Home work

We began tackling a big, overdue, yet satisfying project today when we started to repaint the outside of our house. We bought a couple of gallons of paint (for starters), some spackle, and are officially underway. I picked up paint chips a week or so ago, and ended up going with the same color we now have which I believe will be a good choice both for coverage and speed. We are painting pros, and once we get in a groove I know we'll make some headway.

A lot of time today was taken up taking care of details. We have to fix some nail pops on the 80-plus-year-old cedar siding, and discovered we didn't have the right size or kind of nails. I couldn't find our paint stirring sticks, we tried and failed to pull up a couple of deck boards so I could paint up close to the siding (I ended up taping off), and more stupid stuff like that. It always starts slow and then we figure out how to make it work. I'm trying to use up the last of our old paint before I open the new stuff which I believe contains diamond dust given the price per gallon. We wanted the same paint because it has held up so well, and also because it is the only paint in the line that comes in the finish we prefer: eggshell.

We first painted this house about 18 years ago. I say "about" because R burned off all of the old paint with a heat gun and then sanded it down to the wood before we primed and painted, a massive project that took 5 or 6 years. The paint held up well and isn't peeling or chipping but it is definitely aged and a little faded on the west side. Some of our window trim has not aged well, however, so we hired a carpenter to repair rot and replace a couple of windows. This makes it the perfect time to paint the siding again, and then we'll paint the trim when the repairs are done. I hope we can finish everything this year. I also hope I am not delusional.

The weather was iffy today so we didn't want to put too much fresh paint on a Cape Cod house with few eaves. I hosed off most of the house (that I could reach) to clean the surface. Later on, I painted the back of the house under the small overhang from the upstairs balcony because it can stay dry in a good rain. R worked on spackling and pulling bad nails. It was a small space to start with, but you've got to start somewhere. We can make more progress tomorrow now that a larger area is ready to go.

I have to remind myself that the plan is not to finish this weekend. The plan is to start the project that will take us a while. The challenge is not to get stressed about that, but I have so many unfinished things in my life right now, that may be a little hard.

I should get some rest now. M&M's are on the way.