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Mar 31, 2025: We managed to finish getting the subfloor in the main bathroom which was my main goal for March. Next up: Some light electrical and then installing …
Mar 20, 2025: Work on the main bathroom subfloor continues as Jason and I make adjustments and solve conundrums to make sure the subfloor is solid and level. This …
Mar 12, 2025: Back on track. It’s been a while, I know. We intentionally slowed down on this project for a few months for reasons. One being that my attention has been on …
May 13, 2024: Stages of plumbing demo and rough-in…
Mar 12, 2024: Today, we managed to finish getting the rest of the tile and cement/debris out of the bathroom (see final shot). Also, removed some portions of the …
Mar 11, 2024: How they did things back in the day... On top of the subfloor you lay down a layer of paper. Then, nail down some steel meshwork on top of that. Then pour 1-3 inches (depending on the …
Mar 7, 2024: Demo of the main bathroom has commenced…
Feb 21, 2024: Back to work after too long of a break. Today was spent doing some finishing work in order to call those officially done. This started with replacing …
Dec 28, 2023: Found reproduction pocket door handles that fit with the rest of the hardware in the house.
Nov 8, 2023: Many finishing touches done on both the Powder Room and the Mudroom/Laundry. Here’s a before and after of the tile work in the Powder Room and some …
Nov 4, 2023: Failed to mention that while we were working on the china cabinet, The Window Whisperer Olivia was working on the lattice windows in the dining room. …
Oct 30, 2023: Here’s the built-in china cabinet near completion. The only things left to do are install the glass shelves (which may be a while as the ones we got …
Oct 26, 2023: How it started and how it’s going…
Oct 25, 2023: More recent progress on the built-in china cabinet. Added some electrical. The switch at the bottom powers on/off the top outlet. The plan is to put …
Oct 23, 2023: Began work this week on making the built-in china cabinet something one might want to actually use. Currently, the interior cabinet is an ugly mess of …
Oct 4, 2023: Swapped out some lights on the first floor today. Here’s a before and after of the dining room chandelier. Bonus, the new stained glass fixture in the …
Sep 22, 2023: Stages of a window restoration…
Sep 19, 2023: The work continues…
Sep 19, 2023: The work continues.
Sep 18, 2023: The work continues…
Aug 9, 2023: Done and done and I’m on to the next one.
Jul 20, 2023: Stages of window restoration.
Jul 12, 2023: Trim painting has begun on the 2nd floor bedroom windows.
Jul 3, 2023: Repair of a cracked window sill.
Jun 19, 2023: The work continues…
Jun 16, 2023: Restoration Pro Tip: After removing the old paint and cleaning up your hardware, you may find some rusting if you use water for that (like I do). You …
May 30, 2023: Built to Maintain We often champion things that are built to last; as we should. But we should also recognize those things that are built to maintain. Which, in my …
May 20, 2023: The sinks and various related appliances were all connected today. So we now have a fully operational kitchen and partially operational mud room …
May 18, 2023: Gotta love weather stripping that is rated for 100 years.
May 18, 2023: The good stuff.
May 4, 2023: Next set of sashes restored. Once again, stops screwed in, not nailed, so easy to remove to clean or repair the sashes. As they were meant to be.
May 1, 2023: Slow progress is still progress.
Apr 19, 2023: To try to give a better visual explanation of what I’m working on right now… Having already re-roped, weighted, and repaired the sashes to ensure all …
Apr 17, 2023: Window stops that are decoratively screwed in versus nailed in so one can easily remove the sashes to clean/repair them. What we believe in.
Apr 12, 2023: Small progress is progress.
Apr 6, 2023: Proof of Life...
Feb 19, 2023: Meet Olivia There’s so much I could say about Olivia. She is such an old soul full of stories. Yet, she tells them quietly — matter of factly. Listening to them …
Feb 7, 2023: Some stair details. Added coving to cover up gaps and imperfections. Also, adds some visual interest. Next, will be throwing some lacquer over the …
Jan 31, 2023: Work continues on repairing the front bedroom windows including re-roping and re-glazing.
Jan 31, 2023: All the tape and paper off of the stairs now so you can really see how the final product looks.
Jan 23, 2023: The stair trim and window took a big leap forward today. Here’s some before and after splits.
Jan 10, 2023: Progress has been slow of late. The holidays and other impediments to the work. That said, I believe all the scraping and prep is now done on the …
Dec 16, 2022: While plaster repair is being performed in other areas of the house by my friends at Tiger Ox Painting, I took the time to install a soap dispenser …
Dec 14, 2022: The scraping continues…
Dec 13, 2022: Work continues up the stairs as we scrape away the paint on the wall side trim. It is a bit of work but will be worth it “wow” wise.
Dec 8, 2022: Really hard to capture how brilliant and beautiful the copper is in person but I’m trying.
Dec 8, 2022: Kitchen faucet is installed…
Dec 8, 2022: Kitchen faucet install before and after…
Dec 7, 2022: Some before and afters of the Powder Room…
Dec 7, 2022: With the exception of the radiator (it’s a bit cold here to drain the system to do that right now), I think we can consider the Powder Room done.
Nov 28, 2022: Back to work on The Hague House today. Did some finishing touch-ups on the powder room window (including installing the hardware) and began the …
Nov 12, 2022: Most Restoration Is Boring There’ve not been a ton of updates lately. That’s because so much of what we’ve been doing isn’t flashy. Lots of little …
Nov 7, 2022: More finishing touches in the Powder Room today. Installed a new sink/cabinet unit (ended up not liking the one we initially chose). Also, the window …
Nov 1, 2022: Some progress on the Powder Room today. Before and after…
Oct 26, 2022: Oh, Hi! Did you say you needed a convenient yet decorative place to hang stuff over the sink? Yes? Well, we’ve got that.
Oct 17, 2022: Tile backsplash installed in kitchen today. Still needs grout but already looking beautiful.
Oct 13, 2022: Just a small detail but makes a big difference. The top of the range hood looked unfinished. We made a little crown for it and now it looks complete.
Oct 12, 2022: And here’s the new light light in use.
Oct 12, 2022: Kitchen light before and after…
Oct 11, 2022: Because a friend asked, here’s a sneak peek at the kitchen faucet.
Oct 11, 2022: Kitchen really is down to small details now. Seeing the end of the punch list.
Oct 11, 2022: The copper hardware really pops against the cabinetry and shelving.
Oct 11, 2022: I love it when a plan comes together…
Sep 28, 2022: Powder room door cleaned up , painted, and reinstalled.
Sep 26, 2022: Restoration is spending a hour and a half cleaning up door and window hardware.
Sep 21, 2022: Light fixtures in the Powder Room installed. The one on the ceiling is the one that originally came with the house. Only much more cleaned up.
Sep 19, 2022: Just because things have been quiet does not mean we’ve not been busy. Hard at work on the powder room window and other details all last week.
Sep 8, 2022: The mudroom cabinet/bench unit was also completed recently. Doors built and added. Painted. And hardware put on. May add some hooks to the back below …
Sep 8, 2022: Put a door on the small skinny cabinet to the left of the dishwasher today. Here’s a before and a few afters…
Sep 6, 2022: Plan the work. Work the plan…
Sep 1, 2022: Came up with a solution to fill the space above the refrigerator. We built this shelf to fit the space yet, it is not attached to anything. It simply …
Aug 30, 2022: Installed the range hood.
Aug 22, 2022: I encountered this Hoosier Cabinet at the home of a friend near our family cabin and was struck by how much the cabinet we built has a similar feel. …
Aug 19, 2022: More progress. Custom backsplash on the “Hoosier Canbinet” coming along really nicely…
Aug 17, 2022: More progress…
Aug 16, 2022: More Hague Kitchen work today. Another wainscoting detail added to cover the awkward jut out due to the main stack and vent. This not only adds a nice …
Aug 16, 2022: Some thoughts on the good stuff... While working on the Hague House Project today, these thoughts arose as I opened the above can to paint some trim for the powder room. The good stuff …
Aug 11, 2022: Today, we began installing some details to take this from a standard IKEA kitchen to something that looks a bit more custom and ties together other …
Aug 9, 2022: The progress today may be a little hard to see. It’s in the details. Trim work and side cover panels. Lighting run in a more hidden way. Getting the …
Aug 8, 2022: More progress on the kitchen today. Things are coming together even more now.
Aug 5, 2022: Things in the kitchen are really starting to come together now…
Aug 5, 2022: Amazed at the progress we (and by “we” I mean “mostly Jason”) made on putting together and installing the cabinet drawers yesterday.
Aug 3, 2022: One thing I forgot to mention that has happened in the past 48 hours is the brand new roof that was installed.
Aug 2, 2022: Not a lot of time to do too much today. I did get all the lighting hooked up for the big cabinet though.
Aug 1, 2022: Good progress on first kitchen cabinet unit. Not quite done. Still some details needed but getting this together was a good learning experience for …
Jul 28, 2022: More cabinets installed and hung today. Including what will become a massive Hoosier cabinet style unit.
Jul 26, 2022: Work is still progressing, albeit slowly. Yesterday, we started assembling and placing the kitchen cabinets.
Jul 6, 2022: Not much has gotten done on the house lately. Covid, vacations, and other obligations have slowed the project to a crawl. Jason did get the 1st floor …
Jun 16, 2022: Even though I remain in isolation with this plague, Jason has continued work on the custom bench/cabinet unit. In the past couple of days he’s …
Jun 13, 2022: More movement on mudroom bench and step. While Jason builds the cabinet portion of the bench unit, I cut and attached the seat facing and painted the …
Jun 10, 2022: I know it’s been a while since the last update. Trust me, work has been happening. Just at a slower pace than usual. Currently, we’re working on the …
May 20, 2022: Some days, getting one small thing done is all you can do. Today I measured, cut, and installed this single piece of trim.
May 17, 2022: Painted the trim for the mudroom, completed prep around the floating floor, and began installation starting with the door casing.
May 10, 2022: Mudroom floor installed!
May 7, 2022: Back storm door complete.
May 5, 2022: Rebuilding the outside frame in prep for installing a storm door. First shot is the before. Second is after insulation, third is the after. We’ll …
Apr 29, 2022: Powder room floor is now grouted and sealed.
Apr 22, 2022: We laid tile in the powder room today. Will let the mortar set over the weekend and grout next.
Apr 20, 2022: Today’s task was to lay out the tile to get the angles right and make the needed cuts to fit around the plumbing for the toilet and radiator.
Apr 19, 2022: Got the powder room painted today. Turns out, the color that wasn’t quite right for the kitchen is perfect here. Next up, touch ups and then laying …
Apr 18, 2022: Some progress today on the powder room. Taped and mortared the cement board seams, found a tile that will work, and figured out the paint color for …
Apr 15, 2022: Got the cement board installed in the powder room so it’s ready for tile. But first, we have to paint, and, we can’t choose a paint until we choose …
Apr 14, 2022: Can’t quite decide if this color for the mudroom is more “lemon” or “sunny” but I sure do think it’ll make people happy whenever they are in here. …
Apr 4, 2022: This past weekend, our friends at Rethos organized a class at Hague on repairing and re-roping old windows led by Olivia of Tiger Ox Painting. I …
Apr 4, 2022: With the drywall finally done in the mud room and powder room, we can finally get back to a regular schedule on The Hague House. Spent some time …
Mar 17, 2022: In today’s “waiting for the drywall to get done project, I’m cleaning up some of the remaining original window hardware. Here’s a before (they were …
Feb 15, 2022: Drywall is near complete in the Powder and Mud rooms. Tape and mud are next.
Feb 15, 2022: Our friend and local hero Anders Christensen, in coordination with Rethos, used the Hague house to teach a class on plaster repair. I wasn’t …
Feb 15, 2022: My Dad reminded me that it has been a while since I’ve posted progress on Hague House. It’s not that nothing has been happening. Progress …
Jan 25, 2022: Today, vapor barrier went up in the Mudroom so the drywall can begin.
Jan 24, 2022: Here’s a shot of it going up (but not all of the protective tape/paper is removed yet).
Jan 24, 2022: A sneak peak at what the front stairs look like with the stencil work on the risers complete and the protective off the treads.
Jan 21, 2022: The top two will need some touch up but the stair risers are coming along stunningly.
Jan 20, 2022: If at first you don't succeed... I want to say, up front, that Jason is the real artist of this part of the project. I helped provide some ideas but all the work you are about to see …
Jan 12, 2022: A few clues about our plans for the risers…
Jan 12, 2022: The base paint for the risers on the front stairs is coming along nicely. Here’s some before and afters.
Jan 4, 2022: Todays fun project, besides touch ups on the staining, was some dry brush of metallic paint on the insets to make them pop a bit more.
Jan 3, 2022: Stained the treads today. Some touch up areas but otherwise they are looking great!
Dec 31, 2021: Stain on the stair railings complete. Treads are next.
Dec 30, 2021: The staining of the front staircase has begun…
Dec 30, 2021: A preview of how the rest of the stair treads will look.
Dec 29, 2021: Color test of the stain on the staircase. Trying to match the other trim.
Dec 22, 2021: How to make a multi-piece stair tread stronger? Dowels, that’s how.
Dec 15, 2021: Removed a front stair tread that was severely broken. It was built originally in three pieces and those three pieces were no longer level with each …
Dec 13, 2021: The sad part is that after the hours and hours of work to remove all the layers of paint and sanding every little nook to then put the stain on, the …
Dec 6, 2021: These stairs used to be covered with layers of paint. The tip layer black. And, at some point, there were runner pads glued and stapled down. All …
Dec 1, 2021: First pass of new stain on the door trim. This trim used to be covered by several parts of paint. Now on the way to matching the rest of the …
Nov 19, 2021: I suck at taking before pictures (which I’ve established previously) so I failed to get a before shot of the front door latches but suffice to say …
Nov 19, 2021: Just because things have been quiet here does not mean we haven’t been active on Hague. The work is just slow but steady. Jason’s been removing paint …
Nov 11, 2021: Owners and Stewards Current Thought Pattern: There is a difference between those that own a house and those that live in a home. House owners see investment, profit. Home …
Nov 10, 2021: The Specialist To better get to the paint that needed scraping on the more difficult areas of the inside front door trim, I drove around to many places trying to …
Nov 10, 2021: The front door trim is almost entirely cleaned up.
Nov 8, 2021: Front door cleanup continues today. More scraping of paint by Jason while I cleaned up the hinges. Still more cleaning on those to do but good so far. …
Nov 6, 2021: The trim is now installed on the out side of the transom. And, we’ve begun scraping the paint from the inside door trim. The only painted trim in this …
Nov 4, 2021: And here’s how it looks on the approach.
Nov 4, 2021: Today we began the installation of the transom window. Mainly just added some framing to allow it to fit. Need to install the trim and then paint but …
Nov 2, 2021: Today, on the basement stairs we replaced the treads and riser that were removed in order to tie the new powder room plumbing into the main a few …
Oct 26, 2021: Finished painting the door trim today. Next up is to put the transom window in but not sure we’ll get to that before it gets too cold. Here’s a …
Oct 20, 2021: Today, we scraped and cleaned up the front door trim, removed the board covering the transom to prepare for putting a window back in there, and then …
Oct 19, 2021: Today, removed the purple screen door and started scraping, sanding, and prepping the exterior door trim for paint.
Oct 18, 2021: Productive day today. Painted the “baubles” on the columns and did some other trim coats and touch ups. Plus for the newly painted kitchen radiator …
Oct 11, 2021: Second coat of paint on the columns and looking good. Next up is painting the baubles on the columns the same “Dignity Blue” as the baubles on the …
Oct 7, 2021: First coat of paint on the columns done.
Oct 5, 2021: We primed the columns and facing boards today. A little additional touch will be needed but then it’ll be ready for paint.
Oct 4, 2021: Spent the day prepping the columns for painting. Started by repairing a half missing base that was only being held by two rotting sides. I had slipped …
Sep 30, 2021: All the railings restored and installed at The Hague House. Seriously could not be happier with how it has turned out.
Sep 28, 2021: In case you’re wondering what the the blue we are using as accent on the porch was inspired by… It’s the blue from the fireplace tiles. We plan to …
Sep 28, 2021: The second of the railings is now installed and touch-ups done. Really excited about how this is all turning out.
Sep 27, 2021: The first of the three porch railings, with package delivery box, painted and installed. There’s some touch-ups and trim work still to be done but …
Sep 17, 2021: Painting the “baubles” (which is what I call them not knowing the right name) on the spindles. This is slow tedious work and I’m sloppy at it and it …
Sep 9, 2021: We continue to make progress on The Hague House porch, despite being waylaid by needing to rebuild a section of the fence at The Summit House. We got …
Sep 1, 2021: Jason's Box One of the problems one can run into with a restoration project such as this is that not everything can be saved. Plaster crumbles. Bricks …
Aug 19, 2021: Stained the porch floor today. Here’s some shots with some before and afters…
Aug 18, 2021: More porch work today. We cut custom front trim from leftover flooring board. Curve routed edges and a drip edge cut underneath. Turned out …
Aug 16, 2021: More work done on the porch railing today. The main one is now together. Nothing is bolted down final yet (need to stain the floor first and complete …
Aug 16, 2021: Well, this is useful…
Aug 16, 2021: Amongst all of the crazy busy of the least few weeks that had me distracted away from Hague House project, I got Jon The Floor Guy by to sand the …
Aug 16, 2021: Refinished/Repaired/Resealed the concrete kitchen countertops at Ashland for Bethany’s Birthday. Here’s a before and after side by side.
Aug 4, 2021: More railing cleanup today.
Aug 3, 2021: Today, we started the process of rebuilding the railings. We are using the original to the 1890’s house cap, base, and spindles attached to new posts …
Jul 14, 2021: More progress on the porch floor today. Will likely need one more run to Bauer Bros to see if we can find the rest.
Jul 13, 2021: We had run out of usable flooring from the batch that came out of the kitchen. Therefore, I had to hunt for more of a similar size and age. Found some …
Jul 1, 2021: Began installing the porch floor, which used to be the original kitchen floor. Pretty sure there will not be enough wood to do the whole thing but we …
Jun 29, 2021: More progress on the porch in the past couple of days. The frame and joists are now complete. Start installing the floor tomorrow. Here’s some shots …
Jun 24, 2021: Another thing I should mention regarding the porch rebuild: With the exception of the new green treated lumber for the main outside frame, everything …
Jun 24, 2021: More porch progress from yesterday and today. Yesterday, more work done on the main frame and setting up the big joists. Today’s work on the frame …
Jun 21, 2021: It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update. Things have been moving but it’s been small stuff not much worth reporting on. Re-wiring electric in …
Jun 8, 2021: That thing where you find beautiful spindles they have been covered up by painted over but perfectly decent cedar for no discernible reason on the …
Jun 4, 2021: “Trash Day” today. Of course I picked the hottest day so far this year (temps in the 90s) to schedule this. Taking frequent breaks and drinking plenty …
Jun 1, 2021: Please trust me when I say I really am hammering in a new subfloor and not about to attempt a test of the new toilet drain. 
May 29, 2021: The mudroom got a new roof today. The first of many roof, flashing, siding projects that need to get done.
May 28, 2021: Shots of the new plumbing in the Powder Room and Mudroom…
May 27, 2021: Rebuilding The Powder Room - Part 1 With the Mudroom at a place where we are waiting for other work to happen before our work can continue (namely, some roof and siding repairs), the …
May 20, 2021: Scenes from wiring…
May 19, 2021: Electric In The Mudroom It’s been a bit quiet around here the past few days but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy. We’ve been wiring/rewireing …
May 13, 2021: New mudroom back door has an internal blind system. The kind of security you want for a back door (especially when there’s no alley or houses behind …
May 13, 2021: Mudroom exterior wall now framed out and new door installed.
May 10, 2021: Put in new header beam in the mudroom today. Two sistered 2x6 boards. It’s nice, straight, and level. Will be supporting it with new 2x4 studs …
May 6, 2021: Flooring in the kitchen is installed. Just need to do the transitions.
May 3, 2021: Kitchen floor going in. Gonna look good with the cabinetry too!
Apr 30, 2021: Kitchen flooring started today with some prep work. Sanding the seems to make sure everything is even. I worked on capping and covering some radiator …
Apr 29, 2021: Had to pull out the big old guns (table saw pictured, sliding miter saw not pictured) for today’s step building. Most of this was Jason’s handiwork. I …
Apr 27, 2021: Making good mudroom progress. Floor is now insulated and installed. We cut, chiseled, and installed a step from the kitchen to the mudroom to account …
Apr 23, 2021: Mudroom floor joists complete.
Apr 21, 2021: Hanging the joists for the mudroom floor continues…
Apr 20, 2021: It doesn’t look like much but a lot of important work on the mudroom floor got done today.
Apr 19, 2021: Raising the roof.
Apr 14, 2021: Rebuilding The Mudroom Today’s work focused on begining the repair/rebuld of the mudroom. As you may recall, this started with trying to figure out why the roof line …
Apr 14, 2021: Meet Jason You may have noticed I use “we” a lot when talking about the various projects here, especially The Hague House. The truth is, I’m …
Apr 13, 2021: Pro tip: Not all boards in the stack at the lumber yard are created equal. Check each one to make sure it’s straight and without cracks or serious …
Apr 12, 2021: Here’s the mudroom demo complete. Now the work of fixing the roof and support problems and making the floor level and sturdy begins.
Apr 12, 2021: Demo of the mudroom continued today. We pulled up the floor in order to make it level and also figure out why the roof was sagging and it was squishy …
Mar 30, 2021: Update 03.30.2021 Things are moving along. Like any large project, everything has dependencies… The Kitchen has been painted and is now ready for the flooring to …
Mar 26, 2021: Kitchen entry frame before and after.
Mar 25, 2021: Matching new trim to old. Here the trick — ignore the directions. Forget everything you know about how to stain/varnish properly. In fact, do the …
Mar 17, 2021: I’m pretty proud of how adept I’ve become at using a piece of scrap lathe to cover door henge and catch points. Once sanded and painted you can’t even …
Mar 15, 2021: Making choices.
Mar 10, 2021: All full. Bye bye helpful little dumpster. See you next time.
Mar 10, 2021: I picked a bad day to load up a dumpster. #Thunderstorms
Mar 8, 2021: Beacuse, whats the point of wearing workwear unless you are doing real work?
Mar 3, 2021: Powder Room now gutted. Now to figure out the tangle town that is the current plumbing and replace it with a system that makes sense. Then, once that …
Mar 3, 2021: Well, this subfloor on top of tile on top of subfloor on top of ??? Is a hot friggin mess.
Mar 2, 2021: Today I learned how to cut a pipe and sweat and sided on a shutoff valve from my friend Jason.
Feb 24, 2021: Making progress…
Feb 24, 2021: Starting a new sub-project at Hague House: Beginning demo of the powder room (small half bath off of the kitchen). It’s hard to capture space in …
Feb 23, 2021: Today’s fun project: Matching radiator service pipes in the kitchen to the copper fireplace in the parlor.
Feb 23, 2021: Getting hammered.
Feb 22, 2021: First coat of primer on the walls. Also notice paint is now completely stripped from the radiator feed pipes.
Feb 22, 2021: Cleaning off the paint on the radiator feed pipes in the kitchen. We will actually be repainting these with an antique bronze paint. Here’s a …
Feb 16, 2021: Painting trim and listening to Mardi Gras music. Happy Fat Tuesday y’all. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Feb 12, 2021: Yes. Weeks later and we are finally done cleaning up the trim and have begun to prime it. No longer looks like melted wax. The detail really stands …
Jan 27, 2021: To Bauer Brothers today in search of trim to replace a mismatched piece in the kitchen. Did not find it but I’d forgotten what a fun place to dig and …
Jan 25, 2021: I’ve not posted much in the past week or so because the work we’re focusing on right now is slow and tedious: Removing the eight or so layers of paint …
Jan 9, 2021: Property, Price, and Purpose We suffered a big loss this past fall. Our longtime friend and realtor Kevin O’Brien passed away suddenly. A heart attack. He lived alone. It …
Jan 5, 2021: My friend and drywall virtuoso John getting the mudding done. I love watching him do this work because it looks like a dance.
Dec 31, 2020: Drywall progress…
Dec 23, 2020: More shots of the drywall in progress…
Dec 22, 2020: The drywall installation in the kitchen started today. Should be taped, mudded, and ready for prime and paint by next week.
Dec 19, 2020: Scraping paint off of the trim. From left to right: After, before, and during.
Dec 18, 2020: The work this week wasn’t sexy but it was satisfying. Installed all the electrical in the kitchen. Tutored by an experienced friend. I learned a lot. …
Dec 2, 2020: Subfloor done. Flat and level. Ready for the flooring.
Dec 1, 2020: The laying of the subfloor has begun.
Dec 1, 2020: Sometimes, off the shelf is not an option for what you need to do. Sometimes, you have to make it yourself. In this case, custom shims to shore up a …
Nov 21, 2020: Pandemic Projects - Saving Money on Water with the Flume My wife writes about installing a Flume water monitor. We plan on installing another one at …
Nov 20, 2020: Today I’m thankful for fresh plumbing that makes a lot more sense.
Nov 19, 2020: Boots and tools ready for a day of action.
Oct 26, 2020: Today we pulled up the kitchen floor. Here it is in progress.
Oct 25, 2020: Figuring out if some of the flooring we have in our stash will work for the kitchen at Hague. (The answer is “Yes”).
Oct 16, 2020: Mapping out where the new switch’s and outlets are going to go in the kitchen by marking out where the counters and appliances will be. This is the …
Oct 15, 2020: Kitchen wall demo today. Here’s a before and after of one portion.
Oct 12, 2020: Kitchen floor is raised and as close to level as I’m going to get it for now. Leaving the temporary posts in place just incase I need to tweak things …
Oct 8, 2020: Today’s effort: Sistering the support beam and installing in prep for raising the kitchen floor. Also, poured the second concrete footing.
Oct 7, 2020: Today, dug hole 1 (of 2), mixed concrete, and poured a footing for a new post to go below the kitchen floor which needs to get raised about 3-4 inches …
Oct 6, 2020: Four different places to get only half of what I need to raise the kitchen floor. Enough to get started at least.
Oct 6, 2020: Finally got through all 6 layers of flooring to get to the original floor. Still needs a lot of cleanup before we can really see if they are able to …
Sep 30, 2020: The Radiators.
Sep 30, 2020: Draining the radiator system today so we can remove a couple of them in the kitchen off The Hague House. Haven’t ever done this before so I’m learning …
Sep 30, 2020: Getting to the bottom of the kitchen floor at Hague. I think we’ve figured out what’s what for the most part. No where near level. Years of shimming …
Sep 9, 2020: Today’s lesson: A tiny problem, unseen and undetected until too late, can cause major damage. Example: A pinhole leak in the water supply (now …
Sep 6, 2020: Often times, it’s not the big projects that provide the most consistent regular satisfaction. It’s the small ones. The big ones fade into being …
Aug 13, 2020: Always. Be. Knowling
Aug 10, 2020: Always Be Knowling
Aug 9, 2020: More detail of the framed wallpaper. Oh, did I mention I’m painting the imperfections gold (Kintsugi style)? I am.
Aug 9, 2020: Framing around the original wallpaper in the 2nd floor hallway at Ashland.
Aug 3, 2020: The hardest part of installing base trim in this particular house? There are curves.
Aug 2, 2020: Still Life: Nail gun and shoe molding.
Aug 1, 2020: For those who’ve been following along with our flooring project in the Ashland House, my wifedid a good post with some before and afters.
Aug 1, 2020: Base shoe ready for painting.
Aug 1, 2020: Floors installed and finished. Next up: Paint and install shoe molding. Then, sand and paint the trim.
Jul 31, 2020: Wet final coat is wet.
Jul 29, 2020: Ashland reclaimed flooring: First coat.
Jul 27, 2020: Sanding the reclaimed flooring at Ashland.
Jul 21, 2020: Floor installed. Next up: Sanding and finishing in natural. Expecting lots of character to shine through.
Jul 17, 2020: Reclaimed flooring installation is moving along at the Ashland house. The plan is, once it’s installed, to sand and finish it in a natural tone so …
Jun 24, 2020: New (reclaimed) flooring to go into the second floor at the Ashland house. This is only half of it. I’ve got another load about this size to pick up.
May 16, 2020: Also, finding things like this underneath which gives us some idea as to when the subfloor was put on top.
May 16, 2020: Today’s whoa to wow: Removing tile and subfloor from 2nd floor hallway at our main house (Ashland).
Apr 28, 2020: I use this for just about every project I do. I call it my secret weapon.
Apr 12, 2020: Today: Painting the stairwell and hallway.
Apr 11, 2020: Today’s stay at home activity: Ceiling paint in the stairwell and hallway.
Mar 28, 2020: Pantry cleaned out and reorganized at Ashland House.
Mar 23, 2020: Final design of The Hague House kitchen.
Mar 21, 2020: Paint testing in the hallway at Ashland.
Mar 15, 2020: Today’s social distancing activity: Removed the last bit of wallpaper from the stairwell/hallway at Ashland! Now ready for repair, primer, and skim …
Mar 10, 2020: Demo in the kitchen at Hague House continues. Cabinets and Countertops removed today clearing the way to complete floor clearing and investigation.
Jan 29, 2020: We are not flippers... As we’ve been telling people about our plans for The Hague House, a common response has been, “Oh, so you’re going to flip …
Jan 29, 2020: Found the hard wood. Turns out, there is a layer of tile on top of that. So, for those keeping score, we have tile, 3/4” subfloor, tile, 1/4” …
Jan 29, 2020: After some cleanup, this will be the new dining room light.
Jan 29, 2020: Free courses on anger management. DM me for details. :-). #HagueHouse
Jan 19, 2020: It is entirely possible we bought The Hague House just for the fireplace.
Jan 17, 2020: Well, how did we get here? You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife You may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?” — Once In A Lifetime, …
Jan 15, 2020: Right now, the #HagueHouse is what I like to call the planning and investigation stage. Trying to match up ideas we have with the reality of what’s …
Jan 15, 2020: What did you do over the Christmas holidays? We bought a house. We’re calling this one “The Hague House” — an 1890s Victorian with …