Thursday, December 2, 2010

Was my last post really in March?

Things are slowly progressing at Casa de Hires and there really hasn't been much to blog about.  There is still plenty to do but it just hasn't happened yet.  My entire birthday and Christmas wish lists were for stuff for the house. 
       One big project that had to wait until it chilled out a bit was our porch.  We are most assuredly porch people.  We swing on our porch, we eat on our porch, we talk on our porch, and having a porch was a necessity for Matt and I.  We wouldn't hardly look at homes without one and we are so glad we got such a big one.  Another beautiful aspect of our porch in particular is our railing in which doubles a bench seating.  It was such a nice detail that made our house unique from all of the others we were showed.  However, unlike much of the house which has been replaced or restored (the plaster walls, plumbing, central air and heat (!!!), and additional bedrooms and bathrooms) the front porch is original to the structure.  Which means it and the planks are 90 years old this year (we bought the house on such a grand birthday year!).  The paint has been peeling away for quite some time and every time we come home we kick some more off like we are helping the situation in some way, and while we have planned to paint and seal the antique wood ever since we began kicking up the loose paint, it's been too dang hot in Florida to allow the oil based paint to cure.  We knew when it got a bit cooler this month we'd have to make ourselves do it.  We cleaned, sanded, and swept the wood, then taped the trim up.   If you get a Christmas card from us you can tell how bad it was but sadly that had to be taken a while ago and before we made ourselves get down to business.
Before:



We decided to paint it the same hunter greenish blue that it already was and Home Depot whipped up a can to match in no time.


We google-ed the best approach to painting the old porch and everything we read said to make sure you paint yourself an escape so Matt started on one end and I on the other and we met in the middle to make painting a porch sound a lot more romantic than it actually is.  The whole process wasn't all that painful however as it was a beautiful day and Matt had to make a "Best of 2010" play list for a fan site so we listened to that while we worked.  No whistling needed:)
After: