September & October 2017

Happy autumn, everyone.

Pete's been working so hard on the house. Since I can not go with him on every trip crazy man sleeps in the house when he's there by himself.  He can tolerate three days of suburban hobo camping in this weather before going to a friends place for a shower, a warm meal and bed. (hopefully in that order)

I managed to join Pete in September. We worked on the old kitchen, which we are currently planning to make into a plant room/solarium.

My darling Morticia...you are such an inspiration 

I've never grown anything in my life except for my own hair, so we will see how I do with taking care of plants. 

This was the room we started smashing up back in May of 2015, (the room with with the steel mesh reinforced walls) and stepped away from due to exhaustion, discouragement, and disgust. 

The sheet rock open faced sandwich special. I wish we could weigh the house before and after we remove all the debris.

This is Simon, our friends son, being an adorable bad ass helping me pull nails out of the beams.

Someone took the time to make this curved corner, discovered under squared off modern sheet rock.

I was happy to see the last of the drop ceiling disappear.

Behind that was this wallpaper border, which we suspected was original to the house until Pete found a section glued on top of sheet rock. Obviously from the era in the early 1970s when that white lacquered French Provincial furniture was fashionable.

This is at the entrance to the maids staircase. One of our transoms may look good here.

These two photos show where the original windows were. Someone went through a lot of hassle fitting these smaller windows where bigger ones were originally. We plan to install new windows using the original sizes. I need lots of sunlight for my Venus flytraps!

Here are some progress photos with the last of the old floor removed and the new sub floor being installed.

Pete removed the fireplace hearth and insert, behind it was this axe!

Chopping wood, chopping heads, who knows?

The view from the basement

This area, at the bottom of the maids staircase, was completely chewed away by termites. There was a board thrown on top of to prevent anyone from falling into the basement, so its really nice to see stability here. 

Here are some sexy wide angle views of the floor all done!

Wood you?

Pete and I have pretty much been in agreement with details. Which room will be used for what, kitchen cabinets, landscaping etc. I guess it was inevitable, but there are some decisions we are still debating.  Pete wants wood floors in the kitchen, which I was originally disgusted by. I've since surrendered to the idea and started to visualize how it would possibly look. 

We were in a restored late 19th century factory recently when I noticed wood floors that looked something like this:

After a smidge of online research I learned this is called end grain flooring. Instead of the wood being cut length ways to form long planks its cut on the end grain, so the rings are visible. At first glance I thought the floor was made of clay bricks. 

"No way, the dirt will get between the pieces, you will never be able to clean it,  it will make you miserable" Pete said, when I proposed the idea for our kitchen floor. It wasn't the best example, being that we were staring at 125 years of industrial dirt and grime.

"I don't want to cut all of those pieces, it will take forever." Was his reply when I showed him these photos a few days later

I'm not married to this project, but it is interesting. I think the idea of doing any large installation using salvaged materials absolutely exhausts Pete. I'm gonna have to sign up for table sawing/milling/planing 101 at the local Home Depot.  

Inspired by using materials ripped out of old barns, I just purchased this book:

It was encouraging to read about the types of old wood that can be found in 19th century structures that just don't exist anymore. The writer of this book has an almost unnatural admiration for trees and the grain structure of certain woods:

Jeez, this is a family show, buddy! Tone it down!

Maybe this was the editors intervention. "Chris, you gotta make this chapter a little more, you know, alluring."  because I'm having a hard time thinking about a salvage guy coming up with this on his own.

The last trip to the scrapyard 

This bathtub, originally installed on the first floor, had been outside since January of  2015. Here's Pete throwing it down the ramp:

Pete smashed it up, using the tried and true grinder method to score cut lines before smashing it with the sledgehammer.

$28.  Not surprising, it ain't copper.

This was a small milestone, that tub was the last big chuck of metal we need to dispose of. Other milestones I'm looking forward to will be sending the last dumpster away, ripping out the ugly hedges in the front yard and replacing them with the frilly finial fancy fence, and a flushing toilet. 

New Acquisitions

This has been quite a couple of months for Pete and I buying things for our house. Fall boutique flea markets seem to be more and more popular. I'm pretty happy with this haul, from several sources, both high and low brow:

This tiny seed pod is called either the devils seed pod or the bat nut. I don't know which name I like better!

I'm not sure if these wall mount bottle openers are antiques or new and cast from antique molds. One will go in the kitchen, the other in the attic where we plan to do some serious partying.

It was impossible to resist these cute felted acorns made by Forage Workshop.

This frog was illustrated by a 10 year old who was pretty thrilled that I bought it. Unfortunately, I can't read his signature on the back.

Will we be going on any picnics in our new town? I don't know, but we will be prepared if we do.

The plan is to paint over that parrot with a skull or severed head.

I traded photography services for these mourning hair flowers from my friend Amber Maykut, salvaged from a larger hair wreath in disrepair. Making these ornate flowers from the hair of the dead was a popular funerary past time in Victorian era America. (I'm not sure if the British were doing this) Hair was wound and twisted on wire to form these intricate plant like structures.

This lady has an extensive collection of hair wreaths. I plan to visit Leila's Hair Museum if I ever make it to Missouri.

 I have no right to criticize Pete's ever expanding creepy book collection, I am a book hoarder myself. But at this rate we are going to have to buy a bigger house. Thanks, Melanie for Till Death Us Do Part, written by the prosecuting attorney in the Manson Family trial.

I love these diorama boxes by Roadside Linen Arts!  I purchased the mother waving goodbye to her children in this charming Krampus abduction scene first, then got the second Coney Island fish scene at another event.

This over sized planchette made by illustrator Jeremy Hush is about 6 inches tall. I'm conflicted-should I glue a piece of glass in the hole or buy 9 more and use them as napkin holders for our dinner parties?

I bought this crochet doily at one of those 10,000 square foot antique malls that we found during our commute to the house. Its huge (I didn't have the patience to spread it out for a photo) The swans grace the perimeter, and now I've been inspired to learn to crochet.  Think of the possibilities- the loch ness monster, big foot- all rising up from the edges of lace!

I walked right past this, but Pete found a violet wand set at the same antique mall where the swan doily was. Violet wands (or violet rays) are electro therapy devices manufactured in the 1920s and 1930s.  

From Wikipedia: 

Their construction usually feature a combination of a disruptive discharge coil with an interrupter to apply a high voltage, high frequency, and low current to the human body for therapeutic purposes.

Therapeutic purposes included everything, lethargy, sore muscles, acne, dandruff, arthritis,  etc. Just rake it over the problem body part, and let the current do its magic! Manufacture of these devices was banned in the US in the 1950s,  but they are still produced outside North America. A new model is available from New Zealand here!

Our violet ray only plugs into a light socket, I'll wait for Pete to re-wire it before turning it on.

Fun before the internet, television and radio

I'm fascinated by this 1894 book of short stories, published to be read aloud at parties, in school, etc

Not just read, acted, with expression and feeling. Here are some poses and gestures suggested, in case the reader needs help getting the point across.

This scan does not do the quality of this page justice. I don't know what printing method was used, but the original page is vibrant with saturated inks, almost iridescent. 

The book has many photos of famous actors. Edwin Booth had the reputation of being a much better actor than his brother. His brother let the sibling rivalry get the better of him when he shot President Lincoln.

Not talking about it was a recurring theme in this book.

For the wet blanket at the party who wants to really bring everyone down, he could read these depressing stories from the chapter Grave and Pathetic Readings, one about people witnessing a shipwreck from the shore with "bits of wreck and swollen victims", the other about a child dying slowly in his bed.

Murder, hatred, homicide (or suicide?) by glass, and bludgeoning!

Lets get this party started!

 oops....

It's not all gloom and doom, death can be hilarious. 

I don't know what going on with that pose. Nonetheless, some jokes are universal and timeless.

Youch, burn!

Furnishings

I got this table from my dad.  It's been sitting in his house unused for as long as I can remember. Its got two leaves (only one is attached here) that both fold down.



My friend is in the process of cleaning out her parents estate. I offered to help her clean in exchange for first dibs on purchases. Here's what we got so far:

 This little table with a missing finial. I love those bird claw legs!

This ladies chair

Holy crap, this rocking chair is amazing!

A bird bath/mosquito habitat for the garden

This copper planter, also for the garden.

These two plant themed lamps for our solarium. I will either love them or really regret buying them when they are cleaned and restored.

This is an AM radio antenna

This is a portable stove burner, the fuel goes in the sphere. Everyone was confused as to whether it takes kerosene or butane.

This dish is a food warmer.  Hot water goes into the port to keep the meal warm. I found one of these years ago, made for children with animals printed on it. Hopefully my sister-in-law still has it.

Not sure what were doing with the Alice Cooper kewpie doll.

Things left behind

Not everyone thought David was a jerk

Evidence that at least one person thought David was a jerk.


In fairness I've posted a two documents below to the contrary:



 Here is an endearing Valentine's Day letter from David's mom. He gets demerits in my mind for leaving this behind in the garbage.

Here's a sweet card from a colleague.

Its only money if you deposit it in the bank!
David was in the habit of not cashing checks sent to him, probably because his accounts were chronically overdrawn, so he would never see the money anyway.

I'm usually concerned with the privacy of the strangers whose documents I post on this blog, but I couldn't resist revealing this mans last name.

I gave a check to my cousin once for his graduation, where it sat un-cashed for a month before I complained to him about it, so I'm sympathetic to Yvonne's probable frustration. 

Equally as amusing are three checks David wrote from his accounts but never mailed.

The guy who mows our lawn was never paid by David for work done. Apparently he isn't the first guy to not be paid for lawn services!

Poetry corner

For the uninitiated, a stack of "poetry " was left behind in the house. I've been posting one gem with each entry.

The idea of hot rain to me is pretty gross, both literally and metaphorically, but nonetheless.....