The Restorers Library " Pallisers New Cottage Homes 1887"

From Time to time I like to recommend reference books that may be of interest to Old House restorers, Palliser's New Cottage Homes 1887 is a reproduction of the rare catalog that originally was published in 1887. It includes 1,500 detailed drawings of floor plans, elevations, perspective views, architectural details, and interior ornamentation and is has designs for villas, farmhouses, town and country places, barns, and city brick block houses; and fine-lined illustrations of windows, eaves, and other architectural elements.

I have found this to be a great reference source in designing period details for old homes. This book is available from Dover Press for 14.95. http://store.doverpublications.com/0486428168.html But you may be able to locate a used copy on Ebay for less.

The indignity of Modern Convenience Failure

We had a power outage yesterday at 6:02 PM, etched in my memory due to the need to reset a million things in our home. Apparently a car vs light pole and the light pole lost. I called our local utility and was informed that I and 110 other home owners were in the dark and would be for "an hour... or so".

Now of course we are total electric and I was thankful we went to great expense to totally insulate our house but it was 17 degrees outside so I hoped it was "Just" an hour and NOT the "or so". Being the Holidays I already had some candles around so I went from room to room lighting them. I also has a box of LED battery powered spots that are used for temporary point of use lighting in a closets and such that I brought out and sat around the house. Of course I had to go to the basement to pull the annoying beep of the alarm battery backup warning.

Greg suggested we go out to the carriage house and get the generators out. Were this a 'long term' situation like an ice storm I would have considered that option but since this was likely a temporary situation I decided it was more "bother than worth" to fire up the generator, but it was comforting to know I had that option. Joys of being in the construction field to have a 6000 watt generator handy.

Naturally this power outage was confined to "our side" of the street and I could see the light of my neighbors across the street lit for the Holidays, blissfully unaware of our predicament. However I didn't mind, the house looked beautiful lit by candlelight. Of course my cell phone rang as neighbors on our side of the street called to ask "Is your power off? Our power is off". I relayed the info that I heard from the Utility company that this was a temporary thing and power would be back on shortly. I realized that some of my neighbors, the ones with teenage children must be in panic mode as teenagers with no Nintendo, computers or stereos must be like crack addicts without a fix.

As for us, I amused myself by playing our old Estey Pump Organ and I realized that the Victorians really didn't have it so bad and they didn't have to worry about the "indignity of Modern Convenience Failure" because , well, they didn't have any.

At 6:53 the Power returned and of course I spent the next hour resetting clocks and timers.

Ah "Pre-Spring"

Greg and I have decided that it is officially "Pre-Spring". Not being fans of cold weather we refer to the period between the first snow and the first 70 degree day as "Pre Spring" as it is decidedly less depressing that referring to this as winter!

We did manage to put up our tree this year, though with our Indy house for sale we decided to not go over-the-top this year in yuletide decoration. Although I think our Realtor would agree that there is little chance of selling a quarter of a million dollar plus house in the middle of winter much less in the throws of an economic recession.

As usual I get my "decorate our house for the holiday party" client requests and I have decided to not accept any new clients this year for our services. I have six client's homes to do over the next two weeks. It always struck me as odd that people pay other people to come in and decorate their homes for the holidays but if you are looking for a "period Victorain look" for your holiday party , well you either have to know what you are doing or pay for it.

As I said this year we just put up the tree and a few things here and there, just enough for our Christmas party and dinner. I shot these photos last night, the house looked all warm and cozy. To think after totally restoring this one, what are we doing? Working on another in Cincinnati so we can repeat the process all over again!

Ah "Pre Spring" I am already planning where the gardens, walkways, gazebo and ponds will go at the new house.

ODOT receives preservation grants

Two grants totaling $81,000 have been awarded to the Ohio Department of Transportation by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration.

The Federal funding will be used to continue the part-time byway coordinator position for the Ohio National Road Association and to produce a revised Traveler's Guide as well as new Ohio Historic National Road Association brochures.

The Ohio Historic National Road is part of a six-state Historic National Road Corridor, from Maryland to Illinois. The National Road Corridor spans some 600 miles with more than 220 miles in Ohio including stops along the way including such places as historic railroads, bridges, barns, and homes, among other points of national historic interest.