The Master Bath Doors

In the beginning...

When we were planning the attic and master bath work, we intended to re-use as many original doors as possible. At the time, the doors in the attic were different than the doors in the rest of the house.  That's not a surprise because the attic was meant as servant quarters and the attic doors were of lower quality

All of the new doors in the attic were re-purposed from elsewhere in the house.  Some we found in the basement or attic; others I had removed during previous work; still more came from the demolition of the butler's bedroom (what is now the master bath).

As part of the treasure hunt, we found a pair of French doors in a pile of stuff in the attic and decided to use them as the doors between SWMBO's dressing room and the master bath.

They were covered in filth, had wallpaper glued to the glass, and the rail & stile joints were coming apart.

So in the summer of 2013, I set up on the driveway and got to work.

After I fixed, scraped, and cleaned everything, they sat for a long time.

Finishing the attic was higher on the priority list.

At least they didn't sit in a pile of stuff.

They moved around a bit to stay out of everyone's way during other projects, spent a little time acclimating to the new space, and eventually got hung, temporarily, in their new permanent home.

As we got closer to completing the master bath, it became time to focus some more love and attention on the doors.

They were removed to make it easier to get the cabinets and tub into the room.

And then down to my work shop to get a fresh coat of Impervo.

And frost the glass.

Unlike previously, this film allows light through because it's not completely opaque.  In addition, it doesn't require adhesive, so it will be easier to remove. It's applied with water and adheres via static cling, so when the time comes it just peels off.

Next caretaker - you're welcome.

While the doors were off I did the dowel and glue treatment to the screw holes for the hinges on both the door and the door frame.

And finally, yesterday, I re-hung the doors.

The crystal knobs are smaller versions of the door knobs in the rest of the house, but are new from House of Antique Hardware.

More Hardware

We've been slowly finding various other things for the master bath.  You'll start to see them scattered about in future photos.

Packages have also started to arrive with various bits of hardware that were missing.  Some bits have already been installed; others will get their own updates here soon; still others have yet to be shipped from the vendor...

The towel ring and toilet paper holder that match the plumbing fixtures in the master bath were a little more expensive than I had in mind.  We managed to find these at a more reasonable price.

They don't "match"; rather, they "coordinate".  That's a principle we've lived by throughout this journey.  There are places in the house that need a more simple colonial-revival feel, where others can stand to be a little more ornate.

The master bath is one of the places that can stand up to the extra detail.

The Tipping Point

This time last year we had a minor tragedy.

The Christmas tree fell over several times.

And the top made a decent scrape on the wall.

Which I still have to repaint.

When we buy the tree, we just walk onto the lot at Frattalone's hardware on Grand Avenue and buy the tallest one they have. Takes us all of 5 minutes to pick out the tree.

We have 10-foot ceilings on the first floor and because we put it in the opening in the staircase anyway we're not really constrained by height.  It also doesn't matter if it has a flat spot because we stick it in this corner and can orient it to hide any asymmetry.

That's probably why we had the tragedy last year.  The tree was too tall and unstable for the stand we had.

So we got the Hummer of tree stands for this year.  Note that in the photo this thing is on a 6-foot diameter rug.  It also weighs as much as a decent sized Sumo wrestler.

That should keep us from reaching the tipping point this year...