23 November, 2010

Fixing up the Booksncoffeehaus Cottage

What we did on our Thanksgiving vacation week ~ (and now that we have strings of colder and windier days, we are so thankful that it is 95% complete).

It began the Wednesday before break. The trees in the yard had not even really started to change colors at this point.

Part one of fall painting project: I sanded, primed and repainted all the front porch railings. This began ten days before Thanksgiving. We already had everything we needed for this step.





Sparsebeard repainting porch soffits


and priming and painting bad spots on the gables. In this shot, you can see that we got to the sanding, priming and repainting of the green trim atop the porch. It looks so good.

Moss on The Cottage




Post sanding and priming stage









Looking better already, with both of us getting the siding primed up ~


and painted (the only color that we had to buy. We still had plenty of green and peach from several years back, the last time we painted).

Bottom piece of siding is rotten and needs replacing, so...


Nailing in new siding pieces. We ended up needing to replace the bottom two (b/c of large nail holes)




New siding pieces primed up, and then primed.


Now, back to the front porch. I needed to sand the flaking, front-porch swing. We replaced the seat a couple of years ago with mahogany slats (hand-cut by hubby), but never painted them. So, this project needed to be done for several reasons.





Back slats all nicely sanded and ready for primer





Working on the back, west-facing gable




repainting front porch soffits. By this time, almost ten days later, those trees were finally changing those gorgeous colors of Autumn.



Front porch railings all primed up, plus some lovely fall color, just for fun. It was a gorgeous, 80 degree day, that week of Thanksgiving.



North wall, door, windows completed, repainted...even the green trim below repaired gutters!





It feels great to have this done, and the house ready for winter. We even re-sealed some areas around the windows before priming/painting the trim to ensure a better finish. Next Spring/Summer: New roof!!

Now, on to Christmas projects. This time: Indoor craft projects and tasks.


Javamom


3 comments:

tootlepip said...

It looks adorable!

tootlepip said...

Kim, I must have lost your email and couldn't find it on your blog page. Anyway, I have a son(14) who thinks he would like to learn to make guitars. I remember that your husband has done this and I was wondering if he had any advice on where we should start in pursuing this new adventure?
Pam

Javamom said...

Thanks, Pam!

I will ask Hubby about resources. I do know that their is what is known as 'the bible for guitar repairs' and will see if they are here at home or up at the school.