Madison Square
Two married architects living in an 1870's brick rowhouse on a garden block in Center City Philadelphia. We work, we work on our house, we take pictures with our iphones and try to write a little something that makes sense. What you see is what we did… it’s just how we roll.
Back Porch Replacement – Day 3 … Making Progress
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- Published on Sunday, 24 June 2012
Authors: madisonsquare
We got an early start today and it finally happened … We poured concrete!
The site was pretty much all prepped from the day before:
It took a little while to get the hang of the power mixer to achieve the right consistency but it was very helpful and we eventually got on a roll! Unfortunately it only mixed 2-3 bags at a...
Poly-Oly
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- Published on Sunday, 24 June 2012
Authors: madisonsquare
The living room trim is officially stain/poly-Ed! I also started the clear coat but didn’t get too far yet. We’re loving the finished look of the room and are so excited to paint. We did the poly first because we didn’t want any wayward paint to get into the unfinished grain of the wood trim. East wall...
Back Porch Replacement – Day 2
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- Published on Saturday, 23 June 2012
Authors: madisonsquare
Today’s task was to prepare for and pour the concrete.
So here’s the story on the new column. A lot of load from the 2nd & 3rd floor comes down on the steel beam that spans our back porch area. Then half that load rest on a small masonry pier between our back door kitchen window. Well let’s just say when...
Ahhh PolyStain
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- Published on Friday, 22 June 2012
Authors: madisonsquare
The past few days I’ve been tackling the living room trim, and there is finally some visual progress! Lots of nail hole filling, sanding, etc not to mention the cutting and installing of all the trim. The day finally arrive to stain/ poly our beautiful white oak. We’re using a combined stain/ poly called Golden...
Back Porch Replacement – Day 1
- Details
- Published on Friday, 22 June 2012
Authors: madisonsquare
So our secret “quick” project is to redo our back porch. There will be a new fence, a wider sliding gate for easier in and out, a new slab for better drainage, new stairs, a new column (more on that part later), and a planter box. We wanted to do this project before installing the stain glass window next weekend...
Recreating
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- Published on Friday, 22 June 2012
Authors: madisonsquare
Believe it or not our fireplace mantle use to be even more ornate. You can see on the sides a faint outline of pilasters that were ripped off for whatever reason!?
So that history has left us with some unfinished looking trim like this base. We are not going to create the pilasters but want the mantle to still look complete....
Last Living Room Door
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- Published on Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Authors: madisonsquare
The closet door is up! First we routed the hinges:
Then hung the door and drilled for the new hardware:
Meanwhile, I’m cleaning the glass handles we’re using. They were from my great grandmothers house and are so fabulous because they glimmer like diamonds and are as heavy as a billiard ball.
Chisel chisel crazy eyes
A...
Bust A Move
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- Published on Sunday, 17 June 2012
Authors: madisonsquare
Today we busted out some more tasks, heading towards the goal of poly-ing the oak trim in the living room. Let’s see, what did we do today…?
We installed the hardware for the sliding pocket door to the powder room:
Lockable bathroom = a move in the right direction. Also, a fancy pull!
We also sanded the existing...
Lazy Saturday
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- Published on Sunday, 17 June 2012
Authors: madisonsquare
You never get as much done as you hope on Saturdays, but we checked off a few items.
The baseboard on the opposite side of the bathroom got cut.
All the casing around the bathroom pocket door was cut to length. We just need to put the door in the pocket before attaching.
Kelly finish poly’ing the doors and puttied more of...
Too Much To Say… Friday
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- Published on Saturday, 16 June 2012
Authors: madisonsquare
Somehow between work, trips to the farmers market, grocery store and post office, we got a lot done today. We even jumped in the garden to weed and refill the bird feeder on a pulley:
I put the 2nd coat of poly on the doors in the alley:
Rob was inside and got a lot done on the half bath trim. Before:
Never too late to make...
