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Beacon Hill: a Garden District Mansion


KathieB

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/26/2018, 12:20:12, KathieB said:

Wow ... 3 months since I've visited this topic. There has been some progress, although not with the electrical system. I'm still thinking about where to hide the power source. The answer will come when I'm ready, I'm sure. :) 

Ok, life and more company got in the way of construction, but this afternoon I got back to work. I took pictures of all of the rooms as they were staged when NJ was here, put the wallpaper in a safe place, packed up the room contents, and enlarged the dining room door to accommodate the Houseworks block and trim interior door. It was a bit tedious using a utility knife/box cutter, but in the end it worked out okay. Now I need to build up the wall so the door frame doesn't stick out awkwardly. Not a big deal. Three more doorways to enlarge. 

But about the electrical system. I still haven't figured out where to put the power source connector for the CR2 system. It's an ugly critter, not smooth and unobtrusive like the junction splice I've used before. Any suggestions? I thought about putting it under the overhang of the kitchen (now dining room) bay, but that would be awkward for attaching the power cord. I suppose I could put it in the open and camouflage with a bush or cellar door, but still, no likely spot comes to mind.

:hmm: Hmmm ... wonder if it could hide under the house, behind the basement window. <Thinking again> But when the fuse needs to be replaced, it would mean emptying the house and tipping it up to reach the fuse. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

In the past month I figured out how to camouflage the power source and posted photos of the staged rooms. I'm sure there will be some tweaking. The staged rooms are blogged here.

And then today I bit the bullet, used the large brass eyelets and hookup wire and voila! -- the electricity works! I pushed on and installed all of the tape runs for the ground floor. Next step will be the tall vertical run to the middle and upper floors. The electrical success is blogged here. None of the lights are installed. Need to install wall treatments first.

Over the hurdle and gaining steam. :D 

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7 hours ago, Sable said:

Kathie, try to use a credit card to get the tapewire tight in the corners between the floor and the wall. 

I am doing that.  It smooths it down nice and tight. :) 

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I really hope you don’t mind my advice with your tapewire. I just want to make sure it works for you for many years to come. From the photos it appears that there might be too much exposed wire from the power source to the eyelets.  If the exposed bottom wire touches the top eyelet the system will short out. You want the plastic sheathing to go all the way to the eyelet with all of the exposed wire wrapped around the eyelet. Forgive me if I am seeing the photo incorrectly.

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2 hours ago, Sable said:

I really hope you don’t mind my advice with your tapewire. I just want to make sure it works for you for many years to come. From the photos it appears that there might be too much exposed wire from the power source to the eyelets.  If the exposed bottom wire touches the top eyelet the system will short out. You want the plastic sheathing to go all the way to the eyelet with all of the exposed wire wrapped around the eyelet. Forgive me if I am seeing the photo incorrectly.

Au contrair!  I appreciate your advice, thank you. :)  In my excitement to see the test light go on I hadn't noticed how much wire was exposed. I've wrapped it tighter around the eyelet. Tragedy averted! :clap: 

Edit: the BH has been in the back of my mind as I do other things today. Suddenly the thought occurred to me that I have not been protecting the eyelet joins with a bit of clear tape as described in the video. I guess I was more excited/distracted than I thought when the test light came on! :D Will do that when I have a chance to get back to work on it, hopefully over the weekend.

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  • 8 months later...
On 12/13/2018, 10:35:05, KathieB said:

Will do that when I have a chance to get back to work on it, hopefully over the weekend.

Note date of previous post. Sheesh. Glad I didn't specify WHICH weekend. When I put something on the back burner, it goes waaaay back! Tonight -- hey, it's only 8-1/2 months later -- I sat down with the Beacon Hill and made progress on the tape wiring. It is about 2/3 finished. I'm testing as I go to be sure all the segments are working but have not installed any lights yet. I will be installing them on a room-by-room basis as I decorate. So far, so good. <knocking wood> It felt good to see that little tester light up with each addition of tape. :)  I am enjoying using the BamBam tool, but had to get a bit creative with how to position and hold it steady in some tricky interior corners. 

I had to enlarge a doorway to accommodate a Houseworks 6-panel door, which I'd forgotten about. I ha the cut lines marked but hadn't cut it out yet. At least one more to be done, maybe two. Will deal with them as the tape wire moves into those rooms. Would have been easier to enlarge before assembly, but ... a little patience with utility knife and small handsaw did the trick.  

One of the reasons (okay, rationalizations) that has kept me from working on this house was that I couldn't figure out where it was going to go on display once off the work table. The other day I realized I'd used the dining room table for guests about 3 times in the nearly two years I've lived here. When I'm alone, I dine on a tv table in the living room. So, the dining table will become the display site. The dining room already has Marie Laveau's cottage, the Halloween Hangout, and Miss Marple's (as yet undecorated) cottage, so it will feel right at home in there. 

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2 hours ago, havanaholly said:

My Glencroft wouldn't become Miss Marple's cottage for me on a bet!

And yet mine is demanding a bicycle with a large basket to lean against the picket fence and chintz-upholstered overstuffed chairs in the lounge. I love how each house has its own personality. :) 

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  • 7 months later...

Well. back in the saddle again! I haven't worked on the Beacon Hill for a while. The electrical is about half done. I have, however, been thinking about it. (Or maybe all this quiet time alone has let me really hear what it has been telling me all along.) After all the fuss and time spent on a copper roof on the turret, I've decided it has to go. And after vacillating about the siding -- clapboard? board and batten? brick? stucco? stone? -- I finally came to a conclusion. The copper will be sanded free of the accumulated verdigris, left as a metal roof but painted  a lovely dark green.The shingles on the other roof sections will also be green.The house will be stucco with a very subtle texture, and there will be egg-carton quoins at the corners, all painted a lovely subtle fog gray -- at east the stucco will be fog gray. The quoins may be a slightly lighter, more stone shade. Trim will be white.  The bottom of the bays and the kitchen windows -- the bits that stick out from the house walls -- will be board and batten, also painted fog gray.

When I stopped working on the outside, I'd gotten to the porch but for some reason could not wrap my mind around installing it. I believe the porch has to go. A nice stone stoop, maybe curved in the corner by the front door, will replace it. The triple window/door above the porch will get a Juliet balcony. 

I ordered the green and gray paint samples from Amazon some time ago. They arrived today. Their arrival and a fresh burst of energy from seeing all my forum friends has me pumped and ready to roll!

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  • 1 year later...

Lisa, I hope your burst of energy carried you farther than mine did for me! Nevertheless, back at work again. Spent a good bit of yesterday and today working on the dining room. See the progress on my blog, here.

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17 hours ago, havanaholly said:

I really like your wallpaper choice for the dining room.

17 hours ago, FurMama said:

Afraid not...maybe soon. I too love your dining room wallpaper choice. 

Thank you, ladies. All of the wallpaper was chosen a few years ago at Miniature Designs. I went armed with the paint chips for each room to use as a guide. It's a little confusing right now, as I did not mark the paper and a few are fairly similar. Did I mean for both of them to be used or were they to be auditioned in situ? :hmm:

Time will tell!

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1 hour ago, Qubanqtee said:

you are moving quickly 😃

I seem to have two speeds -- full ahead or dead in the water. :D 

I'm mentally exploring parquet for the next room (the entry hall/foyer) and won't let myself start the hands-on experimenting until the dining room is finished. Couldn't work on it today but hope to finish it up tomorrow.

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1 hour ago, KathieB said:

I seem to have two speeds -- full ahead or dead in the water. :D 

I'm mentally exploring parquet for the next room (the entry hall/foyer) and won't let myself start the hands-on experimenting until the dining room is finished. Couldn't work on it today but hope to finish it up tomorrow.

you are not alone!!! I'm currently dead in the water lol

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12 hours ago, havanaholly said:

I like the all-wood window wall in the dining room and can't wait to see it with the mentioned window treatments.

Woke up this morning with the window treatment on my mind. See the resulting mock-up here. What do you think? Have to find just the right fabric and can use to cover chair seats as well. Silk, I think, definitely some shiny.  Chintz?

Now, off to find some breakfast and get dressed. The house insisted I do the drapery thing before getting started on the day. And of course I bowed to authority! :D 

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