Antique Leather

Here's a close-up of the final coat in the Study Bathroom. It's an antique leather treatment.

The base coat is the lighter color (same as the color in the study). The top coat is a darker brown mixed with 3 parts glaze. The glaze mixture is rolled on the wall and then covered with a thin plastic sheet. The plastic sheet has been pre-crumpled and then laid out mostly flat on the wall. When the plastic is removed, some of the glaze mixture is removed with it. The creases and folds in the plastic cause different amounts of glaze to be removed, giving this effect.

Study Bathroom Re-Plumbing - Part 4

I finally got it all put back together tonight.  Yesterday I checked with Gopher Plumbing Supply for the new toilet parts.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the right parts for this brand.  Kudos to them, though; they recommended a competitor just down the road that carries parts for that brand.

Star Supply had one of each in stock, I picked them up this morning, and installed them tonight.  Everything works like a champ!

Study Bathroom Re-Plumbing - Part 3

After some distractions, I finally got back to this project. I took Super Bowl morning to paint the room. The color is an historical color, Audubon Russet, that's the same as the study. And it is one of the colors in the painting on the door.

Though this picture is after the second coat (compare with a before photo), we're not done. Which is why drop cloths are on the floor and nothing is re-installed, yet...

Study Bathroom Re-Plumbing - Part 2

Sunday I started removing the supply line for the toilet. To get access, I had to remove the toilet. And I suspected the foul odor was coming from the wax ring under the toilet. Sure enough I was right...

The supply lines came out with a little coaxing and the new PEX ones are already installed. Now I'm just patching the holes during the week.

All the valves and seals were shot on the toilet so I'm replacing them, too. Including the tank-to-bowl seals you can see in the picture.

The picture shows what was on the wall behind the toilet tank. It's a cool historical record of the decorating in this room.

I have no idea why the wall was initially painted black. Next is some very dark floral wall paper - slate gray with dark green and burgundy. Over that is some light green and cream floral wallpaper. After that, the walls were apparently painted a taupe/cream. And, finally, white.

If you look closely at the previous entry's photo, you can see some places on the wall where almost all of the wallpaper was removed before painting. We'll get that cleaned up before we decorate in here. We have something interesting in mind...

Study Bath Re-Plumbing - Part 1

The water pressure has been a bit low in the study bathroom. And every once in a while we get a foul odor from near the toilet. So, it's time to do some re-plumbing...

I'd already replaced the old galvanized supply trunk with PEX when I'd re-done the laundry, so this isn't going to be that hard.

Saturday, I punched a couple of holes in the wall to remove the old galvanized supply lines for the sink and toilet. Note that the valve on the hot supply line is starting to fall apart between the shaft and the housing (top shut-off valve in the picture). It's too bad the old lines are badly corroded on the inside; these old shut-off valve are cool looking.

I had only a couple of hours between other commitments so was glad to get the sink's lines removed and the hole punched for the toilet.

Servant's Toilet

When I re-plumbed the laundry room, I disconnected the water to this toilet. It was the "servant's" toilet in the basement. Not a very glamorous setting...

Whenever I'm working in the basement and have to use the toilet, I have to run upstairs. I've gotten tired of that, so figured it was time to reconnect this one. And it's good practice for some other plumbing work that's coming soon.

The toilet was working before I disconnected it, but it took forever to fill because the old galvanized supply line was full of mineral buildup and corrosion. I ran the new PEX supply line (left of the toilet in both pictures) and installed a shut-off valve. Now there's a concept - now we have the ability to shut off the water to a single fixture instead of the whole house!

Then I connected the supply to the fill valve and turned on the water. And the supply valve didn't work. And worse yet, it leaked (note water on the floor in the "after" picture). The old one and gaskets are shot.

So off to the home center to get a new fill-valve assembly.

Drain the tank. Install the new valve. Turn on the water.

The new fill-valve works and doesn't leak. Woohoo!

But the flush-valve ball is leaking AND the flush-valve is leaking around the base. It's no suprise that the ball is leaking; it appears to be ancient and the rubber has disintegrated. The gaskets around the base of the flush-valve don't look right to me though... Off to the home center again. I find the new ball easily enough, but cannot find the right gaskets. The salesman suggests I try a plumbing supply house. Of course, they are closed until Monday.

I end up at Gopher Plumbing Supply with the entire valve assembly and gaskets. The salesman doesn't think the gaskets look right either, but gets me replacements that match.

I install them and, of course, they still leak.

So back I go and they hook me up with the right gasket and...

No Leaks!

So that's what I get for assuming what's there is the correct part. How many times am I going to need to learn this lesson with this house? Oh yeah, and there were two of the wrong gasket ($1.49 each). The right one (flush valve shank washer) costs $2.59.

Didn't someone once talk about doing it right the first time???

While I'm at it, I clean the bowl & tank. And I remove the old, nasty seat and replace it with a new one. And find a generic lid that will keep junk from falling into the tank.

GFCIs and The Dark

This morning, I'm in the bathroom and SWMBO turns on the WaterPic.  The GFCI trips and the lights...  go out.  Then I hear a noise that sounds like little plastic pieces bouncing across the floor in the dark.  Hmm...

1. tripping a GFCI outlet shouldn't cause the lights in the room to go out (obviously *that* work was never inspected...)
2. the reset button on a GFCI outlet shouldn't go flying around the room like the jumping light bulb from that scene in "The Return of the Pink Panther"

Off I go to get a new GFCI outlet.

And I can't wait to remodel this bathroom.

Dressing Table

The slow collecting of furniture continues.

We found this last weekend. After doing some research, it appears to be pre-1930, based on the manufacturer's inscriptions. Though it's not particularly valuable, we like it regardless.

As is usual, there was some assembly required. The way the mirror attached to the base was, ummm... all wrong. A couple of blocks of wood, some drywall screws, and a screwdriver wedged in there to keep the mirror from flopping over...

I'm sure the correct hardware was lost long ago. So I went off to the hardware store to get the right stuff.

It's much better now.

Another Mail Slot

This is likely the last outdoor project for the year.

I took advantage of the nice weather this past Sunday and installed this mail slot for the carriage house. There was no mail slot in this door previously.

A new coat of paint in the spring and this door will look great!

Thumb-turn Latches

If you'd found one of these in a bag and the other laying on the floor 30 feet away (and two years ago) in your basement, would you have known that they belong together?

Me either.

I'm glad that two years ago I saved the the two thumb-turns. I'd always wondered what they were for.

I'd found the cover plate in a bag with a bunch of random stuff earlier in the week.

Fortunately there was a door that still had the cover plate, but it was missing its thumb-turn.

I have no idea how I remembered that I had these thumb-turns with 1/4-inch square spindles. It was just one of those "I wonder if that thing in the basement will fit this" moments...