Last week I helped my friends at Florida Victorian Architectural Antiques with the salvage of four early 20th century homes on the banks of Lake Eola here in Orlando, FL. We were busy removing any parts of the home that may be of some value to someone in the future. Old wood windows were removed [...] Read on →
Hardwood floors are synonymous with old homes. It’s almost impossible to find an old home without them. And yet they are disappearing because people don’t realize how resilient and long-lasting they are. Unknowing homeowners and contractors rip out or cover up these amazing floors when they could be saved and used for another 100+ years! [...] Read on →
I’m seriously excited to share a new book with you today! Today is the official launch of Handmade Walls: 22 Inspiring Ideas on Bringing Your Walls to Life. It is a fantastic new book by my friends Jamin & Ashley Mills over at The Handmade Home. These two are some of the most creative (not to mention [...] Read on →
I’ve got a fun reclaimed wood project for you today that we recently made for a local winery. They wanted a rustic, natural wood feel for their tasting room that was soon to open near downtown Orlando. You can check out the winery at www.quantumleapwinery.com So, here’s what we did . . .
A Guest Post By David Morrison – David is an avid DIY enthusiast, renovator and restorer. He has worked on a variety of self-build projects and claims to have helped out every neighbour for ten blocks! The kind of neighbor we’d all like to have. He currently works for UK Tool Centre. Reclaimed wood has [...] Read on →
Before starting any renovation (especially on a historic property) there are 7 questions you should always ask. And knowing the answers to these questions will make for the best project possible. So, I thought I’d share these “secrets” of our company to help your next project run as smooth as the pros.
Shabby-chic, French country, vintage, repurposed, picking, salvage..there are tons of names for taking old materials and incorporating them into your home. It can be as easy as getting a great deal on a piece of furniture at the local antique fair, but to create the truly eye-catching conversation pieces it requires re-thinking the materials you have into something unique and special. So we’ve put together some salvaged projects to get your creative juices flowing. And if you need more ideas you can always follow our Pinterest board “Salvage Projects We Can Make For You” which is updated almost daily with new repurposed ideas for your home.
After a century of paint jobs and humidity a lot of your home’s hardware can loose its original luster. It’s a small detail in a historic house, but properly restored hardware on windows, doors, and elsewhere gives a house that extra oomph that adds to the overall vintage feel of the home (whether people consciously [...] Read on →
There are countless old and historic house blogs scattered across the Internet. Some of them focus on How-To subjects, others discuss the history of old houses, and some are an online diary of people’s journey to fix up there own historic house. Some of these blogs are great for learning the step-by-step of certain projects [...] Read on →
In Choosing Exterior Paint Colors For Your Historic House we discussed how to go about picking the right colors for an historic home. Will you choose colors that are historically accurate to your home, historically appropriate for the time period your home was built or will you just wing it and pick your own color [...] Read on →
Roofing can be one of the most challenging elements of your historic house. Especially here in Florida the roof bears the brunt of the sun’s wrath. Hitting temps well over 140° in the summer and suffering through hurricane seasons one after the other can wear on even the highest quality materials. And if they were [...] Read on →
“No Maintenance.” These two words scare the heck out of me when it comes to home improvement products, especially when it pertains to historic homes. So, let’s dispel a myth… There is no such thing as a “No Maintenance” product for your historic home. Not a one! No car will last very long without an [...] Read on →
Living here in the Sunshine State it seems that folks have an unusual penchant for $0.69 sq. ft. 20″ tiles. The most popular colors are blah, boring, and blech. People love to toss these tiles down over red oak, irreplaceable heart pine, and any number of historic floors. And these tile are spreading like a [...] Read on →
Being in the business of restoring and preserving historic structures I have seen many a house that made me cock my head in amazement at some of the frightening things people do to “upgrade” their old homes. The phrase “What were they thinking?” is almost a cliche in our business! But every year people tear [...] Read on →