Foyer Wall sheetrocked

Yesterday I finished up the electrical for the Study and the Foyer.

The above picture was taken in the Foyer. The 2 white hanging wires will be for sconces, one on either side of the french doors.

With the wiring finished I hung the sheetrock.




Next I'll start mudding the walls, then it's off to the Breakfast room to finish leveling the subfloor and laying the final floor.

Study walls and electrical

The other day I got the drywall hung on the study side of the wall. I'm keeping the foyer side open until all the electrical is completed.



Yesterday I worked on the electrical for the Study and the Foyer. I rerouted the study overhead light switch from where it used to be by the old door (now a window) to next to the french doors. I used a double gang box because the other switch will control a set of sconces that I installed over the fireplace.

Then I had to install a new box when I wired up the foyer light, there wasn't anything here since the foyer and study were one room. Interestingly enough the overhead light in the study was centered on just the study, not the combined rooms. There was some old knob & tube in the ceiling above where I placed the box in the foyer. More proof that the 2 rooms were originally separate.


I still have to install some outlets in the new wall, then I can close it up and begin the fun task of mudding it.

Beadboard Study walls and built-in bookcase

I've spent the last few days working on the Study. I've begun hanging the beadboard on the walls. The beadboard is from a Textile Mill in Atlanta, It's the same stuff I used to build the Kitchen island.



The beadboard was being used as the sides for work tables in the Mill. I had to deconstruct them to be able to use it. First I had to carefully pry off the baseboards and trim, then I had to pull each piece from the 2x2 frame. The nail usually stayed in the frame so I had to be very gentle so the beadboard didn't shatter.

In the above picture I laid a piece of the baseboard against the wall to get an idea of how it will look. There will be a chair-rail piece at the top, same as the baseboard but just narrower, and trim above the baseboard and below the chair-rail. Everything will then be stained the same mahogany color, including the window and door trim.

I've been wanting to build a set of built-in bookshelves for the Study but hadn't come up with an idea that I liked. Yesterday I grabbed a piece of paper and began sketching ideas on it. Half way through I realized that the idea in my head was for some type of columned look. I realized that I just so happen to have a few columns laying around... the ones I saved from the Anderson House.

Originally I had wanted to use the columns for the second floor porch but I wasn't able to save enough of them for that. I continued sketching and eventually came up with this:


The columns themselves are just over 8' high, they come right up to the picture-rail(which will be removed from this wall). The entire bookcase will be 10' high, floor to ceiling.

I brought 2 of the colums inside to test fit them, they fit perfectly! So I brought them out onto the front porch and began working on them. They were in pretty rough shape. One column was very rotted at the base but I was able to take it apart, cut away the bad pieces, and use it to fix up the other 2 columns. While I had one of the columns open I decided to leave something for a future restorer to find. I wrote this on the inside of the column as well as putting a copy of my sketch for the bookshelves in with it.


Once both columns were structurally sound I began the long task of scraping and sanding them. They've got what looks like 3 or 4 coats of very heavy, thick paint. The first coat at the bottom looks like it might be milk paint.

The wood has beautiful color and great graining. I took one of the finished columns(minus the crown and base) back inside for a test fit.


The columns should be finished by today, then I can begin building the bookcase.