Watching Paint Dry

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I would not paint over the wood if it is old growth Doug Fir and it still has its original finish or remained unpainted. I had to strip every piece of woodwork in my house because the previous jackasses painted all of it white.

I bought a 110 year old house on an island it was a right wreck when i bought it but i love the old architecture.There are so many old houses like this around here that have just been abandoned and left to fall down,or people are trying to give them away for less than half the price of a new car,but nobody wants them.i`ve spent the last 11 years putting it back together a little at a time. The "new" part of the house ( an addition someone added back in the 60`s or 70`s has been nothing but problems) but the old part is solid as a rock.
I just don`t understand why people want these newer cookie cutter econo boxes that developers slap up, older houses have a lot of character, are one of a kind and built a lot better.
The house is older than anyone who is alive today, i love the slightly crooked doorways and sloping floors. as i tell my wife (you can`t buy this at walmart), my point being that these 110+ year old floor boards are irreplacable at any price. I don`t think anybody sells 110+ year old hardwood tongue and groove boards so why would i want to rip them out and replace them with some cookie cutter home depot crap?
For the last 18 months i`ve been battling termites in the "new" part of the house having to replace walls and floors as the termites eat them and putting out termite traps and spraying, but there`s no sign of termites in the old part, i guess termites don`t like 110+ year old wood maybe it`s too petrified for them to eat.well, i`ve rambled on long enough.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs
I wouldn`t paint it, if you want a painted wall you might as well just rip the wood panelling out and replace it with sheetrock and paint the sheetrock,but then you`ll just have a painted sheetrock wall like 300 million other americans.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

Beautiful color! And appears to be a great job of painting. Down the road you might decide to do that back wall in a slightly darker shade, to create a perception of a wider room.

I feel you joy! We've rehabbed our house over the last 22 years, and our last paintcarnation was southwestern colors, with one bold wall of rust, and the rest sand, and pueblo blue, with a ceiling much the same shade as your lovely abode. It feels really wonderful when everything comes together and you've done it all with your own hands.

Good onya!

a reply to: Tardacus

I wouldn`t paint it, if you want a painted wall you might as well just rip the wood panelling out and replace it with sheetrock and paint the sheetrock,but then you`ll just have a painted sheetrock wall like 300 million other americans.

Yeah!
Right?

When I bought the place it had that same pine paneling all over that room - and that room was divided up into a super-truncated landing area, a closet and half-bath, wall to wall cupboardage....and there was hardly any light coming in.

The other day when we had the window and door installed, I flagged down the neighbor lady (whose dad was the original owner and had hired all the people who built this place) ..... she was delighted to know that it was now once again a sunroom.....

a reply to: Tardacus

petrified is right!!

The "bones" of my house are like concrete....power drill?? okay, go ahead and try.....erm....nope! No drill or hammer or nail is going in that 4x4.
So much nope.....

and so many people just do not get this....they don't. They're baffled by how long it can take to deal with a sturdily-built home.

a reply to: argentus

About painting that back wall ---
I bought 5 'sample' paint things at Lowes the other day......99 cents each
(normally 3.49! )
and painted a bit of each of them all around ----
some were just too dark, too 'purple', too 'lavender"....... whatever. They each had something to offer, but I had to make a choice. Now I am thinking of using them to finish that last 'kmotty-pine' wall (east-facing window), or maybe do the window trim or baseboards or all that other stuff....

they each (those samples when applied) threw off a different hue and 'temperature' (cool blue, warm blue, purplish, yellowish, greenish, etc.....)
and during the day (watching paint dry) I could see how well or poorly they blended with my vision.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

haha this was last week on family guy 16secs. Looks like a nice place where you're at, getting high yet ?

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I would paint it, especially if the paneling is old-looking (and not in a "cool" way). But I'd paint it a complementary color. The complimentary color to baby blue is orangy... You could go more brownish, like the color of the wood.



Or you could texture it and 'sponge paint' it... (that's my husband's office wall).

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Hey, thanks for doing that! That corner will be my office/sewing/writing area....so I left it alone just to give the impression of a 'divided space. Where the protrusion is there's a large closet with several shelves...will put craft materials/fabrics/art supplies and so forth in there..

Yeah, it's that 50s stuff that everybody had - varnished to be dark. But at least it's real, and not that chintzy crapola wallboard that just "looks like" paneling.

What I removed when I first bought the place I used to make floor to ceiling bookshelves. Now I have another pile of the boards stored in the basement - was actually considering using them for wide-plank flooring. They are tongue and groove, and were assembled without glue or anything, so they come out very clean. Also a good inch thick.

Silvio (my good friend and contractor) came over to see it and his mouth dropped open - he said "This is beautiful - but you gotta paint that wall back there, too." (He always thinks my ideas are crazy, but they always turn out great.) The main diff between Silvio's style and methods and mine are that he likes to go out and buy all new stuff. I prefer reclaiming, repurposing, and using what I have on hand rather than spending more on more stuff.

The whole objective is to use the stuff I already have accumulated, not to go buy more (and he always tends to buy too much so there's even more extra stuff accumulating)! We make a good team. He's very clever and truly enjoys getting creative with solutions - and this house is very challenging. I love the uniqueness of it, and being able to put my own signature on it.

So ---- this time it's oil-based polyurethane over a "brown-paper [bag]" floor.

I did this on top of concrete that still had some of the black mastic, and lots of the vinyl-tile glue on it also. I worked at scraping, cleaning, dissolving, etc....and finally said "screw this. I'm doing it anyway." And, it turned out awesome!

Today I finally got the whole floor with at least two layers of poly. I'm only sorta marginally following the destructions.....



It's fantastic. Watching the light bounce around.....coming in through the windows on East, South, West sides......

floor that shines like glass -------

On my trip we went into this fantastic shop in Breckenridge where there are absolutely HUGE geodes and minerals like amethyst (larger than me, split in two), and other things. There was an onyx box lamp, and I took this of it:



I'm thinking of having it printed and framed for art on the wall. This is the one room that we can hang stuff on the walls - all the other walls are plaster and it's a big fat pain to hang things from rock.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I was hoping you'd post a picture.

That turned out really cool.



Is the staircase stone?

a reply to: TNMockingbird

No, it was all poured concrete. I haven't decided what to do about the stairs yet. But at Lowes the other day, I did get two packages (28 sq ft) of cedar tongue-and-groove planking (for $1.60 total! - on the "clearance" shelf. Originally $16.00 per 14 square feet. Marked down 95%!) that I'm going to used on either the stairs and the landing (the raised part in the second picture), and I have pine panels like the ones on the far wall (the stained brown kind) that we took down, and I think I'm going to use those to encase the steps and also when I build the bar.

I'm also going to build a swing daybed to hang from the celiing facing the windows. Between the windows will be a big flat tv. Some day. takes forever, this caterpillar method of home remodeling --- LOL!!

It's fun, though. If weather prohibits one thing, there's always something else to work on around here.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs
When you get bored with watching the paint dry, you might give watching grass grow a try. It's just as much fun.

a reply to: Skid Mark

Not really, but --- watching Daffodil buds open on a warm spring day - because they manage it in a few hours ----- or, like watching a cicada or butterfly or moth emerge from its chrysalis or cocoon or hole in the ground....

yes. Those are worth watching too. Since as long as ever - my username "Buzzy" is from how my parents used to call me that when I'd bend over at the waist to look at bugs. For me, taking time to look and watch nature is like watching a master artist doing his painting.....it takes time, and thought, and effort.

Sorry if you don't have time to do that and enjoy the process. It's a precious privilege to be able to do it. Precious to me, at least. Not easy, and not cheap, and not get-done-quick or any of that. No. It starts with a plan, and then step by step the plan is carried out. And more planning comes along the entire time....and other things distract us from the basic trajectory of the plan.

But, if you don't get that, well ---- it's kinda like trying to describe parenthood to a childless person, or color to the blind.

a reply to: Skid Mark

Oh, and also, watching the yard and trees from season to season, and seeing what they do on their own as long as possible, you learn a lot about the ecosystem in which you live.

You might trim the trees and then have the "sun shock" of all of the survivors who are adapted to being below-canopy trees, grass, shrubs and perennials. You might have a black walnut tree that is by its nature and chemistry toxic to certain fruit, vegetable, grass and ground cover species.

etc.
and so forth.

Like watching your baby grow. But see, if you don't know that feeling, you can't understand what I mean. It's okay.

*shrug*