So, does anyone else have any interest in paint colors? Thought not. This is for you, Mom.
I need a color for the molding. The horrid peach pink shade in the hallway just isn't cutting it... Here's the current color palette of the house. And - I swear it isn't actually this ugly in real life.
I have all these nice paint chips... Help. Suggestions welcome!
As it turns out, it's not the actual painting/priming that is difficult one-handed, it's the prep work. Perhaps this should not be shocking, but I was a little surprised... But after sanding the last coat of compound, then cleaning up the dust, then washing the walls - that was one tired right arm!
At the end of the day, the long hallway wall is about 3/4 primed. I had some small technical difficulties along the way. Like - R2 kindly set up the long ladder for me to reach over the stairs before she left for the day, but I needed to move it in order to reach one spot on the wall. Um - can't move the long ladder using only one arm. So - that spot not sanded, therefore not primed. And the wall over the stairs would require lots of ladder shifting to paint, so that one isn't done either. I'm also messier when painting using only the right arm - but I have to say, no longer looking at the red/yellow wall is a vast improvement. Even if I'm now looking at splotchy primer ;) Look for more lame-handed painting to come!
That I fixed the fence? 'Cause I did. Before and after below. Dang those winds - and all the things I know now about fence creation with lattice that I didn't know when actually creating the fence...
Did I also mention I was trying to fix my elbow again? Yeah. Fun fun. But enough already with the tendinitis. I mean, not only does it make picking up a beer painful, but the hammer swinging was really not joyous. So all real work is on dr-ordered hiatus. However, I am looking forward to trying right-handed painting this weekend. The last hallway wall needs one more light sand, and it should be ready for the priming! If the right-handed priming goes well, then I'll actually paint too... Don't get too excited to see results yet, though. One friend has already told me she has "a feeling it's going to end with a quarter of the wall painted and you with a beer in your right hand - icing your elbow". Only time will tell... Wish me luck!
Another day of wall-work. Joy. But the upstairs hallway wall is about ready to go. And the stairway just needs one more sanding, which would have been done this weekend if I hadn't already tired myself out sanding and decided dealing with the unruly and heavy ladder was beyond me.
I got a little excited at the end of the day, thinking that I could actually prime the moldings as well (for those who don't know, they are a hideous peachy color). I have realized, however, that there might not be much point in doing that... If I'm going to tear up the equally hideous linoleum, I'll end up probably needing to redo the moldings after the floors are redone. Or maybe not. Maybe touchups and shoe moldings will cover it... I shall contemplate. Because they're really damn ugly.
In other news, thank you to the nor'easter for exposing my mediocre construction skills. Part of the fence blew down. Just two cross braces and one piece of lattice, but still. Well, now I get to showcase my mediocre repair skills!
Oh - and from an article in the Real Estate section of today's NYTimes:
"Much work remains. “Once you own something, it is never going to be done,” Mr. Krause said, “but I didn’t expect that so many things would present themselves so quickly.”" Man is he ever right!
Still workin' on the walls. I know, super exciting. I did take a tiny pause and actually hung some of the art that's been waiting in the living room and the library. And I primed one part of the hallway during the "snow day with no heat and therefore no power." But basically, still working on the hallway walls. Which reminds me - anyone have a brilliant idea for vacuuming behind a radiator? The tool doesn't fit, and there's plenty of joint compound dust back there now.
Mom suggested that I hire someone to skim coat the hallway ceilings. And she's probably right. But, um, the washing machine broke. So I fixed that - and therefore must really do the ceilings myself. Anyway, it's supposed to be a rainy weekend. So if anyone is around and feels like some wallwork, I've plenty to share, and some beers for after...
I've gotten a couple comments from friends lately asking what exactly I've been doing, since I keep saying that I'm working on the house, but I'm not updating the blog. I have been working. Thing is...it's boring work.
I'm really trying to get the hallway walls done soon, which involves patching the walls (there were some good sized holes caused by loose plaster, as well as cracks), chipping all the loose paint off the ceiling and then spackling the edges of the remaining paint so you can't see where it came off, removing the paint from the medallion before repainting it (so you can see the detail), and then finally painting the damn thing. And that doesn't even include the work on the stairs, and painting the molding. I've spent the past couple weekends, with some help from friends, thank you!, just getting the walls ready. Another day, and I think the hallway walls themselves will be ready to prime and paint. The ceiling will need more time though. Lots of loose paint there!
I did have to buy one of those 22-in-1 ladders to get at the walls and ceiling over the stairs. That sucker is heavy!!! And just barely fits on the stairs.
In other news, the house is really complaining about the work. In the space of two weeks, the boiler refused to turn on one morning (apparently it just needed to be cleaned and greased), the washer has gone on the fritz (new control board coming up), and the deadbolt actually broke (fixed). Quit it with the little stuff house, I have a hallway to finish!
Finally! The living and dining room floors are refinished, and the patch in the living room redone! I went with floor guy C from my flooring post, and he really did a great job. There's still dust everywhere, and I haven't entirely put the living room back together (and the whole house still smells like poly), but they look really great!
So we've gone from this:Please note the ugly floors in the above...
To this!
Hooray floor guys!
A marvelous question. Why, oh why, IS my paint peeling? At least - some of it. Mostly in the hallway.
On Sun I spent three hours scraping off loose paint, creating an extremely ugly patchwork effect on the upper part of the wall. I was a little unsure what the next step should be - do I have to patch all the spots I scraped, as that would almost be skim coating? Can I just feather the edges? How come it's peeling????
So I applied Google. And discovered that in the absence of a leak, the problem sometimes occurs when the house has several old layers of oil paint and is then covered with a latex paint. Sometimes it's because there was originally calcimine paint used ("Since calcimine is essentially a water-based mixture of chalk and glue binder, in time any modern paint applied over a calcimine base will fail." courtesy of http://www.oldhousejournal.com/cures_for_calcimine_ceilings/magazine/1015).
The question now is - what do I do with the areas where the paint is still firmly adhered? I'm thinking I'll just clean what came down, seal it with a nasty sealer, and then maybe just feather the edges. But that might make a really wavy wall... Anyone dealt with this one?
Last week, in a fit of pique at my hideous floors, I actually did the research, found three floor guys that were well recommended, and called them. Surprisingly (based on my past floor guy experience), all three were responsive and all three came to see the floors and gave me estimates.
Now - which to pick?
Floor guy A - $950. Hard to understand (not so much on the English), and the only guy who didn't point out the difficulty of the repair I was asking for. But cheapest.
Floor guy B - $1300. But dustless. The most professional of the three, judging only by his printed estimate form, and fancy laser measuring tool.
Floor guy C - $650 for the refinishing, then either $200 or $400 depending on the level of repair I ask for. The only guy to give me options. Also the only guy I had to chase to get the estimate. Pretty sure he's dustless as well, but not positive.
Leaning toward C...
I..am...going...to...get...this...house...under...control.
I am. Going to. Enough already.
On that note, I spent some time with the ideas floated out by all you lovely people about my original kitchen layout, a tape measure, and a mapping program. And I'm a little stuck.
Here's the new layout. Changes you can see - moved the bathroom wall out, knocked down the funny little closet, built a pantry against the wall that used to have the kitchen, swapped a door and a window.
I can't really figure out where to put the fridge and the sink. If I leave them where they are now, the fridge (square with the x) will block light from the door. Which maybe is ok? I don't think I want to move the door more over to make more room from the wall to the doorframe, as then it would be asymmetrical with the spacing of the other windows.
If I leave the sink there, I'll either have to get an under sink dishwasher, which is possible, or put the dishwasher in the island...
So. Thoughts?
Update:
Casey suggested an under-counter refrigerator and freezer. (Idea nixed. Those things are ridiculously expensive!). And yes definitely a dishwasher! While I don't have to move the door, moving it will allow me to create door that exits at floor level (so no two steps up) without dealing with the nightmare that would be redoing the basement exit. Plus it would create more light in the kitchen part.
