This weekend wraps up the wallpaper installation. No major surpsrises during this batch since we don’t have any more corners or vent pipes to work around. There is one window and a small junction box to cut around, but Karen is able to work around those without any issues. Since we’ve already cut the paper, once I mix up the tub of paste, the installation goes as expected. Luckily it seems that last week’s installation is holding firm too with nothing peeling up. I did find a small area near an uneven part of plaster that has an air bubble. I will try to use an adhesive syringe to squirt some paste into the bubble and lock that down. But I’ll save that work for later.

With the wallpaper all finished, the rest of the work is some odds and ends. The woodwork is mostly done, but I have to put down the final coat of Waterlox on the door and window molding along with the baseboards. The last coat is a matte finish as opposed to the semi-gloss original formula. This goes on OK, but the door/window molding still looks a little too shiny so I will try 1 more coat of matte next weekend.

I have some hinges that I boiled in the crockpot with vinegar and I think the vinegar had a weird reaction with the iron. Normally I do just baking soda and some detergent, but for one treatment I tried adding vinegar. The metal came out gray and rough. I tried buffing out the roughness with steel wool but the color is still off, so I need to dye the metal to bring it back to black. I have good success using the metal dyes from Sculpt Nouveau. I use their degreaser to clean the metal and then apply a couple coats of dye. After that dries I spray on their clear coat. Next weekend I’ll apply their black wax to all of the hinges to give some rust protection.

The outside of the tub is dry so we flip that over and I clean out the interior. Nothing major for this part besides using some Barkeeper’s Friend to scrub out the rust and paint splatters.

The last bit of work we do is some measuring to plan out the cuts needed for the beadboard installation. We want to make sure the wood covers up the light switch 100% so we don’t have to have a weird half-covered outlet.

Speaking of outlets, we also try securing an outlet with a plastic old work box with extendable flanges that attempt to grab the plaster. This doesn’t work as expected and I think I’m going to need to cut out some more plaster to attach the box to a stud.

One piece of bad news is that we lost the St. Ann’s Rectory on Pacific Avenue. This unique Stick-Style Victorian building was demolished for new homes. We tried to save the building by passing along a petition of over 2700 signatures and letters pleading to save the building, but the developer already made up his mind. I know some people say this is progress, but like they say about pornography - I know it when I see it. This isn’t progress.