Linda Rosen Antiques

Posted on | February 28, 2011 | 10 Comments

When you’re up late, can’t sleep and find yourself cruising the internet aimlessly at 2 am you find the best stuff. Linda Rosen Antiques in Sheffield, Massachusetts has a great shop full of antiques from the very high-end to more moderate priced pieces. I’ve been on the hunt for tables and a few of their candlesticks caught my eye. All of New England origin each piece representing a different style period: Federal, Queen Anne, and a Hepplewhite. The bottom right photo is a Queen Anne corner chair—cool, right?

I really want to learn more about different early American furniture styles. I have a few books but I couldn’t identify a piece without a little help. I thought about going to the upcoming Antiques & Art show in New York. The pieces represented will be super fancy and nothing I could possibly afford. But if I learned to identify different style cues then maybe I would feel more comfortable at auctions? If you’re an expert; how did you learn more or which books would you suggest?

Category: furniture, massachusetts

Restoring Raised Paneled Doors

Posted on | February 23, 2011 | 18 Comments

Over the weekend we stripped three solid wood raised paneled doors for our den project. We used our handy Silent Paint Remover—with a little nudge of a scraper the paint comes right off. The doors feel about 10 pounds lighter each; unfortunately for one of the doors the paint was holding it together. We still need to remove the hardware, sand and paint.

On one of the doors we found a shotgun blast. If you look closely at the image below you’ll see a spray of dots on the door. I wonder what happened? Maybe an intruder or just a drunk guy shooting off rounds? So interesting, right?

Update: we’re pretty sure this wasn’t a gunshot but a dartboard, see here.

Category: house renovation

Base Coat Plaster Ceiling

Posted on | February 17, 2011 | 34 Comments

We have a new ceiling! Our plasterer arrived early Wednesday morning and attached blueboard to the beams. Blueboard looks more gray then blue and has special absorption qualities that aids plaster in adhering to the surface and not peel away versus using dry wall. After the blueboard was hung, mesh tape was applied to each joint and then a scratch coat was applied over the tape. The scratch coat dried for about 45 minutes and then the base coat got mixed up with water.

This is where the process got a little funky; the base coat (we used Imperial Basecoat Veneer Plaster) was our final coat—normally you would add another layer of plaster. Under the recommendation of Pierre using just the base coat would give our ceiling a look that was similar to our horsehair plaster walls. Pierre felt the second coat would make our ceiling look too polished, smooth and modern. Above and below photos of the ceiling in progress.

Category: house renovation

keep looking »

Site Sponsor
Follow Me

Site Feed
House Renovation Posts

Olive Gray

Yellow Accents

Worn Wood Bench

Make Citrus Marmalade

Marry Me Barn In VT

Green Inspiration

Country Laundry Room

Shortbread Hearts

Birch Bark Hearts

Seed Stitch Cowl