The Petch House

Antiquity

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The baseboards are in! All that is left for the millwork is shoe molding, which will go in after the floors are done, and picture rail, which will go in after the painting is done.

The baseboards were not all that fun. I had to replace long runs on two walls and then five short areas around the big opening and pocket doors. The long runs...

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The 99%

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No, it's not that 99%, of which, I am firmly a part of. I'm talking about those aspects of the parlor project which I am 99% finished with.

If you've ever done a project like this, you'll know what I mean when I say it is like a big puzzle. It is rare when you can completely finish something before you move on to the next thing. Sometimes...

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The jig is up

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I started in on the pocket doors today. Each door needs to come down and have four things done to it before it is rehung. These are not the original pocket doors. Except for the track and a partial piece of hardware to hang a door, the original doors where long gone by the time I got here.

These are period salvage doors I purchased...

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Fireplace B&A

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Bling!

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The last of the hardware is in the house! The best part about that is that it means I don't need to spend any more money on that sort of thing.

On Wednesday I will pick up the baseboard from the mill, and with that, everything will be in place except for paint and lumber for picture rail. Of course, I still need to buy window treatments,...

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Ready, set, tile!

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Believe it or not that represents more than four hours of work. I had to do a lot of cutting and went about it maliciously.

The reason I was so meticulous was because I was afraid of making a mistake and running out of tile. Above is all that is left over. That is it!

During the week this week I spent most every night sanding, puttying,...

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Book Signing Documentary

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At one time I had a fantasy about turning the Petch House blog in to a book. I dreamt of it becoming a best seller. I would be interviewed by Charlie Rose and Terry Gross. Then of course, I would sell the movie rights to some big Hollywood so-and-so. In the movie, I would be played by George Clooney, or course.

The point of this dream was...

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Bump And Grind

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I think the worst is behind me on the fireplace. I got the new surround installed today and boy was it a lot of work. Both the new one and the original are installed in the same way. On the back of the surround there are four eyelets. Attached to them are four rods which are embedded in the mortar. In order to get the old one out I must...

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The Good Mantle of the South

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I've decided to name the parlor mantle, Glinda, The Good Mantle of the South. This is in comparison to her evil twin, the dark mantle in the dining room{shudder}.

Just look at how she glistens and shines! And all I had to do to get her to look like this was to click my heals together three times and say, There's no shellac I can't...

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Sanding Tile

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No, wait, that can't be right. 'Sanding tile' doesn't make any sense. What that should be is, 'I got sick of sanding, so I started playing with tile'.

The plan was to sand all of the windows and get them ready for primer. If I can get the replacement head blocks installed I can measure for, make and install picture rail. That was the...

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