Other Projects and Purchases

I lined up an electrician to arrive the day after we got there. He showed up in the afternoon and got some more lights hooked up.

 

Previously the three sconces in the back hall were just bare light bulbs sticking out of the wall, see below, a photo from last May.

Now these bronze and brass fixtures with milk-glass shades are in place.

The night before the electrician came, as we were driving from the bridge where Mom and Dad picked us up, after Jim drove us from Moncton airport to the bridge, we stopped at the Home Depot in Charlottetown to get some LED rope light for the kitchen pantry. The wiring was already there, just need to be hooked up. In my haste to pick something up I got LED rope light that is in several colors, and you can program flashing and fades, so I now call this the disco closet.

The stair lights to light up the steps have been in place for a year, but we didn't have the transformer to make them work, so we got that hooked up. They work really well and we keep these on all night when there is anybody sleeping upstairs.

The lighting project below didn't require the electrician. I had this electric floor lamp since the late 80s, and I just put candles in it as the wiring was rotted away. Dad restored the lamp, and rewired it, so I got these lamp shades and the big LED bulb for the center, and its in our bedroom.

Before we got there Dad restored the old wood box for the kitchen porch. It was in rough shape and in pieces, but Dad got it back together, and made a top out of salvaged boards from the garage door. Lift the lid and the recyclable bin is there. It also serves as a bench for putting on your shoes. I'm not going to refinish or paint it, just going to leave it as is.  

Modern double mattresses are 2 inches longer than they were when the old bed frames were made. Therefore, we haven't been able to set up the old beds. However, I found a welder who cut the rails on this bed and added 3 inches (1 extra inch for stuffing the sheets down the ends), so now we can use this frame again!

 

Dad stripped all of the many layers of paint off the frames about 10 years ago. They were meant to be painted though, and the iron was starting to rust, so I primed and painted this frame.

The finish is metal spray-paint in oil rubbed bronze. It has a really nice finish. Dad had also polished the brass bed knobs and they look great against the dark colour of the frame.

The south wall of the back hall was originally an exterior wall, and has the only original cedar shingles left in the building. The wall is painted a yellow with white trim, the colour scheme that the house had when I was small. I carried with me on the plane this antique picture frame that I've had for about 25 years, with its original red velvet matte, and I had a photo of the house as it looked when  I was small printed for it. The glass was missing, so I had the glass replaced with UV protected glass at Michaels in Charlottetown. I hung it on the shingle wall, so you can see how the house looked, on original shingles in the same colour as in the photo.

Below is the photo in the frame. The print was made form a slide that my grandfather took, and I think it was taken about 1965.

Dad had a painting I did 15 years ago hanging in an old frame in the mechanical room, so I also took it to Michaels and had it custom framed. It now hangs in the dining room.

The painting is of Main Street in Springhill, and the church on the left side is the one Mom and Dad were married in.

David and I walked down the trail to the village one morning and passed a yard sale. This little table and chair set was for sale so I picked them up for the new deck. We cleaned off most of the old paint which was flaking and falling off, and Dad plans on cleaning off the rest over the winter. Next time I am there I'll spray-paint them, likely the same colour that I used on the bed frame.

I needed a side table, and a mirror in our room. David and I found this dresser in a shop in Point Prim.

 Its missing one knob, and the mirror, but I'll get those parts next time I'm home. I like that its very similar to the bedroom set that used to be in the downstairs bedroom, and is now in Mom and Dad's room.

Lots of little details were taken care of this trip. We were again busy every day, but the house is starting to feel really finished.