Back Bedroom: Part 7 - The Finale

In order to consider the back bedroom complete, it requires a few important finishes. The hardest of these was the restoration of the heat register. The heat registers had all been painted gold, which might have been fine, but they were never protected during previous room paintings, so they were splattered and dingy looking. I stripped the register using a variety of methods to see what would work: heat gun (not so much), steel wool and steel brush (not great), simmering in water (somewhat effective but time consuming and difficult to find a large enough pot. Really, the best method was just good ol' hand sanding using emery cloth.

The "before" photo.	Stripped and ready for painting.
Primed.	Painted and installed.

Push button switches were installed along with brass switch plates. This is a small detail that makes a big difference. It's fun to have these reproduction switches. We wonder why the push buttons were abandoned for other styles. Was it too much effort to push rather than flick? We also painted the inside of the closet, which we kept smooth rather than texturing and installed an adjustable closet organization system.

We have enjoyed the search for perfect lighting. It's fun to research fixtures from the era and find just the right thing for each room.

Spray painted, then hand painted detail.	For sale.

Nick restored the original two-bulb light and we used that for awhile, but later we found two matching three-bulb lights, which we now use. I hope to post the restored light on eBay someday soon.

New light (original to era) with Edison bulbs. 

The room is finished!