Making progress on the house

The house almost painted.
The house almost painted.

The wedding is only a month away. With the reception being hosted at our house, the ever shortening timeline to have everything ready has been causing lots of stress. The biggest outstanding project is getting the house painted. Or at least enough painted for the reception.

Yesterday morning we decided to both work on painting. Until yesterday, Susanna had been doing the vast majority of painting. I got out the spray gun, and we painted most of the walls. Of course, this still leaves a lot of trim and detail work around the windows to do. But those projects are more easily worked on before or after work in small chunks. The house feels (at least to us) much closer, and the painting doesn’t seem so stressful today. The only real remaining challenge is to find a 32-foot ladder (or taller) to borrow so we can paint the trim on the peaks.

We picked the house colors over a two years ago. I wrote about the color choice in April 2011. The colors are Concord Buff for the walls , with Rookwood Dark Green for the trim and Rookwood dark brown for accents. I picked these from the Sherwin-Williams historic Victorian Exterior color palate.  I am very happy with how the house is turning out. And I am very thankful that Susanna has the time (and desire, and skill) to do the vast majority of the painting.

After we get done with the house, it will be time to get the barns to match. But not until after the wedding. And after the summer. I think we are going to take off from doing major projects this summer.

The porch color scheme (Sherwin-William's Concord Buff, Rookwood Dark Green, and Rookwood Brown). The painting scheme was planned by Susanna.
The porch color scheme (Sherwin-William’s Concord Buff, Rookwood Dark Green, and Rookwood Brown). The painting scheme was planned by Susanna. Now we need a new storm door to match.

 

Another Sunday Project

Will helping show off the new dog pen door.
Will helping show off the new dog pen gate.

The boys are here today – we were able to enjoy a full week together this week – so it wasn’t a day I could totally dedicate to home projects. But it was a quiet day for the boys, and they spent most of the day playing together, or hanging out helping work on projects.

During the colder months of the year, the dogs spend the days on the three season porch off of the kitchen. However, it gets too hot in the summer for them, so I fenced off the last bay of the garage to make a dog pen. I had taken down the fencing that had blocked the main door earlier in the year so we could paint the trim. I had always hated having the doorway entirely fenced off, and the quick fencing job I had done earlier looked terrible.

There is a side door to get into the bay, but a full gate would allow easier access to the space. This morning while at Home Depot, the boys and I picked up hinges and a latch to build a gate. After lunch I spent some time working on building a gate to the bay. I milled some of the rough lumber that I had picked up a couple of weeks ago. I initially pulled out some oak to build the gate, but decided to go with soft maple (the maple is lighter). Neither are good outside woods, but the gate will eventually be painted.

The gate isn’t completely finished. I think I need to add a diagonal cross brace to keep the gate from sagging (though I don’t expect to use the gate too frequently, so I may hold off on adding that). I will also add a bottom latch/lock so the dogs can’t push their way out from the bottom corner. I also need to put some bricks/stones under the gate so Tucker won’t dig his way out.

The gate was on my original (proposed) list of projects to finish on a furlough day. It is nice to move projects off the to do list.

And yes, I was finally able to get some quiet time in the evening before dinner to sit by the fire pit and enjoy a beer.

… and it is finished (Will’s bedroom)

Will's room, refinished, redecorated and reorganized.
Will’s room, refinished, redecorated and reorganized.

Well, nothing in an old house is ever completely finished. However, we made our goal for the weekend. I wasn’t always sure if we would make it.

Today I finished touching up the wall and trim paint as well as finished painting the door. I fixed the radiator where it was leaking (note to  self, make sure the joint is clear of any foreign material before mating up the radiator to the valve). I also hung the curtains around the closet and on the windows.

I don’t mind doing the wall repair and most of the painting, but I am very glad that Susanna is a good organizer and decorator. It is the little things, like having the couch at an angle vice flat on the wall, that makes the room really stand out. She also does a great job sorting through the toys and getting rid of things no longer needed. Of course, you can see her organization skills in the rest of the house. As far as room colors, we worked together on the paint scheme, and I think it came out very nice. I am certain life would be more chaotic and disorganized without her help – but it isn’t just organizing things, it is finding a way to organize that also fits each room that makes a big difference. Now if could only get her to help with the workshop. And to top it off, organizing and redecorating is something that she loves to do (with the exception of the workshop of course…).

Will’s room is tricky. There is a chimney in the middle of the room. The chimney will be taken out one of these days, but for now it is there. It also has a large closet on one wall that used to have sliding doors. I removed the doors, but that leaves a long unusual space to deal with. We repainted the open closet – it has a lot of colors – blue for the walls, off white trim, gold for the walls and brown on the floor that was previously painted the trim color.

One of the biggest challenges with the room is fitting in his bed and the love seat. With the chimney and the large closet space, his bed really only fits in one of two places (the corner where the couch is or where we wound up putting it). I have tried several arrangements of the room, but I think this one finally got it right.

The closet space opened up and reused for storage.
The closet space opened up and reused for storage.

We repainted the open closet – it has a lot of colors – blue for the walls, off white trim, gold for the walls and brown on the floor that was previously painted the trim color. We were able to reuse paint from other projects. The gold accent color is the paint we used for the top of the walls in the kitchen, and the brown on the closet floor is the same floor paint we used in the hallway/back stairs. The trim paint is the same trim paint that we use in most of the rest of the house.

Even though all of Will’s belongings are out of the guest room and back in his room, I still have some odds and ends to wrap up in his room. I have to hook up the wiring for the new outlets in his room, but that only requires work in the attic, the guest room and basement (I didn’t want to yank power to the guest room while Will was living in it). I also need to reinstall the inside stops on the window next to his bed. That is a quick afternoon project, and doesn’t impact the room very much. I will hang the door tomorrow (I don’t feel like going to the workshop tonight to get the parts needed to put his door back on).  And, finally, I need to finish painting the window on the far wall – I will probably wait until it is warmer and take out the upper and lower sashes and paint them outside.

Finishing Touches

Will's room almost ready to move his belongings back in.
Will’s room almost ready to move his belongings back in.

We are making progress on Will’s bedroom renovation. Today I finished up most of the painting and am just working on the finishing touches to the room.

I am trying something new for the floor. The hardwood floor was in pretty rough shape, but I didn’t have time to completely refinish the floor. So, I lightly sanded the surface (removing any stains that I could), and put a coat of dewaxed shellac down. The shellac dries in an hour or two. I then covered the shellac with a quick dry water-based floor finish from Home Depot. It certainly doesn’t look like a refinished floor, but it looks much better than before. I’ll have to see how well it holds up over time.

Tomorrow I have some touch-up painting to do, including the trim around the windows. Susanna will organize and sort the toys and clothes. Hopefully it will be a nice surprise to Will when he returns home on Monday afternoon.   I also need to finish the electrical work for the room, but that will wait until after next week (the outlets are in, but I need to run a wire to the attic to hook them up).

A quick refresh on the back stairs

Several years ago, I painted the back stairs (and the second floor hallway) the same color as the trim (Classic Ivory). That was a mistake. It was much cheaper than getting it refinished, and the original carpet was a disaster, but the paint was impossible to keep looking clean.

So today, I scrubbed the back stairs with TSP, and painted them brown. I think the brown is more traditional and shouldn’t show the dirt as easy. As a side note, the TSP did a great job cleaning off the dirt that had been worn into the stairs, but with two boys and two dogs a light-colored floor is just not a good idea.  I’ll eventually repaint the second floor hall, but that is a little bit more involved process (there are two stairs, so painting the back stairs doesn’t impact anyone).

Before and after pictures are below. They do need a second coat, but you can get the idea of how it will look.  I used “Floor and Porch” paint from Sherwin-Williams.  The paint color is “Tea Chest” (SW 6013).

The back stairs before painting. They are extra dirty from having a rainy/muddy weekend with the boys
The back stairs before painting. They are extra dirty from having a rainy/muddy weekend with the boys.
The back stairs after the first coat of paint. The goal was to pick a brown that would go with the green hallway. I'm not sure the picture does the colors justice.
The back stairs after the first coat of paint. The goal was to pick a brown that would go with the green hallway. I’m not sure the picture does the colors justice.

 

Progress (finally able to paint)

Will's room with a first coat of paint on the walls. The chimney in the foreground is the accent color
Will’s room with a first coat of paint on the walls. The chimney in the foreground is the accent color

I was finally able to start painting Will’s room. Susanna had previously painted the ceiling white  while I replaced the damaged wall. We are changing the room color from the previous green-blue to a blue with off white trim, and a gold color as the accent color (the chimney and doors are the accent color, and maybe one of the short walls, we will see when we get to that wall).

I found a section of the wall that missed when caulking the trim, so I will do that tonight before the final coat on the walls.  The trim will need to be painted as well.

The colors are all from Sherwin-Williams.  The walls are “Down Pour” (SW 6516) and the accent color is “Empire Gold” (SW 0012). The accent color is left over from the kitchen, but it seemed to complement the walls pretty well.  The trim will be classic ivory.

It is a cold and rainy day today.  A perfect day to get projects done in the house. I have a project in the works, but I’ll post about that when I”m finished with it tonight.

Renovating a house (with ADHD)

It is not about finishing projects. Okay, I guess it is. But I can’t think of it that way.

Let’s start over. I was telling the end of the story first.

The house doesn’t have ADHD. Well, maybe it does. That could be one of the things that appealed me to it in the first place. I have a vision on how it could look like.  “Look at how it could be, not how it is right now,” I would tell everyone. And yes, it has great potential. It is just a long path to get there.

The house likes to have lots of little projects for me to start. Or maybe that is just me.  A section of the wall in Will’s room comes down when I would rather focus on other projects. It did the same trick, but with a section from the ceiling of Ben’s room several years ago. Things like a leaking steam valve in the hallway (I just turned the radiator off – one of these days I’ll get supplies and repack the valve). Or pocket doors that don’t fully function (which may be good, the doors are heavy, I”m sure the boys would have smashed themselves between the doors if they worked). All projects waiting to be started.

But I’m making progress. Or I should say, we are making progress. I’ve had lots of help from Susanna. My dad has helped me make huge steps in several of the more challenging projects. Both my parents, friends at work, and Susanna all spend lots of time talking about what to do with the house.

But like I said, it isn’t just about finishing projects. Although it kind of is. I like to start projects. New projects are fun and exciting. And this house likes to give me new projects to start. But after a while, a project isn’t new anymore. Then it gets boring, and it can be too easy to look for another new project to start. So, for me, it comes down to not starting new projects. If I get bored with a project, I can take a short break. But I can’t start a new project. That strategy is important in more than house renovations. I use it in the workshop. I don’t yet use it for the sailboat, but I should.

I think we are both doing better (the house and me). The outside is half-way painted (and looks fantastic), but that was Susanna’s project – and she doesn’t have the same problems finishing things that I do. I did finish Ben’s room after many years. The kitchen is finished (for now, until we do a full renovation). Will’s room is coming along. Now I should stop writing and get to work on Will’s room (speaking of getting distracted – I almost didn’t finish the previous sentence – good thing I proofread this).

For a different perspective of life here, check out Susanna’s blog at susanna.curtishome.net.

Project Updates

Wall replacement in progress in Will's room.

Today I finished (mostly) digging out from the 20+ inches of snow that dumped on us this weekend. The sun was out and the temperatures rose above freezing today. I have a couple of projects going on right now (the trick with ADHD is to finish projects before starting new ones – I’m not doing too bad so far this year):

Will’s room repair: All the insulation and drywall is installed. I repaired, repainted, and rehung the window. I am in the process of smoothing the joints with drywall joint compound. I have a couple of more evenings of drywall work left. I also need to reinstall the window trim and hood up the new outlets.

Woodworking Projects: I have two unfinished projects in the workshop. Today I worked for a while on the kitchen island. I finished milling the final 4 pieces of lumber for the aprons and stretchers. All the mortises are cut, and most of the tenons are fit to the appropriate mortise. I glued up one side of the base frame (two legs – one long apron and one long stretcher) tonight. I am drawbore pinning the tenons. Hopefully the drawbore pins will strengthen the frame. I should have the island frame completed by the end of next weekend. Then I’ll have to choose wood for the top (maybe ash or white oak or maple – not sure yet), mill, glue up, and finish the top.

 

Drawbore Pinning from "Woodwork joints" by William Fairham

 

I am also have to finish making the drunken cutting boards. I have the pieces milled and ready to go, but am focusing on the kitchen island right now.

It has been a little cold to want to spend lots of time in the workshop. Hopefully we will start seeing some warmer days over the next couple of weeks.

I have lots of projects waiting to be started; the room repair and the kitchen island are starting to get a little boring, but I will feel much better when they are finished. So, no starting new projects for me yet…

Tomorrow both Susanna and the boys have the day off from school. Most of the towns are still digging out from the storm, so nearly all the schools in the area  are closed tomorrow. Lots of my friends still don’t have power or just got it back today; we were lucky enough to only lose power for an hour or so last night.

Will’s room progress…

Rigid insulation added between the rafters - allowing for ventilation space between the insulation and the roof.

The boys are here all weekend, so I didn’t entirely focus on working on the room.  Susanna and I have agreed to each spend two hours on the room every day before we allow ourselves to sit down and watch TV. That should be incentive to make progress.

 

Yesterday we got most of the lath removed from the section of wall we are replacing. I also removed the trim from one side of the window and sealed and insulated the counter-weight cavity.

Today Susanna helped Will get settled into his new (temporary) bedroom. I made the trip to Home Depot to get insulation and drywall.  I ran wires up to the attic to add outlets to the room. The trick will be to get a second 20 amp circuit to the attic so not all the bedrooms will share the same circuit.  I installed the rigid insulation into the sloped part of the wall. Tomorrow the plan is to install the outlet boxes and add start installing drywall.

 

Insulation added beneath the rafters. 1/2-inch rigid foam insulation. The drywall will be installed below the insulation.