Bring that Birch back

Sometime between 1953 and 2007, previous owners of our home thought it would be a good idea to paint over the built in birch cabinetry that is (was) a focus point in our rancho. This restoration was quite a long process, but it's pretty much back. I used Peel-Away 6 (2 coats), then rubbed it with mineral spirits, then a fine and superfine grit sandpaper via random orbit sander. The only finish on it now is a couple coats of tung oil. I'll add more in the future to build it up a bit.

For the large sliding doors, I had to flip them over and finish the backs. This is because a previous owner also decided to route out the original pocket pulls for something far larger and gaudier. For some reason, these came out darker than everything else... so for now, I am on the hunt for original slider doors.

The brass pulls are very close to the originals (from Lowe's). The only hinges I could find that exactly matched the geometry of the originals were from Ace. Luckily they look fairly close to the originals too.

Before we moved in:


Here we go:


Water damaged board discovered... guess there used to be a leaky roof:


Bad board removed:


New birch board goes in... might take some time for it to blend in.


I love the orbit sander.


Someday this will be the den. Right now it's the shop.


Bling.

We have a new roof!

After much debate and research around the different kinds of roofing systems available, we ended up going with a tar & gravel rock roof, the same basic system that was on the house when it was built. A close 2nd place was the single-ply system offered by Duro-Last. But in the end, the look of the rock roof is much more aesthetically pleasing. And the look wouldn't have been quite such a big deal except on these houses, and our floorplan in particular, you can really see a lot of the roof from the ground. We are really happy with our decision so far, and are enjoying the heat deflection that white rock gives. The real test will be the first rain though... cause I suppose that's the whole point of a roof, right?

Deteriorating shingle roof:


Yes, all of our furniture is still in the garage. We covered it with drop cloths to protect it from all the debris that would be raining down through the ceiling boards.


Tear off:



New fiberglass plysheets going down. New 2" rough sewn fascia boards and metal flashings:


New roof! We'll be painting the metal flashings around the chimney soon to minimize them.



We took the opportunity to install some new lighting above the future island, a new original style exhaust fan for the stovetop, as well as exhaust fans (same model as the kitchen) for both the bathrooms. No more steamy mirrors!