How Much Our Insurance Changed With Hardie Fiber Cement Siding
When the wood siding on our very old house started to rot away, everyone told us to reinstall new wood siding because that’s what buyers of old houses on the East Coast expect. Clearly, “everyone” hasn’t had to maintain painted wood siding. We decided to have Hardie® fiber cement siding installed instead because our priority for protecting our almost 250-year-old home was to make it fire-resistant, deter wood-eating pests, protect it from severe storms, and add resistance to moisture-induced rot. If an owner of an old house isn’t sleeping well, you know why. We have a lot to worry about! Fiber cement siding protects our home from all of those…
4 Old House Construction Techniques We Found When We Replaced Siding
While putting new siding on our very old house (circa 1780s with later additions), we had a first-hand view of 4 old house construction techniques that blew our minds. Not everyone has the opportunity to see the “guts” of their home, so we’ll use my home as an example so that you’re not shocked someday. Fasten your proverbial tool belt and come check out the 4 old house construction techniques we found. #1 Old House Construction Technique: Timber Framed Construction Our home was built before power tools existed. It was built before electricity was invented. It was built before modern nails and screws were invented. In fact, the frame of…
Vintage Post Office Box Door Photo Frame
What do you do when you find a door to an old post office box at the thrift store? Turn it into a Post Office Box Door Photo Frame, of course! That was my immediate thought when I saw a basket of these vintage post office box doors at my favorite thrift store. The little window on the door would be the perfect spot for a small photo. I believe this door dates back to the early 1900s. From what I can ascertain, the U.S. Post Office used combination locks from the late 1800s to early 1900s. The door is made from brass. Of course, I could clean up the…
Front Door Smart Lock: 3 Things We Love, 1 We Don’t
Two months ago we switched to a smart lock on our front door. There are three things (at least!) that we love about about this smart lock and one thing we don’t love. Before I dive into the details, I want to mention that we feel so fancy now with a smart lock. We don’t have a Ring doorbell camera. We don’t even have a regular doorbell. If you come to our house, you have to knock on the door like in the good ol’ days. If you do knock, I may or may not “hear you knock,” if you get the excuse I’m throwing out there. Just depends on…
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Basement Time Capsule Has Been Installed
We installed a basement time capsule in our almost 250-year-old home and I’m giddy with excitement about it. Why would we do this? Hold onto your Swatch watch and I’ll tell you. It was time. I have been looking for treasure ever since we bought this home. Every time we dug a hole or opened up a wall while renovating, I hoped we’d find something amazing. Gold coins. Prohibition alcohol. Jewelry. I wasn’t picky. What have we found? Nothing of note unless you’re into rats’ nests and lost paperclips. I decided to channel this treasure-hunting energy into something more productive and forward-looking. If I’m not going to find anything of…
Why You Need House Tools In a Distinct Color
Do you have a set of house tools? It took us twenty years to realize a set of house tools that stay in the house would make life so much easier. Quick learners? Not so much. We typically store our tools in a garage or shed as most people do. However, in our current house, there is no door between the garage and house so you have to go outside if you want to get anything out of the garage. I mentioned to my husband that I needed a house hammer for hanging pictures. I didn’t want to run out to the garage every time I needed to get the…
Stone Windowsills and Wooden Doorsills
Let’s talk about what’s on everyone’s mind these days – window and door sills. Specifically, stone windowsills and wooden doorsills. *crickets* Wait. That’s not on everyone’s mind? Only mine? Huh. What do you guys think about? What’s for dinner? Why “sigma” is teen slang now? A problem at work? How to help your kid with fractions? When you can squeeze in time for a haircut? That embarrassing thing you did in third grade? All the emails you haven’t read? Inflation? War? If the colostrum all the influencers are taking has real benefits or is a gimmick? Fair enough. I guess we’re done here. But…stone windowsills and wooden doorsills are easier…
DIY Curved Wood Refrigerator Handles
Let’s talk about Curved Wood Refrigerator Handles and how to make them. We have an old refrigerator. It’s probably over 30 years old. The thing runs like a champ. Makes ice faster than a snowman could, which means it’s probably not energy-efficient. It holds a ton of food because it’s as big as a Mac truck. It’s a creamy color, which I believe was referred to as “biscuit” back in the day. Basically, it’s in fine shape and I’ve loathed it since the moment we moved into this house. But then a funny thing started to happen. I realized a stainless steel refrigerator would be way too modern for our…
6 Things We Found Inside Our Stone Walls
Oh, the interesting and downright horrifying things we’ve found INSIDE our stone walls will not be easily purged from my memory. Why would we be looking for things inside our stone walls? And why do we even have stone walls? These stone walls are, in essence, our foundation walls. The oldest part of our home dates back to the 1780s. The home was added onto a few more times and all of our foundation walls are built with field stone and lime mortar as shown in the photo below. We’ve been repointing the stone walls in our basement. Repointing means chipping out an inch or so of the surface layer…
6 Split Ceiling Medallion Installation Tips
If you’re considering installing a split ceiling medallion, I have six split ceiling medallion installation tips for you! (Say that six times fast! Haha!) A ceiling medallion is that decorative circular ring on the ceiling above a light fixture. They used to have a practical use of helping to conceal the ring of soot put off by lighting that involved a flame, but today are mainly decorative. If you’re considering installing a split ceiling medallion (two half circles you put together) over a regular ceiling medallion, you probably have a very good reason for not wanting to take your light down to install a ceiling medallion. I had my reasons…
