Several of my most enjoyable renovation projects were houses that were totally violated: everything worth anything ripped clean out of them. In fact, I live in one of those houses now so I’ll talk about this one. We bought this house after watching it sit vacant for 7 years--of course, that’s not … [Read more...]
Old House Interior Door Styles
June 3, 2010 By ·
Interior doors can provide a good bit of insight to the history and style of a home. Here in the Deep South, specifically Atlanta, we typically have six-panel heart of pine doors in our Craftsman bungalows and American Foursquares: homes built during the late teens and into the early 1930s. Six … [Read more...]
Not Just for Salads: Vinegar Does Wonders for Wood Floors
May 21, 2010 By ·
If you mix pets, children, entertaining and simple day-to-day life with your beautiful wood floors, you know that what you get is floors that are less than pristine. I am speaking from experience as my 100 year old pine floors bear the brunt of the feet of many sub-contractors, my daughter’s garden … [Read more...]
How Little Bug Bodies Give Trim that Warm Historic Look
May 18, 2010 By ·
My favorite old house finish is made from the scraped bits of bug secretions. And when first harvested, the finish is a tempting amalgam of scraped bark, bug appendages, and sticky-lac resin. The female lac bug is the one responsible for this resin and she lives in the trees of India and … [Read more...]
Edible Underwear to Platinum Rings
May 16, 2010 By ·
I've seen it all: crack baggies hidden behind historic Craftsman trim, edible underwear in the attic (No lie and it was still in its original packaging!), houses crawling with German roaches, toilets that dump their nasty contents into the dirt crawlspace, and foyers with giant gaping holes in the … [Read more...]
