Over the winter, I took a bunch of classes and workshops about building my brand. I learned loads of strategy and best practices. I struggled my way through a content calendar, Pinterest optimization, and newsletter writing. What I ended up with were a full bag of tricks and complete paralysis, because I just want to write stuff and post pretty pictures.
Cue summer and my paralysis has deepened. Blog writer and brand builder Stacy has all kinds of ideas. Summer Stacy wants to sit on the porch and read books. Summer Stacy is winning. Even so, I’m slogging my way through some of the projects on my list and enjoying some down time too.
In no particular order:
Windows
Over at Ed’s house, I committed to restoring two sash windows and one storm window.
The window on his front porch is finished, and the storm window is coming right along.
I will post more meaningful photos after the last install. Working on all the windows at Ed’s house could honestly be a forever project, and it’s hard to walk away and leave it unfinished. However, BHH has 140 windows of her own, and they aren’t fixing themselves.
Speaking of our windows, I have made zero progress on ours, so far. I’m using the last of the parting bead that I made for BHH over at Ed’s. A few weeks ago, my friend Dale had surgery on his ankle. He is healing very well, but I didn’t want to bother him about using his workshop to make more parting bead during those early recovery days. I’m sure I will be able to make more soon.
The Front Door
Ugh! We feel no closer to solving the problems with our front door. The first solution I tried was using longer and fatter screws in the hinges. While the door was a little loose on the upper one, none of the original screw holes were stripped. Even so, that solution worked…for about 24 hours. Then the door sagged down again, and we were back to square one.
Since the door was settling downward and missing the strike plate by about 1/16 of an inch, I cut a piece of 1/16″ thick industrial vinyl tile the same size as the hinge and slipped it between the lower one and the doorframe to push everything up and out from the bottom–success! for three days. Then, the door went right back where it was before.
The screws are tight, the doorframe is good, and the door is not warped. Right now, I think that maybe the upper hinge is bending a little under the weight of the door, but that’s all I’ve got. I may pursue new hinges, but of course, they are not a standard size. Finding new ones will take some research.
In the meantime, the mortise lock, which also does not work, is quite rusty and corroded. However, it is so much fun to look at it up close. Mortise locks are simple and elegantly designed. Old stuff is cool.
Painting Roadside Finds
After three years of banishment in my workshop, the orphan furniture that I found on the side of the road is finally getting a makeover.
Color: Gloss Cherry Red
I have two more mismatched pieces to paint, and then we plan to move them all to the fire pit in our woods.
Unrelated News
- The podcast True Tales From Old Houses returns July 15, and you’ve got all weekend to binge listen to season one. Devyn and I have some new stuff cooked up for season two, and it is going to be so much fun.
- Jen from Everyday Old House gave our podcast and three others a rave review! Check out her blog post.
- I started watching Outlander on Netflix, and my heart can’t take it. I have a terrible track record of picking the love triangle underdog, and I’ve been disappointed repeatedly. Team 1700s! I’ll admit that this kind of show isn’t usually my thing, but kilts, adventure, and the Scottish countryside–what’s not to love? Oh, yeah, misogyny–I don’t love that. Are you watching?
- Although the rebuilding of Notre Dame is underway, there is still some structural uncertainty.
- We are firming up the accommodations for our trip to Japan, and our itinerary looks like this: Tokyo (4 days), Kyoto (1.5 days), Yamaguchi (1.5 days), Hiroshima (2 days), and then back to Tokyo to catch our flight home. We are all so excited.
- After three years of sputtering and limping along, our refrigerator finally died. Over the 4th of July weekend, we bought this fridge on sale. By the time we stacked the sale price with our Lowe’s credit card discount, we paid roughly 45% less than the current price. It arrives in three days, and I’ll give it a proper review after we spill a bunch of stuff inside and break the ice maker. That shouldn’t take too long.
- I’m training for another race, a half marathon this time. My running friends are the best, and they make every hard workout worthwhile. After a couple of rocky years with injuries, and not all of them running-related, I’m operating at 100% again. It feels like a victory!
How is your summer going so far? I want to know everything, but most importantly, misogyny aside, would you rather live in Scotland in the 1700s or England in the 1940s?
5 Comments
Jennifer
I would rather live in England in the 1940’s. I can’t quit reading mysteries and dramas set in England during and after WW1 & WW2. That being said, I’ve only watched the first season of Outlander. Not sure why I stopped.
Have you thought of adding a third hinge in the middle of your door to help with the weight of it?
Stacy
The end of the first season was so hard to watch. I’m currently on a short break.
A third hinge is possible, but it’s going to take a lot of digging to find one, and I’m not sure if it will distribute the load properly. I’ll have to do the math.
Ragnar
A third hinge is pretty much one of two solutions I can think of, short of replacing the entire door. Modern doors in Europe tend to have the third hinge about a quarter way down from the upper rather than in the middle, which looks horrible in an old house but makes a lot more sense supporting the door.
The other solution would be what the carpenters did with the insanely heavy doors at my work place – adding a caster wheel to the bottom on the lock side of the door. That takes weight off both the upper hinge and the door itself but looks quite odd too. These doors are new (2018) but for some reason the architect specified them to be close to 6″ thick, skinned with solid 1/2″ pine. The main entrance is also at least 4 feet wide, if not 5.
I usually try to avoid absolute statements from an outside point-of-view, in this case a different continent with entirely different construction traditions, but frankly, that door is a bit ridiculous! It looks almost wide enough to be replaced with a set of double doors but not quite. A door that wide would likely require hinges like a barn door and those still tend to sag a little, especially as they age.
Stacy
I’ll have to do some math to figure out just how much help a third hinge would be and finding one would be tricky. It might be better to look a little more closely at the frame.
The door is quite extravagant, but it’s period-specific and made by Roycroft artisans. In this case, the history of the door is worth preserving. It is absolutely not the norm here in the USA. 🙂
Ron
Stacy, my local Habitat store had some modern repro steeple top hinges. They had some larger 5 inch last time I looked.. they were cheap, $5 Canuck bucks a pair. If you think they might do the job let me know. i’ll Be happy to check if there still there.
Also, I have three Victorian 6 inch hinges I salvaged from a 9 foot door. Your welcome to them.
Just drop me a line.
Ron