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Back in November,

one of our blog updates included this optimistic statement: "The current
major project is to complete the downstairs hall. Andi ripped down the ugly old
(but not period) wallpaper and has started repairing the plaster and cleaning.
The goal is to have the hall completed by Christmas."

Christmas has long since past, but we are finally finished with the main
hall. It’s fair to say, this was a much bigger project than we first imagined.
As you can see from the before and after pictures, the hall has been transformed
from just a big, cluttered space into an elegant, welcoming entry and gathering
place. At long last, the hall is ready for furniture.

Photo galleries:

Before |

After |

Platform |

Painting |

Stair Refinishing |
All galleries

Without torturing you with all of the details, here is a run-down of the
major activities we completed during this part of the project:

Painting:
While the walls and ceiling were fundamentally sound, they did require a lot of
repair and prep work, including removing wallpaper from the area around the
stairs. The basic painting was very straightforward … the ceiling is flat
white, the walls are claire de lune (one of the Victorian Behr colors), and the
beadboard and trim are a white semi-gloss. Just that would have been enough, but
Andi added stenciling to all of the walls. The front hall includes a massive
effort that covered virtually all of the walls and the back hall has a small
part of the pattern repeated on a grid pattern.

Stairwell
platform: Since the ceilings on both floors are 12-feet high, we had to take
time out to figure out how to reach the second floor ceiling and walls above the
open areas of the stairs. My suggestion was to buy a jet pack, but Andi wanted
something a bit more more down-to-earch. So, we build a platform that covered
the entire area. The platform included a hatch so we could go and and down the
stairs during our work.

After building the platform, we started repairing, stripping and painting at
the top. We finished about a third of the upstairs hall before we were able to
remove the platform and continue working toward the bottom. On the stairs, we
build a mobile platform that could be moved up and down the stairs as needed.
(By the way, I later saw where another blogger on
HouseBlogs.net had the
same problem. His solution looked like an accident waiting to happen. Our
solution took longer, but felt a lot safer.)

Stair
refinishing: Once the painting was completed, Andi took on the refinishing
of the stairs with her normal energy and attention to detail. All of the dark
old finish was stripped off of the hand rails and replaced with a clean coat of
polyurethane. The spindles were painted with a crisp, semi-gloss white paint.
The treads were stripped and refinished. And, as a final touch, Andi put a
stencil pattern on the face of each step. Some day, we’ll add a carpet runner to
up the stairs, but even now, they look really amazing.

Lighting
and electrical: When we started, there was no overhead lighting, so we added
wiring for an overhead chandelier in the front hall and for wall sconces in the
back hall. The chandelier came from an estate sale in nearby Social Circle and
the wall sconces were bought on E-Bay. We also added or replaced outlets and old
wiring where needed. The only thing we are missing is a new light going up the
stairs.

In between all of these projects, we had a case of spring fever and did some
minor landscaping and yard work projects that I’ll tell you about in a later
post.

Once of the tactics we’ve adopted during this project is to complete one
project before we start another. In this case, the hall took more than twice as
long as we had estimated, but it’s officially done and we are moving on. This
week, we started work in Candice’s bedroom. She’ll be home from college around
May 15, so that’s the goal for having that room completed. It’s got it’s own
story, that I’ll tell you about soon. Stay tuned.

It’s taken about a month to nearly finish the back half of the downstairs hall. The effort was slowed by other projects, work, travel, and (of course) the normal complications of working on a 110-year-old house. Major improvements included removing wallpaper, repairing plaster, electrical rehab and additions, cleaning and painting. Photo gallery.

You can see in the photos where we had to build a substantial scaffold/platform in the stairwell to the second floor. Without the scaffold, we would have needed a hovercraft to reach the second-floor ceiling and portions wallls in the upstairs hall.

We still have work to do in the hall before we call it complete. The stairs, handrails, spindles and some other wooodwork needs to be stripped and refinished. We found some very cool sconces on E-Bay that need to be installed. And, I’m sure there are other odds and ends before this portion of the project is done.

Stay tuned.

Happy new year! We have had a very good Christmas season here at the Newborn House. Candice was home from college and we had time to relax and enjoy time with our families. We hope you also enjoyed good times, good food and good company.

In between the normal holiday activities, we did manage to squeeze in some time to finish another section of the house. The front section of the entry hall is now complete. Work in this area included plaster repair, painting, stencilling, new lighting, and some minor electrical work. (Here’s a link to a photo gallery of the front hall.)

The front half of the entry hall is separated from the back half by a large arch, so we’ve worked our way to the arch and will tackle the back half of the hall next. Following that, we’ll probably do the dining room and second bath so that we’ll be finished with the downstairs.

But first, Andi has some non-house-restoration projects lined up for January (Stephanie, your curtains are on the way very soon.). And, I have some electrical work and other prep work that needs to be done so that we can get a crew in here to put some insulation in this house.

After nearly a year of work on the interior of the house, we have completed the kitchen, a full bath/laundry room, the master bedroom, the parlor and the front hall. (We’ve also done a good bit of work to the exterior, mechanical systems, and other projects.) Our original expecation/hope was that we would be able to finish most of the work in about a year. Since we’re only about half done, it proves my theory that everything takes about twice as long as you expect.

It’s my understanding that the front hall of a house like ours would have had a very important purpose back in the old days. When weary travellers were passing through, it was traditional for homeowners to allow them to seek shelter from bad weather or to overnight in the front hall. Back in even earlier times, the travellers would even have brought their animals into the front hall.

I don’t know that we’ve ever had either weary travellers or beasts of burden in our front hall, but it is now a welcoming sight for anyone who stops by for a visit.

Stay tuned for more updates.