I bought a little meter today and found that my fabric wires are, in fact, dead. With that, I pulled out the old doorbell in the kitchen. I wondered how it sounded, so I hooked it up to a 9-volt battery and recorded this little sound of it.
Here is a challenge, Old House People. I had a plate high up in the corner of my kitchen, above the upper corner of the door from the kitchen to dining room.
I thought it would be empty back there, and planned to patch it. However, I found this Amazing Mystery instead.
Under 8 or 9 layers of paint, was this:
That grey thing in the middle is a bunch of paint from the hole in the switch plate. That black thing looks like a little vent or something. I pulled it out, and found a scary electical surprise - fabric covered wires.
There is also some printing on it. On the back, it says “bell” or “hell”, leading me to suspect that it might be an old doorbell? That, or a satanic messaging device.
And there is also some printing on the side.
And finally, here’s what the inside looks like.
What could it be? Well as I finished writing up this blog post, I realized I could look up the patent number. And yes! It’s a doorbell! Or rather, an “audible signaling device such as electric bells, buzzers, and the like”.
So it’s coming out soon and I’ll patch that hole. In the meantime - any bets on whether or not the wires are live?
I added a mirror to my little entrance area. It’s a bit big for the space, but I’m happy to have it there. Eventually, I may get a smaller one. This would fit in any room in my house, but for now, it’s doing a good job filling that wall (and I can also check that I look acceptable on my way out). It’s also the only thing hanging on the wall in the main house!
I ordered my cabinets today finally. They won’t be in until early May, but I have put down a big deposit which makes me feel like things are finally happening.
I’ve also decided to mess around with the color before the cabinets get here. I’m going to try out some different colors with the little $5 cans of paint on this wall. Everything is coming out, so I won’t need to be ultra careful as I see what color I like.
And finally, the girls’ new feeder came today, so we can start transitioning their dining into the dining room.
When we did the inspection on this house, I noticed lots of ant spikes outside and ant equipment inside. I had noticed a few ants over the last month, including 2 that tried to crawl into my laptop (yes, a real computer bug).
Last week, I read of Paul’s battle with malodorous ants. He pointed out that you can identify them because when you squish them, they smell like windex. I totally didn’t believe this, but I found an ant, squished it, and sure enough! WINDEX!
I can’t figure out where they are coming from. I left a bowl on the floor after dinner and there were several ants in there tonight. There were a bunch more crawling around all over the east side of the living room. For now, I sprayed some house and garden raid. Paul reports great success with Terro, so that is on the top of my list for my next trip to Home Depot.
Today, I got the sketches and price for my new kitchen cabinets. Sure enough, it was less than the price I was quoted at Lowes, and for much higher quality cabinets.
I tried playing with color in these pics, but it didn’t come out too well. Other caveats: (1) that’s not the door style I’m going with, and (2) I’m going with a cabinet over the fridge (Michelle convinced me). The layout is right. Anyway, you get the idea. Now I just wait for them to arrive and plan for installation.
This picture from Sherwin Williams color visualizer is more accurate with the cabinet, countertop, and wall colors.
I pried off the back plate on the basement door and found a round hole under there. I don’t know what it’s for, since there is no cut out on the side of the door that would let it function.
I hate the plate there. I think I will cut a round piece to put in there, do some wood filler, sand it down and paint it. That will also let me address the hole higher up on the door covered by a round plate.
Now that I’m done painting, I’m starting to think about removing paint from my door hardware. But I’m wondering - what is this thing on the door to my basement for?
As you can see from this side view, it’s not covering a space that had locks or anything. The side of the door has no holes near that plate.
It’s not screwed in, either. It just has these little rivets on both sides holding it in. I am sure can pry it off, but i’m quire curious about what it’s doing there in the first place. Does anyone know?
Update: I didn’t mention that there is one of these on both sides of the door. I don’t know if that makes a difference…
After the painting, I faced my electrical fears and replaced the ceiling fan in my office with the new light that arrived yesterday. After turning off every breaker in the house before that stupid fan went off, the whole process went pretty smoothly. It would have been easier with another set of hands, but I managed just fine. And what a difference!
