CH: Day 77
More paint!
.
And…drum roll, please…there is more.
But, I advise getting a glass of wine.
Then (and this is critical) fasten you seat belt.
Scroll way down…
IT WAS MOVING THE DOOR DAY!
Justin (L) and Brock. I was smiling, too.
Nice view!
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All framed in with new header. I pushed the entry to the right as I wanted its vertical side trim to kiss the vertical corner trim.
Door frame(and sidelight frame) in! The frame originally had two sidelights but the right one had plastic filling in for the lost beveled glass. Oh, the horror.
Squee! The sidelight is beveled glass. The door…sigh…has plastic. I am looking for another door with its doorknob of the right, and with beveled glass.
All in place. Although I laughed when looking at this. I said to Justin: “It looks like hillbillies did this!” It will, of course, look fine once finished.
Again, the deck will soon be relocated to the NW corner. At some point the new porch will have a roof, and a corner column matching the Cross House columns. This NW corner originally had a covered porch (which is the inspiration for all this work).
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How wonderful the doors now face one another. That is as it should be.
The door does look odd to me pushed all the way over to the corner. Even reversing the door knob to the other side still looks odd. I think it is the sidelight and that sliver of wall both being on the same side. I would have put the sidelight and that sliver of wall on opposite sides of the door, doesn’t matter which side. This configuration just looks too modern to me.
You can get replacement glass any size, thickness and bevel you want. I went to a glass place locally and had them cut me a thick piece of glass the size of a table, polish and round the edges and then put a bevel on it all the way around the top. I rested it on two classic plaster pillars that I painted and that was my dining room table for years.
I would not forsake the sidelight or the door just because it has a plastic panel. You may find it is cheaper to have a piece of glass cut and beveled than to get a replacement door. A sidelight on each side would not only be balanced but also let in even more light.
But I am so excited you have a front door. Now you can install the window when you are ready because you don’t have to use that as a door. And there is so little siding on the door wall you can get that installed sanded, prepped and painted in no time at all.
The views are just awesome. The door to the Cross House and the Carriage House should face each other. Once you get the porch you envision built it is going to be just amazing.
Oh. And I like the paint job too. Looks like a new house. All of the hard work prepping certainly makes a difference.
Now, can the stairs to the old deck be detached and swung around to the new door for temporary access or are you really going to swing the entire deck around? It must weigh a ton.
I’m assuming Ross also didn’t want to move the floor grate at the front entrance interior? This is completely conjecture, but it was the first thing i noticed in the photos.
He wouldn’t have to with the door swinging the way it does. The grate would be maybe 6 inches into the door area and no one would be walking on it.
I just noticed the other vent as well. Disregard any guesswork on my behalf. (I’m sad we lost the other window, both would have been fabulous.)
Hi Candy! There’re two floor grates. The small one visible in the images. And a very large one in the other corner, covered by a piece of sheetrock. The later is no longer required and, when the flooring is repaired and refinished, the large opening will be infilled with oak.
The small vent will be moved over to the far right where the large opening now is. Its former location will also get infilled.
In short, when everything is done there will be one small floor vent over to the right (east).
The little vent wouldn’t matter with a sidelight in that spot.
I was suggesting using both side lights, one on each side and the door in the middle, swinging the original way. The plastic for both the second sidelight and the door can easily be replaced with glass that matches the original sidelight including the bevel. Using sidelights on each side the door would be centered with no need to move the knob and I think using all three components would fill that space all the way to the corner allowing Ross to still do the trim the way he wants at the corner and no need for any siding at all except above the door. It would be a bit more light in the foyer but with that large window probably not needed.
But I’m a symmetrical person and it’s not my house. I also don’t know the dimensions of the inside and all three components might not fit in the opening. I would be afraid if the doorknob is moved to the other side and the door swings the other way it might need a hefty door stop to prevent it from hitting the window and breaking it.
Ross has been spot on in his design decisions to date so I trust when he gets done with the front door of the Coach House the way he wants it, it will be as outstanding as his other decisions. After all, look how fabulous it turned out putting the big window where the door used to be.
My concern was doing all that work, then not being happy and having to do it all over again. Been there too many times and I don’t have the energy or money for major do-overs so I try to get things right the first time. But not my house and Ross knows what he’s doing and what he wants so I have to learn to relax and just trust and be patient. Good practice for me.
“It looks like hillbillies did this!” is a phrase I use often. Lately though I’ve been more honest and will just say, “It looks like I did this!”
Because let’s face it, I don’t want anything to look like I did it. 😉
Awesome work! They did a great job.
Glassworks here in emporia could probably get you a beveled glass cut and put into your doot cheaper than buying another door
And the door can be turned over if you want the door-knob to be on the other side. If turning it over is not, what you want, you could also change the position of the hinges, the lock and the knob, but that is more work.
Another idea: if the second sidelight still exists, you could use it to insert the door in the middle. Plastic can be replaced by glass at a later time, if you are too busy or to financially stretched now.
If you flip the door, the knob is at the wrong height. Changing the position of all of the hardware is not only a lot of work but a lot of patching that never looks right in the end. Replacing glass is easier than doing all of that work.
I’ve installed two slab doors in my house and it is tedious and time consuming work. Of course, I was using hand chisels and a hand plane to bevel the doors and install the hinges. It’s why I totally think things out and think again and measure three times. At my age it is enough of an effort to do it the first time. I really can’t rip stuff out and do it over again if I get it wrong the first time, but I will because it bothers me to look at it.
I had to redo the long sides of my raised bed planter for this reason. It was off. Didn’t match the first planter. Happy now. Still it was another day’s work. Plus a day of resting and contemplating whether it really bothered me that much I should put forth the effort to redo it. In the end, I took it apart and did it over again.
Hillbillies?
Fantastic! Wonderful! Incredible!
Way to go team!!!
The new painted portion is looking good. And Woohoo the door is in, what progress. It is exciting Ross.
Kind of agree with Mary – overall so much better, but the placement looks a little…off.
From an interior perspective, it doesn’t make much sense to have squished the door all the way into the corner so that you can’t even install full width casing. Scooching the whole assembly over 4 to 6 inches would make a huge visual impact.
I gave all this a lot of thought. Of course!
What I was loathe to do was shift the entry a bit to the east as you suggest. This would have meant that the exterior vertical west door trim would have been separated from the corner vertical trim, requiring lap-siding a few inches wide.
Ahhh…no.
Also centering the entry in the foyer would mean it was NOT centered on the exterior wall (as the latter is wider). So, the entry would have looked just a bit off when viewed from the Cross House.
Ahhh…no.
My solution was to forgo symmetry. As the foyer isn’t symmetrical this seemed OK.
There are also numerous areas of casing in the house cut to fit.
Numerous? Off the top of my head I can’t seem to think of any.
If memory serves:
Doorway into secret bedroom from foyer has a clipped top corner to accommodate the stairs, from what I recall. Foyer coat closet door, I believe, has breathing room for casing.
Living room – all doors and windows are positioned well out of the corners with breathing room for casing.
Secret bedroom – the closet door is tucked (nearly) into the corner, though still leaving room for full vertical casing with an inch or so of wall to spare before turning the corner.
Dining room – the new large opening you created into the rear foyer area is squished into the corner with no room for full width vertical casing by your own design. The original doorway was previously much closer to center on the long back wall. The large triple window in the room is well out of the corners. The vertical casing for the opening from dining to living room was altered when that horrible bath was jammed into that corner of the room, but that was not the original design intent.
Pantry – both doors have breathing room for vertical casing.
Kitchen – all the doors and windows have breathing room for vertical casing.
1st floor bathroom – the door and the window both have breathing room for vertical casing.
Laundry – the middle/late 20th century windows were fitted into the corners when the space was converted from its original use as an open porch to an enclosed space.
Staircase landing window – plenty of breathing room for vertical casing, with a clipped bottom apron to accommodate the baseboard running up the stairs. An original feature, sure, but it’s awkward at best. It baffles me why they would not have installed it just a few inches higher off the floor and centered on the run of the stair. Not so much charming as it is eye-twitch inducing.
The middle/late 20th century door at the top of the stairs does not have any breathing room, but there was never intended to be a door there to begin with, as it was once open to below.
Upstairs hallway doors – a couple clipped top corners to accommodate the varying roofline may be present, but no doors squished into corners come to mind.
Upstairs half bath (and closet) – I truthfully don’t remember much about that space at all. I hated that it had no natural light and I spent as little time in there as I had to.
Upstairs gutted bathroom (future master closet) – door is well out of the corners, and the east facing window (I think?) is as well.
Upstairs SW bedroom interior – no door and window casing weirdness.
Upstairs east Sun porch interior- no door and window casing weirdness comes to mind.
Upstairs north bedroom interior- one clipped top corner on the door trim to accommodate the roofline change is all that comes to mind.
Upstairs turret bedroom – there might be something a little funky about the position of the door leading out of the room to what would have been the upper stair landing next to the one going into the room’s original closet, but I don’t quite remember.
The only door and window casing variances from what is normal in the rest of the house seem to be cheaply and haphazardly implemented alterations done well after the house was initially converted into a single family home when it was being used as a multi-unit rental property, or, otherwise of your own doing.
Mary had the right idea – if you’re absolutely hellbent on squishing the door and sidelight into one of the corners, it would look much cleaner for the sidelight to be pushed into the inside corner rather than the edge of the door to be pushed to the very outside edge of the porch. Forcing the exterior corner trim to serve double time as door trim is…weird.
It is not uncommon at all on buildings of this era and style to have narrow sections of lap siding to accommodate necessary spacing for doors and windows.
Cody,
You wrote: “Mary had the right idea – if you’re absolutely hellbent on squishing the door and sidelight into one of the corners, it would look much cleaner for the sidelight to be pushed into the inside corner rather than the edge of the door to be pushed to the very outside edge of the porch.”
Having the entry in the EAST corner would force it to mate with the wide and fabulous entry between the foyer and living room. I had no mention of doing that. I want all five of the doors/windows in the foyer to be stand-alone elements. Having the front door visually compete with the ‘fabulous entry’ is…untenable.
You also wrote: “Forcing the exterior corner trim to serve double time as door trim is…weird.”
As I previously explained, I’m not doing weird. The west vertical entry trim will KISS the corner trim.
A big focus of mine is to declutter the exterior and make visual sense of it. Hence, not wanting (from west to east):
1) Corner trim.
2) Like a 2-inch-wide strip of lap-siding, top to bottom
3) The vertical door trim.
By not doing #2, #1 and #3 can kiss…a clean look.
But not installing the entry to the far east, the important ‘fabulous entry’ remains as a stand-alone element.
NOTE: The top-most trim of the ‘fabulous entry’ is cut off as the entry trim kisses the inside corner.
NOTE: I never do anything hellbent. I’m an Aquarian.
Actually, I think the sidelight should be in the corner and the door in the middle. I’d go so far as to put a sidelight on both sides of the door as beveled glass can replace the plastic. That would also allow the door to swing as is with no replacement door necessary or doorstop to protect the window.
Sidelight at the outside corner not inside corner. In other words. I think the current sidelight and door should trade places. That would still allow Ross to trim it as he plans.
Handsome Justin…
Justin is, indeed handsome. So are Scott and Brock.
But I am…well…the most handsome of all!
Ooh, this is exciting! No more climbing in and out a window to get into the house. You can open the door and enter like the civilized gentleman you are.