Friday, July 18, 2014

Goodbye Orange Paint, Hello Pine

So anyway, this is what we're up to this week and I'm just so tickled with Hubs' progress, I wanted to share it.

Here's the house before:

Here's the front of the house after day 3:
And here's the front after today (day 4):
Here's what Hubs did on the first day:


And on the second day:
Look at all that gorgeous wood.

Of course, everyone's feeling the need to voice their opinions.  It's too much work.  Why don't we just paint over it?  Why not use paint stripper?  Yada yada yada.  One look at the finished product tells us that 1) it's not too much work for that result and 2) the last guy painted over it and it looked like shit, so why exactly would we paint over it again?  As for 3) We explored every available option and this one suits us the best.  Do you have any idea how many gallons of stripper we'd need to buy to cover this size house??  And don't even go there with how much it would cost to have a crew of people come out to sand it or strip it with corncobs or whatever.

Anyway, I'm damn proud and we'll have the house we dreamed of.  Complete with pine knots and real wood and NO MORE ORANGE.  (We swear, it did not look orange in the pictures before we bought the place.  Not that it would've changed our minds, but at least we would have known.)

And while Hubs was doing that today, this is what I did.  I took the chunky rock border out from our wildflower bed and replaced it with pea gravel.

Before:
After:
And why I did it:
I found Mr. Copperhead hiding in the chunky rocks when I went out to weed.  Now they have nowhere to hide.

Not bad work for two old farts, eh?

Today... Hubs will be sanding and I will be inside trying to avoid the buzz of the sander by throwing on my headphones and writing.

What's up with you?



12 comments:

  1. WELL worth the effort! I wish I had your energy! But since we're older farts than you two, we'll just admire from afar. :)

    I'm a bit less frazzled now that the second Harlequin has been turned in. Still trying to get organized to leave Monday. And I have four--count them FOUR--WIPs demanding I spend time with them. *muppet flail* Not sure when I'll get serious writing time until I get back a week from Sunday, though I might try working in the car. LG and I have been married long enough we don't have to visit on road trips. LOL

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    1. Thanks, Silver! I don't know if it's energy as much as an unwillingness to shell out fundage we don't have. LOL

      You need a weekend off. And no, I don't count RWA or the trip to get there. Two days... OFF. Doctor's orders (and since I just finished a scene from a doctor's POV, I'm totally qualified to tell you that... LOL). Have fun at RWA and see you when you get back. By then, who knows what other fun things we'll have finished.

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  2. Wow, that's A LOT of work, but it IS beautiful!

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    1. Thanks, JB! Hubs is totally tuckered out tonight, but the front is almost done.

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  3. Wow, the pine is gorgeous! Definitely worth the work.

    Eek on the rattlesnake! Two reasons to change out the rocks: safety, and it looks so much nicer.

    You have waaaay too much energy. Send a little my way, please. :-)

    I'm spreading my brain too thinly: I'm trying to finish my bathing suit mockup (so I can finish the pattern), desperately want to start two new patterns (can only do one at a time, or my brain explodes and nothing gets done), and I'm still poking away at my dressmaking book. Books. Hmm. No, I'm pretending it's still just one book. ;-)

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    1. Thanks, Deb!

      I don't know. I kinda liked the rocks, and where we're at we have so MANY of them that I wanted to put them to use. But you're right that they need to be gone.

      Ugh. I got tired just thinking about all the things you're doing. LOL on pretending it's just one book.

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  4. You're lucky your hubs is so dedicated (and does great work!). I'm afraid mine would start the project and never finish! :)

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    1. LOL, yep, Stacy - when Hubs starts a project, he finishes it. It's the city manager thing in him, I guess. This one's a doozie, though, so it might be a start, rest, start again thing for the rest of the year.

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  5. So you have huge, poisonous spiders AND slippery, slithery poisonous snakes???? I am certainly not moving there - eeek!

    The house is going to look awesome. So he's sanding off all the paint and then doing a clear coat finish? Big job! Glad you guys found a solution to the orange :)

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  6. Hey, our worst spiders aren't huge. The huge ones are pretty innocuous. It's the small ones you have to worry about here. Hubs says I need to stop telling friends and family about the indigenous crawlies - no one will ever want to visit. LOL

    Thanks, Janet! The plan is to sand it all off and then clear coat it with a sealant. It's a big job and Hubs has been doing it all by himself because I suck at ladders and heavy machinery. But it is the best solution to the orange problems.

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  7. So much nicer in its original finish. You guys have been laboring machines. Hope you get a break soon.

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    1. Thanks! We took the whole weekend off the home projects, Maria. =o)

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