New entry way - before and after photos

The original door to the home was a faux double door: one side was a facade that didn't open, the other side did. The other problem with the doors was that it was completely blocking any light on that side of the house.

Here's the "before" shot taken from the inside, dated from when we bought the house:


And "after" with the new door:

Here's the exterior "before"  (and you can see how the bottom of the door is chipping away from weather exposure, etc.)

And here's the "after"

New entry way - before and after photos

The original door to the home was a faux double door: one side was a facade that didn't open, the other side did. The other problem with the doors was that it was completely blocking any light on that side of the house.

Here's the "before" shot taken from the inside, dated from when we bought the house:


And "after" with the new door:

Here's the exterior "before"  (and you can see how the bottom of the door is chipping away from weather exposure, etc.)

And here's the "after"

Before and after: Wood Floor refinish

I had a local company refinish the hardwood floors of the upper story.  The worst case was the back bedroom which had the padding glued on.  End results were amazing:

Before:

After:

A final polish still needs to be done but this room went from nightmare to awesome in just a few days.

Master Bedroom: replacing painted over heat registers with a new one

This was a fairly difficult job as the two originals were attached to the wall with very long nails and also embedded with a thick layer of paint.  After many frustrating minutes of using a utility knife, a cat's claw, and some brute strength, I was finally able to free it.

The new register is made by Decor Grates and purchased via Amazon.  The back of the inside has a lip as does the front, so bending of the duct work was required to get it to fit.  That and some judicious tapping with a hammer / wood block to get the new grate to drop into place.

This looks great and will look even better once the wood floors are sanded and polished.

New nickel trim installed for recessed lighting

In the back living room there is a ceiling bump out that has three recessed lighting cans.  The original white trim had been painted over and the "eye" was an abominable peach color.  I decided to replace these with new silver/nickel trim - at only $12 a pop via Ebay it was a good upgrade.

Original lights:

New Trim, same flood lights:

Replacing the Ceiling Heater Registers with a new design

The original ceiling heater registers are definitely original - and have been painted over several times.  Instead of trying to hide the register from sight, I decided to draw the eyes to them with something more interesting.

For comparison here is the old unit:

Removing the original took some work with a razor blade but, as you can see, several layers of paint still came with it - so some filler will be needed in the future.  For the replacement I decided on these units from Decor Grates - an "Oriental" wall unit that has a faux rubbed bronze look.  They are fairly inexpensive and not particularly sturdy for foot traffic, but a ceiling location would work just fine.

  

 

Replacing Bathroom Wall Lights with a pair of Nuvo 60-2868 fixtures

I find these original faux-carriage lights absolutely hideous, so I was more than happy to replace them.

I found these nice units on Amazon - good price and uncommon enough that they don't look like something out of an Ikea catalog.  The glass is curved and held in by a nice looking nickel.  The supplied metal mounting rings didn't quite fit the outlet(!) box that were mounted in the wall, so I had to drill out a section of the ring to get a tight fit.  The end result was quite pleasing:

Soon I plan to replace the hideous three bulb vanity above the mirror.