If you give a mouse a hammer. .

 I've definately been slacking on blogging lately!  Things have been busy.   But renovations have continued!  The front door was stripped and painted and all new hardware and locking mechanisms installed.  Stripping off the old paint was NOT for the faint of heart.  The stripper we bought was supposedly going to take everything off in one giant peel.  Um. no.  So we had to buy another stripped and used that, but eventually we got down to bare wood and were able to paint the door.

Hot on the heels of this front door masterpiece we moved to our back door.  Our previous back door was a hollow core door.  Not the best option for dealing with cold New England winters.  We removed the old door, took out the old casings and installed this new insulated door.  It has also since been painted red.  I love red doors because I feel they are so welcoming!  After that, we replaced the back exterior storm door.  By that time we had it down to a 90 minute install.  This door led to a very tiny back hallway.  Literally the space is 16 square feet.  It had dark dingy panelling and was not a well functioning space.  We took down all the old panelling and installed white beadboard.  We found lots of air leaks and sealed those up with foam insulation.  We caulked.  We removed the old yucky suspended ceiling and scraped and painted the original ceiling which looks much nicer.  Because the house was originally attached to a walkway to a barn there were multiple door casings that had been built out over the years.  We removed those that were either not appealing to look at and/or unnecessary.  I did save some lovely woodwork that I know my grandfather must have made.  I sanded it with my orbital sander and reinstalled that in two areas. 

Then I decided that the entry floor looked ugly.  So I took up the VCT tiles, scraped off all the old adhesive and laid a new floor.  I'd like to say that was quick--it is only 16 square feet, but it took me far longer than it should have.  I have a hard time visualizing how to cut around mouldings and I had some wonky cuts to make.  Eventually it was laid though.  I am awaiting the order of the floor trim that will go all around it and seam it in visually to the other spaces.  It should be in  by the end of next week and that is a quick install.

Isn't it bright?  It is also so much warmer in a space that was previously VERY drafty!  We are loving it.  Now I am starting to purchase the little decor items that we will deck it out with.

After I did that, I decided that the recycling closet which is located in this little space needed to be spiffed up.  After all, the outside of it all ready had gotten a face lift because we had removed the door and covered it with bead board and put on new hardware.  The hardware was reminiscent of what was originally there but more functional. (we need a latch that keeps the dog out of the recycling!)

I wanted to keep the feeling of the original work my grandfather had done making this closet and i think we stayed true to that.  That is also his woodwork that I restored around the door.  But inside, the closet was UGLY.  It had a tiny lino covered floor that was old (as in older than me and I am not young!) and it was dirty and dingy.  I took everything out, re-did the walls inside, laid a very tiny floor with left over tiles and put in a shelf and a hanging basket.

So much more functional!  So clean and organized!  LOL

The last thing I did was to replace our bathroom door.  That door was an old hollow core door with a thin veneer over it.  Years of hard use had caused the veneer to be peeling.  You could not hang a hook on the door for a towel or change of clothes because the door was hollow.  We are a family of 6. We need things like hooks.  The bathroom is also small and there is not a lot of hanging space for the myriad of necessities.  

 This is the bathroom door right after we hung it.  This was a pain.  The door size is not standard. Ordering custom would have meant at least a 2 month wait. (and I feel that was optimistic in these times of Covid.  I ordered a freezer in early May and delivery has been postponed three times all ready. We are now looking hopefully at an early December delivery.  But I digress. . . To avoid the delay of a custom order we ordered the smallest door we could and had a friend rip 1/2 inch off the door.  We could trim the casings ourselves but as yet we still only have hand tools, though I really want a small table saw! This is the door before it was painted.  You can glimpse it painted in the picture of the entry floor because the bathroom is literally right off that entry.  I still have to figure out what to do about the open space between door and tile.  It is not wide enough to really effectively put tile there, though I did salvage some and might try to see if I can make that work.  But thus far, I have not really moved into that space yet so I am just beginning to explore and see what will look best.

It has been fun working around the house.  Doing projects like this on an old house allow me to explore its history.  I am the fourth generation to live in this house.  When I did things like removed the paneling and found this garish asian themed wall paper it was fun to text my mom and ask her the story behind it.  When I removed a casing to install beadboard and found square nails, that was pretty cool as well.  

I don't do well with lots of down time, and I am very much an extrovert. So staying safe in Covid has been emotionally taxing and taking on these projects has been a productive and healthy way to stay sane.  Our space is improved both in the way it looks and in functionality.  I learn new skills and i have things to occupy weekends that used to be filled with gatherings, festivals, field trips and such.  I know we have done other projects too that I forgot to post but this catches up the biggest of those I missed!