Things are moving along nicely, albeit slowly, in the parlor. This week we began painting the first of the four ceiling section. The ceilings are being done in a "sky motif ' very popular during the Victorian era and an excellent compliment to the 1870's Neo Grec stencilling we discovered on the walls.
The Sky colors were chosen to compliment the wall colors, hence the golden tones in the sky to compliment the wall color. The muraled ceiling will draw the eye upward visually and make the ceiling appear taller. Once all 4 panels are completed they will be "glazed" with some overlay washes which will give them and aged European Renaissance patina.
The stencilled panel work continues with more work on the medallion and the connector panels and the frieze sections of the wall.
As I have said before if pays to shop early at the local building supply store. We have been looking for a nice hanging lantern style fixture for the front porch. We snagged this one on the clearance table over the weekend when depot opened at 8 am on Sunday. Originally retailed for 74.95 we got if for 18.95! It should provide plenty of light for our front porch.
Another 'small project' was the installation of a rain collection barrel. What I like about these is their portability. They hold 74 gallons have an overflow and a lower spigot that accepts a garden house and it has the quick connect as well. They are made up of a heavy pool liner material and have support rods. Eventually we are planning a 1500 gallon (expandable) 3 tank collection system that will go behind the new carriage house that will be tied into the underground sprinkler system for the gardens. In the interim however. these are great. I have a shipment of a dozen on order (we retail these for 55.00), 3 already sold, if you want one, email me Victiques@hotmail.com. First come first serve.
Work continues in the kitchen and we have removed the old damaged floor to reveal various repairs over the years. We consider ourselves lucky that there was no termite damage ( a common problem in old houses on crawl space areas). We did find that the back half of the room actually had a poured concrete floor under the floor joist (most likely as part of a bath addition at some point). Looking at the "hodge podge" of repairs it looks like the best plan is to entirely remove the sub flooring down to the joists, replace floor joists with new treated wood and finish a pour of concrete over the earthen parts of the 'crawl space" under the joists not covered with concrete pads. This will allow us to also properly insulate the floor space and make sure the area is sealed and water proofed with a EPDM barrier. I was pleased to note the foundation is a full 24 inches wide and extends down a good 4 feet. Over-engineered in typical Victorian fashion. These repairs to the joists were not unexpected and now is the time to do it. Will keep everyone posted on this project in future updates.
Knox Hill Project :Weekly Update
Reviewed by citra
Published :
Rating : 4.5
Published :
Rating : 4.5
