Downstairs Flooring – Projects

This weekend we finished cleaning up under the downstairs floorboards. Our contractor is going to start in 2 weeks on replacing the bad floor joists. Afterwards they will install a new sub-floor and re-install the original floor boards. Finally, we will have them sanded and sealed for another 50 years of usage:)

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Here are the original floorboards to be re-installed. We still need to remove nails and place them in piles based on size to make it easier for the flooring contractor.

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We had to make room in our garage area to place all the extra wood from the retail area. We are storing any extra wood for future projects.

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As for the upstairs, we continue to work on numerous projects. Here is the buffet we just finished painting. We still need to mount a painting above it.

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An overview picture of the buffet placement between the front door and kitchen area.

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In the next couple of weeks we will be finishing the downstairs, having the upstairs front door replaced, and cleaning up the bar stools to be placed along the kitchen island. The front door was not installed correctly and we are having to replace it.

More Projects

We continue to gain more and more projects. Here is an antique buffet we are restoring to go upstairs next to our front door. We are going to place our white marble Italian statues on it.

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Another project is bar stools. We had the pads recovered and now we need to clean the metal, paint where needed, and then put them back together. We are going to place them along the Kitchen Island and the Camera Bar.

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We also were able to clean out one of our storage units. Only one more to go!!!!!

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This is a part from the Consolidated Lithograph we are turning into a bar area upstairs that we had in storage.

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Finally this past week we had our internet speeds increased. When we moved in we went with AT&T. All AT&T could provide us was DSL at 18Mbps down and 2 Mbps up. Everything was slow and our security cameras would not work correctly. We finally changed over to Spectrum Business, Its 400 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up. Much better.They did have some challenges though getting it into the building and avoiding the power lines.

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Flooring Cleanup

The downstairs flooring continues. We finished exposing the broken floor joists and now we are cleaning up all the trash, old wood, and broken bricks left over from the years.

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We are having to replace almost all of the floor joists on the east wall.

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And here is the final pile of wood we saved. We will need to remove the nails, plane/even them up, and then our contractor will reuse them above the new subfloor/floor joists.

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Along with the flooring we continue with our numerous projects. We found some bar stools for upstairs. We removed the seat pads and are having them recovered.

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And finally an overview of the upstairs from when you walk up the south-side stairway. Things are coming together.

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Banister Renovation

Nothing really new to report. We are still restoring the original banisters to reuse on the stairs to the 2nd floor loft area. The past couple of weeks have been working with the bank and contractors to work out the final details on the remaining items. This week is a Holiday week so we do not expect much progress other than coordination.I’m hoping to gather some good video footage over the July 4th Holiday and will post them as I take them.

Until then, enjoy the beautiful warm weather here in Cleburne Texas!!!!!

 

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Reclamation & Revival

This week we focused on reclaiming some original parts of the building and some architectual salvage we found here and there. Our contractor continues to plumb the upstairs and they began the electrical work.

Upstairs plumbing rough-in courtesy of Mr. Bill’s Plumbing (Thanks Robert!).

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The electricians are starting to bring in supplies.

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Look, new electric boxes!

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To comply with fire codes we had to reverse the direction of the interior stairs.  We asked the builder to keep the banisters. Our plan is to strip them and refinish them so they can be reused. The one shown below is one solid piece of wood that is 18’ (feet, yes feet) long. 

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Ok, I may have over estimated my abilities, HGTV makes it look so easy!  The banisters had been stained, then painted beige, blue, and finally green. Have i mentioned how much i like Ready Strip. It’s the only way I could do this.  It’s a little ‘gooey’ but it works.  Like we said, the plan is to stain them and reinstall them on the new interior staircase.  And look at the results, the banisters haven’t even been sanded or refinished in this picture and they are incredibly beautiful.   

 

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Finally, we wanted to share some Architectural Salvage we have found to add to the decor.

This is going to be our master bathroom vanity (salvaged and repurposed) with our vessel sinks and the new faucets (Amazon) that just arrived.

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And a set of accordion doors we have modified to be used upstairs on the Material Lift. They still need to be stripped and repainted.

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