Door Knocker and Green Kale

I finally have a door knocker on my front door.

This was another job for my handyman on Saturday. It is the original antique door knocker that came on my old front door stored in my garage. It is solid and doesn't have a window. I saved all the old hardware and this antique door knocker and 21 years later it is finally back where it belongs. I polished it with stove polish and I absolutely love it. Two holes had to be drilled through the door and there were no bolts to attach on the other side. I was able to find the perfect ones that fit and completely covered the handmade screws after I wrapped them with teflon dental floss to make them a little fatter. I am so thankful I purchased various coffee cans and cigar boxes full of assorted hardware that have come to my aid so very often in home repairs. I am thrilled with this knocker and it's really loud. A friend stopped by today and I was in the far side of my house and I was able to hear her knocking so clearly. Another item checked off my TO DO LIST!

This green ornamental kale has a lovely white center. I bought 2 green ones and the other is in an urn I can see from my balcony and back kitchen window. I love this color too. Temps going down to 36° tonight. I still have things to do before the ground freezes like dig up the dahlias. They are still too pretty to do it before I absolutely have to.

xo

UPDATE: TWO PHOTOS BELOW SHOWING THE TWO PLASTIC NUTS TO ATTACH THE BOLTS TO THE INTERIOR SIDE OF MY DOOR.

When I paint these plastic "nuts" that hold on the bolts that are wrapped in Glide Dental Floss they will blend in with the door and be almost invisible.

I found two loose plastic nuts in my stash. I still have several of these complete nut and bolt sets in case I ever need them for another project. I have no idea what they were designed for. I'm just glad I had them here at home and did not have to go to the hardware store. 

I adored Rube Goldberg cartoons in the Sunday paper when I was growing up. I studied them carefully and now I figure out how to do things with what I've got. xo

Fence Finial + Before & After House Paint Pics

Remember my post about finding three Artichoke finials at an estate sale? Now I can finally use them. I had to "doctor" this photo and remove all the color because they are not wood and the color is yellowish. I will probably paint them when I touch up some of the fence posts and pickets with a small brush. I put one on each side of the gate and one on the corner. I am so excited about finally being able to use them.

Eileen in Fla. made a special request to see a photo of my house in a BEFORE photo because she can't remember what it looked like in order to appreciate the transformation. 

Well, here goes.

I wish I had chosen white with black shutters 20 years ago when I restored my cottage but as the old Amish saying goes, "We are too soon old and too late smart."

I forgot to mention I removed the full length shutters on either side of my front door and I like it so much better without them. (The painters were happy too!)

xo

My Newly Painted Cottage: So Happy♡

I was at the paint store this morning at 7am because today was the last day my painters would be here. We moved mountains getting ready for their departure and it all worked like clockwork. I am so proud of the end result. While the helper primed and stained the outside boards surrounding my balcony, the main painter and I hung the shutters and afterwards he went around and touched up this and that. The sky with big fluffy clouds really cooperated to set off this photo, didn't it? I absolutely love the black shutters and the black front door. My handyman suggested this and I will be forever thankful. It has transformed by cottage into a classic. The wing to the left doesn't show but it has a newly painted picket fence and my bedroom that sits back behind it. It's impossible to show the entire front in one photo. Needless to say I am glad it's all over but I will miss all the excitement of this transformation as I helped right along with the workers to move the project along. I have skills that had been dormant for a long and it was great to see how capable I really am. I honestly could not be happier.

♡xo♡

Rainbow Over My Cottage + A Project

This rainbow appeared Tuesday evening after my handyman left after doing rotten wood repairs. I was still outside cleaning up when it started to rain very gently and this beautiful rainbow appeared over my cottage. I was so happy to be outdoors to see it and luckily I had my phone in my pocket. The rainbow seems to be pointing to my roof so maybe it approves of the repair. I think it's blessin my cottage and all of my workers.♡🌈♡ The painters got here a little after 7am this morning to get an early start before it gets too hot. I did my wood repair with the product I ordered and now it has to harden until it can be sanded tomorrow. I was going to document the process with photos but my fingers were covered in the stuff and I could barely open my door let alone take a photo. xo

Am I the only one who always does projects at the kitchen table no matter how messy? I have always considered setting up a flat working space in my basement but knew in my heart of hearts I would probably end up at the kitchen table anyway. http://www.abatron.com/

Before and After Wood Repair at My Cottage

Before: My handman came to the rescue once again.

After: Isn't this a wonderful transformation?

I couldn't be happier!

What would I do without him?

♡

Power Washing Day One at My Cottage

I couldn't be happier with the work he did all day yesterday. After lunch he called a helper to come and do my red barn/garage while he tried to finish my house and balcony. I have never seen such good workers. My only other experience with power washing was just a once over. The painter doing my house kept going over and over. He was using water only until he got to my balcony flooring and he used a soap solution for the mildew. They stopped at 5pm and my main guy came back this morning for about two hours to finish up. Nobody is coming tomorrow and I am so glad. I need a break and Missy is the only one I have to direct tomorrow. She came at 4:00 this afternoon so I have her for 3 suppers and you can be sure she will have a half-ration breakfast when she goes home on Tuesday. Have a great Saturday evening and a nice Sunday tomorrow. xo

Clover is Green Despite No Rain

My grass is like straw but the clover is thriving. I have been working nonstop outside since I hired a painter to power wash and paint my house. I found him through my handyman who will be doing any wood repair. He stopped by on Tuesday afternoon to do a few chores like chainsawing some weed trees and wisteria and several other chores I couldn't do myself. I mentioned I had interviewed 6 painters and still hadn't found one. He said he knew one he had been working with for 3 years. I called him right away and he came Wednesday morning, gave me a quote and I hired him. Since then I have been working outside nonstop getting ready and I have moved mountains. He's coming to start the power washing tomorrow at 8am and I couldn't be happier. xo

Two Home Repair Photos in My Cottage

This is a partial photo of the full bath on my lower level. My handman had to totally demolish and replace the sheetrock on the soffit above the sink. It was water damaged due to a roof leak. It was on-the-job training for my young handyman but he did an amazing repair. One coat of paint was all it took for complete coverage and I couldn't be more pleased. This bathroom has a big walk-in shower, and a window. I kept the original toilet from the 1930s too. There are white marble tiles on the floor and plain white porcelain tiles on the inside of the shower. The door you see reflected in the mirror is the front of the batten door that was fully opened for this photo.

My guest room/dressing room is back in order again after some badly peeling plaster wall repair and the ceiling vent back in place. I turned on my central air for the first time this morning because it's going to be 94° today. It might be my imagination, but it seems to be more effective with the addition of the louvered fins behind the duct cover(s) throughout the first floor. I am still organizing and spring cleaning but the end is in sight. The month of May certainly zoomed by, didn't it? xo

A Corner of My Bedroom Showing AC Decorative Vent Cover

I haven't featured any photos of my bedroom lately. Here's a photo of the ceiling vent cover and some of my bookshelves. I love my blue and white checked curtains that have been remade over and over since 1972. They started out life in a NYC rental for sliding glass doors going out to a terrace. I purchased the fabric on the lower east side. xo

Handyman Coming Today to Attach My Ceiling Projects

I repainted the Regio Register air conditioning vent covers yesterday, just in time. This afternoon at 4:00 my young handyman is coming to put them back in place. He wasn't expecting the project to be so advanced and I'm sure he was secretly thrilled I had done so much by myself. The two very large ones are for a vertical wall in the attic. The rest go in the ceiling on my main floor. They are heavy and I thing I will somehow have to help holding each one in place while he drills them. I got a tube super tacky construction adhesive that "grabs" in 30 seconds but I'm not putting much trust that it will work but maybe it will. I have a long telescoping pole with a lambswool covered blade on the end for washing windows outside. Maybe I can hold these in place somehow if needed. Wish me luck. Will post photos later.

For anyone who hasn't been following this project, click the link for the complete history. 

https://contentinacottage.blogspot.com/2022/05/my-tools-of-trade.html

xo

It was definitely a two-person job and all 7 vent covers are back in place. I had everything very organized and we were finished in an hour. 

My telescoping window washing pole came in very handy. I pushed the rod with the lamb's wool cover against each ceiling mounted vent cover after the construction adhesive was applied while my handyman screwed them in place. It's dipping down to 45° tonight so I have no need for air conditioning but when it gets hot, I'm ready with all the louvers in the open position. In the fall, it will be a snap to close them. Another project completed successfully. I am thrilled. xo

Morning after in my bathroom. Nothing fell down from 5 ceiling-mounted installations during the night😂 The two large ones in the attic were wall mounted and were a snap to put back. The only hard thing about those two was turning one in another direction so I could get my screwdriver inside to open and close the fins of he louvers. Luckily it was square so the placement of the screws didn't matter. Believe me, these things took a lot of engineering and I had to orchestrate every step. I think my young handman appreciated all of my prep work and he probably learned a lot in the process. I have already shared him with one of my girlfriends who needs window boxed installed.

My Tools of The Trade

Doesn't everybody's kitchen counter look like this? I am in the midst of one of the hardest projects I have ever undertaken. Think trying to fit a square peg into a round hole! All of my central air conditioning ducts are in the ceilings and they don't have louvers behind the grilles and are always ON. In the winter all the warm air escapes making my house colder than it should be. I ordered the louvers and am in the midst of retrofitting them behind the decorative grilles made by Reggio Registers. My ceilings are plaster from the late 1930s and it took me over 3 hours on one hole yesterday chiseling out the ragged edges to get one louver in place. You know I don't admit defeat easily so I am all caffeinated and ready to attack the one over the other French door in my living room. 

My Grilles are in this design, 

painted the same color as the ceilings.

https://www.reggioregister.com/

Louvers look like this.

Wish me luck. Sometimes I wonder why almost nothing in my life is easy and ordinary? Is this because I live in an old house or do I just look for seemingly impossible projects to make my life easier that actually make my life harder while the work is being done? That is the question. xo

Workin' wear. Yesterday I didn't have a hat and didn't put on goggles or a mask until well into the project. Today it was all about Safety First.

Today's louver was inserted in 15 minutes. YAY!

I have ordered some white pliable clay that will air dry in 24 hours and be hard enough to drill thru (fingers crossed). I thought that would be neater than spackle. I want to encapsulate all this stuff that looks like crumbling concrete. It should be delivered today. I still have to scrape all the gunk from behind the grilles that stuck when removing them. To close the louver, I have to attach the grille in the proper direction so I can reach thru one of the openings with a screwdriver to close the louvers for winter. This can only work in one direction so I have to make sure it's correct before screws are inserted. 

The DAS clay is made in Italy! 

It looks like a block of Cream Cheese.

It initially looks a little gray but dries bright white

This clay comes in a terracotta color too.

Would be great for flower pot repairs.

Here is my first encapsulation after a overnight drying session.

It's not pretty but functional. I had to rebuild an area behind the left screw hole because material behind it fell out and I had to completely rebuild the right-hand screw hole because the chunk fell out. All of this unsightly mess is completely covered by the grille. 

Larger view of the construction site.

xo

New Antique Chair in My Living Room

This Gothic Revival chair between my TV and a sofa (not shown) to the right has a mate that lives in my entrance vestibule. It's perfect there when I need to sit and put on my boots or put down a parcel. I bought the pair several weeks ago at a local garage sale. This morning I put a blooming geranium on this one for a Sunday morning photo shoot. It's a dreary day having rained all night and that's fine with me. 

I have had a young handyman working off and on for weeks doing odd jobs I cannot do myself (like sheetrock removal and replacement for a soffit in a bathroom). Water damage is the worst and I had two episodes over the years in my cottage. One was when the pan under attic central air conditioning unit overflowed and found a path all the way to my mother's quarters in my walk-out lower level, too nice to be called a basement. The other time I had water was due to a roof leak. The ceiling in the hallway near my first floor bedroom needed scraping, spackling, and painting. I found other places in both bedrooms that had peeling plaster that needed repair too. So there was sanding in those rooms too before painting. The first floor repairs were finished a week or two ago and everything's back in order after two deep vacuuming sessions.

The soffit had to be totally replaced in a full bath downstairs and some other ceiling repairs down there too requiring spackling, sanding, and painting. He did a great job and I am very pleased. The paint matches perfectly too. I got everything back in order in the kitchen and hallway down there and today I will do the bedroom and sitting room. I just need to put all the drop cloths back where they belong and do a deep vacuum cleaning and I will be all set. My laundry list is getting shorter but there are still things to do. There is an old saying, "Life is 90% maintenance" and that sounds about right, doesn't it? Those who aren't homeowners spend it on self care. DIY homeowners ask themselves whether they should get a manicure or weed the garden? I have never had a manicure and have no plans to get one😂

Enjoy your Sunday. xo

Here is a closeup of the back of the chair. A small piece of moulding is missing from the center column. The companion chair in my vestibule is missing all three little pieces at the columns' bases. I might try carving the replacement one of these days. xo

Spring Flowers for Good Friday

I moved my hellebore closer to the front door so she would be in more shade than she was previously.

My grape hyacinths are doing well in spite of my neglect.

I have been working outside for two straight days getting all my outside faucets, hoses, and hose reels in tip top shape and it hasn't been easy. I have worked with hack saws, plumbers wrenches, WD40, hose clamps, and various other tools. I had to replace several outlets by butchering old hoses. Most of my reels leaked underneath but not anymore. I've been wanting to do this for years and now I'm all set for years to come and I enjoyed giving them new life. That's another thing on my laundry list I can cross off and feel good about doing myself.

Hello November and A Cabin Kitchen

So much to study in this photo of an untouched vintage cabin kitchen. I love the little stove and the wooden drainboard. We have all heard you are not supposed to have water pipes on an outside wall so look where the faucet is located! If there's ever a problem here, no pipes or wires are covered or buried behind walls covering the studs and rafters. There isn't any insulation either so this is either in a location with no cold weather or a seasonal getaway. 

I have done a lot lately getting ready for winter with my house and my car. I still have outside work but only a little. I dug my dahlia tubers in my front garden on Saturday and filled three dumper carts with hand-pulled weeds and cuttings. I cut my peonies down to the ground. I usually do that when they stop blooming but the dahlias were in the way and seemed to need the peony bushes for support. I am usually playing catchup this time of year but a long fall with no really cold weather in October has been wonderful. I have only turned on my heat once and that was just to test all my radiators! Today is November first and my weather app says there will nights in the 30s this week so I am almost prepared. xo

UPDATE: I just saw this on my Nextdoor App. Here's a photo of how a lady in Madison NJ handled her leftover Halloween Treats the day after Halloween! Made me laugh. 

Don't you love her presentation?🎃👻 

Click photo to enlarge!

New Kitchen Counter Arrangement in My Cottage

Sorry I missed my daily posting yesterday. I was busy scrubbing down the full bathroom in the basement. I did a lot and haven't finished quite yet but it looks amazing. I had an office meeting this morning and when I got home my electricians appeared just a few minutes after returned home and I parked my car. 

I had a list for them and they efficiently solved all of my problems in an hour's time. I had two GFI outlets in my kitchen that haven't worked for ages and I am thrilled to have them back. I had to completely rearrange the counter space to the left of my sinks and I am very pleased. I haven't had outside lights for almost a year and I kept putting off the repair. That was all fixed too. 

My basement door is just around the corner from the portrait you see on the left. The rest of my living room leads to the hallway for two bedrooms and a full bath. I am feeling good about my productivity this week and it's only Tuesday afternoon. xo

Still Rearranging

The floor is clear of all the stuff that is not going to be displayed on my lower level. Some of it went to the garage, some to the loft over garage, some will be donated, some went in the furnace room and various closets and some went to recycling. I am thrilled to be able to walk in and out of the back door without the obstacle course.

I have done more rearranging and I'm still not happy with the TV. I need to elevate it or lower the picture above. I was sitting on the stairs for this photo. The cabinet in lower left is next to the yellow decoupaged cottage chest with the big clock above shown in a previous post. Happy last day of August. It flew by, didn't it? I accomplished a lot though and I'm happy about what I've done so far. xo

Best Screen Door Ever

I found this photo I've been saving of a wonderful screen door. One day I want to have one made for my front door if I ever finish all of my indoor projects. See you later. Back to the salt mines. Photo from Instagram. xo

Mowed Yesterday, Just in Time!

Yesterday. Back yard with blooming Wisteria. The red showing through is my barn garage. It was a perfect day, not too hot, but the grass was still wet from a Monday night rain. I waited until mid afternoon to start so it wasn't that much of a problem for my walk-behind mulching mower. Early spring grass is always the easiest mowing of the year.

Today. This is a view from the sliding glass door where the new acquisition with 16 drawers lives in my mom's old sitting room. I bought a John Deere used riding mower from a neighbor this year to do the rest of my property all the way down to the way back. I have to wait for another lesson from my neighbor so I know exactly how to operate it because it isn't like my last one. I had a large John Deere at my two previous homes but this one is much smaller and I think it's going to be perfect.

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Great Books Recently Purchased

I was out and about one day last week and I found the three red leather bound books with wonderful decoration on the spines to go with with set I already had in black. I love the sporting themes. They were in a very unlikely place in a resale shop that sells mostly clothes and accessories. I am thrilled with these antiquarian books to add to my collection.

I have been working furiously outside while the weather is still cool and enjoying everything about the hard work except for the ticks. I will soon be down to nothing but mowing with much less danger. I put up another bluebird box far away from the one near my house to hopefully attract another family with no competition from the nesting couple already in residence. 

See you later. xo

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