Let there be heat

I'm happy to share that we have a new heat source (click photo for Home Depot product info)! This little ditty replaced our old eyesore wall furnace. George got to demo the frame wall and cut out some carpet (he did an impressive job too.) You never know what you'll find in a wall, like an old cutter, dice, or a 29 cent postage stamp.

Corbin lockset with porcelain door knobs. Pat 1870

I just pulled out of the old shed that's in the backyard. Here is a little info on it:

Original Antique Rim (Box) Locks After 1865

By the mid 1860's the basic rim lock was being made as it would remain for the next century. Companies continued to work on improving the working of the lock mechanisms mainly by removing as many unnecessary parts as possible. The rim lock remained the backbone of the lock industry and is still the hardiest lock ever made.

A little more history about these locks and how to add antique locks to your Victorian.

Tuesday Tidbits

(Image from Google Search - Country Living)
A few random tidbits I've noticed after 3 weeks in the Victorian:

In the morning you can see & hear helicopters hovering over the freeway for the traffic reports.

There is a dog, let's call him 'Old Yeller', that often barks during the hours 1 - 3 a.m.

The ceiling is high enough in the front room to jump rope.

Overall, it's quieter than I thought it would be living on a busier street.

The side deck by our kitchen gets the morning sun and is a great spot for a cup of joe.

A little find from 1898

Santa's first film appearance is the same year as our house, who knew?

Santa Claus and the Children (UK 1898). The Very first appearance of Santa on film.

East Bay parks soon to be full of produce - Inside Bay Area

East Bay parks soon to be full of produce - Inside Bay Area

Connecting with your inner builder

We've been in the house barely a week and already had installed new bulbs throughout the house, put in several deadbolts, installed motion sensor lights, security cameras, new blinds, pulled out the weeds in the back, yanked out the old phone lines, changed the shower head, put up drapes and finally put in the Weider workout system in the front of the house. We ordered 3 new double-paned windows and will have Jorge, our contractor, come by in a few days to repair the water damaged corner of the house and install these nice windows.

The house has been very cold because it has no insulation and all the doors and windows have gaps and seem crooked. I suppose a house that has been hanging around the Bay Area for 100 years would have experienced quite a lot of earth movement hence the crookedness of everything. I will need to go and replace all the door and window frames eventually. I started to replace some of the old light switches and found that a few do not have any boxes behind them and are essentially wires surrounded by old wood. Need to deal asap with that.

I found a couple of very nice, long shutters at Urban Ore and cut them to fit as our new french doors. They are different in that they do not contain any glass but you can move the shutters to let in light from the one room to the next. We could go with glass french doors but I learned the home insurer will ding us for them.

A fun fact about the house was to learn that Amelia Earhardt, Sergie Eisenstein, Federico Garcia Lorca were born when this house was built and the US went to war with Spain. Street cars regularly ran down the front of our house and the very first car was sold that same year.

Our contractor has all sorts of ideas to open up the house to make it seem bigger but I really want to keep the quaintness of the original even as I try to understand what that was. I only just discovered that our current entertainment room was once the original kitchen. I hope to have an accurate timeline of when things were added and I will do that by examining the wood studs to determine the changes.