A Painting Blitz

This is my “Oh shit it’s fall” post, part 2.

The wood: I had kinda put it on hold because the Abatron Liquid Wood epoxy consolidant I used looked so thick and shiny on the surface. And because the brick needed months of attention.

Anyways, I did a few rounds of the epoxy consolidant and filler on the cornice, which I never finished before. Also note the residual aluminum siding at the top.

There was a bit of dry rot at either end of the crown molding, so to handle this I drilled a bunch of holes and squirted the consolidant in with a condiment squeeze bottle. IMPORTANT: IF YOU’RE GOING TO USE ABATRON LIQUID WOOD THIN IT WITH ACETONE OR ABOSLOV (But abosolv is basically marked-up acetone so just use acetone.)

And the window sills needed to be stripped, sanded, consolidated, sanded, patched, and caulked.

And there were lots of bits and pieces that I started and abandoned at various times this year. Since we’re putting up a salvaged door, I needed hardware from the hoard. I have white porcelain knobs and cast iron escutcheons to spare, so that’s what I’m using even though I have a hunch that the front door would have had something a little fancier. Into a pot of baking soda and water they went. Along with a bunch of other things like these hinges on the bathrom door.

The bottom one is still broken but these are actually original to the street (I picked them out of the trash) so I’m keeping them. And look how great they look after the paint-goop fell off!

As for the front door hardware, it may be plain but the escutcheon has a cool shape.

Then there’s the railing. It probably dates from the 1960’s and I don’t super love it, but I don’t hate it either and I don’t think going back to the original no-railing setup would fly. But all the brick restoration this year took a toll on the poop brown paint. My dad outdid me, determined ALL THE PAINT at least from the handrail. Note that it was originally black weirdly accented with some kind of bulletproof metallic silver.

My mom took over and painted it satin black. Then she did some post-Halloween pumpkin painting. There was already paint on the pumpkin because I used it to weigh down a dropcloth. And the foot that’s up on a pillow? She just had a bunionectomy. What a champ.

South Philly people are known for having weird (read: bad) taste. I’ve eliminated a lot of this, but plan to keep the ranchero style house numbers with a shiny stainless steel back plate. When I took it apart I broke the 4. My mom got excited, but I epoxied it back together and had her paint it black after she did the railing. She’s still begging me to part with the back plate.

And, back to the big event. Just having everything primed was super exciting, even though long ago I decided that white trim is not right for this house. Neither is flat paint.

So this weekend it was all hands on deck. My hero parents came down and we banged. It. Out. Except I did the cornice so the others didn’t have to be on the ladder. I’m so glad I mustered up the courage to go dark and glossy!

My dad did the sash. The paint wasn’t hiding nearly as well on these so he had to do 2 coats and touchups. He said, “We’re running out of daylight. I’m not sure if we can finish the last one.” I jumped in to help. And to talk him into finishing so I could put all this shit away for good.

And we did it! I look at the house now in disbelief. Is this real? Do I live here? It looks like the digitally colored image of someone else’s house and not real life.

Are you ready to see? Scroll down.

So I went on a few tangents here and then blew through the bulk of what I did kinda fast. If you want any more information you think I skipped over, let me know and I’d be happy to do a follow up post. Hopefully I have the right progress photos.

Oh and one more thing: a completely partisan reminder to vote tomorrow. Against racism, plutocracy, and gratuitous unmitigated cruelty.