It’s a long weekend here in
Saskatchewan (and most of Canada) and I’ve been painting all weekend…
Unfortunately it’s not the sort of painting I usually post about on this blog.
(It’s not even the sort of painting I post about on the other
blog!). No, dear friends, I was house painting.
If you’ve been reading a while
you may remember back in the spring me making dire predictions about how my
productivity was about to drop sharply due to immanent renovations that were to
occur at my abode. We has talked to a couple of younger fellows about a year
about about taking on the project and they were not only willing to do it, they
seemed rather keen to take on this sort of project – which is in sharp contrast
to the attitude of most builders in this town who would all tell us to tear
down our house and build a new one… They originally said they would like to
start as early as they could. May, perhaps April if the snow was gone…
Well, things got held up… and
they didn’t end up STARTING until the end of July – when they’d originally told
us they’d be DONE! (which would have given me most of August to do the few
things I was going to do on my own – painting, flooring, some finish work…).
When they started in July they told us they’d be done and gone in 6 weeks. It’s
now mid October and there’s still a LOT of work to be done – and this is
causing me some anxiety as they still need to finish getting the exterior
insulation up, roofing, and stucco done and winter is fast approaching – it is
dropping well below 0°C at night which is going to make stuccoing a bit of a
challenge!
Anyway, here’s some pics of
what’s been going on…
(Remember: click on the pictures
for a bigger version):
Three pics of the upstairs all
cleared out ready to go – keep an eye on that stairwell and the low ceiling and
chimney beside it (that any adult would have to duck and walk hunched over past
to get into our room upstairs).
Here’s what the house is
currently looking like from the outside.
Essentially we needed a new roof
and some insulation. The existing walls are brick with wood-chips inbetween –
completely inadequate for a region that gets to -40°C (and below!) in winter.
While we were at it we figured it might be nice to build a dormer upstairs and
replace all the ancient windows that had long since been painted shut.
It turned out easier to just
tear the whole roof off than cut holes for some dormers and so we’ve
essentially gotten a whole second story where there was previously just a
half-story-loft-like room…
So this weekend we packed the
kids off to their grandparents and Amanda and I have been painting the walls
upstairs all day for the last few days….
That’s me way up there perched
precariously over the stairwell cutting the white for the ceiling. This is one
of those time where having such a hobby has really come to bite me in the ass.
Amanda reasoned that because I have such a steady hand and keen eye (painting
all those wee miniatures and all!) that I should do all of the cutting. I tried
to point out that I don’t often paint miniatures while perched on a rickety
ladder and have to reach my brushed out so far to paint miniatures… This was
even less fun the next day when I had to paint a straight line around those
fiddley bits between the wall and ceiling…
Amanda rolling the ceiling.
By Sunday we were on to the
walls.
Amanda rolling the first coat of
purple.
First coat on the walls done.
Me again, cutting the second
coat of purple on the walls.
Last night, starting the red in
the bathroom.
Today we’re just finishing up the red in the bathroom and dark
purple in the little alcove-like-area in the front dormer… We’ve got a bit of a
wait between coats so Amanda’s off to a yoga class and I thought I’d update the
blog(s).
Last week they were starting on
the new windows in all the rooms – here are the new windows that went into the
Hobby Dungeon/War Room.
As I predicted, my productivity
has dropped sharply since they began. At the end of June I was sitting at 600
28mm foot painted so far this year – averaging 100 per month… Now, at mid
October, I’m sitting at 755… less than 50 per month since all this began. This
is largely due to having to shift all the stuff from upstairs to the main floor
or basement. Which has meant we are constantly working around boxes of stuff
and I can’t really maintain a semi-permanent workstation that I can just sit
down and paint at for a few minutes here and there when I have an idle moment…
I actually have to tidy up a space, get stuff out, paint for a bit, then clear
it all away…
This weekend hasn’t been a total
loss hobby-wise. I’ve been finishing up a few Americans and Australians for the
Vietnam war – I recently tracked down a copy of The
Odd Angry Shot - one of my all time favourite war movies – which I
haven’t seen in probably 20 years because I’ve never been able to, before now,
find a Region 1 DVD of it! Strangely it’s been released by a company that seems to
mostly do asian-cult-horror-erotic movies…? Whatever, it’s still a good flick
and has inspired me to finish up my Vietnam Aussies!
Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:
Said Vitenam figures; Aussies, LRRPs, Grenadiers with M79s…
Maybe it's time to do some thinking ahead and planning for the winter and next year...
Maybe it's time to do some thinking ahead and planning for the winter and next year...
House looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteGreat figures too.
Good luck all round, Tim! 100, 28mm figures a month?? You are a MACHINE, sir!!!
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Monty
Looks great! Good job.
ReplyDeleteLooking good. It will be worth it when done.
ReplyDeleteLooks great but those boys need to get some sheeting on the roof before the snow flies! Extra headroom is a wonderful addition to old character ones. Great choice!
ReplyDeleteThanks all!
ReplyDeleteI am assured that the roofing will for sure be going up next weekend!!
...though I can't help feeling a little like Tom Hanks in The Money Pit constantly being told "two weeks!"
ReplyDelete