The Journey of a Stylish Renovation—the house painting

At last!  The house has had a “face lift!”  Or maybe that would be a lot of “derma-brasion”—so to speak!!

A few other details are still in the works, after which, I’ll show you the whole thing!  But for now—I’d love to share her new face!

It was soooo much more work to scrape the house down than I think we could have EVer anticipated.  Thank God that’s oVer!

Even after thAT, it sTill took sooo long to paint because of first priming.  We essentially painted the house twice!  And battled the worst heat waves, humidity, wasps, sunburn—and all my little ooopsies!

I changed the color of the shutters for a burst of color!  And added some strap-hinges to look like they actually swing closed!

The shasta daisies are going a little crazy, and have jumped their borders.  Uhhh~mORe work.

Catherine

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My trip to Elkhorn Sunday—

YES—we are still working on the house.

YES—I continue to injure myself (almost) daily.  Apparently, it’s just not a project until I’ve shed a little blood.  And—

YES—I took a much needed time-out to head to the flea market!

*And mUch eARned.

You know I always see AnD find the coolest treasures at this market!  Here’s a (sorry) LaRGe sampling of what I saw!

Of course, great furniture pieces—don’t forget, click on the pics to enlarge!

Even for the porch!—

Windows and mirrors—always—

Iron, and great accessories—

Lighting! (sort of my chocolate addiction–!)—

The milk glass chandelier was SOLD instantly–   :’  (   –and I was there before the market even opened.

Omg!  Look at these children’s things!—

ChiPPy!-SHaBBy!’s Jeanine was there–always with some pretty great stuff!  Follow the link to her blog to see more!—

And this vendor had my attention with these two absoLUTE beaUties!—

So sorry, I lost their business card to give credit  : (

Next time I’ll share what I got—I had great luck!  And–

can’t wait to show how the house is taking shape–with a few modifications!

Catherine

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“good for what ails you. . .”

Apparently, that hand pruner was pretty dirty, & I guess I didn’t clean the cut good enough.  It keeps bleeding and looks infected.

A couple people around me have said, “You need to soak that in some Epsom Salt!”  I’d heard this suggetion over the years, so I got some.     But not so sure how much to use, I began reading the back label.

Have you ever read all the STUFF this stuff is for–??

Besides a soaking aid for Minor Sprains and Bruises–and CUTS,

it helps with Constipation–??

And is a Fertilizer for your lawn, trees and shrubs, tomato plants, roses, house plants–???

Is this for real–??

I soaked my foot last night–and, YES–it looks better this morning.  But if it’s a fertilizer, are my toenails going to start growing really long now–?? (ah–ha! ha!)  Maybe I could use it as a rinse in my hair–!!

Catherine

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Report all accidents–round 2

Just how klutzy CAN one person be–??

Storms have shifted what projects are getting attention today.

We’re focused on the landscape while the soil is looser from rain.

Should be a “safe” job–so you’d think.

Oh, no—I dropped the hand pruner, point down, of course—on my toe. 

My foot is starting to look like, “Eeeny, meeeny, miney, moe. . .”

Thank goodness for peroxide and neosporin!  Should I buy stock do you think–??

(And I need a pedicure, badly.)

Catherine

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report all accidents at once. . .

I saw this sign at last month’s Elkhorn flea market– $15.  Should’a got it.

Am I just “a bit” accident-prone?  I’m always finding a mystery bruise or two (or 6 or 7),  “How did I get that?”

Just last month, Redoux‘s Karen, wrote a post on “Weekend Warrior Wounds,” to which we traded crazy-accident stories.  She laughingly suggested, “We should hang signs up on our blogs, with a number, and underneath, “accident free days!”

The fiasco of this paint job has left me, well~battered.

I had no illusions on just how tough and exhausting this job would be.  Super humid weather.  Multiple discovered wasp nests–I got stung twice.  Sun burn. I aggravated the tendinitis in my right fore arm.

Trying to adjust the two borrowed (and heavy) Little Giant ladders, and trying to walk it UP/stand it up against the house—well, there was definitely a learning curve.  See?→  But truly a great ladder!  I want one!

Cleaning out one of the paint buckets–I forgot there was a rag in it, and sent it down the garbage disposal.  Oooooops!

I’m sporting quite the variety of tan lines & sunburn lines.  And coupled with the assortment of bruises and two sting marks (from some of those wasps buzzing us) –well, I’m a very “colorful” character!  ; D

Completing this project has been slow-going because: 1) we’ve been moving all around the house trying to stay on whatever is the coolest side for the time of day.  2) Taking a break for Father’s Day.  3) Now we’re in storms.  4) Todd continues to paint, and I’ve detoured to clean up with the pressure washer and restore the decks (and plant flowers!) . . . .

. . . for which I was punished by accidentally pressure washing right over one of my toes, drawing much blood from the “cut.”   (Calgon–take me away!)

And I dropped and broke a favorite pot, which you can see I was just NOT willing to part with.  I patiently put “humpty-dumpty back together again,” and will re-coat it with some stucco-like coating.  Karen also shared hEr trick for a planter project just recently!  Merci beaucoup!

Todd will continue to paint–alone, and I will get the shutters painted, and prime & paint the new corbels I bought in Atlanta more than a year ago!  We’ll install them as rafter tails at the soffit-facia on the back side!

Everything hinges on the  w-e-a-t-h-e-r  this week.  Please-please-please Lord–!

Catherine

*** Shows the “same paint, ma’am” on the new siding from the construction/addition.
See how IT still looks like a fresh paint job–??

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A “face-lift”

After all the construction and renovations on mom’s house a few summers back, all the new parts of cedar siding required painting, so I decided to paint the entire house for everything to be “fresh.”

Once again–I painted the whole house by myself.  It was exhausting, but it was done and looked fabulous!

Until the next summer.  When the solid-color stain began to just “let go.”  What the heck–??

The house was sand-blasted completely clean in ’71 –a do-over– and the very same solid-color stain has been used ever since.  I’ve done all the painting since, and would always take the can in so everything could be matched up exactly.  Product, color–anything else.

“Hey!  That’s the wrong can/product!”  I was assured that “the PACKAGING was just changed. . .same product~no worries.”

I called back concerned that it was thicker, like paint–??

“Oh, no—it’s the same product–solid-color stain.”

I painted.  Checked the bucket again, but, I painted.

Okay, so what’s wrong with this picture–??

I couldn’t get a straight answer—from the store, the paint company, anyone—other than “operator error.”  This is what you see everywhere the “new paint” went over the old.  The new construction parts?  The paint still looks like it was just done.

Our “historically-used” solid-color stain was OIL based.  The “exact same product, ma’am,” it turns out is LATEX-based.  But the store and paint company still won’t own up to a thing.

—I wish I could make them re-do this project.

I hired help this time, and we’re scraping and sanding and cleaning up the mess, and Re-Painting AGAIN.

Two days in, and we aren’t even done with the back side—omg.  Please send positive thoughts-prayers-whatever ya’ got!  We’re gonna need it.  (At least I’m not in it alone this time.)

Catherine

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My caned foot board

I’ve done more than my share of crazy projects that might make many “nervous.”

But, when you consider that most things WE ALL find are not of great value or WE’VE gotten off a curb—just think of each project as part of “the learning curve” -or- “practice!”

BE FEARLESS!

I was more than a little anxious cutting up this foot board–I really liked it.  Well, if I wreck it–the bed will just have only a head board.  What actually made me nervous was cutting into the sheet caning.  A bit pricey at about $70 for a 2′ x 6′ piece.

I treated the task like an upholstery job–like fabric.  But with “this material,” I did find using some hot glue to be the extra pair of hands I suddenly needed to hold-stretch-and secure from all directions at once!

After “caning” the foot board, but before painting—I stained it.  No doubt, an authentically caned bed would have been stained, so I thought it would look more natural “layered” this way.

Here was the secondary problem.

1. When I bought the bed (and dresser w/night stand) it didn’t have its bed rails.  Which would have been shorter to compensate for the curves.  I only had some standard rails.
2. Full beds are short.  At 5’6″ even I found myself sleeping diagonally.

Mattress Sizes

So I bought a new mattress.  A Full XL.  Problem solved.  Except:

• The super pretty Egyptian Cotton FULL sheets no longer fit.  (I bought a temporary queen fitted sheet.)
• The goose down mattress pad and comforter were also short.  (I modified the 1st, will still have to do the 2nd)
• And I ended up cutting and re-pinning the bed skirt too.
• At least the matelasse coverlet was already a queen size–yay!

 

 

Sheet shopping was a bust—only finding the plainest, boring-est sheet selections.  Anyone know of some good online sources??

Catherine

 

 

You can see the varying tasks, and progression of this project here, and here, and here!

 

 

 

I’m sharing this project with these fabulous blogs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What is it–??

I really don’t quite get what this is.  Apparently it came from a department store—is it a prop or display piece??

Any way, it had 25 candle bulbs that could blind you even using low wattage, and could certainly heat up your room–!  Strange thing.

I still thought it was interesting–it made me think of a hat tree.  Which is exactly what I intend to use it as!

See–?!?

“What fun” it was to remove all those candles and tighten up all its loosie-goosie parts!

Catherine

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m sharing this project with these fabulous Linky Parties!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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