Victorian House Rescue

I took a trip to the house in March, where winter was still penetrating her cold claws into the earth.

Heating up my moisturizer on the radiator before application certainly helps!

What's behind door number one?

Pete installed two new (old) doors in January. He replaced the awful broken down exterior side door and installed a door between the fern room and hallway, to help keep the heat in. I like the idea of having those entryways completely open but I like the idea of conserving heat even more. The expense of keeping our huge house warm in the winter concerns me. We currently have heat in only two rooms, so its manageable right now. We are doing everything we can; appropriate insulation, double paned windows, and a newly lined chimney with a wood burning stove. There is no shortage of people giving away scrap lumber and downed trees on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace, so that will offset the heating costs.

Making the most of our tiny car

We found out this beat up old door is mahogany after we bought it. Stripping the paint is gonna be a project, and I fear what lies beneath.

Antique door knobs are pretty but they come with their own set of problems. In the interest of speed and simplicity Pete bought a new door knob and dead bolt. Maybe a beautiful old door knob will be installed in the future.

The door jamb needed a desperate re-framing!

In situ. That extra dead space on the top of the door frame is gonna bug me until Pete patches it all up.

This tool allows cutting holes for door knobs.

Installing this door with the original hinge placement would have made the door swing open to the left, so Pete and Joe decided to flip it, leaving the old door knob hole open on the right side. I'd like to install an antique door knob and back plate on that side, to cover up the hole and confuse visitors.

This interior door between the fern room and hallway was much easier to install.

A round of applause for this clapboard

A lot of clapboard needs to replaced due to random shoddy repairs, as well as exterior doors and windows that were installed then later removed.

Here are just a few of the ghosts of doors, windows, and repairs past.

These cuts are subtle, but I hear sinister cackling in my head every time I look at them. They are like an un-pop-able zit on my face, always there, and really annoying.

We looked unto getting freshly milled clapboard planks, but they were insanely expensive.

Pete found this clapboard at our local architectural salvage warehouse. Its not exact, but damn, its really close!

The top is the board we just purchased, the bottom is obviously taken from the house. I asked Pete to take this comparison photo. I'm giving him a 5/10 for choosing a piece with all that goopy paint on it.

I think we have more of these then we need. Being that they are used, they will match with the beat up siding that's not getting removed.

New Kitchen Windows

We ordered four Andersen windows to match the already installed Andersens that Pete bought second hand. Depending on what dealer/middleman you buy from, Andersen can lay on a pretty obnoxious hard sell. I was bracing myself for this when I ordered these, but the dealer was laid back and didn't try to upsell me on anything.

Side porch rebuild, the final chapter!

Unfortunately this paint was left in the unheated library and was destroyed by the cold. :(

After purchasing another can of Sherman Williams Kimono Violet, Pete got to work on cutting the second porch bat.

Is there a name for those starter holes?

Jigging it

Rough cut completed

Sanding after cutting the beveled edges

Cutting the dowels and fitting the beads

Starting to paint, after the primer dried.

We worked on repairing and painting the second spandrel to mount the second bat to. Pete bought these years ago, its great to see them being used.

Drilling out the holes where dowels had been broken.

Cutting a finial off to use on the spandrel we mounted.

Drilling the post for the finial

A dowel was hammered in, then trimmed to the appropriate length

Painting complete!

Installation

Hammering the frame into place

Anything is possible with enough work and insanity.

In spite of the photos of Pete doing all of the work, I did a lot of the painting. Since all the demolition is done and skilled labor is needed, I have determined that I am 30% to 80% useless, depending on the project.

Flora and Fauna

Pete and I drove to the house from NYC, bringing Steve with us in the car. Having Steve in the car with us is always a challenge, as he goes through cycles of annoying meowing and thankfully random moments of silence. We have a big cage for him in the car, but we thought it would help him if he sat on my lap.

This went well for a while, until the slightest turn jarred him. He stood up and let out the loudest meow, which was of course exacerbated by him being in a small car and right on my lap. It was terrifying. We pulled over and put him back in the cage.

The calm before the storm.

Just like the tombstones at Highgate Cemetery in London, moss has grown on our mini gravestones by the second empire birdhouse.

Found

Pete found this finger chopping fan on the street in Brooklyn. I would love to see it rewired and spinning, bit I'm afraid for my cat. How many pets and children were injured by these finger and paw slicers?

No HIPAA privacy here. Were full names mentioned in these headlines because everyone reading the article knew who these people were?

New Acquisitions

Here are a few small things I got from various Pennsylvania antique malls.

Postcards du jour

I appreciate that this young woman glued her photograph onto this postcard.

Hey floozy, do you have to let everyone know about your loose morals?

"Hello Raymond, I thought I would answer your card while I had not anything else to do"

Make sure you let your friends know that they are on the absolute bottom of your priority list.

This was on the back of a post card with a standard floral print. Banning alcohol in the United States seems extreme now, but when Myrna Grace signed this pledge card it was probably the time when the temperance movement was being propelled by angry wives and mothers. Their complaint was women were being neglected and abandoned by their husbands due to alcoholism. How many women were affected? I doubt anyone kept stats, but the late 19th Century teetotalers gained a lot of traction when they protested by entering saloons and smashing every bottle in sight. Moderation was not a mainstream ideal at the time, and as little as we know about addiction now, obviously a lot less was understood then.

Sympathy letter for newborn fatality.

This printed sympathy letter is dated 1919, the middle of the big flu pandemic.

I've been collecting tin boxes, some specifically for a project which I don't want to reveal until we actually put it all together.

Pete and I spent New Years Eve in Cape May, New Jersey. Its a magical seaside town of amazing old Victorian houses and hotels. This book was on my list, and I found it at a dusty old antique mall for $3.00

Here are two Currier and Ives prints I've added to my collection.

This night time castle scenic unfortunately has a poorly repaired hole to the right of the moon.

I was given a few of these lovely Dover books by various friends. Thank you, Laura and Stephanie!

This is a coloring book I would never color, unless I had a second copy.

Yes, that toilet does exist in reality.

Sterling Collection

We as humans are always trying to change our outward appearances. Is this due to mostly societal pressures or is this something innate inside of us? That's a really big question, but lets dive into skin bleaching, shall we?

What toxins are in this tin? I wish I knew a chemist that could analyze this.

How long have humans been trying to make themselves whiter? Apparently forever. Ancient Egyptians used lead, its been found on the faces of Egyptian mummies. Queen Elizabeth used a mixture of lead and vinegar to whiten her skin and hide her smallpox scars. I was surprised to learn skin bleaching is currently a trend in some Asian and African countries, as well as in the United States.

In 1990, the South African health minister banned skin bleaching products. On the surface these products were banned for health reasons, but apartheid ended in South Africa in 1990, so this decision must have been culturally and socially motivated. That's not stopping anyone as these products are readily available in South Africa now, with police confiscating the products then retailers restocking, probably from retail monster Alibaba.

Sunbathing as a pastime and the desire for white people to look tan is actually pretty new, it's first wave of popularity happening with the discovery of vitamin D and its correlation to sunlight in 1903. By 1915 sitting in the sunshine was a popular activity of the leisure class. People were learning to let their children get sufficient play time in the sun to avoid rickets and bow legs. Before this sun tans were associated with the labor class, farm hands and other outdoor manual laborers.

Although this is obviously dated, this marketing angle is still being used today.

Sadly, these products were and still are being marketed to people of color, the Indian ads are particularly shocking and sad. With messages like "You look dirty" and "Your man left you for someone lighter" companies like Unilever are making millions on these products making people feel racially inferior. This appears to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, the more people bleach their skin, the more others feel pressure to do the same.

Buckle up, these commercials are nuts!

Inspiration

As previously mentioned, Pete and I spent New Years Eve with friends in Cape May, New Jersey. Cape May likes to take credit as Americas first seaside resort, claiming it was a vacation destination as early as the 18th Century. The still operational Congress Hall Hotel was built in 1816, and in 1863 it became accessible by rail. The entire town is designated a national historical landmark. There's so much crumbling old architecture all over the world, seeing this town preserved and thriving was overwhelming.