Cinderella's Door

Ed worked on window and door trim this weekend. The side trim is narrower at the top and wider at the bottom. This line echos the front columns and overhang, and will tie everything together nicely. Ed cut the trim pieces from the cedar boards that we painted a week ago, then I primed the cut sides. After they were dry, up they went. It is a little tough to see here up against the felt paper, but the green trim will stand out well once the shingles are up.

The same theme is carried through the windows on the back. These were existing windows to the original garage. I primed the sill today.

We decided to wait to replace the existing plain garage doors until the entire construction project is done and we can re-evaluate finances. The existing doors are well-built and functional. They just don't look like craftsman doors. So I thought I would try to paint them with some detail. The worst that can happen is that it can look horrible and we repaint them a solid color.

After searching the internet for different ideas, I came up with my own. I wanted it to have the rail and stile look, but reflect the eyebrow dormer detail over the window on the second story.

If Cinderella had a garage door, this is what it would look like. Plain but functional, hardworking but not very pretty...and needing a bath.

But then....the Fairy Garage Door Opener appeared....and...poof!

And the Handsome Prince drove his Jeep inside and they lived happily every after....oh..sorry..got carried away. And no, it doesn't turn back into a grungy door if somebody's not home before midnight.

But yeah, I can paint that. Dark brown for the rails and stiles and light brown for the panels, black for the wrought iron hinges and door handles.

So I TSP'd the garage doors today, and first thing tomorrow, I'll drive into town for some paint. I went outside and drew it on the garage door itself to make sure it wasn't going to look silly, and it looked darned good! Unfortunately most of the pencil came off during the TSP process. Yes, Mom, I wore safety glasses, and it's a good thing too, cause I splashed that stuff all over!

Hopefully by tomorrow night, I'll have the base coat on and dry, and can get out my grid and start plotting the contrast color.

April Come She Will

April has definitely had a mind of her own. The first breath of spring was felt three weeks ago, with stunning weather,with high 70s and beautiful sunshine. Wahoo! Get the paint! So we broke out the rollers, the sunscreen and the hats and got to work.

The trick is to paint these trim pieces before putting them up, thus significantly reducing time and risk on scaffold that is very high. Remember when Every Mom said "Get out of that tree, you're gonna fall and break your neck!" This is way beyond that.

After we made this stack, we made another just like it. It was so warm that by the end of the day, the paint was sufficiently dry that we could bring the boards in and stack them in the garage.

But spring can be a bit capricious, and Easter weekend was cold and wet. The Monday after Easter, it hailed and rained all day...mostly hail. Tuesday wasn't much better. Ed managed to get some of his seedlings planted though. Every year we get several hundred seedling native trees from the conservation district and plant them. We like the cedars but the elk eat them like I eat sunflower seeds. Spruce are also native, but are very stickery. The good news is that most of the animals leave them alone, so Ed has planted a lot of spruce.

This last weekend it was stunningly beautiful all weekend. Sunny...warm...green...it would have been easy to just laze about and soak it in, but the list of things to do is growing exponentially. Ed put in the furring strips..is that the right term?..for the flare at the bottom of the wall. You can see the TV satellite dish right behind Ed. What you don't see is the old satellite dish for the internet that he had to take down. Who would have ever guessed that this year's wasps had decided that the hollow insides was a good place to start a nest... fortunately for Ed they aren't ravenously vicious this time of year. I hate wasps and stood far far away.

After the furring strips went up, we put plywood sheathing over it. Once we put the shingles on, it will give the exterior walls a nice soft flare.

I will be the shingler (shinglette.. shinglee..) at least for the first 15' or so, depending on how comfortable I get on the scaffolding. Between shingles, insulation and sheetrock, our spring and summer is pretty much full. I don't see myself getting much stained glass done any time soon.

But I also know this is the part where things start moving faster. Friday I drive to Portland to Lumber Liquidators pick up hardwood flooring. Soon, I'll need to find tile. Blink, and it'll be September and we'll be moving in.

Electrical Is Done!

After a month of mundane electrical work, the rough electrical and plumbing has passed inspection. The Jennair range is here, the downdraft vent is installed. All of the can lights are wired in. There are 220 heaters in the bathroom and the living room. There is a dedicated circuit for the microwave and one for the fridge. Ed changed out the main electrical panel. Outside lights are wired in, even out on the tiny patio. The State inspector said it all looks good. The County inspector signed off on the rough plumbing.

Now the fun stuff starts. This is where a week-end's work really shows some visual results. Once we start with the insulation and the sheetrock, we can get that last window in and ..EEEEEKKK

aaah.. the sound of brakes!

Ed has already planted over 50 spruce seedlings this year, and has about 100 more trees to go..hemlock, cedar and pines. I ordered 50 maple seedlings, so that's my project. Those all need to go in before warm weather hits..I think we're covered there. Yesterday Ed spent most of the day with Darin and his assistants from the Water Conservation District, while they surveyed our creekbed, for some bank restoration work.

I'm pretty sure Ed said he wanted to do some of the outside trim work..soffits? ..before he started with the insulation and sheetrock.

One step at a time, and all in the right order. It's hard to visualize actually moving into the studio apartment, much less the finished house. All in due time.