Good Questions: Pocket Shutter Resources?

before & after stripping

Dear AT,

My husband and I are in the process of bringing our flat in Brooklyn back to it's original Federal style decor. We've painstakingly stripped about 100 years of paint off the beautiful mouldings and now we want to show off our windows (not hide them with drapes). Any suggestions on where to find "pocket shutters" old - or - new, for a reasonable price?

Thanks for the help. Best, Jennifer

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Dear Jennifer,

For this kind of thing you want to go looking in the salvage and antiques category.
Here's our list:

New York Replacement Parts
Build It Green! NYC
Urban Archeology
Olde Good Things

Brownstoner also has a really good list of sources on the front page (down on the left) of his site:

* Antique Hardware & Home
* House of Antique Hardware
* Architectural Salvage
* Architectural Antiques
* Cornerstone Salvage
* DEA Bathroom Machineries
* Demolition Depot
* Great Salvage
* Howard's Antique Lighting
* List of Salvage Shops
* Liz's Antique Hardware
* Moon River Chattel
* Olde Good Things
* Outwater

You have to go to him for the links.

Anyone else???

Comments (7)

Check out oldhouseweb.com

Any salvage place in the NYC area will be on the expensive (very very expensive) side. If you can, try to check out salvage places in PA or upstate NY. Here's another one:

http://www.stanthejunkman.com/

Thank you so much. I spoke with someone the other day who told me I was looking at $2500/window. OUch.
The search is on!.

Oh, I can't believe I didn't try this: also try ebay. Watch shipping costs, but there's a lot of architectural salvage on ebay. Be careful with measurements.

I love OldeGoodThings, etc. but those places are reeedonkulous. Strictly for window-shopping, no pun intended.

How did you strip the paint off the moulding? Can anyone recommend a good tutorial, or break it down for me? I just moved into a prewar apt in Washington DC, and my mouldings, while they were once gorgeous I'm sure, have been covered in a few hundred coats of Duron Antique White. Blech.

Do a seach for "stripping" on the oldhouseweb.com forums, there is a wealth of info there.

Assume that you have lead paint (anything pre-1979 has lead in it) and get a proper lead-dust certified mask. We are currently stripping the woodwork in our 1905 brownstone apt in NYC. We use the heat gun method, its a no-brainer: use the lower heat setting, keep the gun moving, count to 20, scrape, repeat. If you keep the heat gun still, you run the risk of scorching the wood -- practice makes perfect. Keep a razor blade handy to clean the gunk off your scraper. Use dental tools, sharpened wood dowels, or anything, basically, to get the paint out of the nooks and crannies. Then sand with 120 & 220 grit paper, tack rag off the dust, stain & varnish.

Heat gun: $75, mask: $50, misc. putty knives about $5 each. Some people like chemical strippers but those are harsh, nasty, and very drippy (problems w/drips on floors if you are inside).

Stripping paint is probably the slowest and most boring task ever, but its not hard. Resign yourself to either several months of DIY work OR paying someone a very very very large amount of money to do it for you.

Thanks! I'm gonna try and make my landlord pay for the equip if I do the work.

We have sold a 19th Century building and before demolition we would like to sell several salvaged Victorian interior doors, 20 sets of pocket shutters and antique fireplace tiles. Where can I sell these items? Thanks in advance for your assistance.