Parlour Window - Completely Restored

When one owns an antique home, one needs patience. Sometimes a project needs a few years to be completed. The parlour window - aka my studio window - is an example. In June 2011, I did a quick painting and glazing job, just to protect the wood and make it less draughty until I could get to it and do a proper restoration. Four seasons later and it's done.

June 2011: temporary and superficial 'make-up' job

1- One of eight windows in the tower part of the house. 2- Frame is separating from he glass. 3- Rot along the bottom of window. 4- mint green paint found in the paint history of the house

Badly peeling, cracked, brittle with extensive rot - not to mention, very draughty. Several windows needed to be replaced.

Our contractor for this project was Brian Harris of Heritage Renovations. He removed the windows making sure to note original placements. Each window had slightly different measurements.

Through his contacts with Amish wood craftsmen, the windows were perfectly reproduced. We highly recommend Heritage Renovations; Brian Harris is a real pleasure to deal with. In our case, he had to work with an antique house, but he can handle pretty much anything: new homes, homes designed for people with special needs, even bridges. 

 The new wood windows were re-installed in 2013, but only this season was I able to strip the paint and do a proper restoration. The old windows will retire in the basement on the DV's architectural salvage shelves.

 Stripping

 Sanding and Priming

 Painting

 In the lower portion of the window, there was rot in the frame. You can see my screw driver poking the soft, crumbling wood.

 Wood hardener and epoxy did the trick.
"Ah, the smell of epoxy in the morning, it smells like… restoration"

A seamless restoration

Now for the shutters. Below is a shot of the DV circa 1940.

Note the 'split shutters', rarely seen. The originals are long gone, but the previous owners were diligent in having them perfectly reproduced, just as we did with the windows.

The DV circa 1940s

Brian screwing in the original shutter hardware.

Fully functioning shutter hardware - hinges and locks

 The split shutters permits me to 'customize' the amount of light in the studio, all the while
allowing privacy.

Voila! Too bad it's partially hidden by my magnolia.

Shutters really dress up a house and I love that most of them can still open and close properly.

The last window to be restored on the DV is the top tower window, aka Brian's study, aka The English Study for our B&B guests. This will be a job for a contractor along with the upper trim near the roof line.
Must make more money before that can happen.