Victorian Front Entrance Doors - Completed

Here we are, the doors are done and I don't think visitors will be expecting Vincent Price to answer when they ring.

Fresh and clean.

They coordinate nicely with the windows and shutters.

And they show up a little better through the glass doors than the darker version.

Victorian Front Entrance Doors - Part II

The other door has been stripped, sanded and painted, just like the first one. I thought that it would be nice to reproduce the scroll pattern from the window on to the bottom square frame.

So I traced it, transfered it on to my computer and retraced it in Illustrator so it's straight and precise.

I then printed out, cut it with a blade knife to get a template. This template was used on each door in the four corners of the square frame.

I filled in the lines with the garnet red paint using a #4 and #0 paint brush.

Victorian Front Entrance Doors

My last house project for the season will be to repaint the front doors so they nicely match the freshly painted front windows and shutters. They are double wooden doors, original to the house and extremely heavy. I'm not sure if the etched glass is original to those doors, I find it hard to beleive that the glass would have remained intact all these years. Nevertheless, they are lovely. I first mentioned the front doors in October 2009 and again in January 2010.

The wooden doors are behind glass doors with aluminum frames. I'll try to make those aluminum doors look as good as these types of doors can, until we find something more appropriate. There is nine inches of frame between the glass doors and the wooden doors and there is an arched window above. Both offer architectural details that can be emphasized with different paint colours. I also intend to use some pattern details from the etched glass to repeat in the bottom square frame of the wooden doors. Let's see how that turns out.

The old paint was peeling in this strange bubbly way. When the sun hits the front entrance, I think the glass doors magnify the intensity of the sun on the wooden doors. On a sunny day, you could bake a cake in the space between those doors. Using pale colours as opposed to dark ones on those doors should help.

After stripping and sanding.

Back on it's hinges to see the effect. Good! Now, the other door.

Note that the glass aluminum door and outer frame have been done beforehand.

Eavestrough-Day 2

An early start to Day 2. Work began on the North side of the house, taking advantage of the neighboring school property.

Coming through the driveway gate to work on the back of the house. You can see the passage that leads to our driveway is between two houses. It's an ancient "right of way" that is still in effect from when there was a horse and carriage turn at the back. It's pretty tight, but there is just enough room.

We rarely use this driveway, but it's convenient when we have wood delivered or have work done on the house.

Coming full circle to the North side.

Job completed.

New Eavestrough on the Old Lady

A few posts ago, I had mentioned that our eavestrough needed to be replaced – one of our summer musts. Well the time has come. For the next few days I will be like those little old men you see watching construction sites, except I'll be taking pictures.

Day 1: Front West side.

Six More Windows & Shutters Done

This Sunday, Brian and I spent the day putting the shutters back in place. With these six windows completed, along with the three done earlier, I'm down to 16 from 25. I figure, I can manage 8 windows per season without going batty. By the way, there is a little bat living behind one of our upper window shutter - I know because of the droppings seen on the patio, right below. I will try to catch it on camera, before it migrates.

The two front west windows on the main level.

The two south side windows on the main level. You can see one of the original shutter colours on the second level.

The two windows right just past the gate. One facing east, one facing north.

Okay, I guarantee that you won't see anymore posts about my windows and shutters... until next spring.