Roll Baby, Roll

Neil S. rolls in the good times!

This past week we embarked upon a new stage that is very exciting and very important - painting everything primer-white. It's a glorious occasion that at times during the summer I thought would not come until the 'other' white stuff was outside. Very happily, I can report that we beat the cold stuff, but still have our work cut out for us.

We really started on Wednesday evening when my sister and Ryan came over to vacuum the first floor and basement while Lola and two of her fantastic friends cam over to start priming. It was great, the hum of the vacuums almost drowned out the girlie talk up on the third floor. They were having a great time chit chatting away while painting and got through most of the floor before we all had to call it a night as we were so tired that we could no longer tell where there was and wasn't paint. The dirt and dust was all vacuumed up by the end of the night and now prepared us to 'go full bore' on Saturday with the rollers. On Thursday evening Margie S. came over and continued to prime the 3rd floor where Lola and Co. left off while I did some outside yard jobs during the waning daylight. When it had gotten too dark to work, I moved inside and helped Margie a bit. I had forgotten just how much I don't care for the taste of primer paint, but quickly remembered as I ate more than my share as we rolled the ceilings. We finished the big room in the third floor and called it a night.

Margie goes to town on one of the dormers


Saturday I was up early knowing that I needed to organize the three season porch before the crew came over. I still had quite a few demolition tools in the porch and really wanted to convert everything to painting tools. It just seems everyone is happier and works better when things are laid out for them and are easy to find. A little of my time spent beforehand on organization always pays off later in the day when things are moving along and I don't have to stop to locate this or that. Folks tend to know by now that most things they need 'are over by the sign in sheet' or 'over by the gloves'. MI also had a group that was going to consist of mostly new people and I wanted things to be ready for them as it helps retention of helpers too when they come over and have a good experience.

I ended up having a great crew of about 13 including myself with the majority of folks showing up around 10:30/11:00. Kind of tough that we really didn't get going until 11 or so but we still pushed hard. I tried something new, I had Brad from Pittsburg Paint stop over and give us all a lesson in painting . The walls are all smooth finished which means even the first coat is going to show through the final coat, so it has to be good from the start. He showed up a tad late as well so we waited on him some too. Although we got off a bit slowly, we made great time and most folks worked until 3:30ish and the folks on the first floor worked until about 4:30. Much was achieved and left a manageable amount to hopefully be finished this week.

Tyra B. dips in for more paint/Curtis B. cuts the edges of the walls

Greg S. rolls the ceiling in Ellie's room/Shana & Sarah protect the existing wood

Jeff & Kristen S. finish the 3rd floor/Debbie R. works in the bath

Christine S. paints the master bath/Neil S. rolls the master closet

Shana D. rolls the living room walls/while Sean does the ceilings

Mary cuts in the entry/and Sarah cuts in the French Doors

Mary and Sarah cut in the main Hallway

Next is painting all of the ceilings and then hang the first floor trim work that we took down months ago and I drew diagrams of. Hopefully my brain can make out the hieroglyphics and it all goes back together smoothly! It's exciting to see the solid color of primer white and the formation of actual ROOMS. I can start to see how the house is coming together. I'm sure that will continue to dramatically change as we add real colors to the walls and the floors are repaired and refinished.

The holidays are coming fast and winter is just around the corner. Wrapping up loose ends and getting moved in is starting to be a bit concerning to me. My friends Jim and Karen have been MORE than great friends to open their home to Ellie and me. I just don't want to over stay our welcome. We had originally thought I'd be in my house in September, then October, and now November... I cannot thank them enough. I know there are times that I'm sure they have wanted their own space and times when it's been great to be together. Hopefully the latter have been more prevalent and have outweighed the other. I know Ellie and I have had a great time there and we look forward to our new house, but we will never forget being 'the family in the attic'. It's been a long hard road to this point and I thank the Lord for placing such great, loving people in out paths to help us.