skip to main content

Cleaning Tips Storage DIY

Restoring metal pigeon holes

2 years ago

I'm erring towards a good clean, wire brush and seal, but husband says rust treat and spray. Want to get it right, I've invested a whole £2.20 in this baby!! Anyone want to dive in with their two penneth worth?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (2)

Sonia
2 years ago
I don’t know if you ever watch Salvage Hunters but the guy on it would love that pigeon hole unit. He usually keeps everything as natural to its original state as possible.
Jonathan
2 years ago
I think it depends on what you want the end result to look like and what you are going to use it for.

Personally I don’t like the rust and I think there is a danger it could leave a mark on shoes or whatever you decide to store in it.

So I agree with hubby that it needs to be rust treated then painted. There are some all in one paints for this job and I think it would look fab in a punchy colour. If you like the industrial look consider painting it with a metallic paint and sponging a second colour to create a mottled effect.
Related Discussions
What would you do?
Q
Comments (69)
Have a look at how this house would have been presented in 1928. See if you can find any archives from the firm which designed it. Pebble-dash has a long history of domestic use here, going back to the nineteenth century, and it is possible to renovate it or replace it with modern pebble-dash which looks very handsome. At one time a terrible pink pd was used (later twentieth century), but the look you would be after is a tawny, sandy-beach range of colours. Your house was built at a time when there was a great taste for creating manageable homes with subtle rustic touches to give a cottagey feel without making extra work for the maid/housewife or actually making it look like a real cottage (which at that time still meant the slums people were escaping as much as anything else.) The 20s were also a time when the popular taste for half-timbered and timber-framed buildings was very strong. The people who call the buildings in Canada and the US "Tudor" because of the timber decoration on the exterior derive their description from early 20th c useage in Britain. Real timber-framed etc buildings used render which had to be reparied and repainted pretty constantly. This is where pebble-dash, a vry tough material, comes in. I wouldn't lose it! I'd keep it and clean and mend it. If you get someone in to fix it the old-fashioned way you'll be surprised at the skill it takes (not unlike harling.) Look at the nice way it flares at the bottom so neatly. Don't lose these humble period details, I beg of you. But rethink the porch and hide the burglar-alarm.
...See More
Tell us one item you'd love to have in your home!
Q
Comments (102)
I'm feeling pleased to say I have now be later in life been enjoying some of the things I'd love to have, for some time so they don't count for my 'one thing I'm still hoping for..' I love my upmarket induction hob with timer that saves my food from my memory when distracted by a phone call for a chat-length of time; no day goes by without the thrill of pulling open my kitchen's larder cupboard where the contents are so visible and high space is utilised. I agree with ? about having a bidet and have just had one installed and another wish - a walk-in shower Yeah!
...See More
How would you refurb this staircase?
Q
Comments (52)
Probably a bit late on updating this but I thought I'd lost some photos of the end results. I think pretty much everything has changed since those original photos. The staircase has been painted white. It took a few coats of Zinsser BIN and a few coats of acrylic primer undercoat, with sanding between coats. Gaps between the labelling were caulked and I fitted some trim over the rough sloping section before the top coats. The stringer was completely stripped and then filled as best we can - due to lead paint fears we couldn't just rub it all down. All woodwork was finished with Little Greene intelligent eggshell in Loft White. The walls are Little Greene Intellgent Emulsion in Slaked Lime. It's a very warm white/neutral. It looked plain white when it was first painted but the white skirting transformed it. It also wipes very nicely. We had the walls replastered before painting. The tiled floor in the hallway was ripped out. We now have decent quality laminate throughout the hall and living room. Quick Step Soft Oak Natural. Carpet was fitted and supplied by the same person who did the laminate flooring, a very good local fitter. We only recently got the stairs and landing carpeted as we were waiting for our other refurbishment projects to be finished. Before it was carpeted we also had a local carpenter repair the stairs which were very creaky and the wonder treads very loose. The underside was removed so it could be properly repaired underneath. I took the stupid box catch off the door which didn't work properly and fitted a nice handle and magnetic catches. We have new engineered oak internal doors downstairs which I bought online. All it really needs now is some finishing touches like some photos or pictures on the wall of the stairwell. I'm very happy with the end result.
...See More
What do do with this fireplace?
Q
Comments (37)
Looking at it, I think it's a mishmash of periods. the mantelpiece and overmantle is characteristic of a late victorian/edwardian style. We are more used to seeing these with vertical side panels of decorative ceramic tiles and a cast iron firebasket raised off the floorlevel. the actual ceramic glazed fire you have in there appears possibly to be anywhere between 20s & 50s, probably a replacement because the original burned out (assuming it's in the main living room it will have been a main source of heat for the house). So the question is, what do you love and what do you hate about it? Because it's not working for you right now. Usually edwardian fireplaces with an overmantel (and edwardian/victorian furniture in general) comes apart into sections. the tricky bit is finding which sections! But I'd imagine the entire overmantel with the mirror could be taken off leaving the mantelpiece intact, albeit with peg holes that would need filling on the top of the mantel at the back. Usually there were wooden pegs and holes for placement. If you are on a very tight budget, and assuming you don't want to keep the rather lurid carpet, simply keeping what is there, and adding a fender would work (as someone suggested above). You can get low level ones in brass that are extendable to fit relatively cheaply, or there's vintage ones that range from low level right up to having padded seats. If you intend to actually USE the fire, then it may be possible to pull up the 20th century ceramic tiles (if that's what they are) lay a screed underneath and then relay the tiles a bit higher so they are proud of the floor level. If any are broken it might be possible to relay them at the edges where they are less in the way - but at the end of the day, open fires are messy and what you really need is a slab of clean smooth hearthstone to make it easy to keep clean. Alternatively if you don't like early 20th century mashups, then you could (carefully) take out the fireplace, sell it on (someone would love it - personally I don't like the murkiness of that sort of fireplace ceramic colourwise, but I do recognise it's a nice and unusual example of the genre) and buy a replica more suited to the surround. You can get some rather nice ceramic edwardian style tiles for the sides. Have you tried to light the fire? it may be the hood is necessary if the chimney doesn't draw well. Or it could just be an aesthetic choice a previous owner made without considereing how the fire actually performs. As people have said above, you can paint it. Whatever paint you use, make sure you aren't totally knackering the wood underneath in case you want to have it stripped back to wood in future. The suggestion of hanging a picture over the oval mirror is a good one. Though I suspect with a different less instituttional carpet and the fitted cupboard gone, a judicious choice of plants or ornaments might make the whole thing recede into the room as a whole and be less 'in your face' at the end of the day, it's actually a time and labour intensive decorative heat source, so if you aren't going to have an open fire, and it's not a listed building, consider selling it and getting rid completely. It's a mishmash anyway that doesn't work so well aesthetically, though individually the separate parts of edwardian/ mid 20th century do have charm. but together? ouch you are living with some dearly departed's poor design choices! Which I suspect are not going to be so easy to marry together. Though as people have said above, painting it white is going to help a lot! My final thought is that you've got off lightly with that overmantel with a plain oval glass! When I was a kid we had an edwardian house near manchester, in what was the day nursery, behind a baize door, on teh first floor, had an overmantle with a plaster of paris insert that weighs 25kg with rather terrifying fairies playing in the moonlight as it's subject. The house was due to be demolished so we took the plaster behemoth with us. It's currently hanging in my hall and scaring all small children that pass by!!! 40 years on I still can't decide if it is actually totally hideous or so ugly that it's beautiful. Mostly though I just don't want it to fall off the wall and kill one of the cats! Here it is in all it's fugliness. Framed in the 1980s in somewhat ungracious proportions to just top off the general weirdness of it!
...See More

Sponsored

More Discussions

Proposed floor plan help please

37

Which layout do you think would look best for our renovation project?

5

Advice re updating a tiredbedroom please

6

Above garage extension to create primary suite

2

Garden vs Garage dilema. Please help!

2

United Kingdom

Tailor my experience with cookies

Houzz uses cookies and similar technologies to personalise my experience, serve me relevant content, and improve Houzz products and services. By clicking ‘Accept’ I agree to this, as further described in the Houzz Cookie Policy. I can reject non-essential cookies by clicking ‘Manage Preferences’.