Finished Drywall, New Tile, and a New Wood Stove

Our drywall had been hung and left unfinished on the wall for several months because having to move all the furniture, plastic off the area and spackle, tape and sand is dreadful work.  Consequently, we ended up paying someome to come in and finish off the drywall for us.  We are very glad we did too because we have done drywall work before and we created a lot more dust and came away with a much less quality finished look than what we got this time around.

Hanging Plastic.  Sealing gaps around
the duct and sprinkler pipes made things a little
more difficult.  

More Plastic

Taped, Spackled, Sanded and Primed. 

 

Guest Bedroom Side of the Wall

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With the drywall finished and the sliding doors hung we had a finishing touch to make on the bathroom side of the wall.  Since the entire bathroom is tiled we had no choice but to install new tile in the unfinished extent of the wall above the new door.  We used 4x4 while tile to match the existing wall tile but also included some fancier more interesting looking tile we found at a local architectural salvage shop.

The Before 

...And After

Tile Close up (Before Install)

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Even though we really loved the look of our retro style wood stove it just wasn't putting off enough heat to make it worth keeping.   After some more browsing on Craigslist we found a much more substantial and heavy unit which has made a huge difference.  It has a flat top which we have taken advantage of to steam some water and add some moisture to the air.  

Much better!

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Our next big project is to install salvaged tin ceiling tiles on the 2nd floor.  We got the idea from a cafe close by and love the look.  We are currently collecting tiles from various places.... stay tuned!

Teaser shot.... from One Shot Cafe in Northern Liberties

Barn Doors

We both wanted to do something fun and different for the doorways into the bathroom and spare bedroom on the 2nd floor and liked the idea of using barn style sliding doors.  Barn doors are very trendy nowadays and the hardware can cost hundreds of dollars, but after some research online we found a number of tutorials for how to make your own hardware from steel bars, angles and sliding door wheels so we decided to take the DIY route.

First we made the hardware.  Cutting, drilling, and bending the different steel pieces was difficult at times but for the most part everything came together pretty well.    

Fabricating the Hardware

Finished Hardware.  These attach
directly to the door

The doors themselves were much easier to put together.  We made each door out of a combination of 4" wide and 8" wide lengths of pine boards.  The individual boards are screwed together and the screws are covered with wood dowels  Each door is 8'-4" high.

Ready for Stain

Both Doors Installed

View from the Kitchen

Hardware Closeup

Hardware Closeup

Door Close Up

Another Ladder and Light Fixtures

With the wood stove finished up it we could now enclose the chase and chimney on the third floor.  Since we knew after the chase was enclosed the stair way would feel darker and less open we also decided to incorporate a decorative beam and some additional lighting at the stair.

More Framing

Jen Preparing to Slide in a
Decorative Wood Beam

The beam dowels into the wall on the left with a piece
of rebar and is attached to the studs on the right.

The Beam and Light Fixtures in Place

Wood Ladder/Jewelry Rack
(Another Thanks to Harold & Vienna Harr)

Close up of Beam and the Steampunk Light Fixtures.  We Found These Beauties on Ebay

Completed Drywall.  The Hole Above the
Ductwork is for an Access Panel

Success!

Wood Stove

With winter and colder temperatures coming our way we were anxious to get our new wood stove fired up.  However, since we did not have a chimney suitable for burning wood we had a lot of work to do to hook it up.

The first step was to install the floor box which makes the transition from the stove pipe to what will become the new chimney.

Cutting the Hole in the Floor

Floor Box in Place

With the floor box in place the next step was to erect the chimney. This part of the project was very daunting because we had to penetrate the roof but we were very lucky to have a friend (thank you, Brian!!) volunteer to help us out with an extra set of hands.

The chimney pieces start from the floor box
and stack on top of each other very easily.  

The hole cut into the roof....
No turning back now!

Finishing Touches

Oh hello there.

With the chimney complete the final step was to connect the wood stove to the chimney with stove pipe.  This was by far the most frustrating part of this project because the parts were ordered the same time as the chimney but it took an extra two months to finally get the pipe.  When it finally did arrive we assumed installing the pipe would be quick and easy but it took us all of a minute to find out we were very wrong.  The parts were very difficult to connect together and it took a long time get the angled section of pipe lined up to where we wanted to stove to be.  It finally did all come together and it looks really great in the space.

The Stove Pipe Installed

The Ceremonial First Lighting
(We Made Sure The Fire Extinguisher Was Close By)

Burn Baby Burn!

Wall Tile

One of the few wall surfaces that isn't tiled on our second floor is the low partition next to the steps.  It really didn't look too good as it was and since we are installing our new wood stove in front of it we decided we might as well tile it too.

Before Photo

For the tile we decided to use a combination of 3x6 slate tile and reclaimed slate roof shingles we got from a friend of ours.  (Thanks Samir!)  After laying out the tile the we wanted it on the floor we found that the roof shingles were all slightly different which made the joints between them look a little odd.  To remedy this problem we decided to use some of the same penny tile that is installed on the floor as an accent band between the roof shingles to hide the variation.

Jen installing the penny tile

Post-Grout, Pre-Cleaning.  We went through a lot of grout because of the texture and uneven tile depth.

Finished!  

The wood stove back in place.  Now we have to get this guy hooked up before winter comes!

Kitchen Shelves

The recessed shelving in the kitchen has been an eye sore ever since we moved in. For the most part we liked what had been finished before we started so instead of ripping it all out and starting over we went about improving on what was already installed.

The shelves that were in place were thin unfinished wooden slats that do not look very good and were not very practical.

Before Shot... Bleh

So away went the slats.  To replace them we decided to put in 1/2" plywood with a birch veneer.  We left the wooden dowels and wood tack strips in place and painted them to give them a more finished look.

New Shelves in,
touching up with paint

Business Casual Attire -
Perfect for standing on a counter and
removing wood tack strips

After we finished painting we installed new wood trim around the perimeter of the shelves.  For the trim we ripped down lengths of reclaimed oak T&G flooring (another thank you to Vienna and Harold Harr!) and applied a polyurethane finish.  With the trim in place we began filling in the areas missing tile with new matching tiles left to us from the previous owners.

Planning ahead

Grout!

Finished!

Ladder Pot Rack

We were lucky enough to get hold of an antique wood ladder (Special thanks to Harold and Vienna Harr for letting us dig through their old barn and take this beautiful piece) and decided the best application for it would be as a hanging pot rack in our kitchen.  

After cleaning and sanding down the ladder a bit we applied a single coat of an off-white Milk Paint to help maintain its aged look.  After the paint dried we then used a fine grit sand paper to expose some of the grain and reinforce the look of wear and tear.

Before....

Milk Paint

First Coat Finished!

To hang the ladder we used a pair of antique pulleys once used on the farm Jen's family owned. (we'll try to find out more details)  We also found a surplus of old meat hooks, also used on the farm, which work perfectly as the actual pot hangers.

We used Steel Wool to knock off old rust and
grime from the  Pulleys and Meat Hooks

Installing Eye Hooks in the Beam

Preparing to Erect

Done and Done!