September 27, 2008

Ok, so I'm not the only one who looks good in a great dusting of paint! 5 hours and a covering of Antique Linen on the house and ourselves and the siding is painted. One coat (hopefully) of trim in white and we painted our first house. By the way, it only takes a little sprayer painting to have a visual on the purpose of nose hair! And for those of you praying for our dear eligible bachelor Danny, there he is. Still single! (That's the top picture, the guy in the dark shirt and hat, VERY MARRIED!)

Friday Sept 26th Ta da!

If I am to succeed in my over zealous plan to paint the entire outside of a 1200 sq ft house in 4 days, Kristen and I must pretend to be as smart and strong as any other house painter. Mr. Careful is at work today. We got to the house with 10 gallons of primer and the new sprayer, ladders, baseball caps and old clothes and the all important Starbucks! How do you start spraying a house with primer? I guess you just start! I was a little amazed at how much spray covered me. I know I had the nozzle pointed at the house every time, I know it! We were done with the first coat about noon and proudly called in our progress to Mr. C at the fire station. We had to purchase another 5 gallons of primer, but finished the second coat about 4pm. Even I can't believe it went that well. It struck me as funny that inside the house were about 6 guys hanging drywall knowing that outside were two women using a 3/4 hp power sprayer to paint the exterior of the house. They would sneak a quality control glance every once in a while, infact one time Kristen was painting and a guy cracked open the door to spy on her and got a shot of paint! "opps sorry, just being nosey!" FYI Danny Strong is still single today, Friday September 26.

Exterior prep begins..Sept 24, 2009

"Let's paint the outside while the drywall is going up on the inside" Seemed like a perfect idea to me. We have a week where we can seal up the windows. Starting the 29th, the drywall guys,( led by that eligible bachelor guy, Danny,) will need ventilation, which is code for taking off the plastic that protects the windows from paint. Conservative and careful Dann thought we should wait until we didn't have a deadline. Most often in this project I have let him call the shots on the timing of things, but Kristen and I are incharge of painting and so I naively push ahead sure we can have it done by the 29th. Wednesday the 24th, we started taping off everything we didn't want paint and it's overspray on. Of course, Micah wouldn't want his cars painted so they are carefully taped as well. Thursday, Dann and I spend an hour or so finishing the taping and then tackle the power sprayer. Long story and 2 hours later we toss the borrowed sprayer plan and compare the rental price with the purchase price. We are now proud owners of our own. Paint budget out....primer on. We lost one whole day to paint. 4 days left- Dann works two of those. I am acting very confident of my decision to forge ahead, completely unsure whether we will be able to or not.

Drywall begins...

Monday September 22nd, 2009. Danny Strong a high school friend of Jason's brings in his crew and they start putting up the drywall. It sure seems like we are getting close all of a sudden. Drywall, then tape and mud, the paint, moulding, fixtures, cabinets, interior doors..., ok quiet a few more steps, but closer none the less. I have been giving Danny a hard time. He's 26 or so, owns his own successful business, still has hair and can carry on a great conversation. He is gentle and kind, brings food and drinks to his crew. He must be really good to them because they don't bicker or swear while they are working, so what's up? Why no amazing woman in his life? Perhaps a future pic on the blog and that can be remedied.

While you were out...Sept 8th, 2008

We took a few days off, went to the lake and let the insulation arrive via "broken drum insulation". My mind begs the question...broken drum means what for this company's owner? Anyway, the insulation is in and we are ready for the drywall to begin on Monday September 15. This monumental Monday also ends these years of fun teenagers in the Plum family. The youngest, largest plum turns 20 years old and heads back to college. Insulation in...teenage years out!

Takin' a break

Now we are doing the fun stuff. While papa and uncle ryan start on the trim and mommy was cleaning before the insulation goes in...Grandma and Micah find a few scraps of wood to stick through the corner of the fence and the dirty towels from the girl's caulking work and we have a fort! Sitting, holding a stick or eating lunch, everything's more fun in a home made fort!

Babes on the job site!

September 1st, 2008- Labor Day! That's right, us girls have found our construction niche! Filling every nook and cranny with gooey rubbery white stuff and we get to shoot it from a gun. Kristen and I clearly have different styles. She is smiling and neat, I sit in the dirt and have caulk dripped on both legs and on the ground. I know we were shown how to use the putty knife to clear out the extra and fill the cracks, but I found my finger worked better. The extra time scrubbing in the shower was worth it and this house is now rain & wind proof. Assuming the sprinklers pass inspection tomorrow we are ready for insulation.

August 30, 2008...How on earth do the professionals fit siding around this kind of plumbing. If I were a plumber I think I would have lined them all up together to make it easier for the siding guy! All that floor time with Micah putting together wooden puzzles came in handy. Poster board templates, a practice board or two and plenty of caulking and TA DA! My favorite part is conquering a difficult challenge.