Catching Up...

It's been another busy couple of weeks. Work has been overwhelmingly busy with numerous visits of consultants and recruitments for a new dean position to prepare for. I find myself mentally exhausted by the time I get home and am hoping that all will settle down by the end of this week so I can get back to routine business.

One thing that has also gotten back on track is work on the house. My family decided to take advantage of the nicer weather this weekend and we managed to get two sides of the house shingled, new trim boards up around the windows and preparing the final list of stuff to buy. My budget is very happy by this thought of only one more trip to the hardware/lumber store. I'll still do a little checkbook damage there but not as much as I was dreading.

You can see by the condition of the back of the house that I've started stripping boards (with a power washer) for painting.

I still have some work to do on the windows because we discovered that a 1"x4" in the past was truly that size. The new 1"x4" boards I purchased and painted for trimming the windows are not actual size. At some point a 1"x4" became, in reality, .75" x 3.5". What's up with that? Anyhow, I have some extra painting to do since we were essentially adding another trim layer to bring the profile of the window out beyond the OSB sheeting and shingles. Obviously adding a non-true 1x4 onto a true 1x4 isn't a perfect fit but that's okay. I revised my mental picture and thing I've come up with a better plan that requires a little bit of extra painting with the trim colors (cranberry and a mossy green). The triangular area between the curve of the wall and the bottom of the window is filled with khaki-colored beadboard. This will be the color of the house itself once I'm done. I'll paint the board at the bottom of the window too, after I attempt to chisel off many layers of cracking tar. It may be more trouble than it's worth but I feel I need to try. The tar layers are aesthetically displeasing to me but I'll leave them be if I find removal too destructive to the wood beneath it.

A close up of "the colors" and how they're being used on the window trim.

Yet another project going on right now is redoing a neat looking wooden door that the former owner left behind in the basement. Before I get much further into the project , I'll do some remeasuring but I'm fairly certain it will fit my side door entrance. I managed to get it pressure washed, which revealed four layers of paint, not all of which was coming off easily. Oh well. I at least got the loose stuff off and cleaned out the designs in the wood. See below.

I don't know when we'll work on the other two sides of the house but one thing is for certain -- I have plenty to do in the meantime!