The Tool Room

On Sunday, we headed down the to the basement at 1109 with Larry our handyman to deal with cleaning up the tool room. Since we first toured the house, the tool room was something of a marvel. Since Grant and I have never owned more than a couple of small boxes of tools and only one power tool, this room both fascinated us and perplexed us. I don't know if the pictures can capture what we found, but here is an abbreviated list: boxes and boxes of pipes and pipe fittings; chemicals and powders of no known origin (one was labeled "green mineral"); hundreds of electrical sockets and electrical related components; auto parts, including 4 rear view mirrors; irons and toasters; dozens of jars of screws and nails and hinges of every size and shape; antique anvils and planes; antique drills and saws; jars of rubber and felt washers. I was completely out of my league sorting this stuff. Grant brought his usual let's-just-get-it-done-so-we-can-deal-with-the-next-project energy and got excited about all the old packaging (he is a marketing guy, after all). Many things were still in their original packaging, with prices still attached. In the end, from a room barely 12x12, we managed to carry out and fill the back of Larry's large truck with hundreds of pounds of scrap metal. We also left the already full dumpster in the driveway bulging with 12 additional large cans of trash. The room is hardly empty. Grant is planning on keeping it as a tool room with a large part dedicated to all the antiques and nifty items in their original packaging. My day ended on a high note when I found what had motivated me to come help in the first place: the missing brass handles from the window sashes in the living room. We knew they were somewhere, and I found them in the deepest part of a closed cabinet. I can now feel fairly confident that if an architectural detail is missing, I will find it. Eventually.