The eyes are the window to your face
I don't have any fancy photos to share at the moment. Or any crappy ones either. My phone is my primary camera, and the battery is toast. So, unless I'm jacked up on a charger, I can do no more than three minutes' worth of work before I am dead to the world. (and anyone with a smartphone knows how debilitating this can feel in the beginning. I'm used to it now, so I just deal.)
The weather in Eastern Washington has been excruciatingly hot lately.
"But at least it's a dry heat," My dad said, from south Florida.
"Yeah? So's my oven, and I don't like being in that for long either" .. Point, me, obviously.
Hot is hot. 100 is 100. I don't care if it's 100 in Florida, Mexico, Arizona, Africa or Washington state. At least our lake water is refreshing to our 100.
Anyway, it seemed that now was as good a time as any to begin restoring our bedroom windows. (NO. I DON'T WANT TO JUST REPLACE THEM - THANKS FOR THE INPUT, EVERYONE EVER.)
It's hot anyway, so who cares if there isn't a window there? (more on who will care later)
We decided that our bedroom would feature all the original woodwork -- unpainted! To achieve this, we could cover it up with Jasco and strip the paint layer by layer. OR do it quickly with a heat gun. This, friends is the easiest paint-removal tactic I've ever witnessed. (I've witnessed a lot in my timechained to living in this house) Seriously! It is like butter.
There are some risks, however. If you leave the gun pointed at one spot for too long, you burn the wood below. This takes a lot of work to sand out, leaving the surface uneven, at best. Additionally, if your house is over 35 years old, you run a very serious risk of having lead paint buried in the walls or woodwork. This risk is our reality, folks. It's not a big deal if you've painted over it, but if you intend to remove (or, in our case: melt) it, you MUST wear a respirator. Lead paint is no joke, friends.
At any rate, we're following all the appropriate protocol for disposal and such .. just make sure to take precaution when handling hazardous materials. Pretty windows aren't really worth cancer. (Well... no no no .. nevermind. They're not.)
Trust me. They are TRULY beautiful. I'm so proud of D. He's been working tirelessly to strip the wood, and sand the windows down. We opened up the pockets inside the wall to retrieve the sash weights for our double-hung windows ... and (cue the sad trombone) ... Disappointment city, population 2. They're long gone. So, that was added to the (ever-growing) list of supplies.
The project was interrupted by a long weekend, camping at Farragut State Park in North Idaho. Wait .. there's no window in the wall. Well, that's no problem! We'll just screw up some plywood. (gross)
So, that's what our poor neighbors got to look at while we were gone.
At least it kept our new baby safely inside the house.
She's cute stuff, and keeps our four-year-old, Lola, from having such separation anxiety. It keeps her occupied while we're gone, however, there are side effects: laryngitis. (from hissing at the baby on the regular)
Enough rambling ... to recap:
We're refinishing the window in our bedroom (pictured behind us, poorly), we got another cat ..
The plywood made the room intolerable. Our house is generally in the 70's during the summer, which is AMAZING .. but for some reason, the wood heated our house up and made it stuffy and unbearable. It's off now, thankfully. But there are moments when I wish there was more than just a screen separating us from the outside world at night. Like when there's a van parked at the end of our driveway .. with a man sleeping inside. For five days (and counting!)
I know you're jealous.
The weather in Eastern Washington has been excruciatingly hot lately.
"But at least it's a dry heat," My dad said, from south Florida.
"Yeah? So's my oven, and I don't like being in that for long either" .. Point, me, obviously.
Hot is hot. 100 is 100. I don't care if it's 100 in Florida, Mexico, Arizona, Africa or Washington state. At least our lake water is refreshing to our 100.
Anyway, it seemed that now was as good a time as any to begin restoring our bedroom windows. (NO. I DON'T WANT TO JUST REPLACE THEM - THANKS FOR THE INPUT, EVERYONE EVER.)
It's hot anyway, so who cares if there isn't a window there? (more on who will care later)
We decided that our bedroom would feature all the original woodwork -- unpainted! To achieve this, we could cover it up with Jasco and strip the paint layer by layer. OR do it quickly with a heat gun. This, friends is the easiest paint-removal tactic I've ever witnessed. (I've witnessed a lot in my time
There are some risks, however. If you leave the gun pointed at one spot for too long, you burn the wood below. This takes a lot of work to sand out, leaving the surface uneven, at best. Additionally, if your house is over 35 years old, you run a very serious risk of having lead paint buried in the walls or woodwork. This risk is our reality, folks. It's not a big deal if you've painted over it, but if you intend to remove (or, in our case: melt) it, you MUST wear a respirator. Lead paint is no joke, friends.
At any rate, we're following all the appropriate protocol for disposal and such .. just make sure to take precaution when handling hazardous materials. Pretty windows aren't really worth cancer. (Well... no no no .. nevermind. They're not.)
Trust me. They are TRULY beautiful. I'm so proud of D. He's been working tirelessly to strip the wood, and sand the windows down. We opened up the pockets inside the wall to retrieve the sash weights for our double-hung windows ... and (cue the sad trombone) ... Disappointment city, population 2. They're long gone. So, that was added to the (ever-growing) list of supplies.
The project was interrupted by a long weekend, camping at Farragut State Park in North Idaho. Wait .. there's no window in the wall. Well, that's no problem! We'll just screw up some plywood. (gross)
So, that's what our poor neighbors got to look at while we were gone.
At least it kept our new baby safely inside the house.
Meet Clementine K. LMP
She's cute stuff, and keeps our four-year-old, Lola, from having such separation anxiety. It keeps her occupied while we're gone, however, there are side effects: laryngitis. (from hissing at the baby on the regular)
Enough rambling ... to recap:
We're refinishing the window in our bedroom (pictured behind us, poorly), we got another cat ..
The plywood made the room intolerable. Our house is generally in the 70's during the summer, which is AMAZING .. but for some reason, the wood heated our house up and made it stuffy and unbearable. It's off now, thankfully. But there are moments when I wish there was more than just a screen separating us from the outside world at night. Like when there's a van parked at the end of our driveway .. with a man sleeping inside. For five days (and counting!)
I know you're jealous.
Comments
Post a Comment