Thursday, November 27, 2014

Buick Claw Foot Tub and This and That

First the 'this' and 'that'.

I picked up the solar lights but haven't had a chance to install them yet.  Bad weather, errands, and early sunsets are my excuses.

I purchased a small square wreath frame to make an evergreen wreath for my front door.  While I was looking at photos of the front door.....it hit me.   I could turn the wreath frame 90 degrees and it would form a diamond shape like the window in the front door.  So I grabbed the frame and ran to the door.  The diamond shape window is slightly elongated so I pulled a little here and there and before I knew it, it was the exact shape of the window.  Sorry, no before photo because I started manipulating the frame without thinking.

R picked up some evergreen cuttings at Kroger.  They are selling trees and wreaths and had a pile of cuttings.  He asked if he could take them and they said "sure."  Worked out perfect.  I've cut them to the correct size and they are waiting for me to assemble the wreath.

We purchased the needed plywood and bead board plywood to finish the kitchen.  But before we start the inside projects for the winter we really need to clean the back room and organize the tools.  What a mess.

While we were working on the front door last month, I noticed that the bronze weatherstripping was not in the best of shape.  I also wanted to strip the paint from the door jamb, prime, and repaint but the weatherstripping was in the way.  So I removed it and oh my gosh it was like a razor blade.  It was so thin and sharp that I had to be extra careful.  Once it was removed, I folded the pieces and added them to the scrap metal pile.

So now that meant that I needed to buy new bronze weatherstripping.  I researched it online......OK not so much 'researched' as I typed 'bronze weatherstripping' into the search bar and up came Kilian Hardware in Philadelphia.  Since I was ordering for one door and paying for shipping I figured I would order for all five exterior doors.  Long story short, weatherstripping arrived in a huge tube, huge tube is heavy, heavy huge tube is still laying on the floor by the front door.

This is the worst time of year to try and get anything accomplished so I'll just say we are prepping for the winter projects and hope like heck it doesn't snow every day.

We live in an area that was the birth place of General Motors and home to Buick or as the old timers here in Flint say "The Buick."  Last year, GM purchased a brick building in downtown Flint that was Dort Carriage. This is where they built carriages and then became part of GM when Durant started General Motors.  GM is in the process of doing a restoration of this building but across the street is an already restored building called the Durant-Dort office building.  It is this building that is getting the Buick bath tub.  Click on the bath tub link and check out the photos. Is that the remnants of adhesive decals on the inside of the tub?
David Dunbar Buick was originally the owner of a large plumbing business in Detroit.  During that time he developed a process to apply porcelain to cast iron.  This revolutionized plumbing fixtures by making fixtures last longer because they no longer rusted. The process also made fixtures more sanitary and easier to clean.  Along with that patent, he also patented a toilet flushing device.  So every time you flush or scrub your toilet say "Thank you, David Dunbar Buick."

Buick sold his plumbing company along with his patents to Standard Sanitary which later became American Standard.  With that money, he came to Flint and started Buick Manufacturing Company which eventually became part of GM with the help of Billy Durant.

I can't wait to see this tub in person.  The photos are confusing but it has a sink in one end of the tub. I wonder why a sink in the tub?  AND can you believe it......they bought it off of eBay!!!!

Here's the eBay listing   I hope they had an Ebates account because they could have received a $156.00 rebate on their purchase.

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