Work Weeks 36 & 37: Birds n Bricks n Doors n Tricks
Hello! Summer is cruising right along, and I have some promised photos to show you! First thing- the brickwork on the bump-out is done!
Now you might be saying, “wow, look at that brickwork!” or maybe you first noticed the AWESOME SALVAGED CHURCH DOOR that replaced the rotted kitchen door? Or maybe, if you studied it reallllly close, you noticed something else spectacular embedded in the stucco?
See here’s the thing I didn’t tell you yet about Nate. He’s not really a bricklayer! Well, he is, but it’s not his true calling. It’s like when Michael Jordan decided to play baseball. If I recall correctly, (and I’m sure you sports people will correct me if I do not recall correctly!) he was a really good baseball player, and earned his keep on the professional circuit! But his real magic happened on the basketball court. Well, Nate’s real magic is in mosaics and art (see for yourself!) And when you have someone on board with his level of talent and he says, “I’d like to tuck some birds in here and there”, you say “YES Nate, you SHOULD tuck some birds in here and there!”
Hopefully, they’ll be able to finish up the first floor of the east side this week and start moving onto the super sad back corner. Once the east side is finished, it’s time to put the PVC conduit (also known as cable raceways-who knew?) back on to cover all the wires and pipes that go from our mini-splits down to the compressor.
Now, this PVC started out a vivid gleaming white, and it basically screamed, “HI!!! I’M A BUNCH OF WIRES HANGING OUT HERE ON THIS BRICK WALL!!!!” (see?)
Not my favorite look. (although if Nate wanted to mosaic a giant mouth on the wall, I might be persuaded.) When it goes back up, hopefully, it will be barely more than a whisper this time, thanks to my favorite newfound skill- spray paint brick camo!
I went and bought four different colors of fancy spray paint that sticks to PVC. It’s Krylon, I think it’s called…colormaxx? the colors are terracotta, brick, khaki, and white. I took the pieces, laid them all out, cleaned them, and started playing around. And I must say, I am pretty darn proud of my results! I can’t wait to see (or not see!!) the results when it’s reinstalled!
Oh, one last fun brick thing: The way the bricks are being finished is called “German Schmear”. It’s the perfect finish for a bunch of PA Dutchies (aka PA Germans) schmearing a bunch of mud around!
And now we go to the front porch again. I still don’t have a proper after picture, because it’s still not done. But Kevin and I spent HOURS up on scaffolding, scraping and caulking and priming and painting and caulking (again) the porch ceiling this weekend. I even got pretty darn good at tearing down and setting scaffolding back up again. Not too bad for a gal that was scared of ladders until pretty recently! 2 gallons of primer and 1 gallon of topcoat later, and we’re *almost* there! But the rest of the porch still needs repairs, so who the heck knows when the rest will get painted. But at least the trickiest paint job is done! Here is a sneak preview of the ceiling and the trim around the (yet to be refinished, it’s coming I swear!) door.
Ok, now we go inside!
The commercial kitchen space now has a fancy hallway wall, disconnecting it from the church door (which will now lead to the back dining room through the hallway) and making it have a single entrance from the back. The floor has a nice clean fresh subfloor thanks to Paul, the electrical panel installation has begun thanks to Johnny, and the walls are all smooth and ready for minor repairs and paint thanks to Jim. The last scary hole to the basement has even been covered up. And now we go back outside for cool church door number two!
This double church door set was scored at Studio 895 in New Ringold. What a wonderful place! They have so much fun stuff to look at and buy (70+ vendors!), and as an added bonus, they have a whole back room full of doors and shutters and other architectural salvage. Kevin and I went out there a while ago, armed with a tape measure and the dimensions of the old rotted kitchen door. These doors were the perfect size! We decided to press our luck and go back for them another time, and that time was two weeks ago. I invited my dear friend Jill, turning it into a fun girlfriend get-together! We met the owner, Melinda. She is a total sweetheart, and helped me load these heavy duty doors up into my truck. Jill was super excited to discover they carry a whole line of chalk paints and waxes, and she did some amazing furniture transformations herself this past week! If you’re crafty or like old stuff, I highly recommend a visit.
Dave has a new title here at the manor, and it’s door man! He’s tremendously skilled and patient with installing/repairing/retrofitting doors, and we certainly have plenty of them! He made the church doors work right quick. They’ll need a little bit more painting TLC in the coming weeks, but they are so awesome! Check out the amazing shadow the streetlight casts through the stained glass at night-wow!
Ok- what else? Oh I don’t know, I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting, but that’s about it for me for now, because it’s time to get back to work! See you in August!