That’s better

Monday, March 8, 2010 at 12:15 am (Cottage Industry)
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Just a brief powder room peek.

Our experiment with metallic (copper-colored) paint didn’t work. The space is so small with a lot of trim, and apparently the treatment works better when you can make long strokes with the special roller instead of trying to work with a brush in small nooks and crannies. We were afraid it wouldn’t cover, so we never did the second metallic coat. Plus the color was just too dark and felt oppressive. So that was 2 base coats and 1 top coat of metallic paint (at $18 a QUART!) down the drain.

We have a small paint store in our basement, so I went shopping and found a simple “Heavy Cream” (from the kitchen ceiling) that works fine on the walls and ceiling. Matches the floor tile pretty well. We still have a couple bells & whistles planned for the walls, but at least this is a better base to work with than the copper.

Yes, paint is relatively cheap (except at $18 a quart) — but the labor is a killer. By the time I’m done putting the final coat on, I will have painted those little walls 7 times. Won’t be the first time we’ve painted and repainted and repainted. The kitchen had 3 different wall colors — plus we started out by painting all the woodwork white before we changed it all to cream. (Did I mention I hate painting woodwork worst of all? My next house will have stained trim — just like every house I’ve owned prior to this one.) We also tried 3 colors in the bathroom before landing on the current one as the lesser evil — not something we ever really liked, and lately we’ve started talking about repainting it. It’s been, what, 3 whole years? You know you’re in trouble when you have to start doing things over before you’re even close to getting everything done once.

On an unrelated note, we bought a cute (inexpensive) bistro set for our new patio area out back a couple weeks ago (20% off at Big Lots) and assembled it today while waiting for the paint to dry. Of course, the patio is still covered in snow. But since we’ve been battling chronic fatigue syndrome (the powder room strain) for months now, a raging bout of spring fever is a welcome change of pace.

Color is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment.
~ Claude Monet

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A tale of two Christmases

Friday, December 4, 2009 at 1:02 pm (Cottage Industry)

Every Christmas, I look at the beautifully decorated homes in my magazines and marvel at how everything is coordinated, carries out a common theme, and manages to look both festive and uncluttered.

I love, love, love this tree of Martha's. (Our December issue of Living had 3 different covers in succession? Yours too?)

Oooooh, and this one from Family Circle. Perfectly shaped, simple green/white/silver scheme, even the presents match!

And can I have this Better Homes & Gardens room (in my lodge in the Smokies)?

Maybe while we're in the Smokes I can party at this Southern Living home, please?

And then there’s our house. A curious conglomeration all year long, but especially at Christmas.

Want serene and tasteful? I think we achieve that in the dining room, and it’s my favorite. It looks like grown-ups live here. It makes me want to wear black velvet, nibble on brie, and clink champagne glasses. (I’d take a picture but I’d have to move the “bad kitty” spray bottle, my brother’s Christmas present, and Mike’s sketch of the design for our powder room floor tile off the table first.)

Want kitschy and excessive? Hang out in the living room. Santas and snowmen galore, lighted garlands at all the windows and on the mantle, an anything-goes tree, cats napping wherever they please, and nary an open space to rest the eye. It’s what I like to call the “Santa stopped by and threw up Christmas” school of decorating. It makes me want to wear a big sweater and stretchy pants, eat too many cookies, and spike the hot chocolate.

I guess it’s good we make room for both kinds of heaven at the holidays.

What’s your heaven-at-home like?

Christmas is a time when you get homesick — even when you’re home.
~ Carol Nelson

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Time to hibernate

Monday, November 30, 2009 at 3:21 pm (Cottage Industry)
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You probably didn’t notice, but all my pictures of the new roof on the front of the house show a pretty big change, even bigger than the new roof.

Mike had a busy summer working on the new sunroom, and we’re finally ready to let it rest over the long winter.

Here’s a rundown of his progress — and it truly is his progress. I participated very little, and the only help he had was when his friend helped him install the heavy sliding door. All else you see — all the framing, the new tongue-in-groove floor, the walls, 14 windows, the trim — that’s all Mike. It’s amazing!

front porch right

This is pretty much where we started, although in this picture we had already cut down an overgrown and ratty arborvitae to the right of the one here.

posts

The column bases and floor were so bad, Mike was afraid the whole roof might come down. So he propped it up -- those posts stayed up for months and months, though had to be moved and rejiggered way too often, with me holding my breath every time.

theugly

That's the weather side of the house, so the porch was in bad shape. Rotting floorboards and all. We had to pull up the floor anyway to replace the sewer line that runs under the porch, so that began our journey.

frontporch3.23.09

In this picture, the last arborvitae is finally gone, and Mike has already reframed the floor and replaced the joists. Oh, and that was only AFTER we waited weeks (or was it months?) for a mason to come and rebuild the brick piers.

reframedinsulated

We insulated the floor and installed a vapor barrier, but it will probably only be a three-season room. Too expensive to heat over the winter.

tonguegroovefloor

It was a relief to get the new floor down. The plan is to replace the rest of the porch floor (after we rebuild the other two piers) this same way.

columns

It was a great day when the porch roof was resting on new columns instead of those blasted posts!

framing

Framing the walls (which are mostly windows) came next. (See how nice the new brick piers look?)

windowtransoms

It was exciting to see the first transoms go in.

windowfinessing

The windows required a ton of shimming and finessing -- quite a painstaking job.

slidingdoor

As I mentioned, the sliding door was big and heavy, but Mike and his friend, Gary, made quick work of it.

trim

Trimming everything out was a huge job. We used plastic lumber to avoid future maintenance.

The last details took a while — bending the aluminum flashing around the base and finishing up the trim, especially. We were thrilled to see the last bits of wood and OSB covered. (Coping the inside corners of the crown molding on the porch was yesterday’s “I hate this” chore.)

Bending and fitting the aluminum flashing was quite a chore -- I mostly tried to hide while Mike was working on it.

Lots of clean-up effort this past weekend means the front porch finally doesn’t look like a construction zone. (And, a double bonus: With the garage no longer a staging/storage area, I can park my car in it for the first time in 6 months!)

Look! No wood to trip over. No ladders. No tools. And an actual "Welcome" mat at the front door!

We even put the antique wicker in its new (still unfinished) home and were thrilled at how cozy it feels.

Having a sheltered home for this 100+-year-old furniture we inherited from Mike's parents was a big part of why we decided to build the sunroom instead of just keeping the open porch. Good thing it fits in the room!

It may be next year at this time before the interior is finished, but that’s OK. This has been a huge one-man job, and we’re happy with the progress and the promise of having a pretty little retreat to relax in down the road.

And yes, there’s still the rest of the front porch to rebuild — maybe next year, maybe the year after — it’s been a tough year financially and scary that things don’t appear to be picking up, at least for my business. Life in fixer-upperhood sure isn’t for the faint of heart and light of checkbook. But we are so fortunate compared to so many, and probably not thankful enough for it.

And so, this project hibernates, but we don’t. Finishing the powder room — the “winter project” that hibernated over the summer — is again at the top of the list.

Winter is the time of promise because there is so little to do —
or because you can now and then permit yourself the luxury of thinking so.
~ Stanley Crawford

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