Down in the Dungeon

Manti basements are the scariest places on the planet. Mine was no exception. The walls were rock and mortar with plenty of niches for spiders to spins their webs and with cement plastered here and there.

The stairs going down to the basement were especially treacherous. My handyman rebuilt the stairs and custom made a hand railing that followed the line of the wall by the stairs. He also repaired the area at the bottom of the stairs, building a box to hide the plumbing and finished off the landing area. I finished and painted some of the walls. I also installed baseboard at the landing to finish off the area.

The furnace worked part time and was plumbed into an old oil-burning monster.

I hired a plumber to remove the oil burning furnace (what a filthy mess) and moved the gas furnace out of the center of the room to the back wall. It had to be reducted. The furnace only worked some of the time, so after several service calls and hundreds of dollars in repairs, I had a new one installed.

I plastered the walls of the one-room basement with cement then finished them with plaster and paint.

I repaired and painted the floor and installed movable shelving units for storage. I especially like the Seville Classic Chrome 48 wide x 72 high inch shelving units. I could buy 2 units and link them together to make 3 units. They are sturdy and easy to install. The heavy casters on the bottom roll easily and lock in place if desired. I also like the small rack at the back that keeps items from falling behind the unit. I like the idea of being able to relocate shelving as needed.

An electrician installed a new electric panel to replace the old fuse box. I also had the electric meter on the outside of the house replaced to bring it up to code. The electrician removed the outdated panel on the kitchen porch and run the existing wires to the new panel in the basement. I also had a new light installed so the basement was not so dark and scary.

Dining in Style?

I think the dining room looks so much more inviting and airy. The new wall color makes the used bricks come alive. Croft-Beck Floors repaired and refinished the floors. I was amazed they could sand off all the remaining tar so easily. The problems with the pine floors are they are so soft and damage easily. But the refinished pine floor goes with the time period of the house and are wonderful to look at.

The dining set is made by Pulaski. I used some antique crocks, an antique commercial butter churn and other furniture I already owned or picked up on sale to furnish the room. The art on the walls are my oil paintings.

The wood burning stove is perfect for taking the chill off the air on cold winter mornings and helps supplement heating costs. I still have not found the perfect rugs or window treatments for this room.

Dining in Blue?

See the interesting orbs captured on a photograph
taken with disposal camera.

Here is a photograph of the dining room before its makeover.

Blue! That is the word for this room. I stripped off three layers of wallpaper. The latest layer was blue with small white dot. The paper made the room look dark. Fortunately the wallpaper had never been painted. I used a product called Wallwik® that when wet, stuck to the walls like a wet towel, holding moisture on the paper to keep it damp. It made stripping the wallpaper much easier.

I stripped about one wall at a time (only an area one package of Wallwik® could cover). Before using the Wallwik® I scored the wallpaper with a wallpaper-scoring tool, which is specifically designed to score wallpaper. This tool has notched teeth that perforate and lift the wallpaper as it rolls along. I added a chemical used for stripping wallpaper into the warm water in a bucket to sponge or spray on the wall to keep the Wallwik® wet. Plaster over lath in old Victorians handle water better than wallboard in newer houses. Patience is important in this process. I kept spraying the wall with a spray bottle from time to time as I saw it drying out especially near the ceiling. In the meantime, I worked on another project. After a couple of hours the paper was well soaked, and I was able to peel most of it off the wall.

My handyman tore up the fake-brick linoleum, pressed wood and also installed crown molding.
Under the linoleum was asphalt tile, tar paper and gooey tar. I expended a lot of effort and time to remove as much tar as I could. The tar paper was nailed down with hundreds of nails. My daughter came to my rescue by helping me with the tedious chore of removing tar and nails. I chiseled away tar. I heated some tar with an old iron on top of a metal cookie sheet until it was soft enough to scrape off. What a job!

My favorite, but now retired, dry-waller skimmed coated walls and installed wallboard on the ceiling. I painted the walls a cream color and the ceiling, door and moldings white. The paint on the walls changes as the light in the room changes. Sometimes it looks pinker then other times it has a golden hue.

The wood-burning stove hearth was built from bricks taken from the old Manti Store after it was torn down. The dark wall paper overpowered the brick.

Living Room: Now to the inside!

After clearing out the resident ghosts, I moved on to the scarier projects at "my old house."

In the living room, there was a crack down the middle of the ceiling from the joist that sagged in the bedroom floor above it. First, After friend removed the floor in the bedroom above the living room, I had the joists repaired and reinforced. A skilled drywaller put in a new ceiling. He did wonderful finish work with no flaws.

My sister and I put up new crown molding, and I sanded and repainted all the mouldings. I hung blinds on all the windows. The windows have storm windows so I do not feel the need to replace them as yet.

A friend rewired the original ceiling light fixture and I shopped around until I found three opaque glass shades that match the center glass.

A contractor wired a light fixture on the east porch and added an outlet in the living room by the door. He also rebuilt the porch floor and steps, taking it back to the original design and supported the steps with a cement slab.

Croft-Beck Floors refinished the original pine floors in October 2004. This room was almost finished! I furnished the room from Ashley, LazyBoy and a few other pieces I found on sale. With a couple of antiques I already owned, three new rugs, and miscellaneous accessories the room was almost done. I would still like to improve on the window treatments, but am stumped on what to get.

My most exciting find was the hanging on the north wall. I looked and looked for something I liked, but alas, my taste was too expensive. One day I said, "I would settle for a blanket to hang there." That night I took a friend out for dinner. We walked from where we parked to the sandwich shop. Wow, hanging in the Ephraim Drug store window was a throw blanket of the historic Manti Temple! It matched the rest of the decor perfectly. The room is now a peaceful sanctuary.

Getting started

Log: November 2001:

I was fortunate to obtain a scan of an old photo of the house. The house was built in 1897 for John and Almira Hall. This photo will be a great help in matching the missing gingerbread trim on the porches and possibly the cresting and finials on the roof.
When I purchased the house in October 2001, this century-old Folk Victorian was showing its age, somewhat neglected and a little abused. This blog will show some of the process of it being rejuvenated to its former beauty, one room at a time. Like a vain woman, the house abhorred its flaws and was delighted with the prospect of becoming a showpiece instead of an eyesore. Although a few of the previous owners had made some improvements and restoration, there was still plenty to do.
One of the first things I did after cleaning the inside of the house was have about a dozen Chinese elms cut down. They were planted too close to the back fence, two of them blocked the view of the Manti temple and one was right where the east sidewalk needed to end. At least I had firewood for a few years. I left two large cottonwoods in the front of the house. I also planted several fruit trees.