This Friggin Old House

Kitchen party

2011-07-31T11:45:00.012-05:00

Okay so the parlor is really nice and all but everyone really wants to hang out down this way...

The kitchen. Best room in the house.

Here is an "example" photo we used when planning.

Fun to see how close we got.
Here are some more shots around the room...

Very important mini fridge full of happy stuff.

Andrew's beer dog..

Here is the eating area that opens up to the back deck. Its still being worked out. The awesome hutch was a garage sale find - then painted by the talented Mr. Smith. Turned out really great. Mr. Seamus agrees.

A few pictures - worth a thousand words......

2011-07-18T17:40:00.003-05:00

Lets go outside

2011-07-17T19:30:00.005-05:00

Since we're smack in the middle of our 8 week season known as summer I thought we'd take a peek outside.
Glad we had the deck built over winter so we could enjoy it this year. Andrew is busy (when its not raining) digging up the back garden. Its a huge project and I predict we'll be happy with it in about 5 years. Or so. We'll update then. Ha.
So lets start out back.

Remember this?

Then this:

January looked like this:

Now we look like this:

Okay, okay!

2011-07-05T20:00:00.008-05:00

**Welcome visitors from Brooklyn Limestone!**
It was brought to my attention while at a wedding this past weekend that I really needed to update the 'ole blog.
We've been living in this Friggin Old House for almost 9 months and its taken that long to unpack, move things around and enjoy living in it. Now, we're in a phase 2 of sorts where we know what is and isn't working so we're moving furniture and changing layouts so they work better. We're hanging more art. Basic garden cleanup has been slow because of the wet, foggy June we had up here. We also have new neighbors (yay!) who are renovating (double yay!) so they're using a part of our garden for staging while they're demo'ing their place. (Oy. The flashbacks I'm having)

So the goal this summer is to tour you around the house taking it one room at a time. I'll do my best to keep up and show you before and afters with each room. I'm feeling that the way the house is setup now is how it'll stay for a while and evolve with time.

Thanks for being patient...and now...the parlor.....

It looked like this when we moved in.

We were unlucky to have purchased (cheaply) a gorgeous black piano that ended up having a cracked board and was hopelessly broken. We parted ways and have since found a new/old (not as gorgeous but really cute) piano for our daughter. Its changed the room totally.
We had a $40, 2nd hand setee reupholstered and I inherited a couple of comfy chairs. Custom, budget blowing draperies were made but worth the cost. Fabrics are by Dwell Studio for Robert Allen Home. Love their stuff.

Andrew finished up the mantles and the fronts this spring.

Really pretty art glass that was a gift from my favorite Cal-garians. Ties up the room nicely, I think!

Just for reference...here is a scary-mary photo of this room during demo. After demo it was used as a staging area for everything from insulation, drywall and finish trims. That green paint still gives me the hives when I see it! Ah the amnesia sets in a little and them I'm reminded.

More to come!

This Old House

2011-03-02T08:29:00.002-06:00

likes downtown St. John's!

The name This Friggin Old House has always been a play on the show. We would watch it and their endless, huge, insane budgets and laugh (with envy). So when it was time to name the blog it only seemed natural.

More to come. Deck is done. Windows are being "treated". Its the little things. I'll do an update very soon!

I Have the Power!

2011-01-30T14:17:00.010-06:00

When we started This Friggin' Old House, we thought about our power use. Because our previous homes were furnace-heated, I didn't really consider the amount of power we’d really need. I knew that the old pair of fuse-boxes were not going to suffice, and the knob-and-tube wiring really had to go but there were more than a few things hidden along the way.
Other than the wires twisted together and hidden behind 50-years of wallpaper, and other than the rat’s nest of wire connections from over 75-years of upgrades, and other than the sheer size of space to be heated, it was no big deal. What resulted was a total breaker-space use roughly three-quarters of a 200Amp panel – meaning that we’d need to put in another panel of equal size and feed the whole thing with enough power to theoretically run both FULL panels simultaneously.

What resulted was a 400Amp service, with the requisite “master shutoff” – I feel like Dr. Frankenstein sometimes! The incoming wires are huge! What the plan did accomplish was that we have the panel space to extend the service into the basement in the future. We also have a very clean system, with a lot of dedicated circuits, which helps to keep our lights from dimming when the blow-dryer is on.
On top of that, we did a couple of upgrades, and restorations. The electrical mast was moved to the side of the house, improving the 1916 period look of the building. I had Cat6 installed throughout the house for phone and data use, and I am now in the process of tracing and terminating it. Additional power and data cables have been pulled to strategic locations for hook-up at a later date. Most of the televisions have the wires hidden behind walls – with one unfortunate exception. [Note to self: add to honey-do list]

Finally, I restored the original DIXIE-brand servant’s call box and wired several rooms with what has become affectionately known as the “sandwich-button”. When the button is pressed, two solenoids fire; one allows a small indicator to drop into view, while the other emits a horrible buzzing noise. I am not sure if I have yet been forgiven by my wife for installing this, but our daughter loves it! If anyone has more resources about these servant’s call boxes, or if anyone else has them in their homes, I’d love to see photos!

Tool of the Day: Cat6 punch-down
Post by A.

The Pantry

2011-01-25T13:08:00.004-06:00

Wow! Yet ANOTHER post? Who the heck am I?

I'm a huge fan of the blog Brooklyn Limestone and Stefanie's junk drawer challenge this week inspired me to do some organizing. The office was my first project and today I moved to the pantry.

Its a vital part of the kitchen. As you might have noticed we don't have a ton of overhead storage in the main kitchen area. The pantry was designed to hold pretty much all of our food staples and appliances/supplies that we don't use on a daily basis. I was nervous about how to organize it but it really works for us.
The microwave also lives in the pantry. I'm not a huge fan of microwaves but it works having it tucked away out of sight.

Its a tiny space but the wire shelving we picked really helps to keep it open and airy.

The window is also a nice feature and keeps the room bright.
The cats also needed a place for their food and they seem to like it.

New Year/New Office

2011-01-24T11:34:00.009-06:00

Okay, okay! Sorry about the huge delay in posting. The holidays were busy. Lots of family and friends visited This Friggin Old House. We decorated the house and enjoyed our first Christmas and New Years Eve. We hosted big parties and had lots of family dinners. I'm happy to report the house is warmed up and is very functional when it comes to entertaining. It'll just get better and better. Especially once we get the backyard cleaned up for summer.

The staircase during the holidays. (I would love to keep this up year round!)

The entryway tree (we had 3 others...)

Slowly but surely we're getting used to the place and getting more organized according to how we're living in the place.
My office is a prime example. It was sort of a dumping ground for a bit but now I've been able to organize it and make it mine. I still need more artwork but I'm sure I will accumulate wonderful things along the way.
Desk, chair and cabinets are from Ikea. I would have loved to do custom but we just didn't have it in us. But all in all - Ikea saved the day. I'm waiting on window coverings for this room but I'll update once they are up.
My office -with the door closed...its right off the kitchen.

The Ensuite

2010-12-07T18:55:00.005-06:00

So short of window coverings, some artwork for above the tub, and some minor tilework around the tub plumbing we can say this room is finally complete. At last the shower door part that was missing arrived and was installed by my lovely husband. The tile was sealed again a couple of days ago and the first shower has been had. Yay. I've been using the tub for weeks. (thank goodness.)

People have been asking about the matching vanities. We actually bought them at Costco in the States. We had them moved up with our furniture. We saved a bundle and they are fantastic quality for what we paid. Marble tops - the sinks were included. All we had to get were faucets. (Delta. From Kent.)

My funky chandeliers are cheapies from Canadian Tire. I feel that they are on the small side but there are 2 and I didn't want anything that would overpower the room. They are very pretty and soften the very masculine look of the room.

I really need to take photos of this room during the day. The paint color I've chosen changes constantly. Its Benjamin Moore Silver Marlin. On a cloudy day (which is the norm up here) its a pretty gray. Sunny days its a silvery blue. At night its sage green. Regardless I love it. Its perfect with the tile. Yep. The tile I blew the tile budget on. (Worth it!)

Its a great space that changed several times in the planning stages but turned out to be one of our favorite rooms in the house.

Its beginning to look a lot like...

2010-12-05T18:40:00.004-06:00

a home. At Christmastime. We're starting to hang stuff on the walls and decorate for the holidays.

(Once again Flor saves the day. Love.)

I've been trying to capture the new glass that Andrew has put in the front entry door. Hopefully we'll get a bright day so you can see how lovely its turning out to be. The red really pops.

The White Hall

2010-11-30T14:59:00.004-06:00

Oh you remember our drama about the upstairs floor. Yeah it was painted white 3 days before we moved in? Yeah. That drama. Well its turned out to be dramatic but in a good way.
Thanks to Flor.com. (and no I'm not getting paid to say this....)
They were a great company to deal with and they happily ship to Canada and are knowledgeable about duty and all that nonsense. They were a great solution for our extra wide hallways. (They're carpet squares)

Staircase Complete

2010-11-21T08:45:00.007-06:00

At long last.
It turned out a lot better than we had imagined. It looked like hell for a long time and we were very concerned about it. We are very appreciative to the painters and finishers. They did an amazing job.
The staircase originally curved at the bottom and led to the upstairs apartment. We took that section out and "recreated" (Precision Industries did a killer job) a new bottom section so it would land straight into the new entryway.

Here are some befores.
With the original section

That section torn out

upstairs

(and after!)

The now....

Next up - the white upstairs hall. (and some new colored glass for the front door!)

Can you stand it?

2010-11-11T08:14:00.004-06:00

Another update!

Clapboarding is complete. Here is the back of the house.

The final project for the year will be the addition of a deck in the back. We moved the alley door to the back and added windows to the basement area. Makes a huge difference in the basement. Its a much friendlier place to be.

Last summer - Andrew cutting down a tree...

Well look at that!

2010-11-09T19:04:00.003-06:00

Pretty impressive.

We've had scaffold on the front of the house for a while so it was wonderful to see this today after it came down.

Do you remember this?

We sure do! (yeeeshhh!)
The door and little entryway will be painted red and then we're calling it done for now. We'll landscape the front a bit next spring.

Oh kids. You haven't seen anything yet. Wait for it.....

Have a spooky weekend!

2010-10-29T11:35:00.005-05:00

Happy Halloween!
Again, I'm slow with the updates. There is still a huge amount of work being done. Namely, the rest of the exterior and the staircase is being finished. Its a stinky mess. As soon as that is done we will be much happier campers and will continue with the unpacking process. Its hard to unpack and hang art when there is a new layer of dust to contend with every day. Soon. Very soon everything will come together.

How about a shot of the parlor - and our new (old) piano! Andrew and Amelia put up a few decorations for Halloween.

I am having the "setee" for this room re-upolstered and curtains are being made so hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have a proper after shot for this room.
Its a wonderful room, especially when the piano is being played.

I want lots of music/dinner parties in here.

Thanks for hanging with us! We'll update again as soon as the staircase is dry and gorgeous.

**quick update***
Andrew found this gem from when we first bought the house...a screenshot from a video taken of the "parlor". Enjoy.

Before/After - Front Hall

2010-10-11T19:20:00.005-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving Canada from This Friggin Old House!

I had an "oh my" moment when I came across this photo tonight:

Oh MY!

Work is still going on. Unpacking is happening. My mom is here helping out. Thank goodness!

Look for more before and afters this week!

Greetings from This Friggin Old House

2010-10-03T19:07:00.007-05:00

So we moved in at long last.
Its chaotic. Its a mess. Its not done.
So now we get to live in a mostly completed house. We're glad we didn't have to live through a bigger mess but we still have a ways to go until we're "done".

Move day was also paint the staircase day. After the movers finished up our guys started at it. That left us unable to go upstairs for the rest of the day. Thankfully we were able to spend one last night at our temporary residence. It was kind of sad leaving the condo today knowing the huge task at hand for us now.

Unpacking.

Befores and afters will come. Give me some time to go through the files and files of photos we've taken of the whole process.

Our furry babies are living here too. This one is on Xanax. He's a big ball of stress.

The other one is behind the couch growling. I predict we'll see her sometime next month.

More to come.

All kinds of fun....

2010-10-02T05:10:00.003-05:00

Feeling a bit like this today....Sherman Hemsley strut and all.

One final hiccup

2010-09-29T11:37:00.005-05:00

It wouldn't be This Friggin Old House without some last minute drama.
Here is the short, clean version of the story. The upstairs hall was sanded and it looked amazing. We thought staining it a similar color to the new main floor area would be a good thing and would keep the house consistent upstairs and down. We knew we weren't going to get an exact match but we weren't prepared for the result. The floor was severely damaged and the dark stain brought out everything. It was awful.
See for yourself:

Yes we know - we should have just clear coated and not stained. Yes we could focus on re-sanding and trying again and again but did I mention when this happened we were 5 days from move day? 5 days.

Replacing the floor was out - we'd have to rip this one out along with all of the gorgeous trimwork that was up. It would have pushed the move up by a week or 2. Not happening.

So. We painted it. White. Are we crazy? Probably.
But dang, with just a layer of Killz on it - its looks pretty good. The finish coat will go down tonight.

We did Andrew's office too - looks pretty good!

It wasn't what we had imagined for the 2nd floor. We tried darker stains and we considered going with a dark brown paint but white won out. We'll find some great floor runners and hopefully it'll last for a few years. Then we can re-visit our options.
Nothing like last minute drama. We move in 2 days.

Get ready for some pretty dramatic before and afters!

Surviving Igor (or is it Eye-gor?) and (at last) THE TUB

2010-09-23T18:28:00.010-05:00

We can now say that the house survived a hurricane. St. John's fared extremely well compared to other parts of the island but our temporary home was without power for close to 36 hours. The good news is that This Friggin Old House never lost power. So take that Igor.

No. We haven't moved. Yet. Soon. Like next weekend.

Way back I promised an update on the little bathtub that could. Well here it goes.

Remember this? Last October. When we started demo.
Poor little tub. Under all the rubble. It was 1/2 pink and 1/2 white. With painted feet.

Then it kind of traveled from room to room.

Holding things for us.

Keeping the drywall company.

It even had its portrait taken when I was feeling weepy about the drywall going up.

Then one day Andrew painted the exterior. The silver feet are spray paint if you can believe it. It looks awesome.

And then a very nice man came and resurfaced and enameled the interior. Its looks brand new!

And I ordered a faboosh fixture for it. Voila! New old tub!

Light at the end of the tunnel....

2010-09-17T16:54:00.006-05:00

We are close. Its that kind of "so close" that can drive you insane.

Here is what I see when I walk through the front door...a lovely painter working away...

Then I see this. Hey! WOW! A staircase! Hopefully it will be stained soon! Ahem.

More to come.

Oh wait - here is a powder room...

Please Stand By...

2010-09-15T18:19:00.003-05:00

there have been whispers about final electrical and plumbing inspections soon. Very soon. Like in 24-48 hours soon.

We have toilets, showers and sinks.
We have stairs. We have painted trims and walls. Light fixtures.

Stay tuned....lots coming up!! PROMISE!

Dear City of St. John's

2010-08-23T17:05:00.005-05:00

Thank you. (we had nothing to do with this btw....) If that pee box isn't gone the same day you're done I'm calling 311. Look out.

OH and look. Thanks guys. I really love how they turned out.

6 days? Or is it 5? I've lost count....

For V

2010-08-21T17:51:00.001-05:00

7 days? Really? ;)

Before we get to the tub....

2010-08-13T11:28:00.002-05:00

did I tell you I have a shoe closet?

(inside our master closet...)

and that our shower has been tiled? Now that's some serious tile.

The countertops arrived yesterday and the kitchen cabs are now complete.

Getting there. Slowly but surely. Two-ish weeks until we move? Really?

Back by popular demand

2010-08-10T13:58:00.003-05:00

Hello!
We're back. Thanks for your patience. My father passed away last month and needless to say I wasn't up for blogging. At all.
But we're back. And the countdown to moving has started.
Andrew and I are huge skeptics and can't believe we'll be done enough to move in by the end of August but you never know.
So. Here's what's been going on...

Next up - the amazing transformation of a certain claw foot tub. You won't believe it.

Here ya go....

2010-07-14T11:55:00.002-05:00

Busy times

2010-07-12T19:07:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the complete lack of posts during the past week or so. I had make a quick trip to Omaha for a few days.
Came home to find windows and doors trimmed out by our amazingly talented finish carpenter. Tile has been laid in all bathrooms and more clapboard has gone up.

I need to leave town more often. Ha!
And yes, I will share photos. Soon. I promise.

Looking down Feaver's Lane. Sorry if you've had to dodge our scaffolding.

Now We're Cooking!

2010-06-25T11:49:00.003-05:00

Ah progress. Things are rolling right along. Its a joy to walk into the house at the end of the day to see what went on. Painters, electricians, cabinet people and our awesome crew are all working hard to get us moved in soon.

The kitchen cabinets arrived earlier in the week. Here is a peek.

The painters made a certain 8 year-old very happy yesterday. The expression on her face is how we're starting to feel.

Home Renovations and World Cup

2010-06-19T11:24:00.012-05:00

Things are rolling right along at the ole homestead this week. Thank goodness the guys at the house aren't into soccer. But I am so I've been visiting the house between matches.

More exterior work was done AND the power was finally switched over to the new board.

Do we love the green or what?

Walking into the house yesterday after a painful US/Slovenia match I found this:

Which totally made my day. (ask the crew - I pretty much lost my mind)

THEN if that wasn't enough the UPS guy dropped off a couple of these. Can't wait for you to see them hanging in the kitchen. I tease. You'll have to wait.

But not for much longer. Kitchen cabinets are on this week's schedule! Can you stand it? I can't!

Wow.

2010-06-12T07:16:00.003-05:00

Adventures with Vintage Subway Tile

2010-06-08T19:19:00.005-05:00

Oh what a fun project!
Andrew salvaged about 3 dozen vintage subway tiles from 2 of our fireplaces last fall. They've been patiently waiting for some attention.

So, being that we're in the final push of getting stuff done I decided to clean tile yesterday.

Who knew that plain old dish soap and a 24-hour soak in the tub would loosen decades old mortar and degrease them beautifully? The soot and old paint just wiped away.
They turned out quite pretty don't you think?

Sigh...they just don't make them like this anymore.
I wish we had more.
If you're in St. John's and are getting rid of this type of tile PLEASE drop me a line!

My Turn

2010-05-23T12:21:00.007-05:00

So the past several months have been all about making improvements to the house that aren't really...how do I put this lightly...pretty. Basement, roof, rot, plumbing and electrical just aren't my thang. Andrew, being the engineer has had all the fun (heh heh) so far but now its officially my turn. (But of course I know you'll all pat Andrew on the back for having such a kick-ass electrical box in the basement...)

So the pressure is on me now. Bring it on!

I've had a year to think about how I want the house to look. I think I've got it down but its a big job. It took me a year to pick paint colors for our last kitchen. Now I'm picking paint for an entire houseful of rooms. Overwhelming. I'm just taking it room by room at this point. Its the only way to tackle it.

The biggest challenge I'm facing is that we haven't lived in the house yet. I've spent a lot of time since the drywall has gone up wandering around it getting a feel for the light and trying to envision our furniture in the house. After a year without our furniture its hard to even remember what we have.

Sure, they'll be stuff we'll change down the road but I want to get much of it done so we can get in and start enjoying life in our new home.

So where are we going with this house?

Here are a few hints and inspiration photos

Remember that tile I loved? Yeah...this one...

Mine all mine! I bought every single piece of it from Home Depot knowing it would be out of stock quickly. Something I've learned about our lovely new island home - buy it when you see it or you'll never see it again. I blew the tile budget to smithereens but I got it. It'll be in the master bathroom and shower.

Now how about a bathroom vanity to go with that lovely marble? How about this? How about 2? One for each of us. Oh and I bought one for our daughter's bathroom too...

Here are a few kitchen inspiration photos...this is the look we're going for. Dark island with white perimeter cabinets. Wood floors. Bright and modern but vintage-y enough to honor the age of the house.

White cabinet and backsplash choices
LG Quartz countertops. Love.

More to come! Stay tuned!!

Andrew adds: EAVB_ZIFOJPYDMU for empireave.com

Pretty on the Outside

2010-05-19T11:29:00.003-05:00

Now that the interior is shaping up and spring is starting to happen its time to get back outside. Our Cape Cod wood siding has arrived so scaffolding is going back up this week. Another area we're turning our attention to is the backyard. For a downtown property we have a nice amount of land. Andrew has cut a couple of trees down to open things up. We've saved brick from one of the chimneys we took down to use as borders. Its going to take time but it will start to take shape this summer. By this time next year it'll look very different.

A and A at work

Stripping

2010-05-13T19:55:00.004-05:00

I'm sure we'll get lots of hits with that title.
Andrew has been stripping. Paint. Lots of it. He's going to blog about it sometime soon but today I was impressed with how the mantles are coming along. There are 4 mantles we've saved. Here are 2. One still has layers of paint and the other is in the process of being stripped. Look at the difference already. Amazing.

Earlier in the week I posted some photos of the main floor being drywalled. They're upstairs now. Check it out!

Moving right along!

Homecoming

2010-05-10T08:57:00.010-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. We packed up and spent 10 lovely days in Alberta. Had a great time out west but we were thrilled to come home to this:

(giddy. big time.)

This is the kitchen. Photo taken in the breakfast room facing into the main kitchen area. The door on the right is my office and the door left of the brick will be the pantry.

Here is a before photo - just for fun.

Downstairs they are almost done with taping and they are still working on getting drywall up on the 2nd floor. Its moving quickly. Contractor guy told me to pick room colors. YIKES!

New Phase

2010-04-25T09:50:00.003-05:00

With walls about to go up I thought I'd better capture the now because its not going to be this way much longer.

One thing will always remain the same.

Look up!

2010-04-22T11:14:00.004-05:00

Drywall. Sheetrock. Ceilings and walls.
What ever you want to call it.
It has started. Yippeee!

New York Times article on St. John's

2010-04-20T17:55:00.004-05:00

Well we made the Times. Sort of. Thanks to The Tylers in Omaha for giving us the heads up on a great little article in the New York Times about the St. John's real estate market.
Its hot up here. Luckily Canada has fared extremely well during this current recession. Larry Hann is a follower of our little blog and he is quoted in the article. (Nice job Larry)

So what else is going on at the house? We are insulated! Inspection either happened this afternoon or will happen tomorrow. There was also a special delivery at the house. It was a sight for sore eyes but my beloved camera ran out of juice when I went to take a photo. It'll have to wait for the next post.

In the meantime check out the NYT story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/greathomesanddestinations/21gh-househunting.html

(Be sure to take the virtual tour!)
Photo - Doug Allen for The New York Times.

Pretty in Pink

2010-04-01T08:48:00.003-06:00

Yay for pink.

Its been a great week. Insulation all over the place!

Oh and this guy's face.

Happy Passover & Easter week!

Hey remember us?

2010-03-28T07:13:00.006-06:00

Wow its been a while. Sorry for the lack of updates. Its been quite a month.

We haven't felt up to blogging much because we're at that frustrating mid-way point of the project. I didn't think it would be entertaining to read long-winded bitch sessions from either one of us. But things are rolling again and its going to be a very busy spring.

The main slowdown has been getting the house re-wired. It took a lot longer than anyone had anticipated. That along with all of the rot issues discovered really delayed us. We're getting back on track and we're about to move into the insulation phase. At long last.

We also dealt with the fireplaces. We had all of them sealed up except for 2 that at a later date can be used. They will all still be pretty and visible except for the one in A's room - which will be walled up completely.

We are also keeping a brick chimney exposed in the kitchen. I had originally wanted it either taken down or painted over because it wasn't particularly pretty. Its amazing what tuckpointing and an acid wash can do. It looks great so we're keeping it.

The biggest and most frustrating thing this month is that the house was broken into on St. Patty's Day night. We've never published the address of the house on purpose for security reasons but downtown St. John's is very small and I'm sure many of you (that don't know us personally) could figure out where we are. After the burglary I considered shutting the blog down completely. But after consulting with some "veteran" blogger friends I decided not to pull the plug. Its very unlikely that the scumbags who broke into the house are regular readers.

(But just in case - if you are reading - you filthy pieces of shit - fuck you and enjoy the tools.)

Okay, here's to a happier, more frequently updated blog!!
I'll get some photos up this week! Promise.

Update From Andrew:
Favorite Tool: "erum.. nevermind."

Giant Leap

2010-02-21T07:51:00.011-06:00

This whole project has been one giant leap of faith but now the front stoop is missing so we literally have to leap into the house. It was going to be removed regardless but the portion of the sill behind it rotted too (of course!) so they had to get in at it. In addition the City of St. John's is supposed to re-pave our sidewalk this summer so a make-shift step will have to do until after they're done. Then we can build what we want. We're thinking something fun with slate.

This week we're hoping the remainder of the exterior is stripped and wrapped up. Then its on to insulating the interior.

I'll leave you with a pretty shot of a foggy Signal Hill. We're so lucky to be here.

Update from Andrew: "I built a new box-step so you don't have to climb up to climb in."
Favorite tool of the day: Chop Saw.

Rotted Redux

2010-02-13T19:25:00.008-06:00

Rot: [rot] 1. Verb, to undergo decomposition; decay.
Rotted: [rot-ed] 1. Noun, The feeling when you discover rot.

As the missus indicated, we had a lot of rot in along the sills of the house. Over the past ninety-four years, the sill plates had rotted out and had formed lovely compost, completely devoid of any ability to hold up a house over the long term. There had been two trees growing up from the foundation, which we removed as soon as we purchased the property. Fortunately, they had not cracked the foundation. What they and their roots did do, however, was raise the ground level to above the concrete foundation, and forced soil and moisture behind the siding, attacking the sill plate. As you can see, the top of the concrete was completely under the soil which had been pushed up by two trees, removed a couple of years ago. What you can't see are the boards that used to hold up significant sections of the building. Really, this was a bad situation.

So, Vince and the crew spent a lot of last week installing new pressure treated lumber and copper-protected boards. Thankfully this issue seems to be fairly confined.

For those who don’t know, rain is frequently accompanied by wind which will force the rain into every nook and cranny available. Once again, what you cannot see can hurt you, when it comes to your home. Many of the boards under the clapboard, below the green vinyl and aluminum, had likewise spent a lot of time soaking and rotting. Some of the subfloor under the inlay hardwood on the second floor has also rotted away. Our choices are few: either leave it, and eventually one of us will break through, and come crashing into the room below, or tear up the quarter-inch hardwood, and replace a swath of the subfloor. Then try to piece the flooring back together, or find an exact match for the rest of the room. I’m not looking forward this task.

In other areas, it is possible to repair the damaged wood with some polymer reinforcing agents. Maybe I’ll try this in some non-load-bearing areas.

The other problem with rain is that we have two old coal chutes. We had thought that by filling them in with concrete, they would no longer leak into the basement. No such luck. They leak less but they still leak, and there is probably little I can do about it until spring... June-ish.

Coming soon: I take up stripping.

Today’s favourite tool: Aluminum Snow Shovel.

Rotted

2010-02-09T10:58:00.003-06:00

I'm going to let Andrew discuss the rot issues we've had with the front bay windows later today. All I know is that its bad. On the bright side the top floor windows should be in today and the bottom set by the end of the week.

Thanks guys!

Go Green!

2010-02-03T19:15:00.008-06:00

We have decided.

At first we thought the Dark Caviar was it. Then we bought a sample can and painted some boards with it. We found that it was more of a brownish purple color. It wasn't what we wanted. Then we bought a few samples of some different grays. None of them were "the one".
So we re-visited green. There are tons of green houses around so we were hesitant to go green but we found a really good green. Its Ralph Lauren's Scholar Green. (I hope it makes us smarter) We hadn't been looking at that particular line of colors as we are total Benjamin Moore snobs but I stumbled upon it while stalking Home Depot's paint department one evening.
Here it is:

As for the white trimming we're not going white-white. We're going cream-white. Actually Benjamin Moore's Navajo White.

As for the red door we're going with Templeton's Heritage Signal Red. Its just a perfect red. Click on the link and check it out!

Done.
Whew.

Happy Friday

2010-01-29T18:29:00.003-06:00

Have a great weekend everyone. After a fun and very busy week at the house we'll spend the weekend nailing down a paint color. Weather will dictate next week's schedule. The front bay windows are up next if it'll quit raining for a day or 3.
Oh and I found this gorgeous tile today. It needs to be in my bathroom.

Rain Rain Go Away

2010-01-28T07:14:00.005-06:00

After an extremely productive Monday and Tuesday its only fitting that we get rain for Wednesday and Thursday. It has slowed progress outside but the electricians are inside running wire. Wires wires everywhere. Our electrician believes in having too many outlets so he and I get along great.

The paint decision is still looming. We're still undecided and we're considering a couple of different colors. We haven't had that "a-ha" moment when it comes to the color yet.

Keeping Up Appearances

2010-01-26T06:39:00.007-06:00

Karin here -
Just wanted to share that I fell completely in love with This Friggin Old House all over again this morning after Andrew posted the update photo. I have also come to completely hate whichever owner decided to cover the house with the ugly seafoam green aluminum siding. Its a gorgeous old house and I can see that the easy way out of having to replace clapboarding was to go with the siding - but STILL!

Look at it! We have such a lovely ugly duckling on our hands.
There is evidence that it had a line of brackets, common to the area, along the top of the rooftop trim.

The windows were also trimmed out "heritage style" which also goes along with its 1916 birthday as discovered a few weeks ago.

Another discovery this week was the old color of the house. It was a "battleship gray" according to Andrew. I called it a cement paint gray. Its interesting that we're considering a darker shade of gray/black/brown for the new color. As well there is a patch of a dark hunter green with red trim that might show itself once the siding is removed from the bay window section. Again, interesting that we're also considering green and red.

Have I mentioned that we have a fantastic crew working on the house? Well they are and they've been nothing but great to us as we stop by and "oooh and ahhhh" at their work.

Its only Tuesday folks.......lets see what the rest of the week brings.
In the meantime - enjoy some photos I snapped today.

The week of many changes

2010-01-25T19:19:00.001-06:00

This is the week of many changes. Changes and COLD! Indoor temperatures have dropped to below freezing. This has certainly encouraged all of us to get this project moving again.

And moving it is! Plumbing updates, final room layouts, ventilation and windows. Oh so many windows! We’ve got fourteen out of twenty-four. Only the front windows remain.

Speaking of the front, we’ve taken “it looks like a dump” to a new high. Not only have we got boards over the old door, but the green vinyl has been mostly removed from the front, exposing the old grey, flaking clapboard to the world. Boy is it old… and grey… and flaking… but you can really see what the house looked like in its day: the front bay-windows show where beading and trim were; the roof-line shows where brackets were; the old front door shows evidence of a porch-roof; the windows had the same ornate finishes that are found inside the house; this place was really quite a beautiful building. The grey had once also been light green and once dark green. The trim had once been crème, and the highlights have been shades of either green or red from time-to-time. Now the boards are old and flaking, several are rotted out, including many of the sills and the mansard roof over the downstairs window, and those special parts are simply missing. They were probably removed in the 50’s when aluminum took off, or the 60’s when vinyl started taking root.

I think that the windows may have looked a little like this:

Now we’re looking into new siding from scratch, and are considering Cape Cod brand, from Nova Scotia. It would be good to use Newfoundland Spruce Wood as has been suggested by one home restorer, but that may not be feasible in February/March.

We are also trying to decide which fireplace(s) to save, and which to permanently close off and never use. I’d love to have all of them functional, but at $5,000 each, I cannot afford to do it. So, homeowners, masons, fireplace lovers, fire safety gurus, people who’ve experienced these fireplaces, and those who have not… what do you think?

Yes, this is a blatant excuse for me to try out the “poll” function of the blog.

Today’s favorite tool: Wire Strippers.

Update:

Here is the Friggin Scary Old House this morning.

And we're back

2010-01-20T06:32:00.003-06:00

After 4 weeks off things are happening at the house again. Who knew that the sight of scaffolding could make one giddy.

Almost all of the 1st floor windows are now in. They're starting the 1st floor bay window today. The horrible aluminum siding and trim has been removed from the front bay section and it looks so much better already. I will head down there later and snap some photos.

So until I get some new photos let's play what's missing. There are 3 things missing from the 2nd photo. Can you find them?

Yes. Andrew was bored.

Minor delay

2010-01-12T16:59:00.007-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates this past week. Our contractor had a family emergency while away for the holidays and is due back this weekend so things will get underway on Tuesday.

During this time we've put together a few color schemes for the exterior. We've taken into consideration our neighbor's colors and what colors are over-done in the area.

These sample photos were done on Benjamin Moore's website as we've chosen them for paint. These aren't exact. We're doing tests on real wood with real life paint samples. Then we'll make the final call.

For now - take a peek - comment on which you like best or tell us we're totally boring and what color you'd like to see. Our daughter wants orange with teal green trim.

#1 Hunter Green

#2. Pomegranate Red

3. Dark Caviar

I already know which one I like but I'm not telling. Yet.

Per Mr. Bastard's request. Here is dear daughter's choice:

Nice. Doesn't that trim look awfully familiar?

Colors

2010-01-04T06:39:00.003-06:00

Who knew that white could be stressful? Too yellow. Too blue. Too white? Yikes!

Trying to pick out the trim color for the interior AND the exterior has been nothing short of challenging. The lovely green trim is being stripped (by hand - by Andrew) and the old trims will be re-painted. White. If I can decide on one soon.

Speaking of exterior I'm close to making a huge decision. Once I finalize 3 color schemes we're going to put them up for a vote. Obviously Andrew and I will paint the house what ever color we want but I'm curious to see what you guys think. So stand by while I collect more paint chips. Like I need more. I'm thinking of wallpapering a room with them.

Oh and GET WELL SOON KERRIN!!!!! XO - K, A & A

History of TFOH

2009-12-29T11:25:00.005-06:00

At long last we know exactly when This Friggin Old House was built.

Andrew and I have been down to the city archives several times to do research. We both had differing opinions on when the house was built. I guessed 1919-1920 due to some interesting tax records but Andrew always insisted on 1916-ish based on photos, names and address number changes. Today Andrew hit the jackpot and found the actual record of the building permit. Its dated December 3rd, 1915. We assume construction began in 1916.

As well its always been an apartment dwelling. Andrew and I both thought early on it was a single family converted to apartments but as we looked further at it was clearly a multiple family dwelling.

Andrew will update the blog with further historical tidbits soon.

Needless to say we'll be throwing a big party sometime in 2016 to celebrate its 100th birthday.

Christmas Wishes

2009-12-24T13:03:00.004-06:00

From our Friggin Old House to yours we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2010.
Things will be moving at a fast and furious pace these next few months so keep checking back for more updates in the new year!

Three Down, Twenty-One To Go

2009-12-14T18:22:00.005-06:00

We've got windows!
They don't look like much, but they're there.
I'm sure they look less creepy in the daylight.

I really hope they look less spooky in the daylight.

Update from Karin -
Yes. They look lovely in the daylight. How about some real photos? Ahem....

Tool of the Day: Scaffold

All quiet on the homefront

2009-12-13T18:20:00.002-06:00

Slow progress week. We've been selecting some fixtures, and finishing some framing. It now looks inside like it will when we are finished... if you have imagination. The cold weather and snow has made construction slow, particularly in windows. We've also discovered that the sills have rotted through. This will take some work to make new ones. Thank goodness for competent builders.

If you happen to be going by, have a look at the Feaver's lane side. The clapboard is exposed for the window replacement. It was grey on grey. Yeah, and not even nice grey. Kind of pile of recycled shredded newsprint in a vat grey. Nothing like the Slate grey, white with red highlights that Karin is planning.

In fact, Karin is well into planning mode: kitchens, runners, floors, carpets, everything. I'm a little frightened.

In other news is that the basement has been dry, relatively warm, and I just insulated the barn doors. Now that I have some space again, I'm going to be stripping lead paint... a lot of lead paint. Who wants to join me?

Today's favorite tool: Snap-off Knife.

Something to show for our effort.

2009-12-03T19:23:00.016-06:00

Things are beginning to show progress.

Number 117 is gone, replaced by plywood. It is a different look fro the house that we were not initially planning on using, but we're hoping that it will work.

We also have plumbing 95% roughed in.

The electrician is about to start, and the window will go in as soon as the city buys off on the new frames.

The roof is up, and seems to be holding tight. A couple of drips have been dealt with, so we'll just keep an eye on that. It has been a long start, but we are at the stage where a lot of changes take place quickly.
I really must work on stripping paint from the trims and hardware, and Karin needs to get the cabinetry on order. Drywall for Christmas? Maybe!

Trimmed out Chimney.

Check out this view!

This is my proposal for the exterior finishes. Whaddya think?

Clean bill of Health

2009-11-18T19:47:00.015-06:00

This week's event was an inspection for the health department. Apparently someone had concerns regarding asbestos in the house. Of course an inspector was in the same day, and we had results the next day.

So the report reads:
Sample1: 0% Asbestos, 98% Non Fiber, 2% Cellulose
......aka Dust with a little paper insulation.)
Sample2: 0% Asbestos, 97% Non Fiber, 3% Cellulose
........aka Dust with a little paper insulation.
Sample3: 0% Asbestos, 95% Non Fiber, 5% Cellulose
........aka Dust with a little paper insulation.
Sample4: 0% Asbestos, 5% Non Fiber, 95% Cellulose
.......aka paper insulation with a little dust.

Some Jag-Off cost me $550 and three-days work to get this test done.
Don't get me wrong, I think it is very important to work in and live in a safe environment, but this was uncalled for.

Thankfully, like the other houses in downtown St. John's the plaster was not reinforced with asbestos. So, we'll be back on track shortly. Again, I'd like to offer a special thanks to the person who alerted us to the potential problem.. thanks,...really.

Now onto the good news:

The framing is nearly done, and the city inspector will be invited in for a review. Soon the Airlock will be no more and the stairs will go straight down this way.

The work includes a new support wall between us and the neighbour's house. As you can see, the original builder just scabbed us onto the next house. How did he get away with it? Well, at the time, he owned that building too.

Also, the new Skylight will be going up shortly, thus completing the change from colander to torch-on-roof. Kudos to NewFoundRoofing.

I don't have any photos of the new roof yet, so I will leave you with some shots of the old roof and the lovely view.

Something new....

2009-11-09T07:16:00.004-06:00

Sorry for the lack of postings this month. Things are happening at the house but its stuff that isn't pretty enough to photograph or interesting enough to blog about.

We had some nice weather last week so the roof has been done. We have 1 or 2 mystery spots where water is still coming in but its being investigated. The skylight upstairs will be replaced once it arrives.

The basement floor was poured and looks fantastic. Who knew the basement could look so good?

Framing has started. Its much easier to see how the rooms are going to lay out. I went around and took photos from specific points that we will continue to update as things progress.

This is what will be our master bath/closet. Photo taken from the bedroom area

This is the kitchen. The doorway on the right will be my office. The left is a large butler's pantry. Photo taken from what will be the breakfast room.

The next few weeks will be very busy. Windows will be here soon!

Something old...

2009-10-20T08:24:00.006-05:00

From the get-go we knew we wanted to retain the house's original character but at the same time bring it up to more modern standards. You have a grand plan in your mind of what you want but I think these houses tell you exactly what they want.

Andrew started pulling down wooden trims from around doors, floorboards and windows. He's been able to save many of them. Same for the fireplace mantles and mirrors, doors and transoms. Sadly we lost all of the plaster moldings and rosettes. We tried. But those old walls and ceilings just wanted to come down. I was careful to take lots of photos so we could re-create something appropriate down the road.

The light fixtures are my favorite. These schoolhouse style milkglass light fixtures are fantastic. The only trick will be rewiring them and finding new fittings. I think they are worth the effort.

Same for the tub. Its going to get cleaned up and re-painted and placed in the master bath. Can't wait.

The Lovely Bones

2009-10-11T07:01:00.005-05:00

Demo is just about done. We had tried to keep a few of the original walls up but once they started coming down they all wanted to come down. No major structural surprises but the twin fireplace chimneys impressed all.

I will say that with all of the walls gone there is a new energy to the place. Its like the house took a deep cleansing breath. And so did we.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada! We're thankful for so much this year!

Next up - what we've saved....

Game on.

2009-09-14T17:59:00.005-05:00

I love demo. Its the ugliest and scariest part of any renovation but its also so gratifying to look back at it once the project is complete. I don't think we were prepared for how fast our contractor was going to move with it but at one point today there were 7 big guys ripping walls down. Serious business. As of 8:30 pm NF time there were 2 guys still taking walls down. Andrew is currently down there taking trim down. (We're saving as much as we can to re-use around the house) Same for many of the doors. For record Andrew stripped 10 different layers of paint/wallpaper from one of the rooms.

I ran through the house a hour ago to get a few shots before they clean up.
Enjoy.

Still here!

2009-09-12T06:12:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates but with school starting its been busy around here. Monday is a big day. Demo will start! We have a contractor. Permits have been issued and contracts signed. The basement will be tackled first. We need a place to store our stuff once it arrives from Omaha so the basement it is. Not the most glamorous place to start but its a start.

In the meantime here's a hint of where we want to go with the kitchen.

Ducks and Rows

2009-08-20T13:59:00.002-05:00

And hopefully a start date soon!

The First Before & After

2009-08-15T19:39:00.003-05:00

Andrew has wanted to cut this tree down since we got off the plane so he and a friend tackled it today. Makes a huge difference in how the house looks from the back lane.

Getting inside

2009-08-14T06:05:00.004-05:00

We've set up 2 more contractor interviews early next week and a decision will be made by next weekend on who we want to work with.

For now here is a peek inside at some features we love.

We're hopeful that we can keep/restore the moldings

There are 3 more just like this throughout the house. All will be cleaned up and restored but we don't know yet if they'll be used

This one is in Amelia's room and will be turned into a built in desk keeping the mantle intact

One of several light fixtures that will be cleaned up and rewired

We made it

2009-08-06T08:34:00.003-05:00

Getting settled in. Meeting with prospective contractors. Lots of activity! More to come this week!

3 More Sleeps

2009-07-30T22:06:00.007-05:00

The stress of moving is intense but we're pretty much ready to go. Next update will be from town!!

11 days

2009-07-22T11:15:00.010-05:00

The countdown has begun.
Which means we're setting our sights on getting organized and established in St. John's. Our first week needless to say will be very busy. We're interviewing several contractors the minute we get off the plane and hopefully we'll get started on the house sometime in September. In the meantime we're all excited about concrete. And having a basement.

People have been demanding interior photos. I will be shooting the official "before" photos sometime during our first week.

To the Omaha crew - we're gonna miss you! Hopefully this blog will inspire many of you to visit.

Photo from St. John's, Newfoundland Wiki entry

2009-07-11T16:21:00.001-05:00

Just a friendly reminder

We still blame Craig!

It was his blog post that started this all.

Room with a view.

2009-07-10T13:00:00.004-05:00

Can you find This Friggin Old House?

I Friggin' Loves You!

2009-06-08T18:42:00.000-05:00

2009-05-20T17:16:00.000-05:00

Testing. Testing. Check one. Check two. Check mate. Check please.