Recently, I refinished the hardwood floors for a friend of mine. The refinish included three bedrooms, dining room, living room, and hall. It was a big job. It would have been easier if the hardwood floors hadn’t been previously carpeted and the previous renters’ dogs had been house broken… Every room that had been carpeted had enormous ‘pet’ stains in them. It was bad. Then there were the 12,324 staples I had to remove (which in some cases were rusted). After the staples, I had to deal with the stains and warping. [click to continue…]
Restoration
Do you know those hand carved fleur-de-lis corner block pieces that accent your door trim? Yours, not mine – I barely have door trim let alone carved corner blocks. But if I did, I’d definitely want to know that there was a way to preserve the intricate carvings even if time and 250 coats of paint had deteriorated the fleur in the lis beyond recognition. And there is a way, thanks to Heartwood Carving Studios. [click to continue…]
Back when we first purchased our house, one of my first projects was to strip several decades of paint from a door. I did what most people unfortunately do in that situation, I went to my local big box store and bought a can of typical methylene chloride paint stripper. I observed what I thought were proper precautions: long sleeves, thick gloves, eye protection and a respirator. I kinda admit it seemed like overkill at the time, until I noticed some pain on my arm. That pain turned out to be my burning flesh. It seems a drop of stripper snuck past my long leaves and decided my skin was just as suitable to dissolve as old paint. That was the last time I used methylene chloride, and I vowed to find a slightly less flesh-consuming option in the future.
As you all probably know by now, Home Fixated is always looking for ways to use reclaimed material. Reclaimed windows offer quite a few options both decorative and practical. I have a friend who just hung one on his living room wall as-is and it actually looks pretty cool. But, here are a couple projects for those who are a bit more ambitious. [click to continue…]
I’m a sucker for period pieces. Jane Austen films? I own them all. Mad Men? I’m obsessed. Happy Days? Aaayyyyy. (That’s my Fonze impression.) It should therefore be no surprise that I’m all over HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, a show set in Atlantic City during the prohibition era. It’s a semi-fictionalized glance into the world of the speakeasy, “classic” mobsters, and flapper dresses. The second season has recently started and we’re again treated to the show’s most enticing eye candy of all: Steve Buscemi sets decorated to exacting detail with the look of the time – the transitional period between art nouveau and art deco. If you oggle the fixtures during the show and ask yourself, “why don’t they make beautiful things like that anymore?” I’ve got a website you’re going to love. [click to continue…]
