Looking for a Victorian Front Door

Eureka's Victorian houses have a unique front door style that probably grew out of the isolated nature of the area, the ready supply of redwood and the craftsmen of the area.  As you look around Eureka you see great original doors everywhere.    I walked around my street with my camera to record of few of the doors.   They are mostly half glass single doors with added details like the sun-burst pattern.  not all door are in great shape, but even the shabby one show the original styles.

Our Front Door with George's Ramp

My job is to now find something for our house that will match the new porch - our current door is brutally ugly (see on the right)  and must go!  I'm looking for ideas about a new door.   I've searched the thousands of used doors at Urban Ore in Berkeley but found nothing in the right size that works.  Despite the wealth of doors in Eureka we have not had any luck with craiglist or salvage in Humboldt County.   If you've got any ideas, or a nice 34' door let me know.

Apple Pruning Season in Humboldt and the Tsunami

Friday's Japanese Tsunami hit hard north of Eureka up in Del Norte County.  There were evacuations in the low lying areas of Humboldt County but no damage here.  This does remind us of the January 2010 earthquake and the similarities between the coast of Japan and our fault laden coast.



It's mid-march and the north coast rain is relentless.   We tried to sneak a little painting between the squalls but gave up early.   Instead it was time to look at the old apple tree in the back yard.   The tree looked pretty bad, it has produced a small crop of small spotty apples of an unknown variety.

pruning the mystery apple tree

Restoring an old house is always about more than just the four walls, it's also about the garden and the people who have lived there over the past 100 years.   If we can bring back the apple tree then that's part of the restoration too.


Julia has used her recently acquired knowledge of apple tree trimming and proceeded to give the tree a long overdue and much needed winter trimming.

The tree needs a trim

"Yes, that's where I threw my hat"