What to do with funny looking pieces of scrapwood from demolition

Guest bedroom: Scraping adhesive paper off the closet floor

This stuff is awful to get up. Might have to just leave it for the power edger sander thingamajig
 

Kitchen Hardwoods: More Goo

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Circa 1919

Found my home on the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps! Knew it wasn't built in '38!

More bugs

This little dude snuck into the kitchen

Yes, that's a stinkbug. I have lots of them.

Ants in my Crack

Seriously?
They weren't there yesterday.

Red Maple?

I think this may be a red maple. It is beautiful and is a refreshing burst of color for wintertime. Found it on Lockwood Blvd near the fire station.

Keep Smiling

There's about a 1" gap between the baseboards and the hardwoods from where the laminates, plywood and other miscellaneous layers of flooring used to be. That's how this guy got in before he met his inevitable doom by Raid. I'd close the gap to keep the critters out but that would just make more work for when the time comes to refinish the floors. Just keep smiling—it will all be over with someday.

Kitchen Gas Line

This is what I had to work with. Kind of scary, eh?

Yes, that's teflon tape that was used to seal the line.
*Ahmm* teflon tape is not rated for gas.

Notice where the paint is chipped?
that's where the trash can drawer would ram into the gas line when you shut it.
not so good.

and what else do we have, you ask?
Roach gunk. Lots of it.

and then there's the connection to the stove...

which also bravely used teflon tape:

Oh. Did I mention all the connections are leaking gas?

Walls are coming down

Removed the drywall off the partition wall in the bathroom today. Amazing how much more light comes through. It makes the room look a whole lot bigger. Now if only that shower stall wasn't in the way....

IKEA Awesomeness

Foundy this handy-dandy little cart at IKEA and snatched it up to make a traveling cart for my tools:

Clawfoot Tub Delivery

Thanks to the Historic Houston's Salvage Warehouse, Kevin Galloway of Galloway Porcelein delivered my restored clawfoot tub today! 

Here it was when I purchased it:

Cost breakdown of the restoration:

$650 to purchase vintage clawfoot tub

$300 to polish the porcelein, paint the outside, paint the feet

$160 hardware (read about the hardware search)

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Grand total = $1,060

Also shown is a cast iron bar sink that I purchased from the salvage warehouse for $60.

Rats!

Uh-Oh! Saw a giant rat run out from the back of my shed and bolt across the neighbors driveway. Upon closer inspection, they have dug two holes to their cozy little home under my workshop:

Confederate Jasmine

I planted 3 Confederate Jasmine vines along the chain link fence. (Northerners refer to it as star jasmine) It has the most delightful scent when it blooms. My last garden had a wall of it surrounding the garden, which I hand pruned to encourage blooming and branching. No doubt it was the best wall of Jasmine in the Montrose area. Here's a pic of my old garden:

Dusk in the Westmoreland Historic District in Houston's famous Montrose neighborhood

I look forward to working on the garden at my new home...once the interior work is complete.

Guest Bedroom: Grime

The walls in the guest bedroom were really dirty. It took a lot of time to get them this clean in preparation for painting.

But now it's ready to paint. I left that one spot dirty for this photo to show how much grime I scrubbed off. The masking tape on the left side of the photo shows where there used to be an opening to the dining room.

NUTS!

Today I counted 10 squirrels that were squirreling around in the backyard. This one found a vase that I'd thrown some nuts in, which had been soaked with rainwater:

But I suppose he found it easier to just knock the vase over to get at them:

Salvage Warehouse Finds

Another score day at Houston's Historic Salvage Warehouse! I really think what they're doing is phenomenal because they not only save vintage architectural pieces, but because they make it possible for people like myself to rehab Houston's precious historic houses.

Here's what I picked up today:

A Kohler cast iron bar and porcelein bar sink for $60

I think I'll build a metal base for it and use it in the bathroom to highlight the industrial/vintage medical theme I'm shooting for

A vintage door for $40, which was marked down because the glass was cracked. I plan to replace the glass with frosted tempered glass and have "Lavatory"written on it, for use as a unique and fun bathroom door.

Sleeping Porch: More Windows Uncovered!

Got 2 more windows uncovered! The first 3 windows I uncovered were boarded up in plywood that was painted barbie doll pink. The next 2 were behind a small closet that had been framed into the room.

Here's a before shot from the day of the inspection:

Sleeping Porch: The Remains of the Closet

Someone had built a closet into the sleeping porch some years ago:

Before I moved in, showing the closet on the right

I wasn't too crazy about it. It made the room seem narrow and most of the storage in the closet wasn't accessible. Plus, it was built to fit clothes for a child, so adult clothes didn't fit well into it, at least not with the door closed. Those factors alone were enough to encourage me to remove it, but the icing on the cake was that there were likely 2 large original windows hidden behind it (there were). I also was suspicious that the closet was lodging a roach nest (it was). The closet had to go.

What was left of it after demolition:

Old Pics from the Seller's Family

The original fireplace mantel and windows. The windows are intact but unaccessible and the fireplace mantel and brick was removed to install the living room built-ins. Unfortunately the weight of the new built-ins has caused one of the joists to crack. 

The dining room, looking into the kitchen

This shows the original columns that were on the house, before they were replaced with brick

The original front door and an original window are visible here. You can also see the original door casing, which has since been replaced with bellyband and the rosettes

The master bedroom

The custom cabinets in the kitchen that the seller installed (he was a carpenter). This was before they painted them pink. The crown molding has since been replaced with dented moldings. They later replaced the upper cabinet doors with a frosted glass that had roses on it

Kitchen Hardwoods: The Saga Continues

Oh.
More.

Living room Progress

The living room is setup!

Guest Bedroom: Hardwoods Uncovered

but unfortunately some spots are missing

Ok. Maybe a lot of spots.

Make no mistake. It took a lot of work to get all the paper adhesive scraped up off this floor

Kitchen Hardwoods: Halfway mark?

Kitchen Hardwoods: Still Chugging Away

Little birdies go to heaven too

There's a hole in my bathroom wall where the vent used to be.

So today I came home, went to the bathroom, and happened to notice that there were feathers around my feet.

Not just one or two feathers. Like a whole bunch.

and that's when I realized this must have something to do with a very unlucky bird who was trying to get out of the cold, only to run into two very friendly, very playful bengals that both like things that fly. Particularly chirping things that fly.

Clearly, it did not end well for the bird, which I spotted on the dining room floor.

It seemed like an awful lot of feathers for such a little bird.
and it was.

His buddy was laid to rest on the kitchen floor, next to a bengal, sleeping peacefully next to it after a long day of chasing flying toys.

Dad says "the cats must love this house! Live treats!"
Indeed.