ListWise

Monday, June 30, 2008

Hawkeye

There was a little surprise waiting for me when I got home today. No, it was a big surprise. A very big surprise that came in a small package. A small UPS box was waiting on the front porch. Immediately I began to search my brain for any impending deliveries. Was there something I ordered that I had forgotten about? I couldn’t think of a thing.

I stared at the flat, square box as I unlocked the door and couldn’t think of anything I had ordered. My arms were full and I squinted at the label to see if it was in fact addressed to me. It was. I tried to see where it came from but the writing was too small.

After I unloaded on the floor of the foyer and went back out to get the mystery package. It was from HardwareStore.Com. Again I searched my memory for something I ordered. I mean, hardware store dot com, this must be something I ordered, but I couldn’t remember ordering anything lately.

Well, it turns out I didn’t order anything, but it was for me. It was a very unexpected gift from a blog reader, and no doubt a fellow plasterer. At some point I must have either complained about my crappy home-made plaster hawk, or maybe this thoughtful person caught a glimpse of it on a post. Either way, once you see my hawk, even if you’re not a plasterer, it is painfully obvious that I need a new one. Emphasis on the word “painfully”.

Here’s my hawk…






I made this about 5 years ago when I first put trowel to plaster in the upstairs bathroom. This was in my pre-blogging days. That is quarter-inch plywood with another quarter-inch of dried plaster on it. The handle is a piece of 2X2 with the corners knocked off “for comfort”. I’m a cheap bastard. I know it. What can I say.

To make matters worse with this hawk, one time it fell of the ladder with 10 pounds of plaster on it. The handle broke off when it hit the floor. Did I throw it away and buy a new one. Nope. I got a pair of pliers and unscrewed the now broken off screw. I then move the handle over an inch or two and drove in a new screw. Now, not only does it weigh a ton, but the handle is off-set so it lists to one side.

Plaster is heavy and holding any hawk for any amount of time takes its toll quickly. Using this hawk was brutal. I know it is. I think I’m both cheap and lazy. This is what makes me use a monstrosity like this for 5 years without replacing it. I think some of it has to do with the fact that I don’t feel like a real plasterer. Its like walking around with a tool belt on. Its not that the belt is uncomfortable, it just feels awkward to wear. Buying a real hawk is making a statement about how I feel about my abilities.

So Michael in Vermont bought one for me. He must have spotted a shot of mine on a blog post some place. No doubt something that would have gone unnoticed to most. It was just an unbelievably selfless, kind act. It was unexpected and made my week. Michael, I can’t thank you enough. The Blog-o-sphere is just a wonderful thing, isn’t it?

Here’s my new hawk….





This thing easily weighs one fifth that of my other “hawk”. Note the half-inch foam pad where the handle meets the plate. Notice how the handle is rounded with a tapered grip. This thing is a dream to hold. It almost makes me want to stop work on the butler’s pantry just so I can take this baby for a spin and do some plastering some place…..almost.

Michael, I can’t thank you enough. The next wall I plaster, this blog post gets stuck in the wall so future generations will know of your generosity.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Hard Wired

It was not without its difficulties, and in fact, its not quite finished, but 99% of the work for home-networking is done. This required hours under the house over the past few days. That just gets harder and harder every year. I no longer refer to it as a “crawl-space”. From now on it will be called a “slither-space”. It is just brutal working under there. But its done, that’s the important thing.

First, the finished product….



I was able to get the trim on, but no doors yet. I hope to do that next weekend. The cabinet is 16-inches deep, so I can fit the printer in there and keep it open. On the top-left is the NAS and the router. You really can’t do anything with the NAS once its turned out, same with the router, so it should not be a problem having it on the top shelf.



Below that is the Stern box with all of the wires. I’m reasonably happy with it. The thing I don’t like are the little plastic tabs that keep the individual nodes in. I broke two putting them in. If I had to pull them out and move them I would most likely break more. Aside from that, they seem well made. This routs telephone, TV, and internet to 7 rooms.

The other issue are the face-plates that mount on the wall to hold the keystone jacks for phone, cable, and networking. The original one I put in the kitchen was sized for a GFCI faceplate. I could get a faceplate to match all of the other cast brass faceplates in the house. I can’t find those anymore. Everything now is the basic ivory faceplate. Its not the end of the world, really. All of these will be behind a piece of furniture, so you will never really see them.

Now for the problems. ...





In the parlor, back in the 20s, they mounted an outlet in the baseboard. In fact, all four outlets in the house they mounted on the baseboards back in the 20s. This means that for the sake of consistency I needed to mount the new box for cable, phone, and internet next to the outlet on the baseboard. I did not like cutting in to the baseboards, but it needed to be done.

The big problem with this is that the wall that the baseboard is on is the wall with the pocket door. It was just a really touch operation. And wouldn’t you know it, where I decided to mount the box was directly over a doubled-joist. It took forever to drill the holes and I broke one of my 54-inch drill bits. Those things are like $60 each. I eventually got the wires pulled, but what should have been a half-hour job took and hour and a half.

Once everything was in place everything worked except the networking. Phone and cable work fine, but I’m not wiring the CAT6 keystone jacks properly and it is really frustrating. I won’t go in to what I tried and why I think it doesn’t work. After reading several things on-line and trying to follow the tiny, tiny instructions that came with the jacks, I just sort of put it on hold for now.

I was going to call my brother and ask him. He did this for a living for many years. I was concerned that I would get in to an endless cycle of miscommunication. (No, with your finger in the top tab while holding the clip face-up, clip the white/green wire in to the clip at the bottom. No, face-up!). I’m going to take one in to work with me tomorrow and beg our net-adim for help.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Turn On-Tune In

Ok, I’m not quite there yet, but its getting there. It is amazing how much you can get done with the warm weather and long days.



After mowing the lawn, I got the cabinet hung, mounted the Stern box, and installed 2 electrical outlets. They are just roughed-in at this point. If I had a ground coupling I could have finished the wiring tonight. Instead, I'll need to make a trip to the hardware store tomorrow for a 10 cent part. {Groan!}

Next I'll trim-out the cabinet with a cornice and a base trim, and then this weekend make the doors. After that, I’ll finish off the beadboard and start to think about the ceiling. Really, I should be thinking about the ceiling right now. I’m leaning towards a tin ceiling, which means I should order it now.

I also need to finish the floor, trim out the doors, and then paint. Its getting close.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Be The Brick

Once or twice a month I look at the log files to see where people come from and what pages they view. It is interesting to see how people get to the blog, but it also gives me a chance to read some of the past posts. I can assure you, no one gets more entertainment out of this blog than I do.

Anyway, for some reason, May of 2006 was popular today. I didn't bother to dig in to the logs to find out why. It just seemed to pop up a lot in Google searches. This month contained a favorite post of mine. Its the last paragraph. I still laugh out loud when I read it.

May 3, 2006

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Low-Tech /High-Tech

I was able to get the California Cooler/Server Cabinet assembled today. It wasn’t too bad. Getting the first few pieces together is the hardest. Its kind of like herding cats. Once it gets stable though, its just a matter of driving in nails.



It will look better with paint. As I said in an earlier post, this was all made out of the remnants of beadboard that I salvaged from D&D Motors. Like the old California Coolers from the first half of the century, the shelves are slats to allow ventilation. The right-hand side will get another shelf once it is on the wall. I’m not sure if the left hand side will need one, or if there will even be room for one.






This cabinet will be hung on the wall were that Stern box is. I’ll need to see how much room is left once it is in place. That won’t be for a few days. I’ll pull the Stern box off, mount the cabinet, run an electrical outlet in to each side, and then put the Stern box back. Once I get the electrical done I can finish the beadboard wainscoting. After that I can start to make the doors.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Scraps of Scraps

During the week this week I was able to get the panels glued up for the cabinet that will hide all of the telecom and home networking hardware for the house. The final dimensions will be 4-feet wide, 3-feet/8-inches high, and 16-inches deep.



I used the remainder of the salvaged D&D Motors beadboard for the panels. This is what was deemed unusable for the laundry room. I had several of the 10-foot lengths left over and I was able to glean enough 4-foot lengths for the side and center panels.



Then, the pieces that were not usable for that got ripped down to 3-inch wide pieces for the face-frame and back-frame. I’m not sure if “back-frame” is a technical term for the back of the cabinet, but in this case it is apt. The inside, back wall of the cabinet will mostly be the plaster wall. This makes it much easier to run all of the wires and electrical up in to the cabinet.

Then, what was left over from the face-frames got ripped down in to 2-inch wide, 2-foot long pieces that will make up the slat shelves in the cabinet. As I mentioned the other day, I’m borrowing an idea from the turn of the century to make this a vented cabinet so the hardware in the cabinet can stay cool.



The cabinet that will go below it is a salvage piece I originally bought for the kitchen. It is 42-inches high, 48-inches wide, and 24-inches deep. These cabinets will be just outside the laundry room and the height of this lower cabinet will make it nice to fold close on. At least for me, anyway. Both of them will be fixed in the corner and look like built-ins. I’ll trim out the upper cabinet with a 1X3 cornice.

Tomorrow I’m going to assemble the upper cabinet and then the last thing to do for the cabinet will be to make the doors. I’m going to do mortise and tenon, raised panel doors. I did this once before for the dumb waiter style door that separates the dining room from the kitchen. The practice will do me good for when I get to the dining room cabinets. The last time I raised the panels on the table saw. I’m going to do it on the router this time.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

On The Home (Net) Front

I got soooo lucky. Four years ago or so, when I rewired the house for electrical, I pulled two coaxial cable TV and 2 networking cables from under the house all the way up in to the attic. At the time I knew I would be doing this project, but I wasn’t really sure where the brain center for the house would be. I knew it was going to either be some place in the scullery or the butler’s pantry, so I bundled the excess cable under the house and strapped it to a floor joist. That is where is has been until this weekend.

So now came time to fish the cable from under the house and in to the wall I built a few years back. This wall divided the butler’s pantry making one third the laundry room and the other 2/3 the now slightly reduced in size butler’s pantry.

I picked a spot on the wall for the Stern Home Networking panel, drilled the holes and fished in the cable. I was sure I was going to be on my back in the dirt splicing cable. I just knew there would never be enough and I was dreading this job. As it turned out is was almost exactly enough. Each of the 4 cables that go to the attic made it in to the box with about a foot to spare. Whew!







In total there are 2 home-runs to the phone company's box. There is one home-run to the cable company's box. Then there is a network, phone and cable TV to both the kitchen and front parlor. And finally, the two network and two coaxial cables to the attic. These will get split to run to the four bedrooms.

Inside the box will be the distribution hubs I showed in another post a few weeks back. There will also be room for the router. I’m building a cabinet with no back on it that will hide this box. Once the cabinet is up I will run two electrical outlets in to the cabinet. This cabinet will also hold the NAS (the poor mans network server), and a networked printer or two.

Because heat build-up inside a closed cabinet could be an issue, I’m borrowing an idea from the beginning of the century. Remember the California Cooler (You can read about it here). That was designed to keep things cool with open shelves and vents to the outside. Instead of vents to the outside, my cabinet will have open shelving – slats of wood, along with an open bottom and top. With the doors closed it will look like any other wall mounted cabinet, but inside there will be plenty of air flow. I’m going to make it out of remnants of the salvaged beadboard I use for the laundry room.

That is the plan anyway. We’ll see how it works.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

A-Door-ing Fans

I got an interesting letter yesterday from some people who want to photograph my front door. Its not just my door that want to photograph, but rather they are recording many historic front doors in the city. I think it’s a great idea. I hope they will publish something.



My front doors – a pair of double doors – are really somewhat plain for the day. There is a 3-light transom, above 2, 30-inch wide double doors. Each door has a large glass panel at the top, followed by a single horizontal raised panel, and then 2 vertical raised panels below that. The glass panels are obscure glass, but not original.

I do wish I had painted my front door, though. It is the one thing on the house I didn’t paint 2 years ago when I painted the house. The doors need some work, and the plan was to take them off the hinges, fix them up, and then give them a proper paint job. I never did that, though.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

You Know You’ve Been Restoring Too Long When…

You know when you’ve been restoring your house too long when you open up a wall thinking that you’ve found new treasure, only to discover that it is something you put in the walls yourself for future generations to find.

That is exactly what happened to me. I’m always slipping little things in to the walls. Receipts and invoices are good. I won’t put a receipt for a tube of caulk from Ace Hardware in a wall, but maybe a receipt for some millwork I had made or some antique light fixture I scored. Old porn is also good.



You can see that one, lone green board next to the door in the picture above. There was a light switch installed there at some point, but I moved it to the other side of the room so it would be next to the door to the side yard. This was done about 4 years ago when I did a whole-house re-wire. At the time, I put a copy of an 1898 advertisement for Thomas Petch’s electric light shop that was located on F Street here in Eureka. I must have been doing a lot of research at time. Anyway, as you can imagine, I had long since forgotten that I put it in there.

Well, this week I wanted to replace that board so I could get rid of the hole cut for the light switch. This is 1X6, double-bead, tongue & groove beadboard. I got out the sawsall and cut down the middle of the board and then removed the too halves. You can imagine how excited I was when I pulled out the first half and saw a piece of paper behind the board.

Quickly and gingerly I removed the other half of the board so I could extract my newly found treasure. Oh, what could it be! Maybe it was a turn-of-the-century, tear stained letter filled with all of the juicy details of Mr. & Mrs. Petch’s divorce. Maybe it was an envelope filled with money that Mrs. Petch was trying to hide from her husband. Even though this is the butler’s pantry, this was were Mrs. Petch lived after the divorce when she opened up the house to boarders.

It could have been just about anything, but all it was was a Xeroxed copy of an ad I made and shoved in the wall 4 years ago. It was not only disappointing that it wasn’t something old and really neat, but the realization that I’m to the point finding the things that I put in the walls was a bit much at the time. I stopped working, poured myself a glass of wine, and collapsed on the couch thinking to myself, “Holy crap! I’ve been doing this a long time”.


PS: I shoved the ad back in the wall before I put the new board on. If I ever find it again, I'm walking away from the house and never looking back.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

100th Window

That is not how many windows I’ve restored in this house. Although, when I get to that job, that is how many there will seem to be, I’m sure. No, that is the title of the CD I listened at least 3 times today while I stripped the last of the beadboard in the butler’s pantry. I’ve listened to all or part of this CD every single day for the last 4 months. I have it in the car and in the house and I am absolutely addicted to it.

The group is Massive Attack. If you’re not familiar with their music you may have heard them if you’ve every watched the show House. I personally can’t stand the show, which may not be all that accurate, because I’ve never really watched more than 10 minutes of it. I’m not sure if they even still do, but a few years back when it first came on I tried to watch it because they used the Massive Attack song Teardrop during the opening. I made it 10 minutes in and never turned it on again.

The boards are for the butler's pantry, but I’m stripping the last of them on the floor in the dining room. This is the most time I’ve spent in this part of the house in a long time. Several years ago, in my pre-blogging days, it almost seemed as if I lived in the dining room. I spent more than 3 months stripping all of the paint off the burl and curly redwood dado that extends 3 or 4 feet up the wall all the way around the room. I was only working a few days a week back then. If I did that job now it would take more than 6 months to complete.

Work came to an abrupt halt every Saturday for 2 hours while Buffy The Vampire Slayer came on. I never had full cable, so I missed the first 3 or 4 seasons of the show. Then, the local Fox affiliate picked it up and started showing all of the first seasons in order. The odd thing was though, they would show two seasons at the same time. The first hour would be season one and then the second hour would be season two. After they ran through those they then started in on season three and four. This continued through all of the past seasons.



At the same time they were also showing the current season at something like 7:00 PM on Saturday’s. So every Saturday I watch 3 full hours of Buffy The Vampire Slayer from 3 different seasons. I was so in to the show, I had no problem following the plot lines of three separate seasons at the same time. The current season also aired at Midnight on Wednesday. I always recorded it just incase I couldn’t catch the 7:00 showing of the same episode on Saturday. When they aired the series finale, I set may alarm for midnight and got up and watched as it aired. Of course, I watched it again on Saturday.

I wasn’t really a big fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar (a.k.a. Buffy) before I started watching the show. The show got a lot of press, but I had never seen it. I really only knew her from a cosmetic commercial she was doing at the time. I thought she was reasonably cute, but wasn’t sure what all of the fuss was about. After I started watching show I saw her in a whole new light. Her character was troubled and flawed and had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Even I could relate.



Recently, the show and Sarah Michelle Gellar keep popping up, and I’m back in the dining room where I watched 7 seasons of Buffy while sitting on the floor amid piles of paint chips. Two weeks ago there was a commentary on NPR by a female reporter in Iraq. She talked about how she became hooked on the show while she was stationed in Iraq. She couldn’t really do much at night, because of the violence, so she bought the DVD collection of the show and watched start to finish. She talked about how she saw parallels between her and Buffy.

A few nights ago I rented a movie called Air I Breath staring Forest Whitaker, Andy Garcia, Kevin Bacon, Brendan Fraser, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. I’m not going to say it was a great movie, but I enjoyed it. It was nice to see Sarah Michelle Gellar on the screen again.

Then this morning I read in the paper about a three-day academic conference at Henderson State University in Arkansas. The focus of the conference will be Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The article said more than 90 academic papers about the series will be discussed at the conference. I would love to go. I've never been star struck before, but I love Sarah Michelle Gellar. I want to marry her, but alas, its not to be. I’m stuck here stripping paint and she is off in movie land some place, no doubt married in real life. Maybe even with a few kids by now. I may need to go out and buy the DVD collection of the series just to get my fix, though. I’ll watch it properly this time. Start to finish, in order.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

The Nominating Process

I heard back from the Office of Historic preservation this week about my nomination to add The Thomas D. Petch House to The National Register of Historic Places. As I suspected, I was asked to make some changes to the application. Most would not be too difficult to do. Basically, I was asked to move some things around and to clarify a few points.

Some of the request are nearly impossible to fulfil, though. For instance, there is no way to tell when the garage/apartment structure was built, yet the hand written notes on my write-up seem to indicate they want proof. I’m not really sure if I should not include it or just say I don’t know. There are no records that prove exactly when it was built. Also, I stated that the period of significance is 1895 to 1926. The 1926 is because of the garage structure, but I was told that the period of significance should end in 1920 when the house leaves the Petch family. Again, should I not include the 1926 garage/apartment building. I’m sure this could be cleared up with an email.

Other things are odd, though. According to the hand written notes, if I don’t explicitly say something is original it is questioned by the person who reviewed the application. For instance, when I describe the wrap-around porch there is a hand written note, “original?”. This is a little confusing because I plainly state what is not original to the house, so it would seem intuitive that everything else is original. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to explicitly say what is original and what isn’t. Do I itemize every window and stair tread? It seems that if I clearly state what is not original I should not need to state what is original.

Again, this is minor stuff and I’m not really dinked that much. They do say that “The physical description is very well organized and detailed”. Another odd thing, though. I’m told that “The statement of significance must begin with a summary paragraph stating which criteria the property meets and the level of significance”. I broke this up in to three short paragraphs, which was a mistake I guess. I was going for both the architecture and the a significant person. Maybe it would just be a matter of taking out some line breaks. Again, very minor stuff and easily fixed.

There were a few things that were not minor and not easily fixed. First, the reviewer did not think I made a strong enough case that Mowry was the architect. I will admit that the association is tenuous. There is no “smoking gun” that proves that Mowry built the house, yet the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. I would either need to delete all of this, or go on what would be an almost certainly fruitless search to find something that says that Mowry built the house. Another house just down the street is on the National Register and it claims that Mowry is the builder/architect. Some question this around town. I’m not sure where they got the proof for this. Mowry was prominent enough that there may be an archive some place, but I’ve never found it, and no one I know has ever seen anything like it. I’ve been in every archive in the county.

Also, the reviewer did not think that Petch was significant enough to warrant being considered for Criterion B. Another way to look at it is that I did not make a strong enough case. This is another area where there just is not enough information available. Unless I just start making things up, there is really nothing else to add. Maybe I could embellish all of my paragraphs and stretch it out, but I don’t think that is what they are looking for. Again, either a lot more research needs to be done, or it would need to be removed. I don’t know where else to research. It is a small county with few resources.

The last issue that would be a stumbling block is the photographs. This was the most puzzling because the reviewer said my photographs did not meet the standards. What is most puzzling about this is that I bought a printer, ink, and paper that is listed on the National Parks Service web site as being acceptable. The person who reviewed did not really say how they came to the conclusion that my pictures did not meet the standards, she just said, “The photos do not meet The National Park Standards. If the photos are digitally produce they must be printed with the combination of papers and ink that are recommended by the NPS”. This is the only one that really made me mad. Instead of asking how I produce the photographs, I am just old that they don’t meet the standard. It’s just, you know, give me the benefit of the doubt. It goes a long way.

As for the photos, I think that is just a mistake on their part and could be cleared up. As for the Petch and Mowry connections, I’m left with the choice of taking it all out, or at least not trying to make the case for it, or spend a lot more time researching. Neither of those things is appealing right now. I know Mowry is the builder/architect and he should be recognized. I also feel that Thomas Petch should be noted for his early work with electricity in the county.

Do I cave in just so I can stick a feather in my cap. I don’t think so. It seems it is better to withdraw the nomination until the facts can be found to prove the case I know is right. I don’t have the time or the emotional strength to go back in to a researching mode right now. I wrote the following in an email to the woman at the Office of Historic Preservation that reviewed my application…


Thank you for getting back to me about my nomination of The Thomas D. Petch House to the National Register of Historic Places. Rather than make the changes you’ve requested I’ve decided to withdraw my nomination. I am in the middle of a crucial part of the restoration and I don’t think I will have the time this year to do the research and complete the changes you requested.

I doubt I will be resubmitting the nomination in the future. I have found after 6 years of working on this house that it is not so much the end results that I enjoy, as much as it is the process. Teaching myself traditional plaster work was much more enjoyable than the finished walls. Teaching myself to make cabinets is more enjoyable than using the cabinets. In this same light, doing the research on the house and submitting the nomination was far more enjoyable than actually getting the house on the register.

It is interesting that after 6 years of research and working on the house, after literally uncovering the hidden past of the house, I found that I almost forgot about the nomination once the package was in the mail. It is the journey that I enjoy and not so much the destination.


I'm going to give my nomination and the reviewer's notes to the The Heritage Society and someone else can take up the cause in the future. Honestly, it's not that important to me any more. I had my fun. I got to do all of the research.

Monday, June 02, 2008

The New Acquisition

There was a time when I could calculate board feet of lumber. If push came to shove I could still figure it out with a little effort. Even so, I’m not sure I can do it with this chunk of wood. Instead, I must calculate by weight. It weighs 85 pounds, and I paid $50 for it, so that comes to .59¢ a pound. Not too bad for old-growth, curly redwood…..I guess.

I’m constantly thinking about the cabinets I’m going to build in the dining room next month. I’ve been buying curly and burl redwood off and on for the past few years in preparation for the project. Last week I was looking at the pile of wood haphazardly stacked at one end of the dining room. It is really tough to figure how much wood is there once it is milled down because I’ve never actually done that before. Regardless, I decided it wasn’t enough.





I had purchased a few pieces off Ebay in years past so I headed back to the computer. A quick search brought up a much better selection than I remember seeing in the past. One of the big sellers on there now has an Ebay store and he lives in the next town! This is great because before I was buying from Oregon and Fresno, which means shipping charges, and wood is heavy. The tourist traps that sell it along the highway around here are absurdly expensive, so there is no way I would buy from them.

He had one big piece – the one I bought – that weighed 85 pounds and the auction was ending in 6 hours and had no bids. Just to test the waters I put a bid on $1 over the opening bid. If I got it, great. If not, I would get some idea of what the going rate was. I think due to the size I was the only bidder. I got it for $49.99. Of course, I was able to pick it up, but if I hadn’t, the shipping on it would have been $75. It is a little over 5-feet long and it just barely fit in to the back on my VW GTI.

The wood is great and the grain will be perfect for the face frames. The best part though, is that I now know of a reliable and affordable local source for curly and burl redwood. My fear was that I would get in to this major project – the cabinets will be 8-feet wide and 8-feet high – and not have enough wood. Now, all I need to stress about is making the cabinets, and trust me, there is enough stress there already.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Smooth as Silk

If you think this is about my newly finished plaster walls in the butler’s pantry, you’re wrong. I’m just sitting here, just as I do every Sunday morning, knocking back a few shots Kessler Blended Whiskey. Hmmm, this stuff really is a Smooth as Silk.

Kessler Blended Whiskey

Description
"Smooth as silk." One of the best-selling blended whiskeys. Simply terrific!

Kessler Blended Whiskey ingredient
Kessler Blended Whiskey Ingredient at DrinkSwap.com


It just so happens that my newly plastered walls are smooth as silk, as well. What an odd coincidence, don’t you think. Here I am enjoying my morning shots of Kessler’s Smooth as Silk Blended Whiskey, and in the next room there are my smooth as silk plaster walls. It doesn’t get any better than this.





My hopes of finishing the plaster job in the butler’s pantry mid-week were dashed. It was one of those weeks where I just had no energy at all. It’s too bad really, because the skim coating is the quickest of the three coats. All together I would say I spent about 7 hours, start to finish on the plaster work in the room.

As with the bathroom, there is no need for sanding the walls after the final coat goes on. I must say, I’m really getting pretty good at this plaster work. If I’ve learned one thing over the past few years about doing a traditional, 3 coat plaster job, that would be: Don’t Panic. Just take your time, and keep working at it. Eventually, the walls will be Smooth as Silk.