I love paint! Painty-painty-paint!

Can all sins be covered in paint?  No.  But you'd be surprised how many can.

The trouble with this house is that when starting a project, I'm never sure how deep to go.  If I rip off ugly wallpaper, will the drywall I find be finished and ready for paint?  Or did the wallpaper cover up unfinished seams and lumpy installation?  Or OSB in lieu of drywall?  Should I remove the faux-wood paneling?  Do I dare?  Is there drywall underneath or will I be exposing old insulation?

That said, every time I do an upgrade from sickly stained wallpaper to fresh paint, I don't want to spend too much time or effort because in the long run, we'll be replacing a LOT of drywall when we replace the insulation behind it.  But this is way down the road and there are several things I don't want to live with for that long.  Like this room:  

It's the spare bedroom and it was very obvious that the carpet had to go (smelly and grimy), along with the wallpaper (top half of walls), which was peeling off.  But once the wallpaper was removed, I found gaps in the drywall.  I wanted to removed the paneling, but wasn't up for doing drywall if there wasn't any underneath.  As for the floor, I found sheets of plywood with some gaps under the carpet and we weren't ready to buy new carpet yet.  So, within these compromises I assembled my arsenal:

1) flat paint in a warm white for the walls.

2) glossy chocolate brown for the trim.

3) floor paint in tan.

4) white painter's caulk for drywall gaps.

5) a variety of curtains and fabrics from Goodwill.

Of course it still wants rugs, accent furniture, and pillowcases, but these pictures show progress and they show what a difference a very simple neutral palette can make when you're going from icky to usable.  It won't grace the cover of House Beautiful anytime soon with such a bland look, but this is where we are right now.  Paint + Compromise.

Similar compromises were made in the upstairs hall and bathroom. At some point cosmetic becomes structural and finding that point and knowing when to quit are a big part of getting anything accomplished.

Interiors: I love paint!

There are a few little changes to the innards of the house that I accomplished in the last few years.  All thanks to my new friend...paint!  A few years ago, I got tired of looking at the plywood walls in the kitchen.  (Yep, they put up OSB in lieu of drywall.  Wallpapered it too.  Engreased dust covered the wallpaper so it came down too easily.  Ew.)














So, I got some yellow paint (flat), primed the kitchen, and painted it.  I painted the trim a warm white, and added a little trim over the range hood and sink.  Take a look:













MUCH better.  But....not without its flaws.  I learned some things...
1)  Flat paint doesn't cover all sins.
2) Grease stains soak into flat paint, they don't wipe away.  Mleh...

We had better luck with the room we use as a den.  Here, I experimented with texture paint.

 We took down the faux wood paneling down a found that the drywall underneath looked like it had been hung by a group of Cub Scouts, but with less planning.  Plus, it was covered in icky dried Liquid Nails--impossible to remove.  So, we texture painted it, but we know we'll have to take it ALL down someday because the insulation needs replacement someday.

Okay, well, picture layout in 'Blogger' has become officially too frustrating to continue.  More pictures in my next post.

Basement Floor

Gah...It's been an age since I last posted. I've changed jobs, Shawn's changed jobs twice, and just last month we got married (whoot!)  But as much as our daily lives have changed, the home improvement has been rather moderate.

The major one was replacing the roof.  This before picture shows the two different types of roofing that we had up there.

The original house (near in the pic) had corrugated metal roofing over top of cedar shingles.  The 'new' part (far left in the pic) had layers of shingles.  Shawn did the shingled part first in the fall of 2010.  In order to avoid exposing the whole layer of sheathing to the elements, he did it in sections.

 When this was completed, Shawn worked as a long-haul truck driver for about a year.  Which sucked because a) I missed him, b) nothing major got done on the house, and c) I missed him.  Now he drives locally for a nearby business and he's home every night.  Yay!  So...

The original portion of the house was re-roofed in May of 2012.  Under the old corrugated metal roofing was the original roofing material: cedar shingles.  And after years of living under the metal they were dry, dry, dry--that is, a fire hazard.  Not so yay.  Here's the process:

 First, the cedar shingles, then the bare bones, and third, the new sheathing.  Here's the nearly final product:

I'd go out and get a completed shot but it's raining just now.  But comparing even this to the image in the header of this blog makes my heart go pitter-patter.  Now, back to the basement:

We've hired a guy to pour our four inch thick concrete basement floor.  Yes, that's right.  We've hired someone who doesn't live here.  Reason being: no single person can put a smooth finish on a nearly 900 sq. ft surface faster than the concrete can dry.  It takes a team.  Furthermore, it takes an experienced team where everyone knows his job and can get it right the first time and fast.  (So, not me.)

What we have done is place thick (6mil) plastic sheeting down as a vapor barrier (it'll be forever covered by the concrete) and installed three drains that run out to the french drain which runs out to our sump well and a backup dry well. 

 Because, why not?  Shawn's done everything to prevent water in the basement including waterproofing the concrete block, grading the yard, running gutters, digging a dry well, and installing a french drain.  But just in case of torrential weather some year, it's cheaper to install these drains and never need them than to buy flood insurance.  

So, now we wait for our floor guy.  In the meantime, some smaller fun things are happening inside!