Man, who knew that painting is hard labor? About 7-8 years ago, I was actually painting for a living for a short period of time. I never felt sore afterwords and I'd paint almost an apartment a day. My arms are killing me now though and I've only managed to paint a few rooms. I suppose that being totally inactive for the last year is probably why I'm so beat. I did manage to get at least one coat on all the ceilings in every room so it's a good start.
Turns out the ceilings required two coats. When I came back this morning I saw streaks, poor coverage and under color showing through. Guess I should have figured on this though I was hoping that I could get away with one. You'd figure white on white should be straightforward but the old paint had a purple tint and the Behr ceiling paint I bought was more bright white and on the yellow side of the spectrum. One step forward, two steps back. We now have the whitest ceilings on Long Island. Looks like I'm also going to have to prime the walls now too or I'm going to be painting into 2010. I have my bucket of Kilz at the ready.
Though I do have a few days between now and our move-in date, I don't expect to be finished with everything at that point. I imagine I'll be doing trim while we unpack. I also have to get some quarter-round shoe molding to replace what was pulled out to do the floors. Guess I'm gonna become quite handy with a radial chop saw and ye olde coping saw. I forsee MANY trips to the Home Depot in the next few months. Maybe we should open an account...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Spackle n' paint
Let the spackling begin. Went to the Home Depot today and picked up all the paint supplies needed to do the house; rollers, brushes, buckets, drop cloths, rags, hand cleaner, spackle, paint etc. We're not doing the kitchen or bathrooms at this point. The wallpaper in those rooms will have to come down first which from what I understand is a job in itself. They're all self-contained rooms so they can be done one-at-a-time. The three bedrooms, living room, family room, dining area, hallway and all the trim are getting a fresh coat of paint.
As of Friday evening Dec. 26th, the bulk of the spackling has been done. Naturally, there's still a few more spots to do and some I may have to re-do. Glad I started on a Friday night though as I have the rest of the weekend to get the job done. I've never worked with spackle that dried overnight, I'm hoping it will be much easier to work with. I had to build up the areas where some larger cracks were so I used compound. Hope it turns out OK. I'm sure every time the light hits a certain spot just right I'll notice my fixes and curse.
As I move around the house filling cracks, all of the old-lady curtains and fixtures will be coming down. Feels great to yank down her dingy old drapes - they were drawn tight the three times we came to the place before we bought it. It's actually really nice when the sun shines in. Now we just have to get the ivy off the side of the house which will unblock the main window in the living room.
The floors are finished and look all right. There's a few places where you can see the swirl marks from the machinery and a few heavy spots where the poly was laid down a little too thick. The poly acts like a stain and tends to make the wood a little darker. I imagine it might lighten up over time as it really dries out. I'm also hoping some of the blemishes will go away as we walk over it. All in all though it looks great though and smells like a new car.
We're starting to break down our apartment now too as D-Day is just about a week away. I'll be handling the painting while Amy gets to stay behind and pack our things. We're both kind of bummed that we're missing out on doing the painting together. It seems like a rite-of-passage for first-time homebuyers. Our situation dictates this can't happen though so we'll have to go our separate ways and meet up later.
Hope to have pictures of the painted rooms as they're completed, perhaps over the next few days. Adding some color over the drab antique white is really gonna wake things up. Stay tuned.
As of Friday evening Dec. 26th, the bulk of the spackling has been done. Naturally, there's still a few more spots to do and some I may have to re-do. Glad I started on a Friday night though as I have the rest of the weekend to get the job done. I've never worked with spackle that dried overnight, I'm hoping it will be much easier to work with. I had to build up the areas where some larger cracks were so I used compound. Hope it turns out OK. I'm sure every time the light hits a certain spot just right I'll notice my fixes and curse.
As I move around the house filling cracks, all of the old-lady curtains and fixtures will be coming down. Feels great to yank down her dingy old drapes - they were drawn tight the three times we came to the place before we bought it. It's actually really nice when the sun shines in. Now we just have to get the ivy off the side of the house which will unblock the main window in the living room.
The floors are finished and look all right. There's a few places where you can see the swirl marks from the machinery and a few heavy spots where the poly was laid down a little too thick. The poly acts like a stain and tends to make the wood a little darker. I imagine it might lighten up over time as it really dries out. I'm also hoping some of the blemishes will go away as we walk over it. All in all though it looks great though and smells like a new car.
We're starting to break down our apartment now too as D-Day is just about a week away. I'll be handling the painting while Amy gets to stay behind and pack our things. We're both kind of bummed that we're missing out on doing the painting together. It seems like a rite-of-passage for first-time homebuyers. Our situation dictates this can't happen though so we'll have to go our separate ways and meet up later.
Hope to have pictures of the painted rooms as they're completed, perhaps over the next few days. Adding some color over the drab antique white is really gonna wake things up. Stay tuned.
Monday, December 22, 2008
We move fast
We don't screw around. We closed on the house today and in less than 2 hours the first project had already begun. The hardwood floors are being refinished by family friends Bob and Calvin who graciously came all the way down from Briarcliff Manor and Catskill respectively to do the job. We'll leave the natural color and polyurethane it to give it a lasting sheen. Looking forward to a clean slate so our bare feet will not have to pad over Terry the Terrier's feces paw prints.
Some areas of the floor are somewhat shabbily patched together. In the dining area, it looked like there may have been a hutch or closet in one corner which is no longer there. The spot was filled in with shorter lengths of floor boards to fill in the space up to the wall. You can see the seams in the drywall where the structure once was. House detectives see everything. We'll fix it one day.
Naturally there's gaps all over the place, especially under the base molding. We decided to remove the quarter-round shoe molding since it wasn't present in all areas and removing it would give us an overall better outcome when sanding. We'll put it back in to cover the gaps when the job is done and we're ready to paint.
Of course, here's a few pics of the action.
Calvin, peering in to the abyss.
Bob, creating dust.
Machines at rest.
Some areas of the floor are somewhat shabbily patched together. In the dining area, it looked like there may have been a hutch or closet in one corner which is no longer there. The spot was filled in with shorter lengths of floor boards to fill in the space up to the wall. You can see the seams in the drywall where the structure once was. House detectives see everything. We'll fix it one day.
Naturally there's gaps all over the place, especially under the base molding. We decided to remove the quarter-round shoe molding since it wasn't present in all areas and removing it would give us an overall better outcome when sanding. We'll put it back in to cover the gaps when the job is done and we're ready to paint.
Of course, here's a few pics of the action.
Calvin, peering in to the abyss.
Bob, creating dust.
Machines at rest.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Old People Talk Loud
I'm Greg. My wife Amy, son Jake and I have just purchased a house out on Long Island. It's a smaller, ranch-style home, built in 1940. It's on a quiet residential street. This is our first house. This is our blog about it.
The house itself is about 1,500 or so square feet. It's brick and wood construction, painted red and white on the outside. There's three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms that are actually butted up against each other, a 'living room' or 'family room' as we've agreed to call it, a real living room with a fire place, a formal dining area and a small kitchen. For me, I'm absolutely beside myself to finally have a garage to work on my cars. There's also a "Florida Room" or what's otherwise known as a screened-in porch. I think we may be out there every single night as soon as the temperature rises above 70ยบ. The yard is one of the larger ones on the block at .37 of an acre. There's grass, a few nice trees and a fence that separates the front and back yards.
We're buying the house from an elderly woman named Victoria who has lived there for about 10 years. Victoria it turns out, really likes antique white as just about everything in the house is painted this color. She also likes to keep all the blinds drawn because I think she might be some sort of vampire. In any event, we plan to change a few things when we move in. Nothing drastic mind you but we do plan to exercise our retro-hipster muscles and get the mid-century modern theme going throughout the house.
We are set to close on Monday, December 22nd, 2008. We will receive the keys at that point and plan to go to work right then. Our initial projects include re-surfacing the hardwood floors throughout the house, paint and cleaning and necessary upgrades for safety and efficiency; 200 amp breaker box, insulate the attic that sort of thing. We'll be busy for months trying to make the place spiffy. We're looking forward to this adventure and to a new chapter in our lives.
Please see the images below for a peek into what the house looks like now. I took these images with this blog in mind. I was thinking of an absolute beginning point before we put our stamp on the house. We will try to post all of our projects as we do them. We hope you enjoy watching us transform our old house into the killer crib we imagine it to be in our minds.
Kitchen, obviously.
Florida Room
Living room, fireplace to the left.
Large bathroom, complete with tile accents.
Terry the Terrier in a cage while Victoria talks loudly with Amy.
Fireplace to the left.
Dining room. We'll be getting a new light fixture.
View of the family room through the doorway.
Master bedroom, obviously where the magic happens.
Like the old tonight show segue.... more to come!
The house itself is about 1,500 or so square feet. It's brick and wood construction, painted red and white on the outside. There's three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms that are actually butted up against each other, a 'living room' or 'family room' as we've agreed to call it, a real living room with a fire place, a formal dining area and a small kitchen. For me, I'm absolutely beside myself to finally have a garage to work on my cars. There's also a "Florida Room" or what's otherwise known as a screened-in porch. I think we may be out there every single night as soon as the temperature rises above 70ยบ. The yard is one of the larger ones on the block at .37 of an acre. There's grass, a few nice trees and a fence that separates the front and back yards.
We're buying the house from an elderly woman named Victoria who has lived there for about 10 years. Victoria it turns out, really likes antique white as just about everything in the house is painted this color. She also likes to keep all the blinds drawn because I think she might be some sort of vampire. In any event, we plan to change a few things when we move in. Nothing drastic mind you but we do plan to exercise our retro-hipster muscles and get the mid-century modern theme going throughout the house.
We are set to close on Monday, December 22nd, 2008. We will receive the keys at that point and plan to go to work right then. Our initial projects include re-surfacing the hardwood floors throughout the house, paint and cleaning and necessary upgrades for safety and efficiency; 200 amp breaker box, insulate the attic that sort of thing. We'll be busy for months trying to make the place spiffy. We're looking forward to this adventure and to a new chapter in our lives.
Please see the images below for a peek into what the house looks like now. I took these images with this blog in mind. I was thinking of an absolute beginning point before we put our stamp on the house. We will try to post all of our projects as we do them. We hope you enjoy watching us transform our old house into the killer crib we imagine it to be in our minds.
Kitchen, obviously.
Florida Room
Living room, fireplace to the left.
Large bathroom, complete with tile accents.
Terry the Terrier in a cage while Victoria talks loudly with Amy.
Fireplace to the left.
Dining room. We'll be getting a new light fixture.
View of the family room through the doorway.
Master bedroom, obviously where the magic happens.
Like the old tonight show segue.... more to come!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)