Play Me a Song

Big E and I are often called upon by friends of ours to help 

with salvaging items from our town's history.  

There was the time we helped move a large built in cabinet, stairs, doors 

and a truck bed load of wainscoting from the old fire house and public school (that post here).  

And the time we helped remove transom windows, light fixtures, 

doors and even cut out an entire entryway 

in the old parochial school at the Catholic Church.

Most recently, we were asked to help move an old, large grandfather clock.

Piece of cake.

No, really, it was, in the world of salvaging Littlestown history,

pretty easy.

(Sorry, I took no photos of the clock. It's gorgeous though, trust me)

While helping to package clock parts for the move, one of our friends asked,

"Hey, you guys wouldn't want an old player piano would you? 

It's just going to get chopped up and thrown away."

Big E's head lifted.

I said no.

Big E went with the home owner and looked at the piano.

I looked at the piano.

I said no.

Our friend reminded us it was going to get chopped up.

Big E said how he didn't want it to get chopped up.

I'm pretty sure you see where exactly this is going.

I gave in, especially after researching the piano and learning it was something that

very well could have been in our own house back in the day.

(meaning a player piano, not this specific one).

This is the photo from the Weaver Piano and Organ Company catalog  in York, PA

that shows the exact same type of player piano we would be owning.

Provided we could figure out how to move it.

There is a reason why you can find many free pianos around.

They weigh 800 pounds or more and aren't easy to move.

 I actually lucked out and missed the whole piano moving process

because Big E wanted to surprise me with a piano in the house when 

I got home from my weekend away.

This was most likely good for everyone since my anxiety is often problematic.

 Our friends managed to assemble 

a big group of people to help with the moving.

Thankfully, they had a truck with a lift gate,

which made the process a little easier.

Currently, the piano is residing in the laundry room.

Eventually, it will live in the dining room,

but it'll take some dining room demo and remodeling 

before the piano will fit in the room.

Not a drastic remodel really, just reconfiguring a plumbing closet

that was not original to the house so the hutch can move to that wall,

and the piano will have a place of honor.

An added bonus was finding the business card of the gentleman who used to tune the piano.

Big E called, and the man was alive and remembered the family who owned the piano.

He was able to check his piano book, and it was determined that the piano was

built in 1923-24.

The piano, of course, needs some work. 

It is horribly out of tune and while all the player mechanisms work,

the bellows aren't pumping to produce the air needed to play the roll of music.

We have leads on 2 people in the area who work on player pianos,

and we hope to get one out to look at it soon.

It's also obvious that the piano was painted.

(why do people DO that??!)

Luckily, I should be able to strip the paint off to uncover the original wood veneer.

There was also some damage to the wood veneer in the move,

but I know of people in the area that also repair that sort of thing.

Along with the piano we also received 2 boxes full of music rolls, 

so once we get it working we'll be able to play it.

I'd love to have it in place for Christmas.

Granted, I only saw 1 Christmas song in the boxes,

so everyone would listen to Silent Night over and over again.

I hear there are some other potential salvaging missions in the works-

can't wait.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

I saw a sign on Pinterest
that I wanted to have for the dining room wall.
But I didn't want to pay for it.
So since I have some pallet wood, stain
and the knowledge to do the lettering,
I opted to make it myself.
I had Big E cut the wood for me
(I'm still trying to convince him to just let me use the miter saw myself).
Then I stained the wood and connected the 3 pieces.

Lettering is actually easier than you think.

Some people use fancy machines to cut vinyl letters

which makes things super easy

(I'd kill for one of those machines).

But since I don't have a fancy machine,

I find a free font I like and print the words using my computer.

Once you have the font size you need,

you rub a pencil along the back side of the letters.

Then position the words and trace with a ballpoint pen.

The pencil graphite will transfer from the back of the paper 

to the wood and leave an outline.

Then you just paint with acrylic paint.

So I was able to make a sign that sells on Etsy for $25 plus S&H

for zero dollars.

I'm pretty pleased with the finished product.

And now I'm eyeing some more sign ideas.

If only I could get Big E to trust me with the saw....

Salvaging History

Anyone who knows me, 

or who has spent any time at all reading this blog

knows that I like old things and history.

Abandoned, dilapidated buildings make me sad.

I see old dreary farmhouses, and I can see their potential.

I want to know their story

and share it.

In my town, there is a building slated for demolition

(actually for today, but not sure because of bad weather).

Part of the building is the firehouse built in 1886

(Shown here as it was originally built. 

There have been 3 additions since)

The other portion of the building was the public school built in 1901.

It was later turned into the Community Center in 1963.

Unfortunately, the buildings fell to ruin,

and the cost of repairing them was apparently

more expensive than destroying and building new ones.

So when friends of Big E and I needed help saving artifacts,

I was eager to help.

Our friends had a dilemma.

There was a large cabinet that they wanted to save, 

but it was too large to go down the stairs.

The cabinet was built in place,

so the only option was to saw it in half.

Long story short, it got cut in half, moved downstairs, 

loaded into a truck and taken to my garage to live for a bit.

(It's their story to share which is why I went for the quick overview on this part)

While all the sawing was going on, 

I commented on how sad it was that the wainscot 

was just going to be part of a pile of rubble.

Big E mentioned how nice it would look in the dining room,

but unfortunately, we had no hammer.

Until our friends mentioned they had a hammer-

and a crowbar.

So began my job of carrying wainscoting down to the first floor

to load in the truck.

The wainscot was the old type-

the thick tongue and groove wainscot

not the thin MDF type you find today.

So I carried entire sections of wainscot,

and I carried armloads of bundles.

Some from upstairs, 

some from the 1901 elementary rooms downstairs.

I was a little worried I wouldn't have enough for the dining room.

What I ended up with was a truck bed full of wainscoting.

As you can see, the entire bed is filled to just past the top of the bed.

But that's not all.

I also saw a door with textured glass that I thought would work well

as a door between the kitchen and laundry room.

While not original to the building,

the door was still on the old side and solidly built.

It would let the light in from the laundry room

(which is full of windows)

without allowing guests to see into the room

(the dog that eats everything stays there during the day,

 plus the laundry and it's also the "mudroom"- literally,

 so I don't really want people to see it).

Big E was saying no to the door though.

But while Big E was busy loading the wainscoting,

one of the people helping with the cabinet said

if I just wanted to get new hinges for it,

he could tap out the pins for me.

So, knowing if I got the door off and carried it out,

Big E would have no choice but to take it home-

I hoped-

I had them take the pins out.

Big E was a little not thrilled about the door

making the comment that it might not even fit.

But like our friend said, we can cut it down.

I love friends who think the way I do-

that old is good, that historical items need to be saved 

and that I really needed to have that door.

The door ended up riding home with a section of the cabinet,

because our truck was full

(and if it had slid and busted out the window of Big E's cap

 I'd be in big doo-doo).

The next day while I was in the garage admiring my new door, 

Big E started talking about how he was planning on redoing that door frame

when he works on the laundry room anyway

so the door won't have a problem fitting.

(this is where I smirk to myself)

So, thanks to this salvaging crew,

some local history will be preserved and used.

The cabinet and a few odds and ends are being saved 

for inclusion in a museum in the future,

and the wainscoting and the door will be used in our 100+ year old home in town.

(so look for all the blogs about that process in the future)

I'm going to try not to be too upset over the original hardwood floors,

or the gorgeous old wavy glass windows 

or the rest of the wainscoting and woodwork

that we couldn't save.

One last look out of the school windows before demolition

Updates and a Secret Experimental Project

Lots has been going on the past 2 weeks.

My grandson turned 3 and we're hosting a birthday party

this coming weekend.

That means the "honey-do" list gets kicked into high gear.

Big E and I managed to take a large brush pile

to the local mulching plant.

That frees up a parking space

not to mention the yard looks a lot nicer now.

Big E has also hooked up the light in the dining room, 

so now we can see in there past 5:00pm.

I'm finishing up the Christmas decorating,

and I've started another project I'm hoping will be finished Thursday night.

During work on my secret project, 

I discovered that the upstairs bathroom was once painted a lovely pepto bismal pink.

That's only slightly uglier than the shiny speckled wall paneling.

Stay tuned for the updates on my secret.

It's {Re}Finished

These are the before photos of the old drop leaf farmhouse table

I purchased on Craigslist for $30.

This is the exact condition it was in when I purchased it.

Not much to look at.

Because I wasn't sure of the exact age of the table 

other than it was really old, 

I couldn't sand the paint safely.

Any paint from 1978 or older can contain lead,

and shouldn't be sanded.

So I started out using this safe stripper.

It worked okay for most of the project.

I wasn't too thrilled with the stripping process at first.

It's kind of messy,

but through some trial and error I managed 

to get the table stripped to bare wood.

Then I stained the top.

I went with the Golden Oak color from Minwax

since this piece is going into my dining room, 

I wanted the stain to match the existing dining room table 

as closely as possible.

But, once the stain was dry, I could see areas where there was still

a yellow paint on the wood.

The paint color was nearly the same color as the bare wood

and impossible to see before I stained it.

I was ready to just paint the whole thing, 

or burn it.

Luckily, my coworker spends a lot of time refinishing furniture, 

and he brought in the stripper he uses called Klean-Strip.

He suggested I use that with some steel wool.

And that, thankfully, removed the majority of the yellow paint.

Then I restained the table top.

I also decided to paint the word "Family" on one of the table leaves.

So after asking Big E's opinion, I decided on a font

and transferred it to the table.

All you need to do to do this 

is to print out the word on paper.

Coat the back of the paper with chalk

(I used my grandson's sidewalk chalk)

position the lettering where you want it

and then use a pencil to trace the word.

When you remove the paper, the lettering outline should be visible in chalk.

At the very least there should be a visible indent in the wood from the pencil.

I then redrew the outlines on the wood with the pencil

and then painted.

Some of the letters I ended up having to do freehand because the outlines were very faint.

Then came the painting of the legs and base.

I opted to use spray paint.

I did use a spray primer first before using Krylon Maxx Gloss Ivory.

It took 2 cans of the Ivory to get a good solid coat of paint.

Then 3 coats of poly coat and it's done!

Not too shabby for a $30 table.

I plan to use the table here under the bay windows in the dining room

to hold photos and plants.

And for those times when we might need more table room for large parties, 

I have the table there to use.

Dining Room Floor

Here is the dining room floor

after scraping all the adhesive off

and cleaning up all the mouse poop, mouse carcasses 

and the old ceiling tiles.

There is a large stain over by the windows that will hopefully 

be sanded out.

My husband thinks something was spilled there at one time, but

I'm pretty sure there might have been a dead body there back in the day.

It isn't the most attractive floor, 

but it's usable until we're ready to rent the sander and refinish the floors in the downstairs.

We peeked under the carpet in the hallway upstairs and discovered

it too has adhesive.

Luckily, we know what to do and use.

I'm not being compensated for telling you how great Goo Gone is, 

so believe me when I say, this is the way to go.

We tried another, harsher, adhesive remover

that was recommended by a salesperson at a large hardware type store.

We took it home, 

had to open all the windows and turn on fans just to prevent us from dying from the fumes

and then read that is can't be used on more than 1 square foot of area

and can't be used on floors.

Plus, in the area we used this other product in,

the finish was taken off the wood.

Goo Gone has a nice citrusy smell

did the job

and didn't remove any finish.

Also, it takes off Christmas Tree sap.  

So if you're faced with the daunting task of removing adhesive from carpet, 

go with Goo Gone and a scraper and some elbow grease.

The Evils of Flooring

Our flooring removal extended beyond the living room.

The next carpet on the chopping black was the dining room carpet.

When we removed the living room carpet, 

we revealed gorgeous 100 year old hardwood floors

with minimal amount of wear.

What would the dining room reveal?

It revealed that someone actually glued, 

yes, GLUED,

carpet to the 100 year old floor.

The end result was a sea of black padding

stuck to glue

stuck to the hardwood floor.

Personally, 

I think whomever decided back in the day 

that gluing anything to hardwood was
the best way to go

should be strung up and whipped.

Our only option was to scrape off the adhesive.

I'll share more on that process later.

We also needed to remove the linoleum in the kitchen.

I had peeked under the linoleum in places and knew

the hardwood was under that too.

Unfortunately, 

the hardwood did not extend the entire length of the kitchen.

As it turns out, the original foot print of the house

ended where the plywood subfloor starts.

So the area where my husband is standing is all part of an addition.

There is a header beam in the ceiling that confirms this.

So, even though the hardwood in the kitchen is in really good shape

(better than the living room)

We can't use it.

The new addition's flooring was made to be level with the existing floor

so to try to add hardwood to match would be impossible as it would be higher than the existing floor.

So, we're back to the original idea of the black and white tiles.

I can't even tell you how upsetting it is for me to cover this floor

(especially after complaining about other people doing it). 

But the addition left us no other alternative.

(Unless I convince my dad or my husband that we should pull up the old flooring, lay subfloor and put tiles on that and save the hardwood for another project- like using it to make a kitchen counter top.  But My chances of that are slim to none)

What Lies Beneath

Last night we had high hopes of getting started dry walling the one foot space between the ceiling and where the drop ceiling was in the living room.

That didn't happen.

Instead, the hubby and I opted to clean out the drop ceiling in the kitchen.

That might seem like a weird project, 

but we discovered that mice have spent years living above that awful drop ceiling.

We want to be able to start using the kitchen downstairs

(since the one upstairs is the size of a very small bedroom 

because, well, it used to be a very small bedroom)

but the thought of mouse poop hovering above our heads (and food)

wasn't very appealing.

So we ended up taking down each tile, brushing it off, vacuuming the drop ceiling tracks and tops of the cabinets and then replacing the tiles.

Be thankful I didn't take photos of all the dead bodies lining the kitchen floor.

Once that job was finished, 

Big E wanted to find another job to do.

(he wanted to listen to the Redskins game 

and could only do that on the radio downstairs)

So he decided to start pulling down the pressed cardboard tiles we found

under the drop ceiling in the dining room.

On a side note, in the above picture you can see the crazy contraption

that was built to support the ceiling fan.  

It was moved from the center of the room to about a foot and a half off center

(it will be going back where it belongs).

I also noticed a weird coloration on the ceiling and thought it was concrete.

Turns out, at some point the dining room ceiling was wall papered.

It wasn't the most attractive wallpaper I've ever seen,

but I do think it was pretty cool to find it.

Big E tore off a couple of chunks for me to save.

It reminds me of a brain.

While pulling down the ceiling, 

we found a few mouse nests made from insulation that we can only speculate came from the attic.

There were also more bodies.

Hopefully, we won't find any signs of live mice now that we've cleaned those areas out.

And if some show up, 

the cats better take care of business.