"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

One Thing Leads To Another

"Whatcha gonna do today?"  SM asked me Tuesday morning over his coffee.

I was surfing your blogs at the time. 

Stalling. 

Because the simple fact of the matter was that I had an incomplete mess in the living room and I should try and finish what I'd started. 

Trouble was that it was going to be a nice 70 degree sunshiny day.  And the garden was calling my name. 

But really.  What was I going to do in the garden?  Toss more compost?  Weed?  My back is much better but just tight enough that the thought of attacking the garden solo was enough to make me reconsider. 

SM was going to be gone all day.  And I really wanted him to help with all the garden work.

But getting back to his original question...

"Well, I need to put all the cover plates back on the switches.  And since the furniture is pulled away from the walls, I really should stain all the woodwork."

In the South, most homes have white trim.  I'm not really sure why this is.  When SM and I toured this house the natural trim work was one of the things we liked best about it.  Crown molding, chair rails and extra wide baseboard throughout.  Which looks nice indeed but the wood dries out and fades over time, so I try to stain the trim and kitchen cabinets periodically. 

Which makes for a big job.

It had probably been at least two years since I'd stained the woodwork in the living room.  And since stain is super stinky, and today was going to be a nice warm day, I could at least open all the windows to keep from asphyxiating myself.

So I stained the living room.  Right about the time I was finishing up SM stopped by for lunch.

"Looks nice.  What's next?"

"Curtains in the kitchen.  I need your drill."  I'd bought these cute valences at Lowes a few weeks ago and they'd been sitting on the table along with the curtain rods.  All the time we'd been here I'd only had the mini blinds in the windows. 




SM drilled in the mountings while I put the curtains on the rods.  Much better.  They really help tie the room together don't cha think?




"The cabinets and the window trim in here really need to be stained too."  SM pointed out.  The bay window gets the brunt of the Summer sun and the woodwork really fades

But it was full sun now and I was afraid the heat would mess with the stain application. 

"Maybe I should wait to do that in the morning.  What should we do about the back door though?  It needs repainted too.  Stay with the same color?"  I asked SM.

"What choices do we have?"

"I have the rust color it is now.  That matches the wood trim best.  I also have the cabinet paint from the bathroom."

One was a greenish black satin.  The other was the chocolate brown that we tried in the master bath.  And hated.

"Well, we know what we've got.  How about something different?"  SM asks.

So like the wall from the other day, I went ahead and painted each color on.




By this time SM had left again and I was leaning towards the original rust color.  That brown is horrible and the green is just too dark for the room.

But since the paint was wet and the house was stinky and SM wasn't here for an opinion...Well, I took the stain into the kitchen and attacked the cabinets under the sink.  




I was quite surprised how the stain deepened and enriched the color of the oak. 

Look how much it had faded!

Then I checked the paint on the door to see if it was dry.  I was going to go ahead and start to re-paint it but I glanced up at the clock.

5:30  Quitten Time!

Time for a hot shower and a glass of wine.

Later when SM came home he thanked me for all the hard work I've been putting in so far.  He was also amazed how much better the cabinets I'd stained looked.

"So I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow and maybe even the next day."  I sighed.  "Well, it's gotta be done and frankly it's way overdue.  Trouble is the garden needs worked too."  

I paused, thinking.

"Look, if I keep on working on the house stuff for the next few days, could I maybe get you to take a day off from work and help me kick it out the garden?" I asked. 

"They're forecasting a chance of rain starting this weekend. And you know that rain and stain don't mix.  I think you and I together could get everything done in a day if were working on it together." 

"I can do that."  SM agreed.

And so the pattern of the next few days has been formed. 

We'll see if it actually turns out that way.

8 comments:

  1. Looks very good - good job :)

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  2. Man, you will probably be happy to get back to work so you can rest!
    Love the kitchen nook!

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  3. I know a house in Indiana that needs a lot of work. Since you're so good at it and all....if you're ever out this way.... :)

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  4. Okay, now you're making me feel really, really lazy . . . we got up the last of the trim in the living room (and doorway from kitchen to living room) late last fall so I put off getting the finish on it until this spring when I can open up the house (and not conk out from the fumes) and I've been secretly dreading the job. If you can do all you've done in a couple of days, I should be able to knock out my woodwork work in a short time. Just as soon as I can open up the house . . . which may not be for a while yet. So I'll continue to be lazy a bit more. And continue to read about all you're accomplishing.

    Love those valances!

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  5. Lovely kitchen! And it's nice to hear two 'old' married people (as in ANY married people) work so well together. You are a ball 'o fire! I would have listed all the things I would do, then as soon as my better half shut the door behind him, I would have had a cup of coffee and been back on the Internet. I have no discipline.

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  6. You are such a busy bee! I like the green color on the door. From the pictures, it looks like it ties in with your striped valance outside as well as the colors in your new window valances inside. But, green in any shade, happens to be my favorite color.

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  7. You restain every two years!?!?!? Gosh, nobody told me about having to do that. Looks great though Tami.

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