I'll be absent from the internet for a bit, the other half of my department has been out of the office for a couple of weeks and will be for a few more, on maternity leave, so I've been putting in extra hours.
Smiling into this little guy's face makes all the overtime worth it, though.
Sigh...the reason I stained them to begin with is so I wouldn't have to paint mullions. Now I'm painting millions. They do look much better, though.
I'm trying to keep paint off the face of the millions on the interior side of the doors, we'll see if I'm successful when I'm done and remove the tape.
Making progress on the exterior, I have some trim and the roof to do yet...
I stained the doors and windows Coastal White, and painted the trim around them white. I wanted to see the wood tone come through under the stain, and it does, but in place on the house it just looks like I did a bad paint job on them. I am going to leave it alone for a while, it may grow on me.
I got the front of the house painted gray, textured paper glued to the gable end, and the porch glued in place before Husband and I went over to Daughter's house yesterday morning.
The top rail of the left front piece didn't meet the upright, so I drilled a couple of holes this morning to glue in some toothpicks to support it.
I'll give it a few days to dry, then sand down and paint the ends so they won't be noticeable.
I was going to get the side walls done when we got home from Kate's, but I was exhausted. She hadn't cut her lawn yet this year because she didn't have a mower. She bought a reel mower last week, finally, but the grass was too tall at that point to use it. Husband and I loaded up his grandpa's Lawn Boy and the weedwacker in the back of the Jeep, and rode off to the rescue. That kid has a big yard! But, we got to play with the kittens when we were done.
I have the day off work today, my goal is to get the window trim painted and the rest of the exterior walls done.
I got the porch assemblies glued back together, then stained and sanded the windows and doors. I see I need a second coat of stain in some spots.
I finalized my plan for the exterior finish, painted the porch floor, then used a package of exacto knife blades cutting strips of matboard so I wouldn't have to spend money on strips of wood.
Then I went through my stash of paint, ruling out the dozen bottles of gray I already have as not quite right, so I walked over to JoAnne's for new paint. I bought two options, I'll have to paint out sample cards to see which I like better.
Susan's gratuitous cat picture, from Kate...
I've been too busy to get into my studio the last couple of weeks. I've been putting in extra hours at the office during the week, and going to estate sales with Kate and to baby showers and whatnot on the weekend. I"ll share pictures of other miscellaneous goings on instead.
I bonked my head giving my Volvo its spring cleaning. I leaned down to turn on the shop vac, then turned and stood up (hard!) right into the corner of my car door. I'm okay Mom, it only hurts if I touch it.
Right after...
A couple of days later...there is a slight bruise, but the sunshine is hiding it
Now the goose egg is gone and the bruise that developed is fading. It doesn't really look quite so yellow in person, that's the flash.
I've been hiding it under my new shark hat....
Gratuitous picture of Ester....
Audra sent me her cast offs....cast offs!....crazy lady....
Gratuitous pictures of the four kittens at Kate's house...
Oh! And another interview, so to speak, it was done via email....the Tropical Beach House and I are going to be featured in the August issue of American Miniaturist.