Update on the Whyte Estate

I'm sure everyone will agree it's been one long, HOT July and now August!  But we've been pushing through the heat and the progress continues slowly at the Whyte Estate.

Henry, with his relentless "can do attitude" has been plugging away at scraping, glazing and painting the exterior windows. Always with a smile on his face (seriously, I don't know how that man does it!). When I do complain about the heat and say let's take the day off, his response is "Heck no, let's get her done!". Thank god that man is on our team!

The rest of the work going on right now is what I call the unfun, unpretty, necessities. Plumbing, electric....bla, bla, bla.  I can't wait to sink my teeth into wall color, tile, and light fixtures, but I know I have to be patient, first things first....the systems have got to go in.

Last week, for a fun diversion and a break from the heat, I decided to take a little road trip in the nice air conditioned truck.  I went to a salvage yard in Baltimore called Second Chance.  It's a 220,000 sq ft. warehouse in the old gaslight district filled with anything and everything you could possibly salvage from an old house. Doors, windows, tubs, sinks, old flooring, lighting....you get the picture.  It was awesome!!! And of course I took pictures, so I wanted to share with you what I found....excuse my IPhone pictures......

Entry to Second Chance:

Inside the warehouse:

An old door for my front entry ($200). Sometime before I bought it, my house lost its front door and someone replaced it with a crappy new metal door.  It doesn't fit with the old house at all and I've been dying to replace it from day one.  This door is from the 40's (the same era the house was built) and it's going torestore the front entry back to its former glory.  I'm going to have to wait to see it installed though...right now the crew is busy with more priority tasks.

A vintage wall mount sink ($15!!) This is going in my son's bathroom. My plan is to find the right piece of furniture, cut this sink into it and create a one kind of vanity.  Hopefully the right piece will pop up at Lucketts.

Vintage toilet ($25) I've been looking at the reproductions of this toilet and they run about $360.  Well here's the real deal for $25...what a find!

Old school house lights ($65 each) another classic! I'm going to hang these in the back entry mud room/laundry room.

Old office door from the 40's ($20) this door will go to the guest bathroom.  The bathroom has a window and I think it will be cool to see the light through the textured glass from the hall outside.  I like using exterior or unexpected doors on inside spaces.  It brings character and interest to a home.  Wait till you the doors Suzanne bought me for my birthday and how I'm going to use them inside! I'll save that for another post...

If you ever have the need for building materials for your home or you just want to bring some old architecture to your inside space, I highly recommend a trip to Second Chance.  They literally have thousands of items that have been saved from the dump and are waiting for a new life in a new space. Go Green...it's fun, less expensive, and flat out just more interesting!

That's all for now. Stay cool!

-Amy