Tag: Victorian House

Upgrading to a Smart Thermostat

This post is sponsored by Honeywell.

I received a Lyric thermostat and compensation in exchange for coverage. All opinions and thoughts about this product are my own.

We’re continuing to modernize our Victorian’s heating system. We’ve already replaced the boiler with a more energy-efficient model, and we had thermostatic radiator valves installed on our radiators throughout the second and third floors. Now our latest change has been upgrading to a Lyric thermostat.

The house’s existing 1980s model was missing its cover, and I was glad to replace it with something more attractive. This may be a bit dorky, but I actually have a favorite thermostat, design-wise! My grandparents had The Round in their home, and it has always been my standard for what a thermostat should look like. The Lyric draws on the design of The Round, marrying the look with smart new features.

The Lyric app walks you through the installation, and it’s pretty straightforward. I was all set with the power off, and with my phone and a screwdriver handy. There was some wall damage hidden beneath the old thermostat, so I used the Lyric’s optional backplate to cover it. (When I eventually wallpaper or paint the dining room, I’ll repair the plaster and remove the plate.) I mounted the new thermostat, reattached the wires, and connected to it wirelessly, but then I had to name it. Ack, the pressure! So I named it “Hottie” because, you know… it keeps us warm. Clearly I am not good at naming devices on the fly. (Also, I didn’t realize everyone would see what I named it!)

Besides an upgrade in appearance, our new thermostat will also help us save money. Weather and humidity are taken into account with its Fine Tune feature, insuring that 70 degrees actually feels like 70 degrees. You can also further adjust the temperature at any time manually or via the app. We’re keeping the house fairly warm during the day because of the baby, but I did program the thermostat to cool the house down by five degrees when everyone is asleep. The kids get up around 6am so I set that as our family’s awake time for the thermostat, but sometimes I’m up with Calvin for couple of hours before everyone else. I love that I can adjust the temperature through the Lyric app on my phone, without leaving my bed.

The Lyric also has a pretty interesting geofencing feature; it can detect when you’re away based on your phone’s location and adjust your home’s temperature to save energy. When you’re back within range (you choose the distance), your heating/cooling system will kick on and the house will be back at your preferred temperature for your arrival. It’s great for us because we don’t have a set schedule from day to day, and sometimes I do some solo traveling for the blog. Geofencing can be configured with multiple users, so it only kicks in when everyone is away. Smart!

We’ve made so many changes to the functional elements of our house that improve its comfort and efficiency, but that go unseen. Upgrading to The Lyric addresses those issues, and looks good too.

November 12, 2014
It’s Electric!

Our Victorian had been converted to multiple apartments decades ago (during the Depression, I believe), and was only converted back to a single-family home shortly before we bought it. There have been some quirks associated with that, one of which being that the house still had four electric meters.

Then something really fun happened one day, several months ago, which is that we lost power in half of the second floor. This was independent of having any work done in the house — one day the lights worked, and then they didn’t, and we hadn’t changed anything at that point. The electric company came out and tagged one of our meters with this delightful sign.

Abnormal Condition Exists. Nobody wants to touch that, by the way, because of the liability involved if something happens. The electric company doesn’t want that on their hands, and neither do electricians. See? Fun stuff!

We had a backfeed issue. I could have my numbers wrong, so forgive me if that’s the case (I’m going off of memory from what ComEd told me and I’m not an electrical expert by any means), but essentially there should have been two prongs in the meter reading at 120 volts for a combination of 240. We were reading at over 400 volts combined when touching the meter to the top right and bottom left prongs because the bottom left prong was live when it should have been completely dead. There was a jumper placed from the top right to the bottom right prongs to power the house until the problem could be identified and remedied, and that’s when we got our lovely tag.

The live feed meant that somewhere in the house, power was spliced from one meter system into another. We don’t know why it suddenly decided to go on the fritz one day after seemingly working without problem, but the upside is that it pushed along the process of moving from four meters to one. Thankfully, it was much smoother than when we did the same for our commercial and residential natural gas accounts. The village issued a permit immediately (there had been a couple of bad electrical fires in town recently, so they look at these situations with a sense of urgency), and the electricians were able start on the work quickly.

So we went from this:

To this:

Isn’t that just the most thrilling way to spend a few thousand dollars? This is much nicer though:

We’ll have to paint the patched siding, but no more Abnormal Condition. Hooray!

Ah, but then we discovered some knob and tube wiring still in use, so we’re not exactly celebrating over here. In fact, we’ve been having the house rewired over the last couple of weeks. The third floor is nearly done, and then we’ll be taking a break from home renovation work to enjoy our soon-to-arrive baby before moving on to the second and first floors, and the basement too. Our home inspection revealed old, inactive knob and tube, so it was a bit of a surprise to find more that was still in use, but sometimes that just the way things go with these old houses. Until you open up a few walls or run into unexpected problems, you don’t know what hidden issues may need to be addressed.

October 1, 2014
The Library, Rearranged

I’ve been getting the “oh, you’re nesting!” comments from friends and family a lot lately, and maybe it’s true. I’m organizing closets. I’m arranging and rearranging and then rearranging some more. I think I’ve kind of hit on a good arrangement in the library though (and identified a key missing piece!), so I thought I’d snap a few photos today.

I don’t know if the rug is going to stay. I like it, but I think it’s a little too sweet in the room and the library is either calling for bare floors or something with an entirely different feel. It’s a little too small anyway.

I like the black and white sofa in front of the bookshelves. There is room for the library ladder to roll behind there, so it’s not blocking any access, but I don’t know if I’m crazy about lining up that sofa with the blue one facing the same way in the next room over.

And then there’s that missing piece the room needs: a secretary desk! Yes. This side of the room needs something with some height, and a desk would be useful. I’m thinking it should be black, with masculine lines to offset all of the pink and girly going on in there. Something that won’t compete with the bookshelves, but that can hold its own in the space.

All right, back to nesting! Today’s my birthday, but I don’t think the baby’s interested in making his debut today (though there’s still time, eh?). I’m angling for tomorrow so he can share the date with my grandma, but I’m not due until Friday.

September 22, 2014
New Lights, and New Favorites
This post is sponsored by Schoolhouse Electric.

There are three existing lights in the hallway: the one that you can see below, hanging down (which is cute and has a round glass shade), and two others that don’t match. Now that the hall construction is complete and the walls have been painted, I want all three lights to be identical for continuity. I was looking for flush mount fixtures in brass to match the metal finishes throughout the Victorian, in a small scale, and in a classic style. I wanted something that looked good, but nothing that was too much of an in-your-face statement piece (hallways are utilitarian spaces — they don’t exactly need chandeliers!). I’ve been a fan of Schoolhouse Electric’s fixtures for ages, so when they offered to provide lighting, I chose three Newberry 4″ pendant fixtures in brass and these white glass shades. They arrived a couple of days ago, and they’re going to look fantastic.

(Oof, that belly. Almost done!)

We’re rewiring the house soon and getting rid of the old BX, along with any hidden knob and tube that’s still active (oh, the joys of old houses!), so we’ll have new fixtures installed then. We’re also having all of the switches on the first and second floors changed out for new push-button switches at the same time. There are a few original ones left in the house, and I love them! I’m so excited that all of the switches are going to match.

OK, and I have to share the new collection that Schoolhouse Electric just released this week. We’d been emailing back and forth about the lights, and they gave me a sneak peek at everything… and whoa. Way more exciting than finishing up a hallway! First of all, this bedroom is perfection. You know I love a good Jenny Lind bed, and a good floral.

My favorites from the new line are below. I want to put a room together around all of these pieces! Can’t you just see it? So awesome when a collection leaves you feeling inspired.
September 18, 2014
The Nursery, After Construction

Who’s ready for some pretty pictures? (Sorry to disappoint. It’s the nursery.)

The room is about 12’x12′ though the built-in cabinetry takes up 2′ of floor space along the window wall, and the doorway comes into the room 2′ as well. She doesn’t look like much yet, but see that radiator by the door? Here it is from another angle, not too long ago.

Walls and a door are a big improvement.

The nursery will not be ready for the baby’s arrival — obviously. I would love to have it at least cleared out, cleaned up, and with primed (if not painted!) walls, but we’re 10 days from the due date. I don’t know if it’s going to happen. The important thing though is that there IS a nursery. It exists! There may still be a kitchen sink in the room, but at least it’s no longer hooked up!

I’m due on the 26th, but I’m willing the baby to be born on the 23rd (it’s totally going to work, you guys). My birthday is on the 22nd, but my grandma’s is the 23rd and it would be very sweet if they could share the date. Brandon’s going to be working on the room, getting it presentable and trying to throw a coat of primer up, so we’ll see if the baby cooperates with my proposed timeline.

We’re using the brown glider and ottoman that we already have (not so stylish, but very comfortable), and our black jenny lind crib. You can see them in the old house, in both Eleanor’s and August’s nurseries. We don’t need a dresser or bookcase since we have a wall of built-in storage, so the room should come together pretty quickly and easily. Paint, a rug, fabric, art… I’m looking forward to the fun part of working on the nursery now!

September 16, 2014
The Second Floor is Taking Shape

Hey, no more visible lathe! We have walls!

That’s the door we’re going to reuse for the new nursery, casually hanging out all akimbo at the end of the hall there. You know, where the 125-year-old subfloor is exposed? Living with the floor ripped up like that for a few weeks hasn’t been as bad as we initially thought it would be, but one of the kids’ bedrooms is over there so we will be glad to have an actual floor down sooner than later.

The wood on the second floor wasn’t in great shape when we bought the house, and when we started pulling it up for this project, we saw why. It’s a very thin material — not nearly as nice as the solid wood downstairs. It’s old for sure, and it has reached the end of its useful life, so we’re going to go ahead and redo the whole hallway rather than just patch the portion that we’re working on now. It’s something that we knew would need to be addressed eventually, but doing it now will mean holding off on some of the more fun stuff we’d rather spend our money on. (Sorry, potential front porch swing. Maybe another time.)

There was a strip of wood molding along the walls in the former kitchen (soon to be nursery!) at chest height, matching up with where the beadboard backsplash behind the kitchen sink ended. After the wood was removed, the wallpaper had to be partially stripped so that any patching to be done could adhere directly to the wall. It looked like the paper was just applied over bare drywall in some sections and we were worried about potential damage, but it’s peeling off fairly cleanly and easily with just water. After our contractor is done working in there, Brandon will finish stripping the remaining wallpaper.

I’m about seven weeks from the baby’s due date now, so I’m not sure how the timing’s going to shake out, but the baby will sleep in our bedroom at first anyway. Really, we’re just aiming to get the loudest, most disruptive work completed in time, and thankfully that looks like it will be on schedule.

August 4, 2014