I now know that the fire alarm in my son’s room does in fact work!  Don’t worry, there was no fire!  I just happened to set it off while I was using the heat gun around his door frame! I have to admit it scared the buggers ouf of me when it started going off. Something I learned though, besides the fact that the talking fire alarm works, is that Brendan (our son) sleeps through any thing! It took me a while to get the alarm turned off and Brendan didn’t move a muscle.

So back to what I wanted to post about: my many projects. Key word here is many! Note to Shane: sorry honey, I know it’s driving you crazy! So I really tried to just start one project and finish it before moving onto another. However, in my defense it is hard to take the heat gun and sander after the wood work when I’m home all day with Brendan.

My first project, the newel post, is coming along. All of the paint is off and Shane started sanding it for me. All that is left is to continue sanding. This is definitely easy enough, however, it is on-hold until we can get Brendan out of the house since it makes a lovely mess and we don’t have doors up here.

My second project is stripping the doors which is why they are not upstairs! Shane took them downstairs for me so the fumes could be in the basement. I have the old bathroom door almost done. I need to take liquid stripper after the sides that face the frame. I tried to take the heat gun after it, but it started smoking. Whoever painted it, just painted onto the unfinished wood making it not so easy! I decided to put this off as I hate working with liquid stripper. Actually, let me clarify…I don’t actually hate the product, because whatever Shane bought me works super fast and actually does the job! What I hate is the smell and I refuse to use it in the house.

Now that this door is on-hold, let’s move on to the other door. The other door is the one we removed from the bedroom/office going into the kitchen. This will be the new upstairs bathroom door. I have one side done thanks to the heat gun and I just started on the backside. I would seriously be done by now, but the electrician showed up and I’m too nice of a person to make him smell the fumes. Actually, I didn’t want him to leave early because of the fumes. Hehe. The electric company was suppose to be here Thursday and never showed and never called. So needless to say I’m not taking any chances!

Last project (yes another one) is the wood work upstairs. I figured why not since every thing else up here was in the process too. I finished the bathroom framing and started on my son’s door frame for his room. I was doing great! I was motivated and eager to finish. Then the fire alarm goes off. *sigh* Now I have no motivation and am sitting here writing this. I apologize if I’m jumpng all over. It’s been too long since I posted last.

On a slightly different note. In our basement bathroom we’ve decided to paint the window trim and baseboards. I’m wondering what to do with the door. Should we paint the bathroom side of the door and leave the front stripped etc., or should I just finish the bathroom side? Would it look funny having all the wood painted, except the door? Or another option is to not paint the window trim or the door and just paint the baseboards? Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hello. Thanks every one for the comments about my our bed! Posted below are more detailed pictures.  The bed does need some work, but I’ll get to that maybe this Summer or following Winter!

The headboard is full of detail and quite ornate.

The footboard is ornate as well. Something else I’ve noticed is the footboard is higher than other high back beds I’ve seen.

Like Shane mentioned in one of his comments, someone cut down the bed (which is very common), but it was “fixed.” I have to admit I didn’t notice this when I found it and bought it, because all I could stare at the was the detail on the headboard and footboard! It didn’t help either I guess that the antique store is out of an old, dark barn! Oh well!

I couldn’t help but put this picture up too! This here is my baby! I found it at the same place I found our high back bed. The mirrors are as tall as the bed and the mirrors are the original beveled. I have to admit that furniture (antique of course) is my hobby!

It’s amazing how the right people can get the ball moving when it comes to getting work done. My husband and I couldn’t get a plumber to come fix our upstairs kitchen sink in a timely manner last week….today the general contractor that was hired was on the phone and had a plumber lined up to come over tonight to fix our toilet in the basement.  To quote the general contractor, “It’s unacceptable that the only workable toilet isn’t running right.” Ha. Well needless to say, the plumber is here and the problem was tree roots! Yes, that’s right, tree roots! Can any one else relate? I’m told it’s a common problem, but I never thought that was the problem! Now we’re wondering if insurance will still cover it. On a slightly different note, the plumber looked at our water heater and decided that we did not need a new one. The old one is fine; just needs to be cleaned up a little. Shucky darns! I personally was hoping for a new one just so it could be moved to the other side of the furnace; making our basement floor plan a little nicer. My husband did ask him, however, how much it would cost if we did one down the road. It’ll be approximately $900.00 Ouch.

To switch subjects again; while my father-in-law was here today he wondered out loud if the steps going to the basement (currently in the kitchen) were originally flipped so the top of the stairs are in the dining room to go down. It would actually make sense as there is an oddly placed small window in what is now a closet. Yes, a closet in the corner of the dining room. How odd is that?! Anyways, the floor is apparently not original either he said. I told Shane what he said and now he’s trying to figure that out. I sure wish we could transport back in time to see how the house was originally, or at least find pictures.

Here is a picture of the dining room closet. On the right you can see some fake “stairs” that are just storage shelves above the real stairs that go to the basement. Such a pretty window to have in a closet too. So what we are wondering is if you would originally walk in there, turn right, and then go down stairs into the basement.

And from the post yesterday, here is the rear entry currently. Behind me is the kitchen. That purple wall directly in front and above the stairs is the backside of those fake “stairs” in that closet.

When our kitchen gets gutted, we will look at the walls in there as we are pretty certain the main rear entry door used to be in there, rather than this awkward location on the steps.

And to keep with Shane’s water damage theme, here is what extreme moisture levels mixed with cold air does to a nice old door: