We're at the point in the building of our new old farmhouse that we're starting to think about some finishes. That means Nat is trying to wrangle all the choices with counters and tile and colors and trim and such. But it also means things like railing hangers and garage floor epoxy and doorbells.
Yeah...doorbells.
And Nat and I have been looking around online to find a doorbell that we both like and while there are some neat ones that seem right, I just haven't found anything that I'm in love with. I know...it is just a doorbell. But, I loved our last one. And I want to love this one.
That's lead me to this crazy idea: what about a mechanical doorbell?
See the photo above? That's the 'outside' part of the mechanical doorbell. You have to 'turn' the dial to ring the bell. Below is a photo of the 'bell' part that would sit inside the house.
Remember, we're trying to build a #NewOldFarmhouse. We're already using some salvaged house parts like our windows. And the knobs that Nat has chosen are really awesome and fit the whole 'new old' thing. I'm thinking this doorbell would fit that theme, too? But is it obnoxious?
How does it work? Well, check out this video below that shows both parts.
The video shows a small rod connect the two parts. Because that's how you would mount it to a door. That's about the thickness of the normal door. But, I think we love our new front door a bit too much to want to drill into it. Also, there's lots of glass on it, so it might not work.
But, what about mounting this right where the normal doorbell button would go? Like right next to the door? Turns out, that's doable. I asked our builder what the final thickness of the wall would be after the siding is put on the outside and the drywall is put on the inside and he said it was in the 7" range.
If you check out this listing on the Vintage Hardware site, you'll see that they offer this mechanical doorbell operator that comes with a 10" long rod. And that you can easily trim the length of the rod to make it work for your specific size.
So, instead of having a doorbell with a electric chime, we'd have one of these.
Am I crazy?
That video makes me think the bell is loud enough? But, Nat is worried that our doorbell would need to come with 'instructions'. "How would the UPS guy know how to ring the bell?"
My answer is that there *are* instructions, right? Look at that photo above again: it says 'turn'.
Also, you've seen the Sebastian Maniscalco routine about what happens today when someone rings your doorbell? LULZ. But, true. People don't just 'pop over' these days, right? So, the doorbell isn't used all that much unless you're expecting company? In that case, we'd be listening for it, right?
Give this a watch.
If you came up to a house and saw that mounted to the outside of door, would you know to turn it to ring the doorbell?
We were at the Menards in Bolingbrook and wandered out to where they keep the bags of lawn fertilizer. I was hoping to pick up a few bags of fertilizer and pre-emergent that I could put down late this Winter/early this Spring. As I've talked about over the years, I've evolved in my approach to feeding our lawn. When I started....I was all synthetic. I used the four-step program - all synthetics and some with weed/feed combined. Then...my eyes were opened (thanks to YouTube) on organics. Specifically Milorganite. I started to use biosolids. And, I stopped early Spring feedings. And, did a late season (Thanksgiving) feeding. And 'spoon fed' during the warm months and all of those things that people talk about online. Starting last year, I've kind of swung back on the synthetic --> organic spectrum. But, only half-way. I'll post about what I'm doing with the first application in another post....
The time has come for the backyard Fall lawn project. What I thought was going to be a total renovation - killing everything and seeding from scratch - has turned into a combination of patch seeding and total overseeding in a couple of ways. Once I was able to positively identify that I had an infestation of Nimblewill (a warm-season bent grass), I opted for a selective treatment called Tenacity. After a couple of applications, the spray began to work and has turned the tips of the Nimblewill white as it begins to kill it off . The killing and eradication of the Nimblewill isn't going to be done in this one season, but rather will be a multi-year program. But, with the application of Tenacity (while the Nimblewill is/was growing ), I think I've begun to defeat it. And allow for the application of a new batch of grass seed that will (I hope) take off and begin to grow in the final six or so weeks of the season. The backyard is a case study...
September is a good time to divide some perennials in our growing zone - 5b - due to the cooler temperatures, the little bit of rain we get and the warm soil temperatures. I have a few plants in our garden that were planted in 2017 that haven't been divided to date - so that's five growing seasons without dividing. And, when it comes to some ornamental grasses, it seems that they do BEST when you divide them every three or four years. My Fall dividing plan starts with these Karl Foerster grasses that were planted next to our driveway and our front way. I just posted a photo of these grasses last week showing the trio of them being full and wide . That's about their total, mature size. Coupled with the fact that I noticed some 'center rot' this Spring , I knew it was time to dig these out and divide. I started with the grass closest to our garage - you can see it on the right in the photo below: I dug it up and divided it into quarter...
Comments
Post a Comment
Be nice to each other here.