House Made

roof in progress



sorta side of roof

Do you think I’ll ever write a post in which I discuss some project that came together quickly, easily and was just a dance party of fun to execute? Or will I always be talking about the latest thing that is, how you say, sucking my life away? Today, kids, we’re going to talk about roofing and what I’d hoped would be a fairly short-lived, if sucky, project.

The gist: The roof is fine but could use a few little touch-ups here and there. Primarily, I wanted to get a new reflective elastomeric coating on the roof to help protect it and to encourage the sun to stop making my living room into what felt like a giant bread machine with sofa. So great. Did my research. Bought my stuff. Headed to roof. But it’s not just about the final coat. Oh no. There was…prep work. And AND, there were multi-step applications. Yes. And now I’ve been sweeping, spraying, rollering, brushing, brooming, and swabing for many, many hours. And I’m not done.

In the end, it’ll be one of those things no one ever sees but I will know that the shiny, sugary white reflective coating is there. And also, dude, the view of the bay from our roof is spectacular. Work aside, it’s been fairly lovely up there. Hey you have to look on the elastomerically-bright-white side.

Beth here.

Merideth and I are paint snobs.  When we first moved into the house, it was the cheap Home Depot brand all the way, because paint is paint, right? It only took one gallon of Benjamin Moore to convince us that we would never, nay, could never go back to the cheap stuff.

Being addicted to Benjamin Moore, I was especially excited to see that they had a relatively new eco-friendly line named Aura that they used on This Old House’s green Austin project, and we decided to try it out in the dining room (AF-155 Weimeraner).  And now I’m going to have to continue using even MORE expensive paint because it could not have been more fabulous.  Luckily, the paint covers really well, so I ended up using way less than I usually do.

The paint itself is rich in color.  It took two coats, but on some of the walls, it could’ve been one if I didn’t get lazy about coverage.  Something else I really liked was how well the paint that was brushed on (around the trim and ceiling) blended in with the paint that was rollered on (most of the wall).  This can take some finessing, and I was pleased that I didn’t have to do any of that with this paint.  Best of all, clean-up was a dream.  The brush I used looks like a brand-new brush.  For clean-up once the paint is dry, Aura’s website promises that all of the finishes are washable, matte included, but I haven’t tested our eggshell paint yet, nor do I ever think I will on purpose. 

The only downside for me was the smell, which was kind of…funky.  It dissipated in 24 hours, but I actually kind of missed the smell of new, more-toxic paint.  Then again, I enjoy the smell of gasoline and bleach (not mixed together or anything), so perhaps my nose should not be trusted.

All in all, two thumbs up for Aura.

dining room

Well at least that’s how we feel about it. In fact, when we’re both home, about every 7 minutes or so one of us will yell to the other “I freakin’ LOVE the dining room!” It’s one of those things that has turned out pretty much exactly the way we dreamed it might if all the planets aligned and the yard sprouted 4-leaf clovers, and no one got jury duty.

Up close the paneling and plate rail look like they’ve always been there. The paint color is just dreamy and really does look like a Weimaraner. (Good job with the paint naming there Benjamin Moore.) It’s all way more interesting than the original plain white box approach bequeathed to us by the previous owners.

It looks a little under-decorated yet because we’re planning to treat the room kind of like a gallery. We’ll use the plate rail to show artwork and photography above the paneling. We plan to build cabinet doors for the built-in that sits under the window but that may wait a bit as we’re frankly thrilled to not have any tools or construction projects going on in there right now.

And now, as promised, from before to after: photos. Go nuts.

dixie in chair



busted!

Beth here.

What?  You were promised a Richard Scarry book of pictures of our completed dining room?  And you believed us?  Hahahahaha!

See, here at House Made, we try to give our readers a clear feeling of what it’s like to work on an old house, including the interaction one might have with various handy-people.  They say it will cost one thing and take so much time, but it ends up costing way more and taking forever.  And they don’t even seem to care, even if they put on sorry faces and tell you they care.  The best part is that regardless of how many times this happens, no matter how often you have your trust and faith dashed like so much glass in the window you’re attempting to refurbish, you believe them when they tell you, once more, that pictures are imminent.

To console your weeping selves, here are some pictures of our mutt, Dixie, stealing a nap in the newly upholstered chairs that were originally purchased at the salvage yard a while back.  With the price of fabric and upholstery, the chairs ended up costing us a little less than new chairs from Crate & Barrel, so we’re pretty content with the whole experience.

Note that Dixie is not allowed in these chairs.  Also note how much she cares.