ONLINE JOURNAL
These journal entries track our progress as we undertake our adventure of restoring this very old home. The main reason for keeping this journal on the web is that we have found that there are very few resources (books or websites) that follow all of the trials and tribulations of restoring an old home...from start to finish.
February 4, 2001
My last journal entry stated that the new breakfast counter was all finished other than some trim work and paint. Well, that was before I decided that tiling the countertop would eliminate the lightweight feel of the hollow core door that I used for the top. But I like tiling, so this was a fun little afternoon project for me while Gay replaced the guts in the downstairs toilet. (She's becoming a real toilet specialist.)
Now all it needs is trim, grout and paint. We've also decided to paint the kitchen floor, panelling, and cabinets. Then the kitchen will be all set for the summer. -- Bill
February 9, 2001
Today I set out to replace a few missing clapboards on the smokehouse. Instead, board after board was soggy and rotten and had to be removed. Had to also replace the rotten window frame and sill and scrounge for old clapboards that were being used as shelves inside the smokehouse. (Thank goodness old Enon Hall building materials never seemed to get thrown away...just put to other uses.) Will continue this project tomorrow. -- Bill
February 10-11, 2001
Finished up the north and south ends of the smokehouse...now ready for primer and paint. Only one clapboard on the south end needed to be replaced. All of the others just needed re-nailing. Rebuilt the window frames on both ends.
Finished up the new breakfast bar in the kitchen (well, all but some trim around the top edge) and Gay and William began painting the kitchen panelling and cabinets. -- Bill
February 18, 2001
We spent all day today on our hands and knees on the hard kitchen floor. While Gay applied a second coat of paint to the cabinets, William and I taped off the 18 inch diamonds on the floor. Then Gay and I started painting the floor while William moved from square to squre like a human chess piece. -- Bill
February 24, 2001
Instead of showing you a photo of me standing in the middle of the kitchen floor pulling my hair out, I thought I'd share this peaceful photo of geese enjoying our yard today.
The floor paint is not bonding to the kitchen floor. You can just scrape it up with your fingernail. Gay thinks the floor has wax on it and that is preventing the floor enamel from being able to bond. Problem is, of course, that half of the floor is now painted with diamonds and they need to come up. Looks like we'll be renting a floor sander next weekend and sanding down the floor. And if we're gonna do that, we might as well just go ahead and refinish the floor too. We had decided to paint the floor in the first place because we thought it would be easier than sanding and refinishing. But it looks like that's exactly what we'll wind up doing after all. Oh well. It's a mess, but it's our mess. -- Bill
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