Next: Front Door

old

Before – old front door, probably taken from the set of the Brady Bunch.  Its diamond shaped panes of glass were impossible to clean.  From the outside, the wood was about the same consistency as year old driftwood found on the beach.  You could carve it with your fingernail.  But it was sturdy and sat correctly on the hinges and closed reasonably well, and it only had one bullet hole in it.

Yeah, time for a new front door.  We commissioned a local artist and master woodworker, Todd Spalti, to make us a new front door.  There are people who would argue that I’m a woodworker too and I can make a front door myself.  Well, maybe si and maybe no, but Todd came very highly recommended and I completely trusted him to make a magnificent front door for us.  Besides, I got enough projects of my own right now.

Check out his website.  He does really great work.  http://www.toddspalti.com/

new

The new door is absolutely amazing.  Solid oak.  No bullet holes.  Clean lines.  Clean windows!  We got a nice handle and lockset as well, not to mention new hinges (completely devoid of rust, I might add).  You may have noticed there is some new trim around the door, and drywall has magically appeared on the left hand side of the door.  Yeah, we’ve been busy.

front door areaI’ve been working on the stair landing on the left.  I really only wanted to do the drywall on that side but in order to rip out the paneling I had to rip out the stair landing too.  Gee, may as well just work on that while I’ve got it all torn up.

And yes, that’s a hockey game on TV in the reflection.

stair treads

We’ve oscillated quite a bit about whether to get new stair treads or work with the existing 2×10’s that someone sawed up and put down.  They were really in horrible shape, having had carpet installed over them for decades.  Whoever installed that carpet when nuts with the staple gun.  Seriously, it was Beavis after two quarts of espresso, driving staples into every square centimeter of those treads.  After I sanded them I didn’t think I wanted to use them, but after some dark stain I think they’ll turn out good.  They definitely have the distressed look to them.

windowsill

 

The garage is again full of trim pieces and windowsills and window aprons with stain and polyurethane drying atop their surfaces.  I think I’ve got about half of the trim in the house replaced, which means I have half to go.

stair landing

 

There’s the stair landing with temporary treads and a temporary landing.  They used to be shelves in the kitchen cupboard.  This is one of those instances where my packrat instinct to keep everything that might be useful someday paid off.  They’re even sticky from whatever goop accumulated on them during their life as a cupboard.  The stickiness makes them safer, less chance of slipping and falling out the adjacent window.

keyholeI’ve had this bronze keyhole escutcheon for about fifteen years, just waiting for a project.  Hmm, what could it be for?  Maybe we’ll find out next week…