For all intents and purposes, a back door is just a back door, right? Not necessarily.
We do giggle from beneath our woollen blankets. We don’t take anything for granted.
This 1926 character of a bungalow whistles in the wind in winter. It doesn’t help that we decided to rip up the carpets (several layers of them) to expose the original Matai floorboards in the lead up to winter! Despite the desire to renovate every inch of the house immediately, that just isn’t about to happen. There is so much to do and only so many daylight hours, especially in winter.
With the onslaught of rain inhibiting outside DIY, this past month has seen our attention turn to the inside, or more specifically the ‘backside’ of the house. We figure the drafty wooden floor can wait for another time right? It is nothing that several layers of socks and a hot water bottle or two can’t fix in the meantime (brrrrr)!
Let me tell you more about the back of the house.
The original 1926 two bedroom cottage was extended back in the 40s-50s to make room for a growing family. The original verandah facing the back garden had been built-in to create a bigger living space and to allow for some new modern conveniences (although the original sloping verandah floors still remain today). Those renovations meant that the coal-store (previously a lean-to accessible from outside only) was transformed into a toilet, accessible from inside. What a luxury! Finally, no more adventures to the out-house at the bottom of the garden in the middle of a rainy night.
I digress. In the process of building-in the verandah, a new backdoor entrance was created and a new backdoor erected. Since moving in this past December, as second owners of the house in its lifetime, my curious Englishman decided there was something weird going on with backdoor. He did some investigating.
It appeared solid but didn’t seem to have the charm of the rest of the house. With a flat screwdriver and a bit of tap with a hammer, it soon became clear that false panels had been tacked on both sides of the door.
A new discovery! Beneath the veneer was a 15 panel 1940s-50s door.
We were so excited!
Perhaps it had been covered up to keep in some heat, for privacy, or just to modernise it (as I guess everyone feels the urge to do after so many decades).
The result?
A couple of panes had cracked over the years of door slamming but nothing that a friendly glazier couldn’t fix. Back in ‘the day’ there was no safety glass so any repair work done now will be automatically be dragged into the 21st century.
There were several layers of paint to attack (cream, burnt orange, blue, hints of green) but that scraped off to an acceptable level to receive a fresh lick of paint. We were tempted to sand all the paint back to wood however due to the number holes decided paint would do nicely.
The numerous holes were from old locks over the decades. They needed filling so we used various diameters of wooden doweling, glued them in and sanded them down flat ready for painting. If you plan to do this yourself, literally measure with a ruler and go to your local hardware store. Doweling comes in handy diameters and one is sure to fit.
The overall effect is certainly not a perfect door but certainly one we think, has a lot more character and certainly allows a lot more natural light to pour in.
Just some paint scraping to tidy up those window panes and it’s done.
One more thing off the list.
Next, those sloping floors.
