from them is the front door. In the background the living room. The wall built over the trap door is new; the door into this room used to be just like the one going into the living room - right at the bottom of the stairs. Following all this?!


You know, looking at this from this angle, it reminds me of a house I lived in in Ottawa that had a GIANT heating vent right in the middle of the room. The oil furnace was right under it, and we used to stand over it to get warm. Maybe that's what this was. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a trap door, even though we call it that...



This bit in the floor is where the original wall was that held the original doorway into the t.v. room. Which wasn't a t.v. room of course. Probably a kitchen originally. Confused? So is the house! That naked lady with her legs wide open is a boot jack by the way. Just so you know!!



A close up of the floor.



I sanded a patch just to see what it will look like. This weekend we are renting a sander and doing the whole room.

I LOVE hardware!!

Big excitement! My parents decided to get new windows put into their beautiful old house. After having a hissy fit, and telling my poor Mum that new windows would wreck the look of their house, I calmed down, and meekly asked her to at least save me the hardware.

Look! She brought me a bag full last weekend, and I was so excited to see these two piece window closures...




And look! Thumb latch things!




So, in my excitement, I'm ignoring things I really should be doing (floors, mainly...) and stripping hardware!! Look - here's a clean one sitting on a window beside a painted one. Yes, my Mum brought me some whole windows too!




Here's a close up of it, all cleaned up! Isn't it beautiful? This is the open position.



...and in the locked position....

Thanks Mum!! I'll be installing these babies (and the thumb latches) on the four original windows downstairs. Three in the living room, and one in the t.v. room. I think they will look wonderful!

Late Night Destruction

Late last night, when we should have been getting ready for bed, we decided to pull up that plywood floor in the front hall. It's a tiny space, so we didn't think it would take too long.... Here's a view looking down the stairs as Pete starts to cut into it...



Look! The pine plank floors underneath were in really good shape! Thank God. We thought this spot by the front door would have water damage, but it doesn't. We very seldom use the front door - it's just too tight of a space. I guess all the previous owners felt the same way!



Note we had to remove all the door mouldings in order to pull the plywood up. The mouldings were new (1970's) and ugly and not right anyway... The only wonky spot on the floor is right at the bottom step, but even that isn't too bad...



There was this little piece of linoleum left by the front door! I cleaned it off to take a photo, 'cause I'm not sure I can remove it without ripping it... Looks like a funky starburst/floral pattern to me!




When we took off the cheap '70's door mouldings, we revealed the original door casement, and look! The original beautiful, ornate door hinges were still there! Broken, of course. I figure they just bashed off the door, breaking the hinges in the process. It's kind of comforting to know the house had nice features at one time. As I've mentioned, there's virtually nothing left. I bet the original doors were nice too. And the knobs...



I removed the hinges. I'll clean them up today and do something with them. Who knows, we might still find intact ones hidden underneath a different doorway! Wouldn't that be nice!


So, it was a fairly productive evening, even if we did keep the kids awake with all the horrible sounds of plywoodbeing ripped off! Pete was pleasantly surprised at the good condition of the floors, and is now excited about ripping up the t.v. room floor!!!

Here is the view into the hallway from the living room just before we went to bed. We are going to try and figure out a way to leave the original door casing exposed when we reinstall the moulding. I just can't bring myself to cover it up again.

Back to the House

Just in case you think I've been neglecting my house, a few photos for you...

No, they're not of the finished bedroom. (Still have to finish baseboards.)
No, they're not of the finished porch. (Still have to install ceiling and knee walls.)
No, they're not of anything that's finished!

My front hall:


Note the nice old wide pine plank floor in the living room at the top of the photo? Well, that's what is under the plywood floor in the front hall. I've torn off the linoleum, but that's as far as I've gotten. Now that the lino is gone, this floor seems to have a bad odour when it's damp out!!


This is the same plywood floor, but painted. This is our t.v. room. When we first moved here, we thought it would be smart to leave the plywood in this room because it was where the kids played, and it was pretty indestructible. Now, though, it's in bad shape, chipping, and giving people splinters... Plus, it is really ugly. So yes, I've started a new project!! I can't spend another winter in this room looking at the ugly floor.

Today I tore off the baseboards (cheap, ugly, new ones, don't worry!) and then pried off this little piece of plywood covering a vent that wasn't being used. It took me far longer than it should have to get this little piece off. Way too long. I swore a lot and sweated a lot. (It's really hot here today!) Maybe there is an easier method, or maybe I just don't have the upper body strength. I will ask around though, because there is an awful lot of plywood left to rip up!!

A Good Summer!

I had a good summer. I did a lot of this....



Watching Henry play soccer three times a week....



They ended up winning the bronze medal, so that was all worth it!

I did a lot of this as well...



Sky gazing. It was the best summer ever for watching the clouds and sunsets. Very dramatic!

I did a lot of hiking and scenery gazing as well....


Did a lot of beach time....



Did a lot of dock sitting!...



I probably didn't do enough jumping off the dock...


Or enough visiting with relatives...


Or enough of this: sauna's at the cottage!...

End of Summer

The End of Sleeping In....



This morning I rolled out of bed at 9:20. I literally was not conscious until 9:15.


School, of course, starts on Tuesday and I need to be up by 6:30 at the latest. The girls start at 8 am this year and need to be ready and out the door by 7:30. I'm dreading it!

Garbage Pick

One day last week my neighbour put this old sewing machine out at the curb with a "free"sign on it. I ignored it for two days, then finally gave in to my curiosity, and opened the case. Inside was this beautiful blue machine! I like anything blue!



I went home, got my trusty "Henry Express", and loaded the machine on. (It was bloody heavy!)



I spent about an hour taking it apart, and these are the bits I kept.....



Here are some of my favourites:






I used the foot pedal as a topper and then hung various bits and bobs (and bobbins, get it?) from that to make my own version of a wind chime. Except I hate the noise wind chimes make. Mine's not too bad; it just produces a nice dull clank when the wind blows!!




It's quite hard to take a photo of, but believe me, it looks cool in person!

Stuff that make me happy.

Lately I'm feeling overwhelmed with stuff. Too much stuff to do! Too much stuff in drawers. Too much stuff in the closets. Filing cabinet. My head! Don't even look in the basement! I get mad at my house too, for being so needy! Anyway, here's a few photos of little collections I have that make me feel better...

Some little watercolours that my Dad did. On top is Shelby, and the three kids are underneath.






An old type drawer filled with meaningful rocks and stones, twigs, etc. We also put china bits in here. Whenever we dig in the garden we seem to find bits of old dishes and glass. Horseshoes too...


My Johnson & Johnson collection in the bathroom upstairs....



More medicine bottles in the downstairs bathroom...




A collection of samplers in the bedroom. I made two. My friend made another as a wedding gift, and the rest are by my great-grandmother... Oh, and the baby clothes hangers!! I love these. Each one has a different face. I bought the four together for $1.00 at the Great Glebe Garage Sale years ago. They still make me smile!


This is my battered up Steiff teddy I've had since I was a baby. My Mum took the eyes out so I wouldn't swallow them! He holds on to my jewellery for me!