Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Craftsman Home Challenge (Baseboards)




Anyone that lives in an old Craftsman style home understands what a challenge they can be to keep up, fix up or just find parts that match the old house without compromising the quality, the looks and the comfort. You want something that is a bit modern and yet looks like the old style Craftsmanship.


Our baseboards meet this challenge. This is what they look like all through the house, a quarter round at the bottom with a 5" baseboard which I think is more like a long board. I hate them!

When we decided to re-do the bathroom (we are still redoing it), we got a raised toilet (we are getting older), a new sink, cabinet and hardware and new flooring.

When we put down the flooring, we ripped up the baseboards and went hunting for new ones and had to special order them from our LOCAl (I love these guys) lumber/hardware store, the wonderful Levee Lumber in Hoquiam.

We have had them for the last year and they have sat very nicely untouched sitting on end between my china hutch and living room wall. My bathroom walls have looked like this...unpainted because the walls were painted when the old baseboards were up.

You can also see the new matching the old gravity vent. These can only be found at one place in the United States and this one cost me over $60, but I can tell you I was extremely pleased with the quality and craftsmanship in this and while it resembles the old, it looks much fresher.

So, by looking at this you can imagine that for the last year, I have been praying for these to get put back on. I just hated the ugly next to the new stuff. I finally just gave up, quit asking about it and figured I would hire someone to complete the job. It is easier to hire someone that argue about this


I have been blessed to have hubs home on vacation for the last week and without asking or cajoling, he has been working on his Honey Do list (which by the way, I lost when my computer crashed)!


So, without furter suspense or adieu, let me show you the amazing work of my husband who not only cut these to size, he put eight coats of clear varnish on them. Somewhere in my mind our home once had natural wood all through it instead of painted everything.


Actually it was probably stained dark, but this is what I like, the natural wood shining through and perhaps you can see why!













































2 comments:

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

I know exactly what you mean about upkeep. Our craftsman style home was built in 1914 and if it's not one thing, it's another. Your new floorboards are amazing!

Patty said...

Baseboards look great. I like the wood better than the painted.