Karen is back down this weekend so we can finish up the wallpaper on the soffit and also hang a few lights. I won’t touch electric stuff so Karen is up for wiring up the two lights I got for the bedroom and the attic bedroom. First up is the attic where I got a 1920/30s porcelain flush mount fixture. This replaces a $5 Home Depot fixture. As with any old home tasks, there’s a few unexpected surprises. Taking the old fixture off goes OK but when we try to secure the new fixture to the electrical box, the bolt that came with the fixture is too long. The box is surface mounted and appears to have a hole that we can punch through the metal to give more space for the bolt, but looking behind the box, there’s the wood of the beadboard. Since there’s already a hole in the beadboard from the wire coming through, I don’t want to punch another hole in the wood, so I end up cutting the bolt. I take about a 1/4 inch off using a hacksaw and we’re able to secure the fixture.

For the bedroom, I bought a small chandelier style fixture from Turn of the Century Lighting in Canada. This is a replica of an old fixture. I tried looking for some antiques, but I find that most surviving antiques are very ornate where I want a more modest look for my Folk Victorian. The replica lights from this company have a nice simple look and they make each fixture to order. This one goes a lot easier and there’s no bolt cutting needed to get this fixture up.

After we hang the new fixture we mix up some paste and hang the last piece of wallpaper. This is a border that we selected for the soffit. Because it’s a small section this goes up with no problem and now everything is done in the room except for the floor and finding the furniture and window treatments.

Back in the other bedroom some more stripping of paint. I don’t secure the stud repair I worked on last week, but I do add some sheetrock behind the repair to try and insulate a little behind the HVAC that is running through the adjacent closet.