Summer Plans II

[oldhouseman]

As the summer starts to wind down I wanted share my summer projects as they are also starting to wind down. I repaired the plaster walls and ceiling in the guestroom, painted the room and am currently sanding the floor. I also restored the mahogany grain painting on several interior doors.

Here is what the room looked like three months ago. The walls and ceiling had many, many cracks and a lot of water damage from the leaking roof. The door beside the fireplace open into the Parlor, the other door opens onto the front piazza. Now for some updated shots...

 

[oldhouseman]

Still in progress

but a huge change.. Dark green walls, tan picture frame moulding, "haint" blue ceiling. Sorry for the large pic.

 

[oldhouseman]

And...

another. The terra cotta color on the mantel and doors is the base color for the mahogany grain painting. I'm using a paint method I found in a book on the subject publish in 1826. That floor sanding as you can see is a slow process. The window sashes have already been mahoganized.

 

[oldhouseman]

And the doors

that were grain painted. The Parlor door leading into the center hall.

 

[oldhouseman]

Also

the inside of the front door. Originally all the doors were grainpainted to look like mahogany. The paint colors you see were determined to be the original (discovered with the help of the good folks at Colonial Williamsburg).

 

[filter-flo_rob]

Great job!

... like the colours. When you said you had to repair the paster walls, did you actually have to take chunks out and rebuild the wall?

Does the fireplace work? it looks shallow-enough as to throw lots of heat in the room.

What is the age of your house?

Rob.

 

[oldhouseman]

In progress

a shot of me working on the paint. The first door I did took 2 days, by the time I was on the 3rd door I had the process down to 4 hours.

Ok, how did everybodys else do on their summer plans??

 

[oldhouseman]

The plaster

God what a nightmare that was. 14 foot ceiling with many chucks missing and lots of cracks. That was the worst part. It took six coats of paints on everything. Yes the fireplace works but it will get gas logs. No way I will take a chance on a using one this old. The house was built in 1797, this room was added in 1848.

 

[rayjay]

Greg, The color choices in that room are great! I love the dark green walls and tan moulding. ANd of course the terra cotta.

You are doing a fantastic job.

Ray

 

[oldhouseman]

The terra cotta will look

much better when the mahogany graining is applied! Thanks for the compliment.

 

[maytagbear]

Wow-

What an accomplishment, Greg!

Love the dark green and terra cotta!

My Summer II plans?

Wading through a pile of funding requests. I am on Outreach/Benevolence at church, and I am to make the preliminary decision on which organizations to fund. At the moment, I am inclined to recommend that we fund the same organizations at about the same levels.

$100,000 sounds like a lot, but not when it's divided 20 or more ways.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[frigilux]

Fantastic color choices, Greg; What an amazing house! My hat's off to you for all your hard work. Thanks for sharing pics of your archive-worthy house! I would love to see the....darn it, what's the document called that traces the sale/purchase of the house from the time it's built...oh, well, whatever that document is called, I'd love to see it; I can only imagine the rich history involved.

 

[rickr]

Cool house Greg!! Thanks for the detailed photos. Am looking forward to seeing more progress pixs some day!

 

[oldhouseman]

Thanks Frigilux

I am only the 3rd owner. The fellow that built it sold it in 1811 and it stayed in that family until I bought it a few years ago. It passed down mother to daughter every generation in the 19th and 20th centuries. The town, Sparta, is in the middle of no where but I'm hoping to have visitors from AW and the door is aways open should anyone want to come spend a few days. As you can see the guest room is almost complete and will be very comfortably furnished.

 

[oldhouseman]

Sure rickr

when I get the mantel and door grained and the furniture moved in I will post some more.

 

[classiccaprice]

Quite a lovely home, Greg. It's amazing how far it has come along. I've got my hands full with my 1958 Rancher, though I've heard your stories and seen your pictures, I can only image the amount of work on a house 4 and a half times as old.

 

[volvoguy87]

Wow.

A little paint, some spackle, good as new! (If only people knew how much effort that really takes.)

Keep up the good work,
Dave

 

[rp2813]

Greg, you are doing a truly masterful job. I almost get emotional when I think of how much love you have for your home and your dedication to its complete restoration. You are quite the inspirational homeowner!

Ralph

 

[oldhouseman]

Thanks Ralph,

I hope some of you guys will come visit and spend a few days!

 

[rp2813]

Nothing I'd like better, Greg, and if the opportunity presents itself, you can bet I'll take you up on your offer. I'm a casual historian and I'm sure I could learn a lot from you about historic preservation.

 

[frigilux]

The abstract! That's the history-of-ownership document I was referring to; However, if you're only the third owner, I guess you already know the history. I'm amazed it stayed in the same family for so many generations prior to your purchase of it.

 

[rpm]

A VERY nice house

My summer plans were much the same as your except I paint other peoples's houses.
I love your brass door stop.
With a house that old,any ghosts or things that go bump in the night?

 

[oldhouseman]

I finally

got the floor sanded and the mantel painted. The floors turned out well I think. In the period the house was built the floors were not "finished". That type of treatment did not occur until after 1870. Floors were simply swept and mopped with lye soap and had a white look. That was the standard of the time. I still have to paint the doors. It feels good to be in the home stretch of this project.

 

[oldhouseman]

A detail

of the grain painting in progress.

 

[oldhouseman]

And

finally finished (at least the mantel). The mirror is to small for the space, I need a large gilt over-mantel one. The Argon lamps work well. I can't wait to get the furiture moved in.

 

[oldhouseman]

Brian

to answer your question..

Sometimes we hear what sounds like someone walking upstairs when we know nobody is up there. And the sound of doors closing. This past spring I was in my bedroom and heard the door in the kitchen. There was a rainstorm in progress with lots of strong winds blowing. I thought I had forgotten to close the kitchen door going out to the garden. As I stepped into the dinning room I saw the back door was closed. But the door going into the kitchen from the dinning room moved very slow and opened into the kitchen -then slammed shut. I felt an ice cold breeze move past me. The dogs growled and scattered and went running back to my room.

I know several people have died in the house. Two children died of typhoid fever in the 1840's (upstairs bedroom) and every generation of owners were born and died in the place. A dozen Confederate soldiers died in the back yard in 1864 when Shermans troops swept through.

I don't give up equity easy. If there are any spirits in the house they need to start doing their share to keep the place up -otherwise I am happy to exercise their a** out!

 

[filter-flo_rob]

Ah yes ... spirits.

Our house was originally built as one room ca. 1745 and remodeled into a saltbox in 1771 by a distant relative.

We have an assortment of 'em, and co-habitate just nicely. The dogs and cats are even more aware of them then we are. Only once did we have a problem: Dogs barking uncontrollably in the kitchen only to walk in and find all four electric burners on the stove on high. I yelled STOP THIS, and there was never a dangerous-type problem after that.

Any others care to chime in ...

Rob.

 

[iheartmaytag]

My house was built in 1935

There are two spirits that are present there. One is an older woman, I would deem her as the Cook or chore woman of the house. She is very possessive of the kitchen. She likes to move the mixing bowls around.

The other is a little girl of about age four or five. She talks to my daughter, and I have seen her playing on the swing set. She also plays my daughter's toy piano. She is more of the Kennedy era age, I judge this from the pink fabric coat she wears which looks much like Jacki K's on the day JFK was assasinated.

We had a group from the paranormal research come out and spend the night back in April. I haven't seen the lady since that night. The little girl has appeared a few times since, but she is less scary to my daughter. One night I heard my daughter talking after she went to bed. I asked her who she was talking to?
"Amy" she said"
"Well tell Amy it's time for bed and to be quiet." They quit.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Had a spirit in the back room.

Took over grandfther's rental apt. His bedroom furniture was placed in the back room as was the religious shrine/icons and some of his persoanl possessions.

My young nieces would not go into that room because of "the lady". Thye stopped at the threshold as if there were a force-field present. A psychic friend went into a "trance" and reported that Mother Mary was in there. (He is Jewish, so not part of his schtick, if you will.) I was a bit confused. I asked if it was aunt Mary who died on the next level up in that room. "NO" it's "THE" MARY. Why would children be intimidted by her?

Got quite a chill up my spine with that one. I have always felt a closeness for her, and here likeness/image. When I was infant I should have died. The baby formaula was indigestible to my delicate little (nervous in general) Virgo system. It is said that a great deal of prayer and placing on me an amulet of the actual cross of Christ (a splinter of it) was what worked.

In oder to live, my little soul had to agree to take on my current sexuality. (So says antother well-respected psychic). There needs to be a perfect balance in the world of opposing forces such as masculine and feminine. As the females become more (traditionally/ stereotypically) "masculine" in being, the female energy has to go somewhere.......

So all homosexuals out there, You are doing your universe a HUGE service by taking on that additional energy/burden. Espeically if you are a big nelly bottom.

 

[sudsmaster]

Nice job, Greg. Those doors look beautiful.

A caution about doing the floors. I did mine in the same order as you... painted all the walls etc, then pulled up the scuzzy wall to wall carpeting and did the floors. Sanding, staining, oil based polyurethane varnish.I'd been told by a friend that this was the best way since the carpeting would act like built-in drop cloths. Well, it did that, but, wound up with some of the varnish on the woodwork/walls. Afterwards a flooring guy told me that the way he likes to do it is the floors, first, and then paint the walls etc. It makes some sense because then you don't have to get all the sanding dust off the fresh paint, and you also avoid getting varnish on it later. You might want to protect the lower walls woodwork with masking tape/paper/plastic before you break out the stain/varnish. I saved some paint for touchups but still haven't gotten around to fixing the varnish spots (they are mostly hidden).