Fare Thee Well

Dear readers, I must bid you all a fond farewell.  You see, the boss has returned and thus, I'm sure she's due to re-take the helm of the SS SteeleFlamingo (blog).  But, fear not dear reader, you see, I believe that the boss is doing everything in her power to avoid further hard labor and has planned more trips out of town on weekends during which I'm expected to dig more ditches.  So, this humble writer will return.

A little bit more progress was made at Garvin Street today in the form of vanities.  The smaller of the vanities was painted.  Last week, there was mention of the "gray soup" that was to be used for the painting.  A more suitable color name has presented itself during the application process today.  Worth noting though is that several "Lessons Learned" were applied to the work scope this time and the sweatshop-esque conditions of last week were eliminated.  This week, windows were opened, the pieces were elevated off the floor where possible and a single light illuminated the work area.  Such luxury!

Figure 1.  Fully OSHA compliant.  Ok, mostly OSHA compliant.

So, during the paint application process, the name of the paint made itself clear.  I've dubbed it: White Pine Plywood as purchased from Lowe's (WPPAPfL).  See, the particular shade of gray as it was being applied in the scattered sunlight that was entering the room combined with the droplight light made the color seem to be the the exact same color of the wood.  As a result thusly therefore, I'm quite certain that I missed a spot or three and thus have completed applying multiple coats incompletely.  Oh well.  At least it will be seen in the same awful light and hopefully won't be noticed.  ...as if the boss (Hi Wife!) won't notice.

In addition to the painting of the vanity, I loosely assembled the massive black vanity to see how bad my dad and I did when fabricating the pieces.  The envelope please...  Not too terribly!  But, to be fair, it was just loose assembly to see how it'd all fit together.  There were no glaring errors (yet) and everything looked to be close.  There might be a sliiiight modification required because the shelf walls might be a touch too deep.  Perhaps we shall see tomorrow.  The tension is palpable isn't it?!  I'm such a fantastic suspense writer, too, I know.

As I made the rounds to rinse the brush off and wrap up another day I noticed that there was a massive burst of color coming from the crepe myrtle!  How exciting!  Check it out.

Figure 2.  What a perfect splash of color!

Yeah, you gotta squint.  Here, let me help you out.

Figure 3.  8x ZOOM BABY!  Look at all that pink!  SO GIRLY!

Not satisfied with the day's progress I decided to attempt to paint the railing on the porch.  This project was known effectively as: OPERATION OVERSPRAY!  You may recall some concern last week as to how to tackle the delicate application of spray paint to a hand rail that cannot be removed from the house (or the ground) [CUE DRAMATIC MUSIC].  Well, with a thorough sanding completed and a masking off of what felt like everything up to and including the neighbor's house, I got it done.  Here, you can check my work:

Figure 4.  Do not zoom in to check my work.  It's fine.  FINE I tell you.

After that I got a call from the boss stating that she'd made it back safely.  With that, I bid you a temporary farewell.  ...or, as Ma Steele has been known to say.  It's been real, and it's been swell.  ...but it ain't been real swell.

A Vanity Fair

If you'd have told me that today, which had long been viewed as an opportunity to be SUPER PRODUCTIVE would be spent painting a vanity (notice the use of the singular, not the plural) for FIVE HOURS, I'd've puked.  Well, I didn't puke, but maybe I should have.  Granted, this is no ordinary vanity.  It was fashioned from logs hewn from a mighty oak (or white pine, whatever Lowe's puts in their cheapest plywood) and shaped by the hands of a fine woodworking artisan and his son (namely my Dad and me.  Thanks Dad!).  (Aside: ...not gonna lie, with my writing, I see an etsy store in my future, whattya think?)  It's also rather large, so it's not like some small 20" vanity was painted (that's next), but still, it felt a little bit like the Myth of Sisyphus painting all those coats on each of the components (For those of you that aren't familiar, you can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus).  What may make this even more charming is that I'm pretty sure the way I painted the endless, endless coats on and then staged the pieces, that the black paint will somehow be chipped, smudged, streaked, or something.  Just one of them things, I guess.  But, it wasn't all bad, since I got to listen to re-runs on the radio.  Either way, as this post is typed, I can find vindication in being minimally covered in black paint and having spared another pair of shorts from having been attacked by rogue splatters.  VICTORY!

Figures 1-3.  Notice the edges that I didn't yet paint, crap, I'm just seeing that now.  Also note that that is still wet paint in Fig. 3 and not completely streaky.  ...I think.  ...I hope.

The smaller, master vanity to be painted by what can only be described as "grey soup" may be next on the list, but, lesson learned, I think I'm going to use a damn roller this time.

As the day wound to a close I refused to let the day be defined by paint application, so I took a few minutes to scrape some windows to remove some of the errant paint.

Before:

Figures 4-5.  Zoom in, that's the only way you'll see it.

After, post white-glove treatment:

Figures 6-7.  BAM!  Classy (and blurry, sorry)

I had planned to paint some more of the aluminum window trim white (seriously!), but since I bought paint thinner and not mineral spirits, I didn't want to waste a brush.  Oh well.  Tune in next week for more!

Small steps, long journey

It's official, we've owned this house too long.  It just doesn't seem right that I should have to mow the grass.  On the one hand, I guess it's good, because it means that the sprigs that we planted way back are doing their thing and haven't died.  But, at the same time, it would be nice to be, like, fo' real done.  It's still nice to make progress, even if it's kinda boring and more maintenance than "progress".

Figure 1.  Mowed grass sprigs and burn pile ash.  Cast iron is still alive and kicking

Proof that the hydrangeas are alive and well:

Figure 2.  Pinkish/purplish blooms.  Ignore the conduit please, it will be removed, we're not that trashy.  ...maybe

Also that weird fern thing that Ma Steele brought down did in fact come back.  Witness its new growth through.  Thought for sure these were toast:

Figure 3.  Even more conduit.  Yup, we're trashy!

In addition to verifying living things were alive, actual work was performed today, as alluded to above.  But, a lot of it will look pretty boring and be quite the let down.  That's why there are other pictures of things, to distract you, dear reader.

Of no particular note are our new numbers which are loosely adhered to the exterior of the home.  They now match the handrail and door hardware.  Fancy!  ...until they fall off again.

Figure 4.  Well, now you know the address, you're not getting an SSN, sorry.  That's a mighty fine mower, ain't it?

After having picked up the mother lode of paint yesterday, it seemed prudent to actually finish up the painting of the exterior trim on the front windows.  If this looks any different from previous pictures, then you're paying attention waaay too closely.  But, the trim is really painted.  All the way.  It's done.  I'm not painting or caulking that any more (on the outside).  (Probably not true).

Figure 5.  See, looks the same, doesn't it?  ...'cept the weeds are shorter

Figure 6.  Since you didn't believe me, you can see it now.  It's all white.

Next, work shifted to the backside of the house.  The door got rehabbed today with a few (ok, three) coats of paint to the outside and BRAND NEW HARDWARE!  Ok, it's not technically "new", but it's been spray painted to match the stuff on the front and that's as new as it's going to get until the bosslady comes home and tells me it's wrong (hi Wife!).  Behold the beauty!

Figure 7.  Yup, it's a white door.  Not very exciting.  However, we are soliciting opinions as to how to spray paint that rail without making completely painting the house and ground.  It's not flanged pipe like the front door.  You've got the address now, so feel free to mail in your responses stapled to a $20 bill.

Since leadership wasn't there to veto it, I put in a lock and reinstalled the old door handle on the new screen door brought to you by Steele North:

Figure 8.  Yeah, that counts as a lock.  I mean, it's a screen door!

Figure 9.  How long before I have to paint the handle?

Well, there you have it.  I'm not showing you any pictures of the caulk on the interior windows because that's just boring.  ...and it was shoddy work.  Also, don't tell Kelly, but I think we may be SOL on a doorbell due to my cutting of a wire while attempting to enlarge the hold to accommodate the new one.  Oopsie!

Feels like a jungle, looks like a jungle

For those of you not located within shouting distance (hi Wife!), it is, in fact, rather hot.  Needless to say, this makes working outside simply glorious.  Going along those lines, it seemed prudent to light a fire to burn the remaining demo debris to ensure Maximum Hotness.  While that took place a little weeding was done.  No pictures were taken of that since it still looks like we're growing vines and other undesirables better than the grass.  Plants were also watered as they seemed to be less than enthused about the lack of rain combined with the heat.  The hydrangeas have some pretty blooms on them (pictures to come tomorrow after they've recovered with the watering).  The border grasses also look pretty good and appear to be spreading.

With regards to the house, it seems as though we reached a bit far with the bright green door against the blue trim and white background.  As a result, we brought in some mitigation efforts in the form of plant life that we hope to not kill in the next 48-72 hours.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Also, the pipe/handrail was painted to "match" the new door hardware.  It's about as close as it's going to get, I think, but that doesn't mean that it won't get painted again.  The loose theme for the plant life was that we wanted something with some variation to try and lighten it up a bit.  The options were better than I thought for things that are relatively hearty (read: harder to kill), shade tolerant, and hopefully not too thirsty.

On the left is a yellow-and-green something that I don't remember, on the right is some variegated cast iron (which I thought meant it got too much sun/not enough water) and a few coleus (colei?) with slight pink dots on green and yellow/white background.

Now the door is still a bit loud, but in my humble opinion, it does look a little more muted.  We've just got to convince one person, right?  ...But, it is still basically Kermit the Frog in Antarctica.  Oh well.

Meh, all told, I think it's better than it was before, so that's progress.  More to come tomorrow

Trim

We cut and installed a lot if trim this weekend for the windows and the new bathroom. Randy's birthday present made it a breeze:

I can't wait for all of this to be painted white! Well Silent White technically. Below are two of the colors we chose; Garden Stone for the living, dining and bedrooms and Silent White for the bathrooms, ceilings, foyer, laundry room and trim. 

The vanity in the new bath will be a gray mash-up curtesy of almost a gallon of gray samples I had from choosing a gray for our house. After I mixed them all together I tried it on a piece of the vanity:

And to add some punch, a green front door!

We also painted the metal on the old windows. Some need one more coat:

A Few Updates

Here are a few quick pics of the progress to date. We will be working on a 'to do' list for the weekend:

Dry-ceiling

Why call it drywall when it's on the ceiling? :) anyway. We have dry-ceiling, hooray!

Randy also cut the shims off of the windows this weekend and placed the trim pieces, I think they will look good:

The house may get jacked up tomorrow and/or we may get some can lights in the living space and kitchen. Stay tuned!

Did something really get finished? Really? Seriously?!

Holding true to the theme of last week, some progress was made in a few areas, but nothing major took place.  This may be the Year of the Horse, but May 3, 2014 was the Day of the Gopher.  After our hired guns elected to stay another week, I had a few errands to run to ensure that they didn't sleep on the street and to keep progress going.  Before I went to the Depot, the bank, the hotel, and the tile store, a run to the Scrapyard was in order.  Why capitalize scrapyard?  Because, with the trip to the scrapyard, this project is bringing in revenue!  That's right, nearly $40.00.  Of course, that was promptly spent 8 times over in subsequent trips to the store, but still...  Making money!

While I was out running errands, the crew was busy removing staples from the ceiling.  I've spared you pictures, but rest assured, we were pitying the poor schmo who had to put them up in the first place.  Also, some baseboard trim was installed in the bathroom and closet.

I apologize for the blurry picture, I swear I'm going to fire this photographer

Still needs vertical slats among other things.

I could be mistaken, but outside of any flaws that the big boss lady may identify (I'm sure there will be at least one), I believe that the painting of the trim is now complete.  A mere 6 weeks (months?) after it began the trim is finally done (I think)!  Holy cow.  A task is basically complete.  Here's some documentation, don't look too close as you'll see some of the flaws.

Front entry

Front door (am I supposed to paint that little reddish slat?  Find out next week!)

...and the back door to the patio

Inside, some additional progress was made on the new windows.  Floam has been tucked away and trim has been cut and put in place.  Maybe over the next couple days the nailgun and caulk fairies will make an appearance.  Hey, a kid can dream, right?  The other, old windows in the front still need trim cut, but hey, there're only so may hours in a day and stop cracking the whip why don'tcha?  Either way, here's what they look like with the trim loosely in place.  Behold those fancy miters!  Ask me how many cuts I boogered up.  Go ahead, ask.  None!  Not. A. One!   I'm still shocked myself, but the project isn't done.  Maybe I've spoken too soon, but I'll count this as a victory.  I think it looks a little better now that those giant gaps are covered up.  That is, so long as you don't notice that nothing's exactly square, level, plumb, or really another or adjective that one might use to describe well-positioned, professionally installed windows.  But hey, ease up!

Also, before this post gets wrapped up, just wanted to give a shoutout to Ma Steele (or just Ma to some).  Behold, the Green Thumb of the North has worked yet another miracle.  Looks the the hydrangeas will not only live, but will actually have flowers.  Also, our grass sprigs are progressing nicely.  Problem is, so were the weeds, but hey, I'll take what I can get.  Look, proof:

I think our photographer did a nice job here playing off the theme of "miracle" work.

G(r)o(w) grass G(r)o(w)!

Simple Pleasures

Not gonna lie, it feels a little bit (ok, a lotta bit) lame getting excited about seeing floors and walls.  But, the new bathroom has floors and walls.  ...mostly.  ...which is kinda neat I guess.  Hey, it's all about managing expectations and taking pleasure in the simple things.  Seriously though, it's come pretty far.  I mean, it wasn't that long ago that we were hauling miscellaneous piping from the backyard and getting eaten alive by fleas inside.  And now, we have walls!

(Ir)Regardless(ly), it's probably equally exciting to see pictures of it, so here they are:

View from the mudroom(?).  Vanity will be on the left

View from the bedroom.  Look there's floor.  ...that we'll put more floor on!

Note: That is NOT a 16 foot ladder

...and, to further cement this as the most exciting progress update ever, here's what the shower looks like now that the grout is done and dry and officially done (minus the door, but who even counts that really?  ...and the paint.  Fine, it's not done!).  Oh, and the drywall on the shower has been put up and mudded, so it's nice that that's been addressed.  ...again, it's the little things.

You can't really tell that the walls are drywalled, but they are.  ...guess I'll have to fire the photographer.

Bathroom Progress

The new bathroom shower is almost complete. Here is a picture pre grout:

And here is one post grout:

We think that the new shower door, drywall, lights and dura rock for the white penny tile floor will be installed tomorrow.

And here is a picture if the old bathroom's new floor:

We are going to have the tub and existing tile re-glazed white to match the new toilet.