Stairway to Heaven

Rebuilding the stairs to the 2nd floor.

It's amazing the these stair were put together with plywood and L- bracts. When we opened it up is lath and plaster. It was literally the ceiling of the closet in the "Godfather Room"/ Guest room.

Lath and Plaster is a building process used to finish mainly interior walls and ceilings until the late 1950s. After the 50s, drywall began to replace the lath and plaster process.

It was literally the ceiling of the closet in the "Godfather Room"/ Guest room.

 Gidget points out the ratty carpet/ rug that was glued to the floor.

The pervious owner that it was a good idea to glue carpet down and paint the wood about it. You can see from where we ripped up a section. Grouse!

Here Gizmo points out the new White Oak against the Douglas Fur panels.

 Each step was hand cut and press fitted into place. IT took the flooring guys at least a week for this project. After the stairs were installed them stained and polyurethaned the floors 3 times.

Unfortunately Sage decided to make his make on the stairs so we'll have to have it all rebuffed and and another layer of poly in the future.


Once that is done I can install the dust corners that were originally there. I restored them with the help of my cock pot and some fine steel wool. They turned out great! Beautiful brass dust corners. Now I just need to find brass nails to secure them into place.

 (Ralph's special $7 cock pot.)

Born out of the need to simplify housework back in the 1890's, these solid brass dust corners add an element of charm and distinction to staircases today.

Born out of the need to simplify housework back in the 1890's, these solid brass dust corners add an element of charm and distinction to staircases today. 

This project to be undated.. ;)

Everything including the kitchen sink

Our 1932 Farmhouse sink from west Mass. finally came in the other day. It was so gorgeous it launched us into a a full kitchen reno. Like anything other reno. When you open one can of worms and other quickly opens.

 Here you can see a row of drawers to the right of the sink. We will be demoing them to make space for a 18" dishwasher. With just the tow of us there is no need for a 24". Plus we just don't have the space. It's funny how a drawing looks so much bigger than the real thing. This is the case in many other areas.

Here with the help of our handyman, Manual we made quick work of demoing the old tile counter tops.

(Prepping the counters for soapstone.)

It fits right in as if it was always there.

While the walls were open we found that the galvanize pipes were rotted and leaking.

(No wonder we had no water presser.)

We since than changed them out for copper. This improved the water presser by30%. It's a good thing we caught it while the walls were open. Once the pipes were replaced we insulated the walls and put up (green board) drywall.

Side External Stairs

Rebuilding our side external stairs.

Welcome to Maple Manor

Happy New! We have a crazy year scheduled for this year. It's the long awaited whole house renovation of our home 577 N Chester. But before we begin and give you the blow by blow. Here is a little bit about the history of the house and how we can across this diamond in the rough.

At the Pasadena History Museum I combed through their archive and found some information on our house.

Legal Description:  Villa Vista Tract, Lot 16
Built: 1911
Builder: H.C. Deming

A circa- 1910, one-and-one-half story bungalow with a rectilinear plan. The shingled, side-gabled roof contains two gabled dormers and a central brick chimney that projects through the roof just below the ridge. The smaller of the two dormers, both of which have exteriors of wood shingle, contains a small, fixed window, and is located on the southern edge of the roof on the front slope (just below the ridge). The larger dormer stands in front of the smaller dormer, and contains sliding-glass windows. (The wooden windows were taken out at some point and replaces with aluminum sliders..The porch gable is also of wood shingles below the eaves, while the rest of the house is overlap wood siding with wood trim, Large, fixed windows adorns the facade. Tapered wood posts atop cement piers support the roof beam. Approach to the central front entry is by a side approach up from the driveway on the north.

H.C. Deming is an architect that has built 10-12 other craftsman in the Pasadena area. From Bungalow Heaven, Highland Highs and South Pasadena. His signature is to put the entry door at an angle.