Mortar and Murder (37 page)

As soon as I heard we’d have to renovate a whole house in just five days, I’d tried to bow out, but Derek had convinced me it would be fun; we just needed the right house.

Now he nodded. “Melissa has found us something.”

Melissa. Just what I’d spent the past year trying to avoid: having Melissa James represent me in a real estate deal.

There was no way around it, though. Now that Irina was married and was accompanying her husband to Florida at the end of the summer, she had decided to quit the business. She didn’t have to work anymore; Gert was making more than enough money to support them both in style. Or if she enjoyed it, maybe she’d get into condo sales in Miami, or something. Something more lucrative and easier than trying to beat out a living on the back roads up here in the frozen-half-the-year north. So Melissa was our only hope, as well as our salvation, it seemed.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Tony Micelli owns a little cottage on Cabot Street,” Derek said. “Eleven hundred square feet, two-one—”

A two bedroom, one bath.

“—that he’s been renting out for years. The tenants just moved out—the college semester ended—and now Tony wants to try to sell it. He’s allowing us to go in and make it look good.”

“Big of him.”

Derek shrugged. “I’ve seen it, and it’ll be great for what we want. He’s footing the bill for the materials, even paying us a little for the work, and then Melissa will list and sell it once it’s finished. Everyone wins.”

“And it’s a good candidate for a quick flip?”

“Oh, sure,” Derek said. “Tony hasn’t done anything to update it, so most of the original features are there. Fireplace, millwork, hardwood floors. The roof’s good, and it’s been sided, so we won’t have to mess with the outside much, and the kitchen cabinets are original. . . .”

And we both knew how much Derek liked original kitchen cabinets.

I shrugged. “If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me.”

“That’s my girl.” He grinned. After a minute he added, “I hear that Judith and Mamie Norton over on Green Street are thinking of selling their house.”

I rummaged in the files in my mind. “The two old ladies in that big craftsman bungalow on the corner? The one with the lace curtains in all the windows?”

“That’s the one. Those same curtains have been there for as long as I’ve been alive. I don’t think the house has been renovated or updated since it was built. It’ll have all those original features, untouched for ninety years. And it’s gonna cost a pretty penny, especially if they go ahead and have a Realtor list it. But maybe we could talk to them before they get that far, see what they say. . . .”

“It’s a big house,” I pointed out. “One of those rambling craftsman bungalows from—what?—the 1920s? It’s a good two thousand square feet, wouldn’t you say? And if it hasn’t been updated since then . . . I thought you didn’t want to take on another big project again so soon.”

“They won’t be ready to do anything for a couple of months, at least. By then, maybe we’ll have a contract on this, and we’ll have had time to rest up.”

“Whatever you say.” I leaned back on my elbows, with Mischa still curled into a ball in my lap, vibrating cozily.

Derek lay back on the porch floor and closed his eyes as the sun rose higher in the sky. “I’m gonna take a nap.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” I moved the cat off my lap and curled up next to him. “Wake me when it’s time to go home.”

“No worries,” Derek said, his voice already fading, “I will.”

I smiled and snuggled in. After a moment, Mischa crawled on top of me and went back to purring.

 

Floorcloths date from fourteenth-century France, but they reached their height of popularity in the sixteen hundreds in England, where they usually replicated the look of expensive marble tile. The earliest floorcloths were the simplest, often displaying a tile design. Some of them look amazingly like 1950s linoleum. As time progressed, the designs expanded, as did the range of colors: from the original black, red, and white to a range of hues. Authentic floorcloths were—and are—constructed from canvas sailcloth made impervious by the application of oil-based paints. They’re hypoallergenic and pet friendly, and they clean easily with soap and water.

 

TOOLS AND MATERIALS

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut canvas sailcloth to desired size plus one-inch allowance/border.

2. Cover both sides of canvas sailcloth with two coats of oil-based primer to prevent shrinking.

3. Fold a one-inch border all around, miter, and bind with glue.

4. Apply three coats of base color to top of floorcloth, using oil-based paint.

5. Draw pattern on top of base color, freehand or by use of stencils.

6. Color pattern using oil-based paint.

7. Apply many, many coats of polyurethane to seal the design. The professionals use eight.

8. If desired, you can “antique” the floorcloth after you’re finished, to make it look old, by applying a crackle finish (available in hardware and home-renovation stores) or by distressing paint with a hard brush.

Avery used stencils to enhance the painted poor man’s runner on the stairs in her house as well as to make her Colonial floorcloths. Stencils are great when you need to keep things looking the same across a large surface, like a staircase, a floor, or a wall.

 

TOOLS AND MATERIALS

DIRECTIONS

1. For best results, make sure any cracks or holes in the surface have been filled in and smoothed down.

2. If the surface needs painting, make sure you allow it to dry thoroughly. A flat base paint is best. If your stencil paints are not sticking to the surface, you may need to sand the area lightly.

3. Determine where you want your stenciled picture to be, using the level and ruler or tape measure. If you are stenciling a wall or very large area, begin in the least noticeable corner.

4. Tape your stencil to the surface using a piece of low-tack tape across each corner or by applying stencil adhesive to the back of the stencil. If you are working on a flat horizontal surface (like Avery’s stair steps), you may find it easier to use weights instead of tape.

5. Apply paint to the stencil openings (islands) using an up-and-down dabbing motion. If you use a back-and-forth brushing motion, the brush will push paint under the stencil and cause smearing.

6. Begin with the part of the stencil that is farthest away from you to avoid accidental smudging, and start at the edges of each island/opening and work your way toward the center.

7. Allow paint to dry thoroughly before applying additional coats of paint for a deeper color or shading.

8. When you are satisfied with the color(s) and the paint is completely dry, remove the low-tack tape and carefully lift the stencil.

9. Do any touching up that needs to be done.

 

 

Resist the temptation to load up the brush with paint so that you don’t have to do a second coat. More color is achieved by repeated coverage, not by using more paint.

A brush that is on the dry side will keep paint from seeping under the stencil and smearing or running. If paint is seeping under the stencil or you are not getting clean edges, you are using too much paint.

When your brush is properly loaded, an even powdering of paint is left when blotted on a paper towel.

TOOL AND MATERIALS

DIRECTIONS

1. Choose an image you’d like to use for a stencil or draw your own. Keep in mind that simpler is better. The best images have high contrast with few variations. Wall-papers and fabric patterns are some good places to look for patterns.

2. Draw or copy your image onto tracing paper or clear, fairly thick plastic. If the image you’re tracing doesn’t have disconnected parts, you’ll have to draw those in yourself.

3. Different areas of the stencil should have clear boundaries that allow bridges to appear around the islands (openings) where paint is to be applied. Make sure the bridges are wide enough to keep paint from seeping under and smudging your image.

4. Consider making your stencil out of clear, fairly thick plastic; some people say presentation covers work well. That way, you can use your stencil more than just once or twice.

5. If you prefer working with paper, there are ways you can protect your paper stencil for future use:

Authentic Colonial homes often had beautifully paneled rooms, and if you want to replicate tongue-in-groove Colonial-style paneling, you can certainly do that. Be sure to use knot-free, select-grade pine, and start by measuring the wall you’re paneling and drawing a detailed schematic replica of what you want it to look like.

Colonial paneling consisted of three sections of wood: stiles—medium-thin vertical pieces; rails—medium-thin horizontal pieces; and panels—bigger square or rectangular pieces to go between the rails and stiles. You make panels by gluing and clamping boards together.

Rails and stiles have grooves cut into their sides, while panels have tongues, making for a tight fit. You start by cutting all the stiles, then all the rails, then the panels, since they take different saw attachments.

Dry-fit them together first to make sure they go together perfectly before hanging them with eight penny-finish nails. Or, if this sounds like too much work, you can buy kits of precut Colonial paneling from lumber yards or online providers, if you don’t feel like doing so much cutting yourself.

However, if you want the look of fancy paneling but you don’t have the time, money, or patience to put together the real thing, there are easy ways you can make your walls look paneled for a lot less money and with a lot less effort. This works especially well for doing sections of walls—say, to install wainscoting below a chair rail in a dining room—but you can do whole walls this way as well, by continuing the same process all the way up to the ceiling. All you’ll be doing is nailing a grid of trim pieces to the wall in a pattern, and then painting it to look like expensive paneling.

 

TOOLS AND MATERIALS

DIRECTIONS

1. Roughly lay out where the panels will be on the wall and locate any fixtures, such as light switches, plugs, receptacles, vents, etc. You’ll have to cut holes for these, or avoid them.

2. Determine how much material you’ll need. As a general rule, the bottom rail is wider than the top rail, and the stiles are narrower than both. Quantity will depend on how close together you put the stiles, i.e., how big the panels are. As a general rule, narrow panels make the ceiling look higher while wide panels make the wall look longer and the room bigger.