Saturday Wanderings...

No, I'm not wandering... just my mind! Actually I would love to have enough gas to wander around these hills for the day, but that's not possible this month.

My 'extra' money for the month went for sheetrock, and 2 x 4's so I could finally finish the doorway and wall I put up to close off my end of the house. I got around to starting on it yesterday, not nearly finishing all I thought I could do in one day.

Did you know sheetrock gets heavier as you age? It must weigh almost twice as much as it did when I was 60! I actually think fiberglass insulation itches more, too. The harder part, building and sheetrocking the door jamb 90º to the wall, will happen today. Fortunately, my wall is narrow enough that there will be very little mudding and sanding to do, mostly just the drywall screws.

Buying the trim for both sides of the door jamb was a real sticker shock. Real wood moulding was priced out of the question, so for about $1 a foot, I bought what looks like pressed and molded paper with a primer coat on one side. It's properly called "Medium Density Fiberboard" or MDF. I guess I'll have to drag out my pancake air compressor and finish nail gun to put it up.... I'm not sure the stuff would hold a real nail.

There's a wonderful door casing I would love to have used, called Howe Casing. Some of the big box stores carry it in MDF, but none local to me. Howe casing in real wood would probably run more than $3 a foot. It generally comes in 8' lengths and I'd need 5 pieces at a cost of around $150 for 1 door. Yikes.



Somewhere out in the barn I have a box full of very decorative antique bronze door knobs (similar to the ones pictured above but most of mine with escutcheon plates are nicer) and mortise locksets I've been carrying around about 40 years. I always thought I'd install them on the last house I ever planned to occupy. When I first lived in Baltimore in the 1960's, the old row houses were falling down and there were a couple of salvage yards nearby, in an area you didn't want to be in after dark. That was long before renovation was fashionable, and I was able to buy knobs, escutcheon plates and locks here and there, even at yard sales. There's probably a small fortune in that box!

I also have an old brass teller's cage window (think of the small banks in old Western movies), with a small hinged area across the bottom to allow passage of large sacks of coins or bills. I used to have a brass and beveled glass bank president's office door, but it weighed over 300 pounds and I grew tired of moving it.

I suppose it's time to think of selling some of that stuff... sigh.