Saturday, February 27, 2010

Detail Oriented

Recently I was talking to a friend about the details in our home, so I'm posting pictures of a few details.

This picture is the cabinet next to the sink. We took the awesome laminate door off the cabinet when we moved in. This cabinet puzzles us. No idea what the original cabinet fronts and doors looked like, so no clues there. The slots go completely through the shelf. What do you think it is? Oh- the blue is painter's tape, which I used to hold the shelf liner still, until we can replace the cabinets. I'm tempted to keep this one, though, or find a way to reuse those shelves.


Here is one of a doorknob. We have most of the knobs on the doors, but two have been replaced with a less attractive knob. If you see these knobs for sale anywhere, please let me know!!


Finally, here is the floor. The portion of the house that is above the basement is oak, and the portion that is above the crawlspace (bedrooms and bathroom) is fir. I love the fir. Have a look:

12 comments:

  1. That's exactly how our house is, oak over the basement (which is the dining/living area) and fir over the crawl (which is the bedroom/kitchen area). I've heard that this was done because at the time fir was cheap and abundant so it was the default flooring but then they would upgrade to oak in the nicer spaces. But fir is so beautiful I wish we had it everywhere! (Even though it is softer and less durable.)

    Maybe the slots on the shelf are to allow air to circulate? Maybe it was meant to hold damp items? We have an upper cabinet that used to "vent" to the old exterior porch and someone suggested that it might be an old root cellar of sorts - the cool exterior air kept the potatoes, etc. at the right temperature.

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  2. That sounds pretty similar to what the folks at oldhouseweb.com have said. They suggested that it is a larder, and the vents to the exterior have been sealed (although still evident in the cabinet, just not showing in the picture). I thought it was weird, before, but now I love it!

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  3. Oh, and I forgot to ask- are you in the northwest, too? Oak and fir combo- just made me think you might be around here.

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  4. What a great idea to share details. I LOVE that door hardware!!

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  5. Thanks, Kelly! There are switch plates at various big-box home improvement stores that are fairly similar. I'm excited to replace the cheap-o white plastic plates. I'd love to replace the toggle switches, too, but that order is a bit taller (for now).

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  6. Is this the door know you need? I think I found one...
    http://www.oldwoodwork.com/display.asp?id=568&sra=10

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  7. Holy smokes, Sharon- yes! I can't believe they actually turned up somewhere. I was just out looking for some today.

    Thanks for the tip!!

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  8. Hi - your blog is great! We have the EXACT same doorknobs - we're only missing probably 1 set, but we don't plan to replace them (unless I see an old set at a yard sale). They have reproductions at Crown City Hardware - but they're expensive!! If I win the lottery...
    http://www.restoration.com/ezdmms/site5/products.nsf/OrderItem?OpenForm&ParentUNID=7890917780CC1A2C882572A7007B4247

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  9. Hi, Sara! Thanks for checking out the blog :-) If you scroll up, Sharon posted a link to a website that has the same knobs, for about 12 bucks! Those Crown repro's are beautiful, though. They have lots of cool hardware-thanks for the link!

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  10. That door hardware is amazing. I'm sure it will be super hard to find...If you do find it, it will cost an arm an a leg!!!

    -bullcitybungalow

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  11. The cabinet is a "California Cooler" better known as a built-in ice box. I took mine out to make way for my pantry cabinets. Mine had a screend hole comming from the crawl space and a ventilation shaft on top which stuck out of the roof of the house. The Ice Man would deliver ice which is placed on the bottom shelf so the cool air would pass through the block of ice keeping your groceries cool. There were different variations of the "California Cooler" as they were called.

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  12. 1915- Yes! Isn't it so cool (pun!)? I loved this little cabinet, and was sad to see it go. I've heard them referred to as larders, CA coolers and cooling cupboards. I think it's all the same idea. Now that I know what they are, I notice them on other houses, by way of the vents on the exterior walls.

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