Restoration/new studio update!
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an update about how my restoration project/new studio is going. These photos are from July 10.
I’m currently caught up in all the little details – hundreds of little things that have to be done before the big things like painting can happen.
One of those little things is replacing all the broken windows! And there are lots of them! Thanks to Mike at Lakeland Glass in Vermilion, who cut all the glass for me.
I’ve never worked with caulking before, but I’ve seen it done. I think I did a good job! The lower two windows in this picture show my caulking prowess.
Close up of my caulking job
New screen in the screen door, and painted the screen frame. Door still needs to be fixed up, obviously. But I needed some airflow in the house, so the screen got fixed before the rest of the door!
New glass in this door, and had to replace the trim on this side. Mitre saws/angles are not my friend.
A chunk of the decorative trim was missing from this door, so I made a new piece for it out of a piece of scrap 2×4 and then recycled some of the 80 year old trim from the window to match the original woodwork. The original can be seen on the left side of the photo.
These are the storm windows for the house – they are painted the pale yellow that will be on most of the exterior of the house.
I recommend every restoration project include a litter of kittens. They clear up any mouse problem, plus they’re funny. And if a tool goes missing, you can blame the kittens.
Outside of the house. I dug up the sidewalk – it has been buried since 1988 or so. I found a penny under the sod at the end of the sidewalk dated 1988.
East side of the house – no more plywood in the windows!
North east side of the house. This was the window I replaced on the 10th, hence the ladder.
The far right pane is the one I replaced that day. It’s not a quick or easy job. I have to chip away all the old glazier’s putty, which has roughly the consistency of granite, remove the broken pane, chisel away any remaining putty, try the new piece of glass on for size (every frame was made by hand back in the day, so every one is a bit different), chisel down the wood on the frame, if the glass is a bit too big, try the pane again, chisel some more, then when the glass fits in, I have to insert the glazier’s points (the little metal bits) to hold the window in place until I can caulk it. The glazier’s points are a complete pain in the ass and I end up losing 2 or 3 of them with every pane I do. Each pane of glass – regardless of the size of it – takes between 30 minutes and 4 hours of work.
Alternate view of the front of the house
My daughter – I asked her if she thinks mommy is awesome for doing all this work on the house and she said, “Yeah, but it makes you old.” I do get sore and stiff, especially after chiselling windows for 8 hours or so!
Dork child! She’s actually been the biggest help so far. She fetches me tools, sweeps up, finds broken glass, sands drywall, helps paint window frames … she’s going to be a great little carpenter when she grows up!
Caitie with Diamond
You can never have too many kittens.
Looks like she’s taking inventory here. This is the pile of stuff I use/will be using to fix up the old place.
Playing kittens! I love how Sparkles is doing a face plant here ….
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