Monthly Archives: January 2012
Little Brick Cottage: Who Knows What Lies Beneath…
Well I know now because, I have been busy with wallpaper removal!!! And I have the bandaids on several of my fingers to prove it. As I was scraping with a wide blade putty knife, I kept scraping my knuckles on the rough plaster wall, ouch.
It was a complete surprise that there was the original beadboard hiding under layers of wallpaper and skimcoat in the dining room. But it’s out now, as the chair-rail height beadboard is now exposed and ready to be prepped for paint. Unfortunately, there was a large area in the NW corner that was Read on…
Monday’s Simple Cleverness… Cord Covers
Recently, in “Our House” we purchased a surround sound system for our living room. To properly install it we needed to mount the rear speakers on the rear wall, which meant wire management. Fortunately, my son and daughter-in-law were here to help me figure out how to magically ‘fish’ the wires in the space by the heat/cold air ductwork.
That got it to the bottom of the wall by the sofa, but this is what it looked like:
Not my favorite look.
So I went to Menards and was blown away with Read on…
Little Brick Cottage, Window Treatment Removal Reveals Sad Surprise
In the process of removing the wallpaper in the living and dining rooms at “The Little Brick Cottage”, I also removed the very ugly, dusty and dated window treatments. Excited to get them down to let in the light and behold the beautiful tall antique windows, I was quickly dismayed at the sight. It wasn’t the condition of the windows that was so frustrating, I already knew they were in horrible condition and we’re planning on replacing them, it was way worse.
Let me show you, this is what the ones in the living room looked like:
And without the draperies and hideous box valance this is what we found: Read on…
Our House, Master Bathroom: The Whole Picture, Chapter 3
As you walk into the master bathroom beyond my vanity on the right is this:
the ‘toilet room’, or as some may say, ‘the water closet’, sounds so nice, but I don’t how many people nowadays would know what a ‘water closet’ was. I’m not even sure how exactly to use that term. Is it the room, or the fixture?
Whatever you want to call it, there has really been quite a transformation by the simple addition of Read on…
Lovin' this Valentine's Day Fireplace Mantel
Our friend, Beth from one of my favorite blogs Home Stories A 2 Z announced she’s hosting a link party featuring Valentine’s Day mantels. She has no idea how perfect that timing was for me. You see I really wanted to post a dining tablescape for Valentine’s Day, but due to the huge Read on…
Our House, Master Bathroom: The Whole Picture, Chapter 2
Here are a few more pictures to show you those areas; starting with my vanity area:
Because there is so much painted wood in the room, on the horizontal and vertical beadboarded walls, as well as the carsiding on the ceiling, I really wanted to have some woodgrain to contrast, so the vanities and linen stepback cupboard are cherry with a dark glaze, and the little antique Victorian chair next to the tub is dark walnut.
When we first bought “Our House” this same vanity space looked like this: Read on…
Our House, Master Bathroom: The Whole Picture, Chapter 1
Since there’s been so much interest in the post: Interior Windows, Part 2 featuring my master bedroom window, I thought I would break from the Dining Room welcome tour, and show you the whole master bathroom in a several part series, fitting it in between the Dining Room Tour posts. If at any point you’d like more detail on anything, just ask, I’d be glad to share with you.
When we first bought ‘Our House’ the bathroom layout was similar to what you see now, except the bathroom ended approximately where the far end of the tub is now. There was a 24” doorway that went into our walk-in closet in that wall. We took down both that wall and the wall in front of the tub, rebuilding them a few inches shorter, and further apart to make room for this longer tub. Then we used that previous walk-in closet space to Read on…
Little Brick Cottage: A Lot of Time, Work and Money and Not a Lot to Show in a Picture
The past week or so has been a lot of time, work and money for sure, and pictures don’t really do it justice, but it’s still good news. We now have the whole cottage re-wired,(boring to look at in a picture, but I’m going to show you anyway 
, so enjoy!) This includes adding enough outlets, switches, coaxial cable, phone line and smoke detectors to bring it up to code and current style of living. The previous electrical was so outdated, that you’d be lucky to find a single outlet per room. That definitely wouldn’t work with modern electric needs.
This is the wall between the kitchen and bathroom. It’s now ready for Read on…
Dining Room: Details on Concrete Floor Finish, Chapter 3
In “Our House” this dining room area is the first place you enter from outside. This space started out as an oversized Read on…
Little Brick Cottage: Kitchen Plan Revisited and Finalized
If you’ve been following along, this picture is not new to you, we had to completely remove the wall between the kitchen and bathroom.
And rebuild it, only a few inches in toward the kitchen, build the new doorway between bathroom and kitchen a few inches over towards where the range was going to be. Read on…
