Monday, August 25, 2008

say goodbye yellow - hello modern vintage

not only paint but FINALLY decorate


























and now for the entryway....

















































hallway >> before and after

























plaster walls and wood trim

learning to skim coat, caulk, and repair really squishy plaster spots...this project we truly learned how to repair plaster walls. the whole corner was beginning to crumble and cave in and now we have never square/sharp lines.
the trick is to with a straight edge and razor to "seer" a square around the area you want to take out. gently tap around the line with the hammer to break the plaster while maintaining the straight edge.
measure the dimensions of the removed section and cut the new quarter inch thick dry wall to as close as possible. using dry wall tape and screws secure to the wood lathe. and then join compound, smooth and sand - repeat, repeat, repeat prime and paint.

for the rest of the plaster walls that do not need to be replaced but are cracked or bumpy - open the crack more and repair. to smooth out the walls we put a very thin skim coat of join compound over all the walls sanded and primed and painted.

BRAND NEW WALLS! we couldn't be happier. the process went much quicker in the living room.




































radiators project finished













removed, valves replaced, sub-floors added, floors replaced, radiators sandblasted, cleaned and primed. they all work! for the first time so well in fact we turned a few off during the cold chicago winter.

Here are the before and after shots. Enjoy. It was well worth it for all the radiators.
BEFORE: gross AFTER: detailed and clean













BEFORE: Floor shots. No sub floor so a few radiators were falling through. New subfloors were added for 3 radiators and the floor boards replaced.


The biggest one fixed.
The dining room.





































The "leaning" tower is no longer.













The valve had to be replaced differently because once we raised the floor and leveled it the valve was too short.