Time to drop another B&A for those of you waiting patiently for updates on the progress at Foxcroft Farm.
We are making progress, and after Christmas, I gave myself until March to get a few more rooms finished so I could pivot to the outdoor spaces at Foxcroft when the weather is nice! I didn't quite make my deadline. But, when the days are warmer I venture outside, and work inside when the days are less hospitable. I managed to finish up three more rooms. With a wedding at Foxcroft in less than a month, I am looking forward to some good outside work weather!
The Before and After I am sharing today is of a little room we called "The Room Between Two Rooms" for the first year we were here. It had not yet shown its purpose, and nestled between a front reception room and the laundry, the room was mostly a dumping ground for item storage during the downstairs reno. It is a small square room ideal for an office, which I believe was its former use.
You can see the formal dining room (now also refreshed, maybe the next reveal? )through the open pocket door. This room had the ceiling texture in most of the house, a stomp type, or slap type- they sound rather violent, I don't know about putting them on, but I do know they put up a fight coming off! The carpets were a neutral Berber style, but they had pet stains, and I am anti-carpet, especially in areas where pets and children frequent- or me with a cup of tea.
There is a nice large window that faces the front of the house, east with morning sun. Outside the window is a beautiful Magnolia liliiflora that blooms rich purple in early spring, but continues to have periodic blossoms into fall. The wallpaper is frantic, and the wall and window trim are unremarkable. The laundry chute is located behind the door in this room. I think I would prefer it open on the other side of the wall, into the laundry room itself, but as the laundry room is due for an overhaul that includes adding to the half bath, I decided to work around the laundry chute for now.
First things first! Start stripping the room down to it's bones!
For this labor intensive portion of the refresh, the steamer is my best pal. I did several houses with loads of wallpaper when I was younger, using an old Windex bottle filled with vinegar and water and a perfectly dulled 1" scraper. The steamer is a huge upgrade. This wallpaper was not all that stubborn, as you can see by all the lovely large bits of it on the floor- along with an admirable length of telephone wire!
The ceiling is always a challenge, as I am on a ladder with a scraper in one hand, and my steamer in the other, steaming and scraping above my head for hours. This room is of a tidy size, so only two days of ceiling scraping.
After the wallpaper and ceiling texture are down, the baseboards are pulled and the carpet is out, it is time for mending! The walls and ceiling flaws get filled and then sanded when dry, then again to make them smoother. I am not particularly worried about everything looking new or perfect. An old house has flaws that come with years and families and pets and life!
A couple coats of Kilz primer, and then painting the walls before the floors go in mean you don't have to worry about the new floors getting paint splatters.
For this little room, I chose to give it hardwood floors, the same ones I used in the snug last year. They are milled here in Virginia by the Heart Pine Company of Charlottesville at their saw mill in Amherst VA.
Most of the original living spaces at Foxcroft Farm have a wide board pumpkin pine type hardwood floors. I did not want to try to match them, but hardwoods are a timeless choice.
The floors went down swiftly in this small of a space with Youngest lending his muscle and long legs to getting the tongue and grooves on the floors just right. You can see the shorter board used as a "push board" to get a piece of wood that is not exactly straight to move into place. Youngest sits with his back to the wall, and pushes with his legs on the push board. I use my weight to keep the board flat and then when it slides into place, I whack the flooring nailer with the hammer to sink the nail into the board groove.
Ah! In this photo you get a glimpse, or a sneak peek into the room that used to be formal dining!
I liked the natural tones of the wood so much, that for this room I did not stain the wood floors. I just did a few coats of polyurethane instead.
When finished, they are a lovely, rich, honey color.
And, here is the little room in the morning. No longer "The Room Between Two Rooms", it is now a creative space for writing and learning, gift wrapping and painting.
The walls are Sherwin Williams Fleur de Sel, and the ceiling is SW Bravo Blue. I love the little Moravian Star light fixture, I got it on Amazon. The green cabinet under the laundry chute is an antique with original green paint sourced from my mother. I used the wide angle so you can get a feel for the room. The antique gun cabinet in the right side corner is from a Maryland Sheriff's sale way back in the 80's ( source: also my mother.) It is kind of rickety, but is great storage for paper, office supplies and all sorts of bits and bobs. On top of the gun cabinet are stacked some of my vintage picnic baskets corralling collections of buttons, ribbon, horse tail hairs and other treasures used to stimulate minor demiurgic efforts.
Without the wide angle, you can just get a feel for how pleasant and cozy this room is now. I love the old faux bamboo mirror. It bounces around a bit of light all day and reflects the light of the pink lamp in the evening. Pink lamp source is PB Teen.
My window view in the early spring is of my front field, obscured by flowering pear and magnolia trees.
So as we finish off March- it is shaping up to be a lion of a day with severe thunderstorms, the weather gives me an excuse to set myself up here for the day in a beautiful, fresh, room to create!
