Exterior Paint ~ Almost Finished

 After a month and a half up in Washington, my Dad finally returns tomorrow to help pack up the ranch in Waterford, California and begin the official moving process up north.

  This one here is of one the side entrances to the house.  The decided to go for a black door (which I quite like).  The original plans were do to do a dark forest green, but after some tests on the window frames, everyone pretty much agree the black popped and looked far more handsome.

See picture before where you can see the forest green to the left, and the black window frame to the right.  The black is much better!

Forest Green    vs    Black

Exterior Paint ~ Wow, it's really coming together!

  Received this picture yesterday from my Dad.  The paint job is really coming along nicely.  The lighter brown trim was actually a last minute change, as originally it was set to be a dark Cherry-wood color.

  It's interesting how everything is finally coming together, the yellow on the top shingles and the olive on the bottom.  I mentioned to my Dad the the brown unpainted shingles on the bottom portion of the house (where the basement begins) actually can remain the color they are, the seem to blend nicely with the brown trim.  A happy accident.

  Unfortunately there has been nothing but rain the past few days so the painters haven't been back in awhile.  Already though the neighbors stop and admire the house, they're so excited to finally see this old Victorian get the love it deserves.  As our neighbor Audree said, "It's good to see her with her knickers back on!  She's been naked for so many years!"

This is a a larger picture of the side part of the house (not street facing).

Finally a clear day for painting...

   Well currently my Dad is the only one up in Port Townsend working on the house.  He's spent majority of his time there working on getting all the baseboards up and other random things like chair-rails and moldings.

  It's been pretty rainy these past weeks, but finally some clear days have come and the painters have been busy!

Here is a picture of the main body in the Ochre (or "olive drab") with the light Yellow on top.

This shows one of the trim colors (the Vic is getting a four-color treatment), this is a light Cherry-wood brown, with another darker reddish brown (AKA Japanese Maple), and a lighter Cream (not pictured yet).

Painters Set to Priming

Molly pictured in front of the house filming after they'd almost finished priming.  Good thing too, that very night it began to rain!  The primer is oil based, so water doesn't absorb into the exposed wood.

Interestingly, the primer only carries a tint of the color choice we actually made, so now the house looks like a custard yellow (not the color we chose at all) and all the neighbors walk by looking ever-so worried.  

It's kind of funny.  Can't wait to see the real colors!

Exterior Paint ~ Phase 1 "Sanding"

    My daughter Mary and I spend our first night in the new house on air mattresses upstairs. Mary took the small bedroom that faces Adams street and the southwest. I squat in the master bedroom with my queen size blow-up bed. We sleep late, not unusual for Mary bed rare for me.

    Mary began with cleaning and taping the parlor and I visit our new neighbor Pops. Pops is a real character, he lives across Adams street in a beautiful house built in 1889.  He knows everybody in PT (no exaggeration), he's always waving at cars going by, and has people stopping by for a chat on his porch.  He's a great wealth of local info, which is fortunate for us.  Pops gives me a referral for a local house painter. I make the call and by the next day Dave, proprietor of Paint Paramedics shows up and inspects the house for an estimate. Dave ends up giving me the name of a gentleman named Andy of Northwest Hardwood Floors, who refinishes hardwood floors. Soon I have both Dave and Andy lined up to start the process of bringing this old Victorian house back to its grander days.

Here the paint prep begins with disk sanders whirling away. "Watch out for lead!"