The name of the game has been veneer board and re-trimming the first floor. We now have solid walls on the first floor and some original casings and baseboards stripped of paint and put back where they belong.
To remove the torture of the years, layers and layers of paint, and horrid abuse by folks who did not care, we are again relying on our planer. Yes it dulls knife blades something terrible but it is so much safer for the environment and us that it is worth it. To strip with chemical would produce gallons of toxic waste the would end up in a land fill. and we would still have to sand off the final faux paint layer as the chemical does not seem to cut it. Three or four passes through the planer removes ninety five to one hundred percent of the paint.
They will still need sanding and filling, so much abuse over the years, but as they go back in they are looking great.
We used the same treatment for the window casings in both bay windows, as those particular casings needed to be put in prior to the drywall...
The Living room with solid walls. Note the original window casings in the bay window, striped of paint and reinstalled. |
In removing the paint I made an interesting discovery. Holes... nail holes, screw holes, staple holes, thumb tack holes, hole after hole after hole...
So many holes. And what are they from you may ask? Window coverings! Years and years and years of window coverings.
OMG someone might look in and see my boobs!
So get those windows covered. Maybe its a Healdsburg thing, cause if you start looking around at the houses here everyone has their blinds down or their curtains draw. Windows covered with no hope of daylight getting in. Maybe this whole town runs around nekid inside their homes all day and night and they are afraid someone will look in and see their boobs. I don't know, it's a mystery that I just don't get. Come on Healdsburg... open em up, let the sunshine in! Let your boobs out into the daylight.
Of course we have no window coverings which may explain why cars slow down at night as they pass by. But go ahead and look, and if we see ya we will flash our boobs at you!
Room by room we are sealing up the walls. When a house like this is completely bare of plaster with only its studs showing, it seems so big. Now our rooms are closing in on us, getting tiny. The Living room (pictured above) is twenty four feet by fourteen feet. That seemed enormous when open and bare, but now it feels so closed in, how will we ever live in such a small environment? how will we get by?
The following pictures are some of the rooms on the first floor that now have solid walls.
The breakfast room. |
The Library bay window, still some drywall left to do above it. Note the original baseboards, minus paint. |
The opening from the Library into the study. Phillip has actually moved his office into it. |
Study doors closed. Yes the pocket doors now work. I begged to be shot while installing them, but they are in. |
The Study door leading to the center hall. |
The center hall from the back. |
The center hall from the front. |
So drive on by sometime and give us a wave. Granted you won't see much boob in this house but we will definitely wave back.
And finally today I want to give a shout out to my new followers.... "Hey new followers" Yeah, thank you for joining us on this crazy journey. Give us a comment sometime and don't forget to show your boobs!
PS... In case anyone wonders... the wall board, drywall, veneer board, or what ever you want to call it is actually called Kal-Kore or blue board. It is naturally a grey blue color, and is meant to have plaster applied to its surface. It is grey blue in color to distinguish it from regular drywall.