Tuesday, December 8, 2009

New door and chandelier at the Cottage!

I know it's silly to get excited about such small things but if your front door was 100 years old, you'd understand. Our old door was so out of plumb that you could hardly lock it anymore! And the window that had been broken out of it before we bought the cottage had been replaced with a bit of ill-fitting plywood. There was a 1inch gap at the bottom and everytime I left the place, I had to pray that I could slam the door just right in order for it to lock. One time I slammed my finger in it and stood there crying as my son prepared to catch me as I fainted from PAIN! So NOW maybe you can understand my JOY! Just look how perfectlly square it is! Aaaaaah.....



Here is the old door. I painted the little plywood piece blue just to make it tolerable. In the 2nd pic you can see light coming through the crack where it was screwed to the door! Ugh.
Look at this photo from the inside. At the top of the jamb you can see that it was practically 3" off square! No wonder I could never get it shut! The workers had to remove the original trim but were able to get it back up. You can see they had a little trouble with the plaster/lathe coming off on the left but they patched it pretty well.


Inside view. The new locks work like a dream. I'm very happy. ('Scuse the unpainted section of the floor.)

Check out my chandelier! I bought it at a garage sale for $2. It had no crystals and it was all brass so I took it apart, rewired it and painted it white. I bought an old table lamp for $10 that had aurora borealis crystals and used them for the chandelier. They are awesome!

Look how they sparkle like tiny rainbows!
I bought 2 ceiling medallions at the Escondido AMVETS for about $5. (Try to fit THAT in your carry-on luggage!) You can see I used the smaller one here. The center hole was a bit small for the electrical box so I just jig-sawed it bigger and then glued the thing up there with that super-caulking-industrial-glue-stuff. It ain't goin' nowhere!
My daughter and I have been working of Christmas crafts and I hope to have a few pictures of them for you next time!
Merry Christmas
rosie



















5 comments:

GARAGE SALE GAL said...

Hi Rosie,
Your new door is great!!! and the chandiler...AWESOME and big time SCORE!!! It is very pretty. You are one handy gal.
I read your post from Friday...famous one that you are!
and the huge thrift store looks like you could be there for hours.
Can't wait to see your Christmas decor and projects.
Warmly,
Deb :)

Emily said...

What a wonderful job you did on the chandelier!!!! It is soooo dreamy!!!!

Emily

Fawn said...

Love the chandelier... and what an improvement on the door! Old can be highly romanticized, but sometimes practicality has to win out! Congratulations on having your new gapless living :)

Pansy Cottage Girl said...

Hi Rosie~
Well it looks like things are coming along. We are just about done with a complete "gut" too. My daughter and son inlaw will be moving in soon. Love your chandelier.

The Little Miss said...

looks soooo great!!!!!! Amvets is amazing...next time ur down let me know and we can go together :) Im like 3 minutes away from Amvets!
xo