It's A Home Run!

Big Ed is finally retired! After moving to Washington, Ed continued to commute to California every week for work. Now, three years, nine months and two days later, he is home and able to work on his project as much as he likes. He's out there cutting tile as we speak..er..type.


I did manage to sneak in a day or two of leisure before he threw himself wholeheartedly into the job though. Ed's dad, Ed Sr. and his wife Elaine came up for several days and we had a wonderful, relaxing visit. Ed Jr couldn't help himself and snuck off once in a while to play with his tools, install the bathtub and get ready to paint. Before company left, we took in a dinner cruise on the Portland Spirit stern wheeler, out of Cascade Locks. If you ever get the opportunity to take this dinner cruise, do it. It's a beautiful view of the river at sunset.



Company left Saturday and Sunday after church we were rolling paint over primer. The entire apartment took a nice coat of Sherwin Williams Summer White, then the living area was given a glaze coat of Valspar Cliveden Leather which was a 6 to 1 mix, glaze to paint. Once the base coat of Summer White was dry, using a brush, I applied the colored glaze in a criss-cross pattern. Then I ragged and rolled the glaze with dry pieces of old t-shirt, and feathered the edges of each section with a small dry chip brush. It took forever and my right arm feels like it's been filled with lead.





But between the glaze color and the drywall texture, the walls look like old world plaster. And the Summer White which has a tan/yellow tint, now looks white. It took two days to do the living room and kitchen.


The bedroom and bathroom already have the base coat of Summer White, but will get a different color glaze. The bedroom will be Valspar Lobby Yellow, and the bathroom will be Valspar Linen Napkin. And of course, the beauty of paint is that if you don't like it, you can just get another color!



As I mentioned, Ed is already working on tile. Doesn't that sound easy? Did I mention the cement backer board? Did you remember there are no stairs? I have no idea how much a piece of Durock weighs, but I can guarantee that they are heavier than a can of paint! So he hauled the Durrock up the ladder and over the balcony. The shower, bathroom floor, front entryway and two front closets will all be tiled.
I go to town tomorrow with a huge list of stuff Ed needs to finish installing the electrical fixtures...a double poled switch, whatever the heck that is..
those poor guys at the hardware store see me coming and hide! Friday Scott the Cabinet Guy comes to measure for kitchen cabinets.
Think we can get done before winter?