paint and patience

Last week I got caught up in what should have been a small project-

strip the paint off the original, solid brass switch plate in the vestibule. Let me back up. I painted the vestibule late at night a few weeks ago. My Dad taught me how to paint, and when you paint, you take care to REMOVE switch plates and outlet covers and anything else that should NOT get painted.

The old house has a few original toggle switches (very cool, by the way), but over the years
they were all painted over. It makes me so mad! I was not sure what the end result would be, but with a little hard work, I knew that removing the many (seven to be exact) layers of paint from this original piece
could be rewarding.

I spent two hours one evening, using mainly my fingernails, to scrape paint off the pearl inlay,
push-button toggle switches. It was really fun. The middle switch was different and would not clean up,
so off I went to visit the architectural antiques guy. He saw me three times last week... with all three children in tow each time. You can imagine the store... super kid friendly, not packed floor-to-ceiling with
antique fixtures, hardware, etc. Ha.

First visit, out of frustration, was to buy a restored-by-someone-else brass switch plate. The next to return said switch plate and buy an old replacement toggle switch. The final visit (for this project anyway) to exchange the toggle switch for a smaller size. Nothing was standard size 93 years ago.

I wired the replacement switch myself. It was easy, actually, but once I had it wired I could not get it back in the wall. Needless to say, I had to call the electrician. He even had a hard time, but he got it done.

- though this is not a photo of the vestibule switches, this is what it looked like before -

- restored by ME! -
- we will eventually replace the left switch (pearl inlay is sadly missing) -

- you get an idea of the new paint color in this photo - still a bit of trim work to finish -

I may have been lacking patience with this process. I mean who PAINTS OVER something so pretty?
It's not a .97 white, plastic switch cover (though I wouldn't paint over that either), it is old and solid brass!

I want to be clear; our switch plate was not this shiny after I removed the paint.

Sensing my frustration, the architectural antiques guy asked me to bring in the plate. He took it to the basement, gave it a buff and there it was. Restored. I was in shock. I really didn't think it was possible, but I will never forget what he said to me. "When you start with something of true quality, that's what you get."

The old house must be something of true quality.


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more vestibule

Much of our September spare time revolved around restoring the old house's
original vestibule doors, and I am happy to report that the doors have officially been installed. I feel I must qualify this statement though; these lovely doors still need help.

I will not give you every detail, but I will tell you that finding nearly 100 year old hardware to fit the doors was not easy. We've learned a few things along the way; for example, to remove layers of paint from
old brass hinges, soak them in ammonia overnight. It really works! If you Google it, there are other methods, but this worked great for us. And you know how you can go to a big, box store and buy nicely packaged, sets of door hardware?... not the case here. Every door is a little different, as is every piece of hardware.

After getting the doors up, we realized the stationary door is too tight. We don't get overly frustrated about stuff like this anymore, as we have come to expect complications with every old house project.
This particular issue is settling. The old house has settled just enough that we are not able to close this door. It is not my favorite thing to do, but planing a door is something we have much experience with.
We hope to get some time to work on it this weekend- I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, here's the before and a few progress photos:

- when we moved in - view photos in previous post here -

- left door is the stationary door - it will close a little more than that, but not much -

- from the other side -

- wood that was used a long time ago to fill in the hinge mortises - kinda cool, right? -

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vestibule: an update

Dear readers, did you again think I gave up on blogging?

I am sorry, but I cannot promise this long pause will not repeat. September is proving to be a busy, busy month for this family. I have a backlog of posts, some started and some still in my head, and I have
decided that the easiest posts for me (right now) are those about old house projects.

We are currently working on smallish projects at the old house. Remember this previous post about the vestibule? Let me be the first to tell you:  if you can figure out a way to work a shoe closet into your entry way, do it. No shoes strewn about the house. No, "mom, where are my shoes?" The one problem, that I cannot believe did not cross my mind, is a little bit of an odor. You know, kid shoe stink. It wasn't a problem last fall and winter, but consistently hot days brought consistently smelly shoes.

I am getting way off subject... Please know, we have tackled the problem with regular shoe cleaning, airing out of the shoe closet (never when people are over), and lots of baking soda.

So, all of that to say, that the rest of the vestibule is finally getting a make over. We pulled up the faux brick linoleum and hauled the heavy, original french doors up from the basement. The doors, by the way,
we noticed when we first looked at the old house last summer. While in the basement, we peeked into the dark and a little creepy coal room. Along, with many other treasures,we found the vestibule doors!

progress pictures:

- last july -

- fresh out of the basement with decades of storage dust and grime -

- cleaned up, but in need of repair and replacement hardware before they can be installed -
- white tile sample is leftover from the bathroom, i had it there to help me visualize -

- under the linoleum - the condition looks much better in this picture -

- $9 vintage mirror from local thrift store -

here's the plan:

There is a guy here in the new city who has an architectural antiques business. We bought our vintage

door and windows for the new garage from him. We have enlisted his help again for glass replacement (one of the small, lower panes on each door is broken), as well as repair. Wood is splitting at the bottom of

each door- expected for their age, but sad. We will also need new door knobs and hinges.

No problem, right? Ha. I will save those paragraphs for a later post.

The vestibule will also get a fresh coat of paint and a tile floor. I promise we will do it right and protect the original wood floors. We intend to install vintage-style, hex tile, which is appropriate to the era in which

the old house was built. Check it out here.

Sounds good, right?!

* * * * *

 in the details:

thank you, hubby