Hello from the colonies, well Canada any way.

[Gothichome]

The following pics are during the process of restoring.

All that remains (other than a few pullies in the basement) of a circulation heater.
The floor and temporary sink arrangement that I put in to keep the kitchen some what functional.

Hear is the second layer of flooring. Green square composite tiles, probably from the forties or fifties. On top of this was a heavy vinyl sheet flooring imitating parquet, probably a late sixties or early seventies install.

 

[Gothichome]

And a few of The finished kitchen.

Looking from the other corner.

One more from yet another corner

And our new range

This project was the wife’s vision, I was for the most part just the labourer charged with getting it done. :lol:

 

[Abi Cott]

I like how she has designed it. I can see it being quite a practical working space. Due to UK regs I'd have put a bit of worktop on either side of the cooker, but as a professional kitchen designer please send her my congratulations.

It looks fab and very in keeping with the free standing furniture, and it has the hallmarks of a highly functional space for modern living.

 

[Gothichome]

Abi, thanks for the kind words, she will be happy to know it has the approval of a pro.
My thoughts on the design before we started the project was a more period correct look, stand alone antique cabinets ect with a large harvest type table in the middle of the floor. Her vision was more of a modern approach with wall mounted cabinets and the such. The island was a compromise. It worked out well though. As far as work space, the dishwasher, sink and cupboard are close together in a work triangle arrangement, same for the stove, fridge and prep area, the back side of the island affords a large area for rolling out things for baking ect.
I had some creative thinking to do to get the mechanics of the restoration worked out. Biggest issue was the forced air run beside the chimney mass, the trim was different between the original and the heating run, you can see it in the picture with the green floor tiles, and the original sink location when the first plumbing was installed. Here is a picture of that area.

My solution was to remove the original trim from the chimney mass and use it the fill the missing section were the sink was. I then boxed in the chimney mass to make it flat all the way to the corner. I salvaged what little we had of the bead board left in the upstairs bathroom to match the original and fitted a flat board in place of original trim.
Here is the same (old sink) wall after I was finished.
,
Unfortunately the floor was unsalvagable, so it got a new tile floor and the ceiling was strapped and boarded.
At the end of the day, every thing that the home was built with is still intact and in place so if future owners would like to do a proper restoration it is all there.

 

[Gothichome]

Mike, our bricks are 2 1/2x4x8 long. They are a soft brick, and the dimensions are not a perfect size, or the shape all exactly the same. It was suggested to me by a historical fellow that they were probably made on site. As far as the monk bond, there are a few bigger homes in the area using it but the smaller homes seemed mostly to use a simple running bond.
Here is a picture of a wall that was never exposed to the elements.

At the time our home was being built they added a summer kitchen or scullery to the back of the home. It must have been added very shortly after the home was built. The quality of the brick laying is not nearly as good as the main house. The picture I posted is the main house wall that the add on was built against. It was plastered over. When I redid the summer kitchen I removed the plaster. The lime pointing still has the sharp edges from the trowel.

Odd, they looked longer than that. I'd be very surprised if they were made on site. Brickyards used to be set up all over the place, but only where there was a good supply of uniform clay.

Is that photo upside down? If not, then the ruled pointing has been done the wrong way up! But nice to see the white mortar, which always shows bricks off a whole lot better than grey.

Folks, just after I joined PP we had a discussion between MikeG and TheForge and others about the bricks that went into our home. If still interested, I Just found this short write up of a local brick maker. The dating is pretty close to the build date of Gothichome. In the article it states the fellow, a Mr Cornhill owned the land in 1885, our home was built a few years earlier, but there is no reason not to believe he may have been making bricks on leased property earlier than him owning the land. This location is at the opposite side of town from Gothichome but on the river were he was pulling the clay for his bricks. And most probably barged the bricks down rive.
https://www.chathamthisweek.com/opinion/columnists/brick-making-business-grew-along-with-chatham
Ron

 

[Gothichome]

More progress on the main floor hall restoration, this is the rear door. I now have it finished. This door led onto the rear porch. The full porch is long gone it now exits onto a smaller enclosed porch.

As you will notice at some point in the homes life one of the etched glass panes has been replaced. Try as I might I can not find any one making flash glass to make a replacement, other than the front door restoration this makes the hallway fully restored to as it was built.

 

[Feltwell]

***Warning - Totally amateur conjecture, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing****

"Stained" glass in English churches is, in reality, painted - and the paint is translucent. I wonder if someone who knows what they are doing could paint the blue background onto a piece of clear glass to replicate the original panel?

A firm like this - but they are a long way from Canada....

https://www.masterglassartists.co.uk/

If such companies exist in Canada, it's an outside chance if it can be done but could be worth an email at least. If such companies do not exist in Canada (must be someone doing it I would have thought?) then if well packed sandwiched between plywood I don't see any reason why glass couldn't be shipped internationally.

 

[Gothichome]

Feltwell, we have a company of similar quality up the highway about an hours drive. They do a lot of church restoration windows and also do custom stained and painted glass work. We have discussed our problem with them in the past. They have no problems with tracing the pattern but they can not get the flash glass. I have found a source in Europe (France if I recall correctly). But the cost would be prohibitive. For both getting the glass here in one piece and the work to etch it. Going with a clear glass and applying a blue film never crossed my mind but it is one hell of a good option. I will have to do some research in that direction.

 

[Gothichome]

For those who are interested another update to the restoration. Our main hall closet door.

When we bought the home we found this door leaning against the home behind several large lilac bushes. It has sat in the basement for nine years. As pictured it is just resting in the door frame. One of my winter projects was its restoration and fitting into its rightful place.
Finished it up about a month ago.

And the Eastlake hardware.


Sorry for the dark grainy pictures but my iPad doesn’t like poor light when taking pictures.

 

[Feltwell]

Very nice, great detailing on the doorknob.

 

[malcolm]

You are doing a fabulous job there and so lucky to find the original door lurking around. It would have taken a lot of kitkats to get around to making a replacent door that works so well. Lovely to see arts and crafts surviving and being preserved so well.

Just looked through the rest of the thread - what a lot of paint stripping. So worth it!

 

[Gothichome]

Feltwell, Malcolm. Thanks for the kind words. Paint scraping, it is my life’s work, or so it would seem, we are always scraping. I have learned that the stain was unpainted up to 1962 when the people we bought the home from bought it. I have lost four doors on the main floor, two will be replaced with Portieres, between the hall and front parlour and the hall and dinning room. The other two enter into the kitchen. Don’t know what we will do there.

 

[Gothichome]

Folks, an update on our front door project.

The exterior work is finished and the new leaded glass panels in.
Here are a few of the details, our proper Eastlake hardware, some of the trim details and one of the panels.



And just one more, looking out from the inside.

Ron

 

[Feltwell]

Very nice indeed!

 

[RBailey]

Very nice, looking good.

 

[plasticpigeon]

I love that you have enbraced the dark decor. Have you wood grained the door from the lilac bushes? Stained glass and front door look super!

 

[Gothichome]

Folks just to prove I have not been slacking over here. The interior side of the front door project is complete.

And the before image.

Ron

 

[Gothichome]

Some progress on Gothichome, I have been working on the upstairs bathroom restoration. Got the floor tiles down last week and will soon be starting the wall tiling.



From what I could glean from the scares of other configurations this will be the fourth reincarnation of the bathroom. This is the rear landing from the servants stairs. Originally it was a smaller landing and a trunk closet. The original indoor plumbing upgrade was built into the closet and drained strait into the river. At some point that was reconfigured, the wall of the closet taken out to creat this large space. Judging from the wallpaper I suspect some were in the early 1900’s. About 1962 it got another refit. This is what we inherited.



The sink I believe was the last remaining item from the original closet bathroom. Every thing else was1960’s green.
We are bringing the look back to about a 1910 sanitary tile and porcelain look.

Ron

 

[Gothichome]

For those who have been following along. Here are the latest pictures of our bathroom project.




Completed the tiling last weekend, starting to install the fixtures.

Ron

 

[malcolm]

That's amazing work. The style really follows the style of the house and could be 100 years old already.