#950 DIY Improvements.

We got lots of cool things done on the house tonight! Let’s start at the beginning.

As you might already know, Ben has been trying to build one frame every evening until we finally get all of our artwork framed and hung. This morning the stain was finally dry enough on one frame I’ve been particularly excited about, so we hung it up in the dining room.

Ben found this flag for $5 at an estate sale earlier this year. He didn’t know anything about it, he just thought it looked cool. We did some research and the best sources we’ve been able to find tell us it is a centennial flag from 1876. It was probably sewn with one of the earliest sewing machines ever made. I wish we knew more about the previous owner and why he had it folded and tucked away in his garage, but I guess we’ll never know. It’s a great conversation piece that adds some shabby Americana to the room.

A few days ago I found this 5-drawer table at Hobby Lobby on deep markdown. I liked it all right, mostly because it’s the very size and shape for what I’ve been wanting in our entry way, a place to drop keys and mail and store odds and ends. It looked a little cheap (because it is, of course) and the knobs left something to be desired.

So tonight, Ben pulled out the box of hardware we bought from the architectural salvage man in Boston, and put on the vintage copper cup pulls in their place.

It changes it completely! In fact, maybe it didn’t come from Hobby Lobby, but from the basement of the post office in some forlorn closet? It would be a much better story.

Then I saw this photo on houzz.com while searching for ideas for our staircase:

Which made me realize what I really want to do with the stairwell. Crafstman style panel moulding! So Ben got started:

And we let our curiosity about what’s under the carpet on the stairs get the best of us. We’ve always known we eventually wanted to go back to wood stairs, so why not start tonight?

The wood is in great shape and is a beautiful color… If we can just scrape all those paint splatters off. You want to help us? Yeah! I thought you might!

And while he was doing hard stuff, I hung the Wilco poster he framed for me a couple days ago in the room at the bottom of the stairs.

I swear we might finish this house completely before too long.

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