Paintin' and Preppin'

Most of this month we've been lolly-gagging around, taking in the summery weather (Yes! I'm the only one in Seattle who thinks we were dealt a decent summer) and taking a break from the DIY projects. But, we've managed to cram in a few projects, specifically the prepping of the stairs for their big makeover (coming soon) and this weekend, a start on replacing the trim around the windows on the south side of the house.

Justin spent a few hours on Saturday digging out all of the wood from the garage that we've been storing since about this time two summers ago. On Sunday morning, I primed all of the pieces and by Sunday afternoon, Justin was into the blue paint, laying down the first finish coat.

Meticulously applying a coat to the trim boards.

A Dull Boy...

Well it was all work and no play this 4-day weekend despite our best intentions at play. We did take a break from the work on Thursday to celebrate the holiday with some good friends but we were up and eager, just like the black Friday shoppers, to install countless feet of trim around the main floor of our house. This trim project took the better parts of Friday, Saturday and Sunday and there is still work to be done. But, I'd say it is about 80% done and I think a few weekday evenings should have us putting a nail in this project (pun intended).

Here's Justin setting the nails on the crown molding above our cabinets.

And a snapshot of a corner that we trimmed out this weekend.

Exterior!

We must be crazy. Take a perfectly put together exterior and two do-it-yourselfers and all of a sudden the window trim needs to be replaced (and subsequently painted). It was just going to be a paint job...a touch up really. But Justin, the unfailing perfectionist didn't like the way the wood on the trim was coming off in chunks when he scraped the paint. Hence, the larger job.

We shall see how much time and money this little project will set us back. The silver lining: the north side doesn't need to be redone!

Here's inspector Justin on the ladder preparing to remove trim boards.

Pushing through

We had lots of wheels turning today, working on lots of different projects. In the end, the progress was remarkable. Jon came out again and spent the day sanding our trimwork and patching the holes. We hired a friend of Justin's who is a carpenter and door hanger extradordinare to come hang our doors. Eric installed all of the door jambs that we so dutifully saved from demolition.

Our new bathroom door and salvaged trim. We need to patch a few holes and sand down the finish before we paint everthing white.

Meanwhile, Justin and I wrapped up the tile in the main floor bathroom (except one piece of bullnose that we need to pick up because we ran out). Jon brought the medicine cabinet that he built and we installed that too.

And after everyone left, Justin and I installed the flooring in the upstairs bathroom. Even after breaking several pieces trying to cut around the toilet, we had just enough to finish the job.

And finally, Doug, the stair craftsman and his father-in-law, made some serious progress on the railings. He'll be back on Monday to finish the one section not in the photo.

Demo Day III

Justin and Jill took the day off to carry the demolition a little further. The dumpster was emptied on Tuesday and it's full again today. We'll have it emptied on Friday so we will be set for the weekend. It's a little sad generating this much waste with our project. Hopefully the recycler will find something useful to do with lath and plaster bits.

Justin put his thinking cap on and built a chute out of ductwork from the house. He propped it up with our extension ladder. It was a modern day chutes & ladders in our back yard!


They wrapped up the day having cleared all of the piles of plaster and lath from the house and pulling out half of the ceiling in the master bedroom and the walls of the bathroom upstairs.

After an initial hack-fest on the fir trim throughout the house, Justin decided to put his kid gloves on and remove the remainder with the plan to reuse. He's salvaged much of what was left upstairs. Hopefully we can figure out how to clean this stuff up and reuse it.