A little progress is much better than no progress, correct? Working in the winter is loathesome. Power tools are cold, the wood is stiff, the paint is stiffer…. I try to avoid doing anything major during the winter.
However, we are trying to get up some of the trim in the Living Room. We’ve been working on our pediments– namely, our pediment over our French door. We’d only recently hung the door (it’s not a pre-hung model, so it required more care and careful measurings). My husband is a primo meaurer-er– he excels with mathematical stuff– so he did the bulk of the work and I played the handy helper.
I am very fussy about the trim and moulding in the house. I’ve spent enough years in aging homes with ranch casing– yuk! My home– relatively untouched since 1855– still has most of its original trim and moulding. Very little of it is in good repair (and it’s encased in lead paint), so we will have to replace it. However, with the original moulding, I have the original template of the design of the house.
Here’s a snapshot of the pediment from the Dining Room, to give you a feel for what the style is like. This is original moulding. The Living Room was a little more elaborate. Our house is Greek Revival, but is a milder version, as you can tell from the photo below. The triangular pediments are a classic trait of American Greek Revival style. It’s my favorite architectural style.
The pediments in the Living Room were solid black walnut. I desperately wanted to keep it, and did try. But the moulding was so damaged from leaking walls, endless pockmarks and holes, and about 25 coats of paint. We had to replace the entire Living Room.
So, making a short story long here, we’re working on the pediment for the Living Room. It will be very similar to the original one, but not as fancy (no multi-layers of wood– just a slab and a strip of trim at the top).
Here’s our installed French door, waiting for it’s trim. You can see what our restored Entry Hall looks like if you peer beyond the door’s glass.
Just for kicks, and because some of you have expressed interest in them before, I’ve included a photo of one of the original thumb latches. The house still has the original doors, and most of the latches remain. Only a few are in good shape. I took the good ones from upstairs and restored them to install them in our Entry Hall.
They had all been coated with gobs of white and yellow paint over their 150 year history. I removed them, and stuck all the latch pieces in a bucket of Peel Away for 24 hours. Then I brushed several coats of poly-urethane over the bare metal. They have held up quite well.
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[...] that will pay for us to do them. We did install a pediment over our French door– this post here and here show the style of the home (Greek Revival) and my decorating [...]