Two Year Deadline, 2 Months Past, and a Fond Farewell!?
Hello! Long time no write! I’ve been meaning to write this forever, but alas, it was a victim of the dreaded butfirst: “I will write that post! But first, I need to…” and now months have gone by, and if it weren’t for my camera roll and this blog, I would have no idea what we did or didn’t do and when at this point! I just discovered something that I’m pretty excited I get to share that never made the blog yet: the front porch floor!
Why have just one boring grey floor when you can have two shades to snazz it up? This was a really fun project. I love, love, love painting projects that use my brain and my cutting skills! Originally, this was going to be square, but Kevin had the genius idea to save time with the penciling in the proper angles but making the line follow the boards themselves instead. It was a timesaver, and also I think it looks way cooler!
I have probably spent more time preparing and painting porch floors more than anything else in my life, so I got to apply all my lessons learned over the years: preparation is key, the cobra infrared speedheater tool is worth its weight in gold, exterior paints don’t work fabulously on floors, NEVER EVER EVER protect paint with poly (it will peel and turn yellow, also you can’t touch up the paint now) or spar urethane (it will make the surface slipperier than ice when wet and also you can’t ever touch up the paint), wireless headphones and audiobooks are your new best friend, and just buy the dang textured porch paint so you don’t have to worry about it ever getting slippery!
The swing is an extra added bonus. It came from dear family friends, and I was happy to revamp it with a quick sanding and deck staining before it got hung. Now it’s a REAL Victorian porch!
Besides most of the repointing, the main thing we got done on the outside was temporary parking lines painted in order to make a handicapped parking spot for the brewery (yes, the blacktop is a HOT MESS thanks to all the construction, doh!) We also extended the back door ramp to ADA guidelines. Big thank you to Jim for all your cement expertise on the ramp! You rule!
Outside, we didn’t get as far as we hoped with the repointing. We still have ONE more wall, and it happens to be the first wall you see when you come up the road. Heh. We didn’t get the hardware store doors installed either. Ah well. But we DID get a gutter installed on this back section, and now water doesn’t pour in the second floor door! Hooray for that!
Speaking of the brewery, this was one of the but firsts: I wanted to wait until they got all their official permits and stuff so I could announce to you that HAIRY GUYS BREWING IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! Hooray!! You can come visit here and try their delicious beers and get a good look at what a beautiful job they’ve done restoring and repurposing the first floor!
Congratulations to Tim and Tom, I’m super excited for them to finally live their dream! You can read more about their beers in this nice article and you can check their hours on their website.
We gave ourselves a 2 year deadline to finish this project, and that came and went on October 28th. It’s easy to get frustrated when I look around and see how much we still have to do. But then, when I look at old photos and see how much we HAVE accomplished, I’m proud of us and everyone else who’s helped tackle this massive project. Here are some before and afters of the outside!
I started to try to make a gallery of inside before and afters, but you wouldn’t believe how long it takes to make these galleries, and it’s well past my lunch time and I’m starving, so you’re going to have to dig in past posts and look at our instagram if you want to revisit those memories. Sorry!
Anyway—we’re still not done, but we’re so much closer! Now that the workload has slowed down to a trickle, I’ve decided it’s time to wrap up this blog. It’s been so wonderful taking you all along on our adventure here, but it’s become difficult to find things to write about involving the house, especially while I’m trying to focus on other forms of writing—in particular, my book series, Dispatches from Upstairs. I typed “the end” on book three in the days leading up to Christmas, and now I need to double-down on editing so I can publish it in February. That particular series has at LEAST one more book, quite possibly two or three more. And then after that, I have some ideas for a spin-off, a few contemporary romance stand-alones, a non-fiction book, and possibly another blog. I also really want to get into writing music. But my writing adventures are just one tiny part of what Kevin & I get up to outside of the confines of Pigeon Manor projects! If you’ve enjoyed following along on this adventure, please sign up for my other email list? I’ll keep you updated on some of the wild and wonderful new adventures we’ll be up to in the future! We’re always tossing around new ideas involving businesses and properties and stuff, so I’m sure the next big thing is right around the corner!
Thank you SO MUCH for all your comments and compliments and observations during this journey–there were several times where it helped make the difference of being overwhelmed and upset and instead thinking, “won’t this be a silly thing to write about on the blog?” We truly appreciate all of your love and support! You rule!