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Poison Quill

My front door has been one of those things that I've been meaning to work on for the last... oh, ten years or so... since I bought my house!

(CURRENT PHOTO OF FRONT DOOR WILL GO IN HERE SHORTLY)

I picked out a nice deep red paint for the door, then started thinking about what else I could do with it. I wanted to try to incorporate some interesting history into the front door project, rather than just buying new stuff...

I decided to get an antique victorian door knocker and started looking for something interesting and unique. I ended up with this- lady's hand holding an apple! It comes from France and dates to the second half of the 19th century. When I got it, it was covered in modern metallic copper paint...

Last night when I stripped off the old paint, I got a surprise- Although the backplate was cast iron, the hand was bronze! I was also surprised at how nice the detailing was under the paint. This still needs a little work getting the last of the copper paint out of the crevices:

Next step was to decide on what to do with the path to the front door. I found a Craigslist seller selling the old cobblestones from the streets of San Francisco! These were originally brought here on the gold rush ships, they were used as ballast when the ships had put their load ashore, to keep them from sitting too high in the water. These ballast stones were brought ashore and recycled into cobblestones for the streets, and were in use from 1850 to about 1910.

Here is one cobblestone:

A retaining wall made of cobbestones:

And an example of a walk made with SF cobblestone, which is like what I plan to do:

I got to pick up my cobblestones Saturday. More on this as it develops!
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Poison Quill · Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:50 pm Post subject:

Whew! What a day! It was quite something getting these cobblestones. When we arrived the guy wasn't there, and since we had to wait for him, drive to another site and load them up, he let us take as much as we wanted.

Some of these come from construction sites, others came from a guy with a barge that would take them off the floor of the bay. Those ones have barnacles on them and were not in the streets, but were goldrush ship's ballast and were just left where they were when the ships rotted in the harbor or were burned to the water line to get rid of them. Interesting history either way! There are a couple that are blackened. I'm guessing they may have either been burned on a ship or maybe in the SF fire. They are all very clearly hand chiseled, and after lugging them around today, I really feel sorry for the poor guys that had to chisel out and carry those stones, back on the east coast somewhere.

We are going to wash them with a power sprayer, so they will look much nicer than they do in the photos.

Here is the load of them, unwashed, in the back of the truck:

Here's my "before photo" of the walkway to the house:

And here's where the little garden in the center of the driveway circle will go. It has been cleared and ringed with river rocks:

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Red-Handed Jill · Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 1960 Location: Redwood Shores

Ah - so you got lots of those rocks from that guy! Looking forward to seeing the progress pics!
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acmscully · Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 176 Location: Vacaville, CA

I love the door knocker! It looks very nice since you cleaned it up!

Poison Quill · Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:51 am Post subject:

Those stones are really heavy for their size. That load was just about the max. we were comfortable hauling with our truck. It gave the brakes quite a workout on the mountain!
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Lady Jaxx · Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:26 pm Post subject:

Mum!! where do you find the time... can you loan me some!?!?!?!?

I too, like the knocker.... and the cobblestone for a patio and drive... if you need help...

call!
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Poison Quill · Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:34 pm Post subject:

Thanks Jaxx! Actually I'm getting help from a guy up here who is helping me with the heavy stuff so I'm doin' OK, but thanks for the offer!
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Poison Quill · Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:31 am Post subject:

Here's the next project phase, scrubbing down the cobblestones. (Oh joy!) The power washer wasn't available, so I had at 'em with a scrubbrush and a bucket of soapy water. If you're into old rocks, LOL, this will be absolutely facinating! If not, I'll have something better for ya soon!

Washed down you can see a lot of different types of stone, and some that have an obvious worn side, like the three near the tire:

One of them is speckled granite:

Here you can see the barnacles on one of the ones hauled up from the bottom of the bay:

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Poison Quill · Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 12:57 pm Post subject:

Found a better example of a SF cobblestone pathway, where the cobblestones vary more in size and are rough in texture. Mine will be more like this, but narrower. And no gargoyles, LOL!

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Red-Handed Jill · Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 1960 Location: Redwood Shores

What? No gargoyles???
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Poison Quill · Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:45 pm Post subject:

I just looked a little closer, I think that's a weeping angel rather than a gargoyle with big Yoda ears. Those look to be tombstones in the background. I don't think I need any of those in the yard either. Hopefully not for a long time!
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Red-Handed Jill · Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 1960 Location: Redwood Shores

Tombstones? Cool! (Jack and I would probably put those in our front garden, but that's us...)
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Poison Quill · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 7:20 am Post subject:

Next phase...

Cobblestone walkway is partially dug out, and the cobbles are placed. The door has been taped off and is ready to be sanded, primed and painted a deep red.

RH Jill, you will be SO disappointed in me! I didn't get tombstones or gargoyles, but went for a couple of bird baths instead! In my on-going quest for ultra-cheap garden supplies I found these on Craigslist:

This one had a lot of moss on the bowl when I got it but it came off with a little scrubbing.

Here's how the center of the driveway is looking so far. Also on Craigslist I found a couple here on the mountain who make concrete benches for $40. I'll put a curved one under the tree:

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Lady Jaxx · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:37 am Post subject:

coming along nicely!
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Ransom · Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Posts: 107 Location: Grants Pass, OR

It amazes me the stuff you seem to be able to find on Craigslist! Love the door knocker!

And, yeah, I'm with Jill, I'd probably put the tombstones in my garden. LOL I have a whole collection of tombstone pictures I've taken at various cemeteries.

Poison Quill · Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:41 pm Post subject:

Here's the latest photos of how the door/walkway project is coming along.

Got a bird bath pedastle free on Craigslist for the bird feeder that didn't have one:

Dug out the pathway through "Central Park" and added a few stones:

I dug out about 1/3 of the trench for the cobblestones, after we put the sand base in this will put them at ground level, then fill in with gravel. I tell ya, this was hard work. I had to take it down about 8" with a pick axe. There were lots of rocks n' roots down there to dig through. It doesn't look like much but it was a whole lotta work!

Additionally, I got the last of the paint out of the crevices of the doorknocker, and I found an old bronze Chinese coin, the type with a whole in the center, that I am going to use as the strike plate for the knocker.
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Poison Quill · Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:18 pm Post subject:

Here's the final result on the knocker, with the old Chinese coin which will be used as the strike plate. The next photo of it should be on the door!

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Poison Quill · Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:55 am Post subject:

We're already attracting pirates! Look who was plundering the bird food this morning!

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Lady Jaxx · Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:27 pm Post subject:

lol!! Just wait Mum, he will be telling his neighbors and friends about his new found food store!
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Poison Quill · Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:41 pm Post subject:

Here's a small update, the rest of the trenching is done, the door has been sanded and primed. There are a few more stones lining the pathway through "Central Park".

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Lady Jaxx · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:33 am Post subject:

wow!!

and i recognize the store across the street! lol
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Red-Handed Jill · Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 1960 Location: Redwood Shores

Looks like you made short work of that trench!
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Poison Quill · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:41 pm Post subject:

I just did the part in the earlier photos. Our neighbor has been over helping. He got the rest done in half the time it took me to do the first part!!
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Poison Quill · Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 11:31 pm Post subject:

I just realized that I forgot to post my pix from last weekend- The door is red and the knocker is up!

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Red-Handed Jill · Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 1960 Location: Redwood Shores

Is that Colonial Red? Good choice!

And I wonder how many folks will lift up the hand to see what kind of spherical object it's holding.
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Poison Quill · Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:45 pm Post subject:

It took five coats to get that deep true color and it's pink until it dries! I don't remember the name of the color, it's a little darker than most of the red front doors you see. It's almost a black cherry. I really like it.

The bummer is the screen door. Gotta have it. The house has no AC. I'm in the process of painting that the same deep red, but the jury is still out on weather it will look good or not with more coats of paint. Ultimately, I may go with a retractable screen door, or buy an old wood frame one. I'm leaning towards retractable, but I have to see if it will be rigid enough to keep the cats in. I've seen them online, but never in real life, so I'm not sure about that.
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