Wainscoting Update

Whew, after 3 days of working on the wainscoting in the upstairs hallway and stairwell, I'm tired. I fell short of my goals (don't I always), but still did manage to transform the look of those areas. I got all of the baseboards in, the panels are up too, and got about 2/3 of the rails up. Next I just need to finish putting up the rails and then the framing trim. I'm too tired to type much more so here are a bunch of pictures (btw, Jenn spent the entire weekend working in the yard and is pretty tired too).

Here is the upstairs hallway as seen from the "office nook".


The office nook


3 different finish nails.

I'm using 4p, 8p, and 16p finish nails.

Upstairs looking towards the sunroom


The stairs (no rails yet)

Wayne's Coating

We're spending our holiday weekend doing (guess what?) work on the house. We started off the weekend at the local nursery to buy a bunch of plants to restore our front yard with the help of my sister. Jenn is spending most of the weekend planting with help from her mom. Things are looking good out there and it looks like all the plants will be in the ground by tomorrow.

I'm indoors putting wainscoting in the upstairs hallway and stairway. First I put the baseboards in. Next, I'm putting some paneling up. After that will be header railing and some trim framing. Unlike Jenn, I won't finish tomorrow. But, I hope to get most of the boards in place. I hope.

By the way, I've heard enough episodes of This Old House to know they pronounce it wanes-cotting. But out here (waaaaay out here) we pronounce it Wayne's coating. So there.

Here is the hallway as of late Sunday afternoon:


Here is Jenn getting some plants into the ground:

Stormy Though Productive Weekend

I had a productive weekend. I got the finish put on the trim in the living. I'm actually using left over floor finish (water based poly). Despite the fact that claims to have an "extra ingredient" to promote settling, it works very well. Three coats later and I'm ready to pull the tape off. I must say I'm very happy with how the trim has turned out. This gives hope and inspiration that the rest of the trim in the house will turn out equally well. That's good, 'cause I need all the inspiration... Next up, I started work casing the doorways in the upstairs hallway. Right now, I just have the verticals in place, but I built the first header (for the door to the sunroom) and should get that mounted tonight (although there are two NBA game 7's on tv tonight).

Here are the pics:


Just starting on the upstairs hallway.

Staining the Case

Last night I stained the casing on the living room trim. I used Minwax red oak, which produces a dark redish brown which at least reminds me of the woodwork seen in old houses around Portland. I'm not sure this picture captures the true color, but it may give you an idea. I like it.


As always, click for larger view.

Casing the Joint

I was able to spend a little time working on the livingroom window trim casing this weekend. I'm really very happy with how the headers are turning out. I just like the look of craftsman style casing headers. It is one of the things that attracts me to this style and they are fun and rewarding to build. With each one I add to the house, it some how becomes a little more 'Craftsman'. Fun.


The livingroom windows are waiting to be trimmed.


Jenn holds the right side casing header. I really like this look.


I must assemble each header, glue and clamp them. These 36" clams are a bear for this kind of work. Since I'm going to have to build dozens of these headers over the next few weeks, now may be a good time to invest in some more manageable clamps.

Yes, we got another one

This dumpster is for yard debris. I will be spending my weekend trying to fill this thing.

The fantasy blog stock market?

OK, this is rather strange. There is a web site where people buy and sell shares in other people's blogs. Valuation seems to be based on incoming links. And, http://hillsdalehouse.blogspot.com is listed with a valuation of $21,208.63. I'm not sure if I should be proud or a little creeped out. Here is the listing for my blog and here is pretty much everyone else on the HouseBlogs ring. The internets are a strange...

Grumble Grumble Grumble

Have you ever wanted to find the previous owner that did a crazy crappy half-assed job of something or other and just smack them upside the head? Or at least grab them and cry "why did you do this to the poor old house?" I was having one of those moments tonight while I was trying to put the new baseboards in the living room. Some crazy drunk remodeling dude decided it was perfectly OK to mount a new electrical outlet right at the baseboard line, chew up the wall, then patch it all up with enough spackle to stick out 1/2" proud. This made mounting the new baseboard flush impossible. So, I'm trying to sort of push the electrical box around and the whole spackle wad concoction disintegrates. Oddly enough, I just laughed and took this picture.



After I regained my composure, I decided that I had better fix this whole mess rather than try and hack another concoction that would lead a future owner to curse me. While I was at it, I decided to throw in a wall sconce. This took the entire evening. The baseboards are no closer to being mounted, but at least I've got an outlet at the proper height, a flush wall, and a little more light. I'll try again with the baseboards tomorrow.



By the way, the little bits of blue tape mark the studs. Just though you might be asking.