All the windows on the second story are vertical casement windows that open inward. Most of them were without screens.  Having new ones custom made would be cost prohibitive, so I decided to make some more myself.

The biggest challenge was figuring out how to do a half-lap joint on the corners of the frame. (I found a number of videos on the Internet.) Actually the original screens have a slightly different joint, but it was too difficult for me to reproduce so I found that I could do a half-lap and it would be sufficient and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference just looking at the screen from the outside of the house.

The challenge was using the table saw to slowly, pass by pass, trim the wood away half way through the board, as you can see in the photo above.

When all the joints were created, the boards were glued and nailed together (with my nifty little cordless nail gun!) and allowed to dry.

Then they had to be sanded, primed and painted. After that, the screen material was cut to size and stapled to the outside surface of the frame. A thin wood molding, called screen molding (of all things!) was cut to size and applied (after it had been primed, painted, and was dry) over the edge of the screen, close to the inner opening of the frame, covering the staples. Any excess screen was trimmed off with a utility knife. I chose to miter the corners of the screen molding which makes them look neater and more professional. The original screens don’t have mitered corners on the molding.

The screens were custom made to fit each particular window. They are held in place with “gate” hooks, one at the top and one at the bottom. Another challenge was figuring out where to place the hooks to get the screen to fit snugly into its opening.

Slideshow — Wait for it…

I just realized I haven’t written since October! Well, I did make a list of all my accomplishments in 2017, but I never got around to writing about them—so here goes!

I installed a white vinyl, arched arbor over the front walkway. It looks pretty cute. I’m hoping to get some climbing roses to climb on it. I bought one yellow climbing rose last year and planted next to the arbor but it died. Or maybe rather than roses, I should plant some other climbing vine, maybe wisteria…

I painted faux windows on the garage door to break up the monotony. From a distance you can’t tell they’re not real and Dennis loved them.

I finished (along with my handyman, Bernie’s help) installing the rest of the railings on the back deck.

Again with Bernie’s help, I (we) installed new vinyl plank flooring in the upstairs bathroom; much better than the peel-and-stick vinyl tiles that were there before. (Well, actually,they’re still there—underneath the new flooring.)

Then we installed a new vanity to replace the pedestal sink that didn’t provide any storage or counter space.

I also made new window screens for the upstairs casement windows. There were only a few existing, so now I’ve doubled the number of screens. I think I should make one more this year for the master bedroom. See the process here.

Here’s the concrete crew at work:

Finally done.

Here’s the “new” vintage patio table I found on Craigslist for $40. Cute, isn’t it? Unfortunately, it only has one chair that goes with it. I gave them a new coat of paint, the same color, and painted two folding bistro chairs I already had, to match.

The good thing about the upstairs windows is they are all casement windows, hinged vertically and they open in, so I was able to paint them from the inside, then just lean out (yikes!) to paint the exterior trim.

Last winter I hired a couple of guys, one after the other, to scrape, sand, fill and prime the windows on the outside. So that got done, but they never received a finish coat of paint. Then summer came and it was too hot. I thought about hiring someone to paint them and then finally decided to save a bunch of money and do it myself. So now THEY’RE DONE! And the house looks very pretty.

(And guess what!? — It’s raining!)

When we did the bathroom renovation, we took out the old original 1927 built-in tub/shower. It had seen better days and the shower surround was hideous. I could have updated the surround but I didn’t want a tub/shower combination. I wanted a separate shower and a clawfoot tub, even though it’s really from a previous era—the date embossed on the underside is May 8, 1907—pre-dating the house by 20 years!

The tub—found on Craigslist and purchased for $200—needed refurbishing, to say the least.  Before it was installed I had the rusty exterior of the tub sandblasted and primed, then I painted it to match the bathroom walls and sprayed the feet with “chrome” paint. But the interior of the tub didn’t get any attention until after it was installed. After it was in and I tried cleaning it, I realized that it was going to need more than just a good scrubbing.

Last week it happened. I hired a tub refinisher to do his handiwork on it and it looks pretty spectacular— gleaming white-white. So now we’re just waiting for it to “cure” so we can try it out.

Here’s a list, more or less in chronological order:

• Repaired plumbing leaks and installed new water heater
• Replaced the roof—on the house and detached garage
• Rebuilt the chimney
• Repaved the driveway
• Installed rain gutters
• Cleaned up the overgrown landscaping
• Repainted all of the interior spaces—walls and trim. Those that weren’t part of the remodel, I repainted myself. My friend, Linda helped with a lot of the downstairs (interior) windows.
• Gutted the kitchen; tore down a portion of one wall to expand the kitchen into the old utility room, installed all new drywall, insulation, cabinets,  appliances, electrical, lighting, plumbing, and plumbing fixtures, paint, etc.
• Sub-divided the “5th” bedroom into a new laundry room, half bath and storage closet: new walls, insulation, drywall, texture, paint, electrical, plumbing and electrical and plumbing fixtures; re-purposed cabinets and (new) countertop.
  • Original floorplan
  • New configuration
• Relocated the door to the “5th” bedroom to accommodate the laundry room cabinets (repurposed from the old kitchen and utility room)
• Added new french door to laundry room entrance
• Replaced two exterior doors: the kitchen door to the driveway and the door to the back yard.
• Reused interior doors for half bath and storage closet.
• Refurbished and reused existing glass door knobs
• Replaced the flooring in the kitchen with new oak to match existing floors
• Removed the oversized tile fireplace hearth to reveal the original tile hearth (still needs re-grouting)
• Installed gas log insert in fireplace
• Refinished the hardwood floors (main floor)
• Gutted the main floor (master) bathroom; borrowed some space from the new “laundry room” to accommodate the new shower. Installed insulation, drywall, and beadboard wainscoting, paint; New electrical, lighting, fan, plumbing and fixtures, medicine cabinets, marble tile floor, ceramic subway tile in shower with marble tile shower floor and ledges.
• Installed in-floor radiant heat (electric) in master bath
• Repurposed a 1930s sideboard and converted it into a double vanity with custom marble top.
• Refurbished a 1907 clawfoot tub for master bath (still needs interior re-glazing).
• Repurposed a 1930s china cabinet to serve as bathroom storage.
• Restored all of the original windows—inside and out—scraping, sanding, priming, filling cracked wood, reglazing window panes where needed, painting (painting window exteriors is still in progress completed as of 10/15/15!), and caulking.
• Replaced missing shingles on exterior and painted to match
• Added new electrical circuits upstairs and in basement, in addition to new electrical in remodeled areas.
• Replaced air conditioning unit
• Painted all of the upstairs rooms—walls, (most) ceilings, trim and windows, except for the bathroom which was repainted in 2011 (I found the can of leftover paint with the date).
• Stripped old (ugly) carpet off (which had been glued down!) and re-carpeted stairs
• Installed a garage door opener, perhaps the best spent $<300!

Whew, that’s quite a list! I’m not telling you what it all cost! But the single biggest ticket item, other than the contractor, was the roof at almost $14,000.

The three biggest things I did myself were:

1. Order and/or purchase all of the plumbing and electrical fixtures, appliances, cabinets, tile, etc.,
2. Choose paint colors and purchase paint, and
3. Supervise the work to make sure it was being done the way I wanted it.

I also drew up the plans and submitted them to the Building Department for permits.

Making decisions is a big component of a remodel. Luckily, I’m pretty good at that.

Tomorrow the marble ledges (actually marble thresholds I ordered online) on the shower knee walls will be installed, then the shower will be ready for glass.

After the beadboard is finished with baseboard and chair rail, we’ll install the medicine cabinets. Then the electrician will know exactly where to place the wall sconces.

I broke down last week and hired the tile guy’s helper, Jake, to sandblast the bathtub and prime it for me. I was intending to do it myself, but when I tried to wire brush the rusty sides, it hardly made a difference. Jerry, my contractor, was going to lend me a sandblaster so I could sandblast it myself, but when I thought about the mess it would make in the yard, I decided it was worth it just to spend the money and have it done off-site. I’m SO GLAD. It turned out beautifully and all I had to do was give it a coat of paint. I still have the inside of the tub to contend with, but I’ll tackle that when it’s hooked up to the plumbing and I can give it a good scrub without making a mess. Here’s a sneak preview:

This is before I painted it. You might be able to see some sand residue in the lip. I’m painting it the same color as the walls— “Glimmer” by Olympic Paints. I’m going to spray paint the feet “chrome” since most of the metal finishes in the bathroom will be chrome. I had it moved into the dining room after it was sandblasted so that I could paint it—it’s TOO COLD now to paint outside.

Most of the tile is installed. I think tomorrow they will grout it. Here’s how it looks today.

The walls are only painted part way down because we’ll be installing beadboard on the lower part. But you can see the green of the wall paint…

And I decided to do a border in the shower…

I was scrambling a couple of days ago, trying to find the trim pieces we needed to create the border. It wasn’t easy. Not only that, but I assumed the ceramic subway tile would be readily available locally, because it is such a common tile, or so I thought. But neither Lowes nor Home Depot had enough of what I needed and I ended up having to order it from Oregon Tile and Marble. They were able to get it for me in just a few days. OTM supplied my quartz kitchen counters, too. They give the BEST service!

I was going to have a niche for shampoo bottles, etc. but the pre-fab one I bought was just too big. So I opted for the ceramic shelves (2) and soap holder instead. More vintage looking anyway, I think.  The upstairs shower has the same thing and I like them. (But I’ll be glad when I don’t have to shower upstairs anymore!)

After the tile is done the beadboard can be installed—and the vanity, the tub and the toilet; the medicine cabinets, the lights. After the tile, the finish line will be in sight! YESSSSSS! [Fist Pump!] I’ll keep you posted. ( I don’t think you really want to see plain old drywall, do you?)

Here are some before shots:

The vanity and mirror weren’t bad, actually. Relatively new, modern, but not the style for this house. I gave them to Joyce for her bathroom remodel.