What's behind your plaster is not strapping, but wood lathe. Lathe and plaster are not separate items, but integral parts of your wall. When plaster is installed it is sort of a stiffish glop, and it is pressed against the underlying lathe layer; some of the plaster is smushed through the openings between the lathe rows. When the plaster dries those pushed-through parts contract and stick, hard, to the back of the lathe forming what are called "keys". If you can find the back of some plaster to look at you will see exactly what I mean. These "keys" are what hold the plaster to the wall; any damage to them and your plaster will begin to fail (crack, break into pieces, fall off or sag). Fifteen pounds of mirror sounds a bit heavy to try to hang from just your plaster and lathe; the usual contemporary solution would be to install special bolts that go through the plaster and lathe and then press back against the back surface to support the item hanging on the front. Depending on the remaining strength of your wall this might work OK. Unlike a sheetrock wall, lathe is supported by a sometimes irregular patterns of vertical supports, but there vertucals under there. I think the preferred traditional (and safest for your plaster) solution would be to install some type of hanging rail bridging between two vertical supports and lagged into them through the plaster. Then hang the mirrors from this rail. If you look at pictures of Victorian houses you can often see this type of rail which is called a picture rail and was devised to handle exactly the problem you have. Good luck! Molly~

I can completely relate to you as my husband and I are finishing a gut renovation of an 1890 brownstone. We looked at many older homes prior to purchasing this house and all too often found houses completely stripped of any original details that had been renovated during the 70's or 80's. Our philosophy was: why buy an old house if all the original elements have been removed? We were somewhat fortunate in that many (but certainly not all) of the original elements were still remaining. Although the house had been completely neglected for decades we were happy that someone had not done a 70's renovation. We at least felt we had something to work with and "restore"/renovate. Most contractors we interviewed, however, would much rather take the easier and faster approach at ripping out everything (doors, trim, floors, walls, etc.) original and replacing it than to take the extra time and effort to try to salvage and restore things. While it is definitely a faster and cheaper approach, I feel that many of the original elements are irreplaceable and priceless. Although we were not "purist" in our renovation efforts, we certainly tried to salvage and restore as many original elements as possible. At some point, however, one has to decide how far they will go with restoring things and if it is worth it in the end. While we were able to save many of the original doors and trim some of the doors and trim had to be replaced with new matching reproductions. We also decided to paint all the trim and doors white, rather than strip literally centuries worth of paint down to bare wood, especially since much of the wood work was not in the best condition to begin with. We also tried to be thoughtful when installing a new HVAC system and searched for an HVAC contractor that would not be placing duct work with bulkheads throughout the house (part of this utilized radiant floor heat). I think it is possible to maintain some of the character and charm of yesteryear while at the same time still upating to some of today's modern conveniences ( a great example of this is documented at the following blog: brooklynlimestone.blogspot.com). Compromises must be made in any renovation. Indeed, a true purist would utilize the original gas light, coal heat and and maybe even an out-house which may be appropriate for a museum, but not a modern residence. We tried to do this by keeping our old clawfoot tub but also installing an all marble and glass shower, installing glass doorknobs throughout, and some antique/reproduction light fixtures. For our kitchen we have 110 y.o. exposed brick walls, soapstone counters, chisel edged travertine floors, and paneled appliances to try to keep a somewhat old world feel. Since our house is in a historic district so I feel it is our responsibility to honor the house and it's historical elements. If a person does not have this desire then I think they should purchase a newer home (i.e. circa 1960's and beyond) rather than "strip mine" an old house in a historic district . There are plenty of newer houses on the market. Unfortunately many contractors buy older homes and do a quick, fast, cheap renovation to maximize their profit margin. If everyone that purchased an older (historical) home did this there would be nothing historical remaining. -Just my two cents.

Mama Goose, I always imagined using old barn siding in a house, but never in a living room. More likely in a family room or more casual surroundings. Definitely not near a kitchen which has a way of depositing greasy stuff on any paint job or other finish. Very difficult to keep that coarse finish clean, IMHO. I sympathize with your desire to redo the trim in a 1920s period style, smoother finish. Mama Goose, epoxying the bathroom tile instead of removing it is inspirational to me. We have a totally BLUE TILE, BLUE TUB, BLUE SINK, BLUE TOILET bathroom in DH's little cape up in Massachusetts. He hates the tub surround because it leaks, is not tiled in. I'm now thinking we could change out the toilet and sink, have the tub refinished in white, remove the surround and have a newer tile put in. Of course, If the epoxied tile does not match closely, I suppose we could just rip it out. I saw where a towel warmer in the bath was used in place of a bathroom heater. Possibly the floor tile, white with a tiny diamond in the middle of a 4" area, could be taken out and a heated floor put in. But right now, we are wanting to be done with that house so we can enjoy it a little while before putting it up for sale. I will miss that little house, and the lovely yard too. It was a brief taste of what it would have been like if DH and I had married 50 years ago when we were first engaged.

We lived in a 100+ yr old house with plaster walls. We always hung the rods from the wood trim on the Windows. We didn't have a problem hanging pictures or heavy mirrors. We usually just used large picture hangers, the kind with the nail already in them that go in at a slant. If you try to drill a screw straight into the wall I don't think you will get a good solid hold because the screw will go completely through the plaster and wood lath used to hold the plaster on it. You may be hitting a nail in the lath which is why the bit broke.. I would, go to the local hardware store and ask them what to use to hang curtain brackets on a plaster wall. They should be able to help, surely there is a fix for it.