Our_Restoration_Journey's Restoring Tools Collection on LTK

Restoring Tools

By Our_Restoration_Journey

Only the items we’ve actually tried and worked! Everything from paint stripping to window repair.

Anyone else notice how low the handles seem? I guess when the door is 8’ tall 😉 and the house is built in 1860…

Quite a few doors had been painted over the years and our goal has been to bring them back to the original wood. We estimate about 4-5 layers of paint over the 100+ years

The @dumondinc Smart Strip has been our absolute favorite to use! Works quickly, doesn’t smell like the others and as you can see - makes a dramatic difference! And Dumond if you are listening - we’d love love love to work with you! 😉❤️

We use - Smart Strip, plastic wrap, small copper brushes, and a stiff putty knife for this job. Still have one more go round and lots of additional patience and then we’ll probably just do a clear coat. The wood is very old Douglas Fir and original to the house. So gorgeous!

This has been the best combination of paint remover so far! After this will be to finish the bathroom door. Coming soon!

Please share - we need to keep these beautiful old homes in the limelight! If you have any questions, let us know!

Amazing community that loves old homes like we do ❤️❤️

Don’t Blink

This week? Temped our soul. Way too many tears. Worried about the future and what is next. Stress over bank account balances. Praying that someone is okay. Watching a friend do very hard sh*t.

Don’t Blink. You could miss something amazing.

Hope everyone had a great week in a small town. A big city. With family and friends. Or spending some time on your own. ❤️

Love y’all

We’ve been staring at this window for 2 years. I worked on the old caulk and prepping and Clark got to work on the rotted wood.

We had to utilize the old wood from a different project in the house. A 2x4 now is really a 1.75x3.5 and the old wood is a very hard true 2x4.

Sooo… to get a good patch we need the old 2x4 size. I hope that makes sense.

The wood hardener? Dream product. It helped so many “spongy” pieces around the house. That and Bondo was a huge help.

Stay tuned for the next step - but it went well today! Restoration of an old house is always a challenge.

We are getting there!

We live in the country and have a well for water. We are in a drought and really needed backup water for drinking and cooking, so we were renting the dispenser for a while and then found almost the exact same dispenser at Walmart.

It’s easy to change, not like the old ones that you would have to flip upside down. Remember those?

We love it. Thought you may find it helpful too!

#countryliving #remoteliving #wellwater

#LTKHome

We were renting the dispenser and had to have two 5 gallon jugs delivered monthly. It cost us about $45 a month. This was sort of expensive but pays for itself in about 2.5 months (for us)

We live on a well and have run out of water a few times so we use this for drinking and cooking - even cleaning dishes! Easy to “install” the 5 gallons

#LTKvlog

If you’ve ever stood in a room with unpasted wallpaper and thought, “Umm… I don’t want to do this. Same friend. 😂

Today I’m sharing exactly how we’re hanging wallpaper in our 1860 dining room without losing our minds (or the pattern repeat).

Here’s the quick step-by-step:

Measure twice… maybe three times
Old houses like ours = nothing is straight. Walls lean. Floors tilt. Spirits test you. That first roll? Give yourself a few inches at the top. You’ll thank me later.

Apply paste to the wall - this is where ChatGPT is your friend. Check the emojis!
Unpasted wallpaper means the wall gets the paste, not the roll. Smooth, even coverage is key so it doesn’t dry patchy. Don’t go overboard though!

Work top to bottom
Start at the plumb line, line up your pattern, and let gravity be your coworker. Press and smooth as you go. I admit… sometimes I do a little bit of both!

Use a smoothing tool + sharp blade
Air bubbles? We don’t know her. Trim the excess at the ceiling and baseboard with confidence (or at least fake it like me). Constantly snap the blade! Don’t try to be cheap here. You’ll hate yourself for it.

Wipe down as you go
A damp cloth cleans off any paste on the seams so everything dries crisp and gorgeous. ALWAYS. Keep it handy.

We’re not doing a full before-and-after today (coming soon!) this is more of a “here’s how we do it in a 165-year-old home where nothing is square” kind of moment.

I’ll share the tools + products in Stories (LTK link in our Bio)

If you’ve wallpapered an old home… tell me:
Did your walls fight you too or is it just us? 😂

#PoundHomeAndGardens #HotMessAndIronman #OldHomeRenovation #WallpaperDIY #UnpastedWallpaper #DIYHomeProjects #HistoricHomeRestoration #WallpaperTips #MoodyHomeVibes #DIYDecor #PatternRepeatProblems #RenovationJourney #BeforeItsBeautiful

Mission Impossible

I’ve had this wallpaper for over a year. Yup. The one that got it all started.

Yet … I’m terrified of putting it up since I have to paste it. Seriously. I’ve done almost every room already.

Except the bee wallpaper. Let’s not talk about that 😡

Wish me luck this snowy Saturday and let me know if you want to hear the differences between wallpaper!

#snowdayfun❄️ #wallpaper #ourrestorationjourney #poundhomeandgardens

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