Friday, November 8, 2013

Stripping Ain't Easy



Stripping, banging and screwing - the big activities of the week.  Necessary tools for the job: black gloves, scraper and strippers.

And no, you dirty minds, its not what you think. Even though I am desperate for money these days, I have not resorted to stripping. Yet. Well at least not the kind of stripping that involves sleezy men and one dollar bills. It's called paint stripping.

In the frantic furry of getting the house ready for Andrew's 40th birthday bash this weekend, I decided that the front door HAD to be stripped and repainted THIS WEEK.  My ADD has kicked into overdrive as I bounce from one project to the next, never fully completing any of them and watching as Andrew slowly tries to find the best way to say "No...please focus".

But I did win on the front door and man has it been a doozy. There were not 3, not 4, but 5 layers of paint on that beast - red, blue, white, cream and green. I think they covered the entire rainbow. Just on the front side alone we have spent about 10 hours stripping the paint layer by layer until we hit bare wood. We MIGHT get to prime the door before guests arrive at 4pm on Saturday, but most likely they will be greeted by a wood door speckled with stubborn paint remnants.





Once they walk in the back room though, people will be in a whole new house.  To Andrew and I, the back room has taken on an incredible transformation.  Andrew and I sat at my desk just the other night flipping through photos from 6 months ago when we moved in and started tearing apart the wallpaper and fake wooden beams on our first night in the house.  To someone who doesn't know the background, the room now looks like it should and is probably unimpressive. But behind the walls and on the surface, there was a LOT of time, money and effort that went into redesigning and bringing the back room and exterior out of the 60s!  It will certainly be our winter retreat.













THIS PAST WEEK WE…

Built and painted all the interior trim for the back living room





Finished painting the exterior of the back room

Installed new lights on the back deck and porch



Built cubby spaces and a bench for Andrew's chop saw in the shop





Picked "Tinsmith" as the color for the back and front door and put up all the decking for the back deck.


 And I managed to escape the house a time or two for some great sunset shots just down the street from us! Just another great week at 82 Middle Ave. 






Annnnd, next week's project: a leaky bathroom. Perfect. 

2 comments:

  1. You're living room is stunning!! I love how you were able to utilize all the natural light to make it look both airy and cozy! Great job!

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  2. Great Share!

    Its looking amazing! How beautifully this house has been designed specifically the door...how that rugged door changed into a beautiful stylish doorway..that adding beauty to the home furnishing..

    Great Ideas! I appreciate your efforts @ Maria!!!! Keep sharing sharing such quality stuff! I would surely look forward!

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