Getting Closer

The weekend was spent touching up woodwork here and there along with painting the spindles on the staircase.

Tonight I've been re-installing hardware where the touch-up is done. And we started putting rooms back together.

The living room is nearly done - a little more hardware re-installation, window treatments (on the way), and some accessorizing are all that remain.

Most of the room's contents we've been acquiring in the years since we moved in, though a lot of it showed back up today...

The awesome sconces came with the house and we had them rewired at John's Antiques.

The end tables came from SWMBO's Grandpa Jimmy.

The table lamps from a friend's Aunt Ruthie.

The chairs and striped sofa we had re-upholstered and came from an estate sale.

The other sofa we re-upholstered as well and came from another family friend.

The coffee table is new from Traditions.

On to the Living Room...

I finished the final coat on the Foyer and staircase this morning.

So this afternoon I started on the living room. Though it looks similar here, this color is quite different from the one I've been working with. It looks much better than the previous color in this room.

This is going slowly, too. Cutting in around the panel molding takes a lot of extra time. Leaving the panel molding the same color as the other molding makes a huge difference in the look of the room as well.

Hopefully I can get the first coat on the other three walls tomorrow.

Good Taste?

Tonight I stumbled upon this photo of the staircase in the US Custom House in NYC.  Like our house, it was designed by Cass Gilbert.

I guess we picked a good color combination for our staircase and entry...

Foyer Walls

I spent most of the weekend getting the first coat of paint on the walls. It's going more slowly than I expected. There is a ton of cutting in to do, especially on the first floor. Bill stopped by to check up on me and was nice enough to cut in where I was chicken to.

The new color is "Asian Jute", an historic color that is similar to what we've seen under many coats of paint elsewhere in the house. The space really called for a bolder color; the previous color was too close to the woodwork color and everything was washed out. The new bolder color really accentuates the detail in the woodwork.

Main Stair Handrail

The handrail for the main staircase got stripped and re-stained today. It's going to look fantastic when it's done.

During all of this, the ceilings got a new skim coat. Including where The Leak had been. There were some other spots in the common area on the second floor that really needed it as well. It's obvious that the roof had leaked at some point causing many coats of paint to flake off here and there. And rather than fix it properly, it just got painted over.

There's nothing that another coat of paint (and duct tape) won't cure. ;-)

And its a good thing the place got a new roof before we bought it...

Sprayed Millwork

On Friday, all the millwork got sprayed. We moved out for for the weekend to let the smell subside. There's a little touch-up to do here and there, but it looks really good.

Today, Bill painted the ceilings using this lovely scaffolding.

Now the amateurs (me) can get in and start on the walls. There's a lot of cutting in and some places where a roller won't fit, so it might go a little slowly. It's a good thing I don't pay myself by the hour.

"I Love the smell of napalm in the morning..."

"... It smells like ... victory."

The two big burns in the Dining Room mantle have been filled. The filler has quite a strong odor and I think it's making me go loopy. Perhaps I can use it as an excuse for all the spelling mistakes and poor grammar on the blog. Better living through chemicals and all that...

All the other woodwork prep is nearly done. That's thousands of feet of tape; thousands of square feet of rosin paper; hundreds of pounds of mud (and resulting dust from the sanding); and several cases of painters caulk.

It sounds like woodwork painting will begin tomorrow.

Once that's done the amateurs (me) can begin on the walls.

So I can't quite smell victory.

Yet.