Resuscitating a 1920's house

Repairs to stone lintels and mullions (if that's what they are called)

Under many layesrs of paint lay some bad and very old cosmetic repairs to sandstone done with putty and red mastic. After removing it all, I set about sorting it for the better.

The final chapter of door renovation

This is what the doors looked like before and after being sealed. I wanted something that wasn't too light, but didn't want to stain them. I used a clear OSMO Polyx hard wax oil on them. It soaked in like a sponge, but the finish is absolutely what we were after, super flat matt showing all the wood colour and grain.

I didn't have time to seal them before having them re-hung, so I opted to deal with that once they were in situ. Nice to have some privacy again, but we quite liked the open plan feel we had without them.

Old door restoration

Doors back from the strippers and looking so much better than expected. They did a really good job on them.

When I was buying sandpaper in preparation for the job, I met a decorator who winced when I said about having doors dipped. He suggested that I neutralise them with white vinegar. I did and they stopped leeching white powder. Top tip.

The original paint on the doors was daubed on so heavily that even after a bath in caustic, it was still in the detailing on the doors. Equipped with a Stanley knife blade, screwdriver and as a last resort, Nitromors, I got stuck in.

The handle pic is there to show the level of care and attention that was taken by previous 'trades' when dealing with the house. It typifies everything we took on when buying this place.

Door stripping....

Paint stripping is NOT my favourite pastime - but judging by the amount of time I've spent doing it, you'd have thought it was a passion. Paul Simon knows 50 ways to leave a lover, I know 50 ways to strip paint.

These were 'a bitch' to do, false panels, unfathomable layers of varnish, paint, and underneath it all, red lead primer. I gave one a go with a heat gun, nitromors, peel away and just couldn't get rid of the red base, it seemed hopeless. Not really wanting white doors, I crossed my fingers and risked one door and had it collected to have it dip stripped.... Everyone I'd asked about dip stripping was dead against it, the common reason being it ruins your doors. My fingers got cramp from being crossed so lightly...

These are a few original rim locks from some of our internal doors. I really don't know how many layers of paint they've got on them, probably close to 10, but it's all coming off. Underneath the layers are lovely old locks that just need freeing from the oppressive cream gloss.

Window ledge repairs.

The new replacement UPVC window frames were not as deep as the original wood frames. The wooden ledges got damaged in the removal process and a big gap was left between the new frames and existing ledges.

Stripped the paint off down to bare wood. Repaired the damage and finished off.