Back Door Search Begins
Posted on | November 30, 2010 | 14 Comments
I’m suppose to be researching back doors but I came across this stairway in Thomas O’Brien’s book American Modern and kinda stopped there. In the back of the photo he has two different doors painted black that look like they could be dutch doors? And I love that table with the brass drawer pull but let’s stay focused on the doors.
I thought about doing a solid wood door with a screen door but we can’t open the door in because we have a stairway in the way. If the doors open out then a wood door and a screen door really don’t work? Did everyone got that? Open in bad, open out good.
So what about a dutch door? Can they pivot both ways? Or can the bottom go one way and the top the other? I have room for the top to open in when the bottom is closed because it will swoop over the stairway. But when I want to open the whole door both pieces need to swing out. Is that even possible?
But then how historically accurate is a dutch door for my house? I found this site showing a hundreds of different configurations with glass and without. But then I remembered how much I loved this blue door I found back in 2009 with 12 lights (windows) and a panel below. Again the historic society is not so keen on glass but I love this style and feels back door like? And the more I think about if the panel came below the window frame next to my 12 light window wouldn’t that look nice?
I really need to keep looking and do more research…
obviously we have a long way to go
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Thanksgiving Weekend Renovations
Posted on | November 29, 2010 | 17 Comments
We stayed home over the long holiday weekend and worked on the house. I made Thanksgiving dinner for two while Greg hammered away on the house. He replaced rotten clapboards on the backside of the dormer, painted the new trim and worked on the rotten corners in the addition.
The corners are so rot in the corners we wonder why the house didn’t just fall down. Greg has replaced two of the corners and about an hour before the sun went down yesterday he started demoing the third. It’s a bit hard to know where to stop when the whole thing needs to be fixed.
I need to find a new/old door this week for the back entrance. The one we have is circa 1950′s and not appropriate for the style of the house. A solid wood door would be typical but I would love something that would give the space a little more light. I thought about a transom above the door but we don’t have enough room. I’ve enlisted the help of Old House Parts in Kennebunk, Maine to help me with my search. My historic society asked that I present three different options for approval at the next meeting.
Below photos of Greg working hard on the house. The sun goes down so early this time of year that he did a lot of work in the dark with his headlamp on. What a trooper! I rewarded him with turkey and biscuits, turkey pot pie and turkey soup. The final shot is the backside of the house as it looks now. I shot a little video of him showing the chimney for our hot water heater we found in the wall supported by a piece of wood. As we cleaned out the rest of the wall we found piles of coal and bones. Don’t be freaked out; we find animal bones everyday in the roof, walls and basement.
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My Thanksgiving Table
Posted on | November 22, 2010 | 18 Comments
When I was growing up we always had Thanksgiving at my great grandparents farm in Maine. Generations of women would gather in the kitchen making homemade rolls, fresh kielbasa, and stuffing so rich we now refer to it as “stomach stuffing” —it sticks to your ribs and gives you a bit of a bellyache.
Our family farm was sold and now Thanksgiving usually takes place at my house or my older sister’s. This year it’s just going to be Greg and I. Everyone has been really busy with work and we all agreed a day of sleeping late and hanging out in our pjs sounds like way more fun then sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. Our house looks like a bomb went off with house renovations projects going on in just about every room. I couldn’t be more thankful that I don’t have to clean the house from top to bottom to make it presentable for guests.
I haven’t even thought about what I’m going to cook which is a bit unlike me. I’ll probably head to the grocery story tonight to pick up a fresh turkey, some veggies and a loaf of bread to make stuffing. Greg will probably spend the majority of Thanksgiving working outside on the house. I want be stuck in the kitchen all day cooking and making homemade pies. Simple but perfect.
Above and below photos that I took for an online story that got cut. My great grandmother’s china is shown as a salad plate. A simple stripe linen tablecloth from Terrain and purple napkins from Libeco pull the table together without it becoming too fussy. The hurricanes are from now defunct Smith & Hawkins and the beeswax candles my mom picked up for me at Whole Foods.
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A journal about new england life, decorating inspiration, and renovating a 262-year-old house in Marblehead, Massachusetts. read more...
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