Hermann house renovation

Now that our living room construction is done it is ready to decorate. Here are the cute but impractical bookcases flanking our fireplace. The people who built them did not allow books taller than 9 1/4 inches. This is so annoying.

i’ve moved nearly all my books from the condo here to Hermann that are 9 1/4 inches tall or shorter. I don’t need a ton of bookshelf room in this house but I need more than what I’m able to use here.


I’m going to think on having bookshelves built either in the TV room or the bedroom I use.

also included below is a gratuitous cat photo.

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Cute kitty!
The bookshelves are indeed lovely, but I agree that the height issue would be irksome. Too bad the shelves aren't adjustable.
Decorating is always fun, so please be sure to let us accompany you vicariously. :)

I agree with Rosa, Iris. Bookshelves are lovely.

okay---it looks darling & very quaint! not bad for a small town. but yeah--i don't think for a minute that the height of them bookkshelfs is an issue; just be sure to ONLY buy 9" high books. prollem solved. hope thatt helps you some. Thankk mee. Yup. Edited to add: got ta thinkin' maybe it would be a good--no-great--idea ta take n put a cardboard box with a cutout on the side & carpet inside, up on one a them shelves, as a cat lair. yup. hope thatt helps you some. thankk mee.

so okay----what i would like to know is about the area of your residence where the feminine esthetic is largely ignored(except for posters of goddesses like Hot Lips Houlikowski), decor is by accident and the space is full of so-called "junk". I'm referring to the living space popularly referred to as "The Man Cave". Is there one, or did the architect leave that out of the scheme of things?

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Originally Posted by littlebittybobby

so okay----what i would like to know is about the area of your residence where the feminine esthetic is largely ignored(except for posters of goddesses like Hot Lips Houlikowski), decor is by accident and the space is full of so-called "junk". I'm referring to the living space popularly referred to as "The Man Cave". Is there one, or did the architect leave that out of the scheme of things?

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the current man cave is in the basement. He has a TV, a recliner, a couple of refrigerators. Then he has all kinds of things like a woodshop and a canning kitchen.

But the television will eventually be in the “TV room “so I suppose that is the man cave of the first floor.

okay-0---so that is very interesting. My latest acquisition is a nice set of lateral file cabinets, 8 in all. They are rendered obsolet in the hi-tech information age, i guess. So, i bought them for a tiny fraction of the original cost, new. That was probably at least 20 years or more ago. but yeah---see photo. the hard part was getting them out of the office building where they were located; the next challenge will be getting the into the back room of my outdoor cottage, as they are rather bulky. but, i will manage. you kids should investigate the possibility of acquiring some to repurpose for storing your "stuff" so you can use it when the time comes, instead of having to purchase or re-purchase it, when it is not on sale or is in short supply. like paper towels n stuff like that. One or two or three full drawers full o' paper towels. See? or. buy stuff at auctions or closeouts, and keep it till you need it. i call it the studebaker plan. when the automaker stopped auto production(they didn't "go out of business" like the average ho-head thinks), a huge supply of spare parts that had been accumulated was still available, for decades, even up to the present. a case unlike american motors, in which chrysler absorbed the assets and scrapped most of the spare parts, of course in the interest of efficiency. ha. hope that helps you kids some. no clever comments please; paybacks are painful. ha. Attachment 5926

Summer is coming to a close in DH has completed the big outdoor construction project: limestone rock walls. He’s been working on them for two years and this week he finished.

Had we hired this work done it would have been thousands of dollars. As it is, the whole project cost a few hundred dollars for the mortar. DH hauled at least half of the rocks from the city when we moved. He had been collecting them for decades. Some of the limestone was already on site here.

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we need replacement iron railings going down the steps. I thought “oh let’s hire this for a change “


0 my, the quote was $3200. That seemed ridiculously high when we are talking about a short run of very plain railing.

so DH, who is brilliant, found some old railings on Facebook for around 100 bucks and he is now welding them and painting them and will be installing them.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

we need replacement iron railings going down the steps. I thought “oh let’s hire this for a change “


0 my, the quote was $3200. That seemed ridiculously high when we are talking about a short run of very plain railing.

so DH, who is brilliant, found some old railings on Facebook for around 100 bucks and he is now welding them and painting them and will be installing them.

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I love that.

Great work by your DH!

That is all wonderful and looks great! I'm so jealous of folks who have someone handy in the house.

okay-----you kids are sadly mistaken, when you "think" welding is just welding, as-if anyone can do it. See----maybe that guy---the previously-mentioned "handyman" can do some agercultural-grade iwah-style welding(or Farmer welds, as they are known), but that does by no means make the dude an experienced certified welder. Nope. So yeah---in the case of an iron stair railing, lives and human safety depend on the intergrity of the welds. Anyway---probably your life and well-being are well worth the price that a real pro would charge($2300). You wouldn't fly to Londumb or Zurritch in a plane that had just been overhauled by a kid they just hired because they were "real handy", would you? I think you dudes will all agree. Pay a pro to do it right. Yup.

Did he have much rock left over? (first picture makes it appear yes)

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Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff

Did he have much rock left over? (first picture makes it appear yes)

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yes! Lots of rock left over. He is now moving it to a rock pile so we will have a rock pile here, just as we did in our city house for decades. he will probably continue to collect stones of some size because he’s so accustomed to doing that.

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Originally Posted by littlebittybobby

okay-----you kids are sadly mistaken, when you "think" welding is just welding, as-if anyone can do it. See----maybe that guy---the previously-mentioned "handyman" can do some agercultural-grade iwah-style welding(or Farmer welds, as they are known), but that does by no means make the dude an experienced certified welder. Nope. So yeah---in the case of an iron stair railing, lives and human safety depend on the intergrity of the welds. Anyway---probably your life and well-being are well worth the price that a real pro would charge($2300). You wouldn't fly to Londumb or Zurritch in a plane that had just been overhauled by a kid they just hired because they were "real handy", would you? I think you dudes will all agree. Pay a pro to do it right. Yup.

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oh, I’m quite certain that anything you do would be better than what DH does. Quite certain. I’m sure you’ve built many masonry walls. You just haven’t bothered to show us.

Looks great, IL. How much more needs to be done with the house?

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Originally Posted by Tradd

Looks great, IL. How much more needs to be done with the house?

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still a lot. The staircase and one room on our first floor needs to be finished. The two bedrooms upstairs need to be finished.

When I say “ finished “I mean woodwork and paint are needed. All the drywall is on. I doubt that he’ll get it done this winter, but he’ll for sure finish the first floor.

I will post a picture of our living room when I get it decorated. DH finished it last spring, but I’m slowly buying furniture and deciding on art and final furnishings.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

oh, I’m quite certain that anything you do would be better than what DH does. Quite certain. I’m sure you’ve built many masonry walls. You just haven’t bothered to show us.

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Ha. I am VERY brilliant, as many of you dudes know. But yeah----steering columns are my particular specialty. Yup.

I wish I was closer. Most of those rocks looked fairly flat. (looks like you could have used them instead of the brick for a walkway)

Things I would do with them, a place for under the trash cans, by the mailbox (don't have to get so close or worry the trash will kill the grass), pad and possibly the fire pit itself (at least a pad under it to keep fire from spreading). The old two tire track driveway and maybe a pad to keep your husbands trailer. (keeps it out of mud, and can be considered paving)

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Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff

I wish I was closer. Most of those rocks looked fairly flat. (looks like you could have used them instead of the brick for a walkway)

Things I would do with them, a place for under the trash cans, by the mailbox (don't have to get so close or worry the trash will kill the grass), pad and possibly the fire pit itself (at least a pad under it to keep fire from spreading). The old two tire track driveway and maybe a pad to keep your husbands trailer. (keeps it out of mud, and can be considered paving)

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don’t you have limestone where you are? We had it all over the city of St. Louis as well as here. I’ve always planted iris rhizomes with a rock on top to keep it steady in the dirt until the roots catch hold. I line flowerbeds with rocks. DH made a very nice limestone Rockwall at our house for my flower bed. They are very handy, you’re right.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

don’t you have limestone where you are? We had it all over the city of St. Louis as well as here. I’ve always planted iris rhizomes with a rock on top to keep it steady in the dirt until the roots catch hold. I line flowerbeds with rocks. DH made a very nice limestone Rockwall at our house for my flower bed. They are very handy, you’re right.

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There is a quary and it's expensive, other then that, most I see is the side of roads where it rises up out of the ground and the highway dept and local street crews don't want people screwing around with their natural walls.

My decorating guru, Laurel Berne, said she dislikes having the backs of sofas face you as you enter a room.

I was temporarily disheartened by her words about the placement of my sofas.

But then—-Look how Viscount Althrop, 9th Earl Spencer has styled his great English house’s main room. Then look at my room. See similarities?

sofas flank fireplace: check

sofas have back to doorways: check

Curved doorways: check


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Laurel, I rest my case.

FWIW, I like yours much better. The Viscount's taste is a little too ostentatious for me.

Speaking of taste in home decor, I just finally left a home decorating FB group. All houses must be gray with white trim. All interior brick must be painted white or black. Everyone must have a huge TV over their mantel. All floors must be LVT. All kitchen cabinets must be white or sage green, with quartz countertops. People were actually painting custom solid cherry cabinets (in some cases that they themselves had put in, but now didn't look "updated" enough). Everything in fact must look updated, but it was the woman who needed to make her huge new living room look "more expensive" that allowed me to finally break free.

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

FWIW, I like yours much better. The Viscount's taste is a little too ostentatious for me.

Speaking of taste in home decor, I just finally left a home decorating FB group. All houses must be gray with white trim. All interior brick must be painted white or black. Everyone must have a huge TV over their mantel. All floors must be LVT. All kitchen cabinets must be white or sage green, with quartz countertops. People were actually painting custom solid cherry cabinets (in some cases that they themselves had put in, but now didn't look "updated" enough). Everything in fact must look updated, but it was the woman who needed to make her huge new living room look "more expensive" that allowed me to finally break free.

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that Facebook page does not sound like a good thing at all. There are so many decor sides out there, hope you find a good one if you’re looking for one. I follow several on Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram.

Here, finally, the staircase is being finished. We have had an ugly temporary staircase for nearly 3 years. DH is using his carpentry skills to install it.

This is one area where we could have hired it done but probably the cost would have made us faint in horror. Would it have been worth it to have it finished earlier? I dunno. I fear even a professional job would not be as perfect as DH would make it even tho this is a very simple staircase. It will have oak treads and painted risers. It has a standard non-fancy newel post. Things are more simple in our Hermann house than in our
victorian city house.

In our major renovation we reversed the staircase so that it goes up when you enter the front of the house, necessary to bump up headroom on the 2nd floor landing. Our house was confusingly built with the “front”,facing what is now the back because apparently the original owners thought there would be a main road going around the back of the house.

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Nice! I would love to have a handy person around the house!

Can't tell, is that a chisel in the last picture? (trying to figure out what he would be notching)

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Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff

Can't tell, is that a chisel in the last picture? (trying to figure out what he would be notching)

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Oh, you would ask that. Yes, he was notching an edge piece and it’s funny you should mention that because he complained that I took the photo of him using a chisel I told him “oh no one will notice that.” Ha ha I guess you noticed.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

Oh, you would ask that. Yes, he was notching an edge piece and it’s funny you should mention that because he complained that I took the photo of him using a chisel I told him “oh no one will notice that.” Ha ha I guess you noticed.

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Can't slip much past this group! :D

okay---Elroy(or whoever) is certainly VERY handy; It looks great. Yup. But WHY did it take a whole 3 years to finally get around to finishing that project? Did it have to do with vacation trips, to nowhere important? Butanyway, I attribute a lotta the progress-as-promised, ta quite a bit o' nagging. Yup.

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Originally Posted by littlebittybobby

okay---Elroy(or whoever) is certainly VERY handy; It looks great. Yup. But WHY did it take a whole 3 years to finally get around to finishing that project? Did it have to do with vacation trips, to nowhere important? Butanyway, I attribute a lotta the progress-as-promised, ta quite a bit o' nagging. Yup.

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I dont have to nag, he is a hard worker although these days he works about 4 hours a day on our house, M-F. On Saturday and Sunday he works on his own projects like tree pruning, basement build-out, gardening, mowing.

This house is taking 3 years because he installed ALL finishes except for flooring: trim, doors, painting, tiles, cabinetry, brick sidewalks, rock walls, etc.

We are on the downhill slide now but upstairs bedrooms wont be finished until next year.

Periwinkle door completed

We are on the Hermann garden tour this year and so are running around sprucing up the front of our house. Finally got the periwinkle door I’ve been wanting.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

Periwinkle door completed

We are on the Hermann garden tour this year and so are running around sprucing up the front of our house. Finally got the periwinkle door I’ve been wanting.

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Beautiful!!

Here is an ode to periwinkle--Periwinkle Sky by Victoria Williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEUke8tJ-zk

Love the door

Ode to Periwinkle—nice.

In my little tourist town there is a new little shoppe full of crap you don't need called “Periwinkle.” Do ya think they have ANYTHING periwinkle colored in their window?On their sign?

They do not.

I feel like going in there to yell at them.

You will notice the plainness of the windows on my yellow cottage-style house. I sometimes think about putting up fake shutters but they are…fake. They would bug me, I think. See, we have real shutters here in Hermann on 1840’’s to 1870’s houses. Fake shutters were forbidden in my old Victorian neighborhood. I wish I didnt have an educated eye because i would like the splash of color fake shutters would add to our house. They were not be periwinkle, however.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

You will notice the plainness of the windows on my yellow cottage-style house. I sometimes think about putting up fake shutters but they are…fake. They would bug me, I think. See, we have real shutters here in Hermann on 1840’’s to 1870’s houses. Fake shutters were forbidden in my old Victorian neighborhood. I wish I didnt have an educated eye because i would like the splash of color fake shutters would add to our house. They were not be periwinkle, however.

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okay----they don't hafta be faux shutters, Faux. No, you could assign the handyperson the project of building REAL, functional shutters. In fact, with all this global um climate change and the wind storms we've been having, it would be like having emergency-preparedness. Yup.

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Originally Posted by littlebittybobby

okay----they don't hafta be faux shutters, Faux. No, you could assign the handyperson the project of building REAL, functional shutters. In fact, with all this global um climate change and the wind storms we've been having, it would be like having emergency-preparedness. Yup.

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No, I don’t think so because our windows are not original. Some fool took out the original windows and put in one big window, replacing two windows. So windows are too wide for real shutters. They would not be nice. I try not to think about our windows In depth, I just pretend they are OK the way they are.

IL: I am not OK with faux shutters either. What about window boxes?