Week 9: A Splash of Color

Hi Friend,

We're coming down to the wire here, as the guys' last day of work is next Friday - aaahhhh!!

We have an aggressive schedule, but we also have some fun scheduled, so please just pray that we get it all done. :) Our remaining weekends are all booked up, so on Friday night, we celebrated the incredible progress these kids have made with an appreciation dinner.

A fun night out with our housebuilding family

Our first sign-off with the building inspector last Friday morning went swimmingly - he approved our insulation - so now we can cover it up with roofing and siding.

Dolan and Judah beefed up the overhang to prep for roofing

It may look pretty much the same, but there's been a lot of prepping going on

But before we put on siding, we wanted to stain or paint it first. I decided to have the rough side of our 1x8 pine shiplap facing out, to be more in keeping with the rustic New England aesthetic. Like I said last week, I love the lowest tech solution for most things, but this weekend, I was thanking God for a particular piece of technology: the paint sprayer. Have you ever applied paint or stain to rough siding? I've probably logged hundreds of hours of painting in my life, but I have never had such a hard time covering this kind of a surface. Painting the newly-exposed 1830s hand hewn beams and underside of the flooring in our previous house was my most difficult before this, and my paint sprayer was a lifesaver. Anyway, it's almost like this rough siding resists being treated. I'm pretty sure the Shakers would have endorsed the paint sprayer.

I was planning on staining the wood a solid color, but I was torn between wanting a good penetrating sealer and getting good UV protection for our strong southern exposure. After doing several hours of research, I walked into the hardware store and was talked out of my previous decision. The guy at the paint counter said I should do an oil / alkyd primer followed by an acrylic / latex topcoat. Okay, sounds good. And since I didn't get any feedback on my previous posts about the siding, we just decided that our house should be a bright teal color. What do you think?

Applying oil primer to the rough siding

Ha, ha. :) Apparently, it's best not to do too much tint in the primer, so this is a much, much lighter version of final paint color.

Mickey did a lot of painting, too, but he also laid out the boards to dry

We had a meeting with the electric company about how to get power to the house, followed by a meeting with the propane guys to discuss where to place the tanks. Our application for a water hook-up was approved by the town, so we hope to meet with them soon, too.

How far is the transformer? How far is the primary wire? How many amps do we need? Will we lose voltage?

It felt like a short weekend with so much of it taken up by painting (and speaking of painting, the older kids took a little excursion on Saturday to see the beautiful paintings at The Clark Museum, right after a visit to Edith Wharton's summer home, The Mount). But we did take a break to take the younger kids for ice cream at the local dairy farm.

Ice cream and Jersey cows

On our way, we saw Leah's former employers taking a carriage ride as part of a wedding they were hosting. The last two summers, Leah rode her bike up the hill to go muck the stalls for their carriage horses. Aren't they gorgeous?

Going for a Saturday stroll

Mickey and I also snuck out for a little date back at the dairy farm a bit later to try their cheese plate.

In case you're wondering, the cheese was delicious, but it was far too much for two people!

Until next time!

xo,

P.S. If you're in the area and would like to come check out the house, we're having an open house / community potluck this Saturday at 4pm. Feel free to stop by!

Best bang for the buck - only 10 cents a ride! The machine only accepts dimes.

Next post: Week 9: Down to the Wire