Owner Building a Home - Week 19 - Painting and Siding!

Monday - Before I arrived on site, Jay had started shingling the porch roof with Mr.W.  After Mr. W got him going, Mr. W primed the walls of the upstairs.  It goes so much more quickly when you can spray the walls then to have to roll them.  Once the primer was dry, Mr.W sprayed the ceilings with Distant Gray by Benjamin Moore.  It is a wonderfully warm white and I love the look of it.  To be honest, I have no clue what I did this day.  I think I just kinda wandered around pretending to help but by the end of the day, I am not sure what I did.  Looking at the calendar, I realize I took both boys to an orthodontist appointment that afternoon and that is why I accomplished little at the house.  I took time to wander the mall with the boys as a sort of date with them, looking at toys, lego and other fun boy things.  I found the duvet covers for the little girl's room so I am super excited about that.  Clearance sale at Quilts, Etc. - I like that!

Tuesday - Since the ceilings were painted yesterday and all the paint was used up, I needed to go paint shopping again.  This time I bought the paint for all of the upstairs, making that big money commitment and choosing colors I really hoped I liked when they were on the walls.  I also bought more ceiling paint.  Today I took Ari on a date with me.  We bought paint, ate lunch, did a little shopping and then went back to the house.  Jay took the kids home for supper and I stayed to paint the first room!  It is pink and bright and really pretty (Benjamin Moore Pink Taffy)!  The little girls love it. 

When I got home around 9pm, Jay and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary by eating rice and fish by candlelight.  We will go away for a couple of days in a few weeks to really celebrate!

Wednesday - While I spent all day painting inside, Jay was "painting" outside.  He was installing the siding with Mr.W.  It looks so fantastic with the 6" wide white trim around the windows and doors.  I love the look of the house from outside!

And, I was moving along fairly nicely inside.  Mr.W had only one suggestion to make my painting even better and I will share that with you.  When you are cutting in the paint between the ceiling and the wall, don't paint right up into the corner on the first coat (if this is a new paint job).  Since the primed walls still suck paint a little, the brush doesn't move quite as smoothly on the wall and it is harder to get a straight line.  So, stay out of the corner 2-3 mm.  On the second coat, get the brush right in the corner between the ceiling and walls and because you are painting over one coat, your brush moves smoothly and your line will be even straighter.  Works super well!  That is, of course, if you aren't using tape, which I don't.  Today I did the second coat of pink in the little girl's room, the first coat of purple in RJ's room (Benjamin Moore Bonne Nuit),

the first coat of blue in AJ's room (Benjamin Moore Seaport Blue) and I started on the orange strip in Pepe's room. 

Of all the colors, I don't like the way the orange covers.  It is the exact same Benjamin Moore paint as the rest but the coverage is horrid.  I am not sure how many coats it will take but more than 2, that is for sure.

Thursday - Mr.W was gone for the next 2 days so Jay and I just kept on working. 

He continued on the siding and I continued painting.  You see those little green things on either side of Jay?  They are called Gecko Gauge and they allow Jay to install siding all by himself.  They clip under the last piece of siding you installed and the next piece just slides in on top of them.  They hold the piece in place while you attach the siding to the houes.  Then you unclip them, move them up one piece and install another piece of siding.  They are completely adjustable so you can change how large the spacing is on your siding.  They are fantastic!!  Jay is so glad to be using them! 

I finished the second coats of the rooms I started yesterday and then spent too much time putting on a second and third coat of orange.  It still needs 1 more.  I also painted Pepe's closet with 2 coats of orange and it needs more.  I hate orange paint.  The other bedrooms are beautiful!  Then, I worked late and painted my bedroom!  Oh my goodness, I love it!  I wasn't sure about the color on the large paint chip and I wasn't sure about the color when I opened the can and I wasn't so sure when I put the first bit of paint on.  But when it dried a few moments later, it was gorgeous.  It is Benjamin Moore's Overcoat - dark grey with slightly brown under tones.  So elegant.  So romantic.  I love it!

Friday - Since the ceilings are already finished, I decided to hang 2 light fixtures in my bedroom.  After seeing them in place, it is starting to feel a little surreal.  No one dreams about the framing of their dream home.  No one imagines the concrete work or plumbing pipes, electrical wiring or heating ducts.  What you do imagine is the paint colors, the light fixtures, the trim details, the color of the siding - all that fun stuff.  And that is where we are at now.  It is very wierd to look at my room with the finished 2 coats of paint and light fixtures in place and realize this is my room.  I still cannot believe it.  It looks too pretty, too upscale, too just-like-my-dreams for it to be mine.   And yet it is.  I guess dreams can come true!  :)  I finished the paint in the bedroom and then started painting the master bath.  Once again, I wasn't so sure about the color.  I wanted a grey and this one just seemed more brown.  When I put it on the walls, I still wasn't sure.  Jay said he loved it.  I waited until Saturday and then I realized I like it, too.  It is called Benjamin Moore's Escarpement and for this paint, seeing finished rooms on-line painted in this color gave me the confidence that it would look lovely.  And it does.

Saturday -  Today the town we live in was having a town-wide garage sale so I spent the morning with the kids touring around town, hopping in and out of the van to find treasures.  Let me tell you, garage sales with kids who can buckle themselves in and unbuckle themselves is world's easier than having to do it for them.  What a fun morning!  Then in the afternoon the 2 older girls went to a birthday party, the boys spent time with dad and grandma and I took Ari on another date to pick up the duvet covers I bought for the little girls.  While there I found the bedding for RJ's room and for our room!  It will be so lovely.  And all on clearance!  I never did do any work at the house but Jay worked away on the siding.  This day didn't show as much evidence of what he did but it was lots of little things that aren't always easy to see.  It should make Monday easier, though, to have those details ready.  As for me, Monday I start in with school in full force so we will see what time I get to the site.  I am hoping to get there around 2-2:30 but we will see.  And that wraps up the first week of finishing!

PS:  No photos at the moment in this post.  I left the camera on site so I cannot download any now.  Besides, trying to take photos of the room colors is nearly impossible in only natural light or with a flash.  Since there is no electricity on site, I cannot turn on any lights.  I tried numerous times in numerous rooms to get photos and they all look terrible so you will have to wait for "painted room" pics.  But the outside photos of the siding will come later today.