Exterior

Today I built the much-needed scaffolding, which will really help me (safely) get up under the eaves to finish up the rafter tails.  I was able to build the entire deck from the pallet that our clawfoot tub shipped in, thereby justifying it taking up space in the garage for the last 5 years.  Combined with low lumber prices, I was able to build the entire thing for about $18!

I used bolts to attach the deck and angled support, so that I can break it down as necessary to move it around the different sides of the house.  This was so much cheaper than renting scaffolding the rest of the summer.  I think the pictures don’t give a sense of the scale, as it’s 10′ wide and a full 8′ tall.  The last picture is the scaffolding that my dad and I built 9 years ago when he helped us paint our old house.  I simply made it a little bigger to reach this house’s eaves.

View from inside the house

Beautiful, beautiful scaffolding

As seen from the porch

The inspiration

So much for the uniqueness of our house  Today I noticed that a house a mere two blocks away and that I’ve passed by thousands of times is basically the same as ours.  Like the other twin, it sits on a flat lot, so it doesn’t give the same “street feel” as ours, meaning it didn’t jump out at us as a copy.  It is very interesting to see how each house has the same basic plan but varies widely in the details.  Both of the twins have single-gabled dormers on the side, while ours has the unusual double-gable.  Since both twins have multi-paned windows, it makes us wonder if ours did, too.  I suspect not, since our remaining original windows in our house were not, but many of our windows were stripped out in the 60′s and replaced with non-opening glass.  8/2009: we found another look-alike.

Front view of twin #2

The windows are very different than ours

All in all, I’m really happy with where we ended up this week, considering only six days were spent painting…virtually all solo.  Unfortunately, I have to go back to work tomorrow, which will slow things tremendously.  Other than a handful of areas that need additional repairs, all of the ground floor body has been painted!

Front, with the foundation painted

Porch ceiling

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (and Ginger)

Body color all done on west side

I decided today that it would be wise to rent some scaffolding as I get more into the details of this paint job.  I had Stephanie snap a few photos to demonstrate the nightmare of our west side lot line.  Not only there only about 10 feet between houses, there is a substantial elevation difference that makes ladder placement difficult.  And I haven’t even said anything about the vegetation, either.

Painting the eaves

Getting that last bit of siding

The sprayer came out today for the foundation and the porch ceiling.  The foundation needed to be sprayed, since most of it is an incredibly rough texture that couldn’t possibly be brushed or rolled, and the porch ceiling would have been too much of a PITA to brush, not to mention dangerous without scaffolding.  So I thought this was a good time to break out the new-in-box sprayer that we had bought off ebay 7 years ago when we were all jazzed up about some painting projects that we ended up doing by hand anyway.  It’s been dragged along to three different houses in the hopes that we might one day actually use it.

So today was the day, and we were happy to find that it worked.  But then I remembered what a pain it is to mask for spraying.  It takes hours and hours and makes the spraying kind of anticlimatic.  I’ve really been enjoying the straightforward simplicity of brushing…no masking tape, no paper, no plastic…just pick up a brush and start painting!

In addition to the foundation and porch ceiling, Stephanie was able to paint most of the back of the ground floor today.  I forgot to grab a picture before the sun set, so I’ll add it later.

Porch

Freshly painted foundation. Look for the bonus Ginger image.

I cannot believe how far the paint goes when you’re brushing.  We have used only 2 1/2 gallons to finish nearly 3 sides of our house.  Tomorrow I am going to spray the funky textured foundation, so that will probably eat through a lot more paint.  The brushing seems very inefficient (compared to spraying,) but there is something so nice about not having to mask everything off.  And  it’s also nice to be able to pick and choose sections according to the movement of the sun.  The last time we painted a house, we sprayed twice in one day, and we ended up with some bubbles on the west side of the house.  I believe it’s because we did an afternoon spray in late summer.  Lessons learned.

West side

Yard side

No, sorry, there were no exciting ladder incidents today, but I couldn’t think of another catchy title with the word brush.  Instead, you get more pictures of paint.  Working with a brush is definitely slow, but I’ve actually been enjoying it in a way.  In some ways it feels therapeutic, although too much of it might drive one insane…

The view from our neighbor's back yard

Yard side, including Chloes mural on the plywood

Our house, from our neighbor's deck

The difference between the new color and the baby blue is amazing.  I actually want to give a  major plug for the paint we are using, Benjamin Moore Aura.  I have never seen a paint that covers so well, especially for such a dark color.  Also, it’s almost impossible to get it to drip.  Simply amazing.

First body coat in front

I have always loved Greene and Greene’s Gamble House. There’s something so stately about its tobacco & rust colored palette! I’d love to create a similar vibe here at the bungalow. Of course, the Gamble House is stained and we’ll be forced to paint, but I would love for our house to have that sort of “presence.” I think that’s why I’m leaning so strongly towards using a dark body color.

The colors I’m most drawn to are Caponata and Wenge – both from Benjamin Moore’s Aura line. Wenge is definitely more bungalowy (or should I say “bungalowcious?”) but there’s something about Caponata that makes me all swoony.

I toyed with using rust as a trim color, but I think it’s a bit much for a house of this size.  I seem to prefer it as an accent color.  I haven’t made any firm decisions yet, but I am having fun playing with Photoshop. See for yourself:

Wenge Body (not sure about the rafter tails yet)

Caponata Body (again unsure about the rafter tails)