Either Way Its Bad

I’ve come to the conclusion that working with paint is no fun, regardless of whether you are stripping it off, or brushing it on. They are both laborious, tedious, and time consuming tasks that make any project seem to come to a grinding halt.

They also happen to both be, not only necessary jobs, but jobs that can make a dramatic impact on the project. Stripping off layers of drippy paint can make almost any piece of wood look great again, and nothing makes a whole room look better than a fresh coat of paint. It is an odd paradox that painting is both improving room, while at the same time adding to its slow degradation.

That new coat of paint may only be a tiny fraction of an inch thick, but it reduces some of the profile just a hair. Over time, with many more successive coats, the excessive build-up of paint make a room look old and dingy. There will come a point when the benefits of a fresh coat of paint will be marginal at best, and may even do more harm than good in the long run. It will become something like painting over an old dented and rusted car with a can of spray paint. It may look OK from across the parking lot, but when you get up close it is easy to see someone wasted their time and money on quick-fix, spray paint job.

It’s a never ending cycle and I spent several hours both today, yesterday, and the day before renewing that cycle. I always apply one coat of primer and two top coats, and apply one coat per day for three days. In that time, there is little else that can be done in the room. And even if there were, painting takes so long, there isn’t really much time left to do anything else.

The best part is its done. I got all of the trim installed in the mudroom and painted, with the exception of the last two pieces that will go in after the marble counter is installed on the corner cabinet. If the Universe is willing, that will happen tomorrow, and pictures will follow.

Millwork

I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but it looks like I’ll be heading back to the mill. A year and a half ago I went to one of the local mills and had a bunch of custom casing milled to replace the stuff that was cut-down back in the 1920s. When they cut the place up in to apartments they took some of the more grand entry ways on the first floor and reduced them to small openings more appropriate to a small apartment.



I opened up the entryways back to their more grandiose size and needed the casing to match. So I took a small sample of the 1895 casing down to the mill and they cut a custom knife for a milling machine that can reproduce the profile exactly. The original 1895 casing that was cut down, while being too small for those openings, was perfect to use in other areas of the house. I had a whole stack of it up in the attic that I planned to use for the bathroom and kitchen.

Well, I used it in the bathroom and kitchen, but there is not enough left for the mudroom. There are 2 doors and a window, and I only have enough for one door and the window. So it’s back to the mill. I’m also going to have enough made so I can do the door to the laundry room. When I went to the mill a year and a half ago that door did not exist, so really I’m shorter than I thought (Short than I thought? Does that make sense?)

The stuff left in the attic is really bottom of the barrel stuff. While technically enough to do one whole door and the window, it’s really in bad shape. There is only one piece that is not cracked or missing notches here and there. I think I’ll just get enough made to finish up all of the doors and use that stuff for the window. If you count one door as having two sides, and each side needs two side casings and a header, I need 12 side casings and 6 headers. That comes to 88 feet of casing.

They cut the knife last time, so I won’t be paying for that again. Depending on how much I order, they may or may not charge me a set-up fee. If they do, that would be $75. I also need 6 plinth blocks, and those are $15 each if I get redwood. Poplar would be cheaper. If I need to pay the set-up fee, and they charge me $2 a foot for the lumber (A guess), that comes to $365.72 with tax. Ouch! This was not an expense I had anticipated for the mudroom.

Oh well, all in a days work.