Raindrop or Cay? Another weekend of painting.

Today we spent our day sanding the cypress ceiling in the bathroom prior to applying clear-coat. Unfortunately, we found several splintered areas that needed to be glued down and re-sanded, and we never got around to applying the finish today.

Funny, other than lots of pencil marks, the beadboard in the kitchen had virtually no imperfections. The bathroom ceiling seems to have gotten all of the defects. The beadboard should all look fine after the glue dries completely and we finish sanding and give it two coats of satin polyurethane.
Next, Andrew started priming the bathroom walls. He worked on the cutting-in while I cleaned out, wiped down, and caulked the bathroom's storage cubby, which is still an icky peach color courtesy of a past makeover by the PHO. With the toilet out of the room, there won't be a better time to tackle this job.

Once the new toilet is installed, it will next to impossible to reach back into this tiny cramped space to paint (which is why it's still peach, even though I painted the rest of the room a few years ago). The gaps between the homemade shelves and surrounding walls have now been filled in nicely with caulk. It will probably take 2, maybe 3 coats of primer to cover the old glossy peach paint, but no doubt it will look much better once it gets a long-overdue repainting.

While we took a break for lunch, we visited our local paint store and picked up a couple of sample quarts of paint to help us decide on a color for the bathroom walls. Rather than applying paint samples directly onto our freshly-primed walls, we primed 2 small drywall scraps, so that we can paint them instead. Have I mentioned that painting has never been one of my favorite home improvement chores?

So, tomorrow we will finish the touch-up sanding of the cypress beadboard, then clear-coat the ceiling, finish priming the storage cubby, try out our paint samples on the drywall scraps, and maybe pick a color and start painting the walls!

Our 2 paint samples (Raindrop on the left, and Cay on the right) look almost identical in the photo, but one is actually a bit greener than the other.

These 2 colors were the final contenders we chose from several paint sample cards we compared by taping them to the walls and viewing under different lighting conditions.

I doubt "drop light," or "flashlight" conditions will influence our choice, but we have seen the various paint samples under those, as well.

Which one will be the winner, Raindrop or Cay? Stay tuned!

Progress in the kitchen, and a minor setback in the bathroom.

Andrew and I spent much of this weekend with paintbrush or roller in hand. We spent hours carefully sanding the kitchen ceiling, then vacuumed away all of the dust before putting 2 coats of clear satin polyurethane on the cypress beadboard. The end result: it looks fabulous! The natural color and grain of the wood really pops. It just needs a bit of simple trim moulding where the ceiling meets the wall, and it's done.

Andrew applying the second coat:


The ceiling after 2 coats of clear polyurethane:

Meanwhile, I started priming the newly-textured walls. The kitchen cabinets are due to be delivered and installed next Wednesday. Our goal was to prime and paint the kitchen, at least the parts that won't be covered by cabinets, this weekend. We managed to prime, but haven't painted yet. There's still time, so we will be over at The Cottage one or two more evenings after work to finish that.

Tiling of the bathroom floor was to have begun tomorrow (Monday), but our contractor, J, stopped by on Saturday and informed us that the bathroom floor is not level. Apparently, he shot a level line with his laser level, and discovered that one side of the room is one inch lower than the other. (Why he didn't check the level of the floor before now, and before giving the tilesetter the go-ahead is beyond me. Wouldn't cha think that would be important to know??)

J's suggestion for how the tile guy could maybe "camouflage" the problem (i.e., using baseboard moulding-!) was not warmly received. Needless to say, it has been decided that the bathroom floor will be made level before any tile work begins.

Since the plan, before discovery of the off-kilter floor, was to begin laying the bathroom tile tomorrow, Andrew and I had planned to pre-seal the hex tile, as recommended by the manufacturer, this weekend. So, we went ahead and sealed the tile today, even though the floor installation is temporarily on hold.





We sealed 60-something sheets of hex tile. Not difficult, but a slow process. We got them all done, and the tiles are now spread out on the bathroom and kitchen floors while they dry completely.

Which is helpful for seeing how the tiles will look after installation:

Foggy sunrise, and the new tub.

I had an early staff meeting, so was on the road a bit earlier than usual today, and snapped these views of the North Florida sunrise on a foggy December morning.


The kitchen ceiling is now finished...

The plumber finished the rough-in for the kitchen faucet....

And...our clawfoot tub was delivered today!