Category Archives: painting

But don’t ask me where I’ve been or what I’ve done…*

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*Lyrics from Amarillo from the Gorillaz album The Fall. The album was recorded using almost exclusively iPad apps. Crazy and cool.

Client kitchen renovation – days 9 and 10 (end of week 2)

With an insanely tight schedule and a rapidly dwindling summer calendar (I hate the knowledge that soon we’ll be voluntarily using blankets, sweaters and other implements of warmth-making) Dave, Jonas and Brian got busy finishing the drywall and flooring installation. Details left to tackle: taping, mudding, sanding, paint and thresholds. Though it may seem like a small list, the actual work involved spanned days. The breakneck speed which started off the short week eased into a quite rapid but not hideously over-fast speed, and the guys put their heads down and got to work. I am constantly impressed with how much they each do (Jonas can paint, don’t let him tell you differently), and how many things they are capable of doing (and well!).

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I really feel that I’m losing my best friend, I can’t believe this could be the end…*

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I don’t know how my every-other-daily blog posts turned into week-and-a-half-ly blog posts, but there you have it. Things have been slow on the home improvement front. And it’s difficult to photograph paint drying. But, I can report that I have completed the painting of the cabinet and shelves, the second coat is on the wall, and a coat of enamel paint is curing on the countertops. I finally tackled the stripe treatment that I threatened (promised) to do, even if I did simplify it a bit (for expediency as well as design – sometimes less is more). Everything is coming together nicely, and the weather improvements mean that I can open the windows while I use toxic enamel paint.

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Let it go, this too shall pass…*

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*Lyrics from OK GO’s This Too Shall Pass.

So, for the past month (I looked it up since it seems like it’s been longer) I’ve been battling the never ending saga of tooth pain. If you’ve ever suffered from anything related to that, you’ll understand exactly why I’ve barely done anything but bathe, eat soft food, haven’t exercised, and have only gotten mildly through my punch list for the family bath. After my latest dental examination showed that I might not just have one tooth in peril, but two (cue meltdown here) I’ve decided to stop feeling badly about neglecting my work, and my blog. I will be back at it, and the exercise, too, once I feel that my tooth pain issues have been properly addressed, and when I feel safe in encouraging blood to pump freely (and quickly) through my head.

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If I was from Paris, I would say ooh-la-la-la-la-la-la-lah…*

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It’s almost officially spring. And it’s snowing. Like a real, proper, accumulating in inches, with wet pant legs and muddy dog feet snow. This after Friday was easily 65 degrees, sunny (and windy), where I was outside with only a t-shirt on (and pants, too!). Tis what it is to be a New Englander. I know the it won’t last, but knowing that the yard is pregnant with bulbs makes me want to turn my hair dryer on to melt the snow a little faster, to urge spring along by any means necessary.

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Hoped you’d see my face, and that you’d be reminded that for me it isn’t over…*

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It’s been too long since my last post, but so much has happened, and all in the span of just a few days. I completed my joint compound homework (as promised), preparing the walls and gaps around the ceiling lights as best I could. Team Tile (J.J. and mini-Caleb) arrived on Friday, as scheduled, and worked to get the room ready for Team Carpentry’s (Dave and Jonas) arrival on Monday (today). Not only did they finish the work that absolutely needed to get done before the built-ins could go in, they also made some good progress on one of the shower walls. Bonus!

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The quicker we go, the faster we fall behind…*

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With a sickly (feverish) wee one at home awaiting his arrival, Dave (& Jonas) arrived on Sunday to do the hour or so of work that needed to get done before J.J. could (can) finish the floor in the bathroom. A bit of mud, tape, sawdust and vacuuming, and suddenly the room felt like it was ready to move on. (I’ve been ready to move on for weeks, now. But I digress.) The seam between the durock and sheetrock was bound together – though multiple coats of compound still need to be applied – making the room instantly feel more finished. Nothing like plugging up holes to make a room settle a bit. And, after patching a few more spots where attic air could penetrate our cozy little room, and cleaning up the threshold so that a new non-beveled piece of marble could be installed, Dave and Jonas made a date to come back and finish up the carpentry portion of the project.

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And we wait for something beauuuuutiful…*

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Each year, in January, stores have their annual “white sales” where they discount sheets and bedding, towels and bath items to make room for… something. Anyway, amid the sea of white that we have been surrounded by in one of the snowiest Januarys we’ve had in a long, long time, I, too, participated in the deals of the white sale. Discounted shams and a duvet cover for the soon-to-be-redesigned guest room (the purple room), a lightweight blanket and towels (from The Company Store), and just yesterday, a new lightweight quilt-type blanket from Target at 50% off (locals take note: Holyoke store has bunches of clearance bedding, FYI). So, white was the order of the month, by me and by Mother Nature. But it didn’t end there.

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They’re calling at me, come and find your kind…*

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Happy New Year! I took a holiday, family-filled hiatus from the blog, but not from the house projects. A few weeks ago I undertook a mini-painting project that I had been wanting to do for, well, years. Stenciling. No, not the gross borders at the top of a room, but a proper, elegant, wallpaper inspired looking stencil. You know, to class up the joint. The master bedroom to be specific.

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A scrub is a guy that can’t get no love from me…

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Mid-week 15, day 73, and the plumbing is finally done! Shockingly, the heating install went well, smoothly even, and the last tasks to complete the punch-list for Team Plumbing were done in less than one day. Relief, disbelief, joy. Wow, we’re seriously almost done now. (Thanks, Matt!) We’ll still need a final plumbing inspection, but it’s looking good, working, and helps us get to the next (last) stage of our renovation: completion.

Team Carpentry was back, including Dave (duh), J.J. (as a jack-of-all-trades helper again), and Jonas (the cabinet/furniture guru among them). Dave worked the last bits of baseboard trim, completed the cutest (can I say “cute” about something that’s made of wood and metal?) little radiator cover that cleverly removes (!!) for access to the heater, and began the process of moving out of the garage (that could take days). J.J. worked his way down the punch-list, painting windows, corbels, touch-ups on walls and doors, and vacuuming debris along the way. Oh, and he fixed a tile that got cracked during a small carpentry adjustment. All in a day’s work, eh, J.J.?

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There ain’t nothin’ gonna stop me now, ’cause I’m almost there…

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Week 14 ended today, day 70, like the soft closing of a napping baby’s bedroom door. It’s hard to say that we even had a week 14 as the days are so concentrated now, so task oriented. Once something is completed, it’s done. There are no more weeks of work anticipated, only lists of things to finish, lists which (much to our chagrin) keep getting longer as we keep noticing (minor, but plentiful) things that are undone.

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