Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Porchlandia: Like-New Radiators

Saturdays are typically just my father and I on site, it being the weekend. I didn't take a picture but my cousin had trailered in his excavator and had taken down a couple more trees on the front and side yards and once those are taken away it's going to feel a heck of a lot bigger (the yard). It already lets in a lot more light. I also neglected to take a photo of the front porch, the base of which is finished (the cables for the railings have been ordered). 



I was just focused on the task at hand, which was to put the pieces of the radiators that I had sanded and painted back together. As a quick aside, I started off using Rust-oleum White Satin paint and then after going through six bottles ran out so we went to a local hardware store and they were out so we bought another brand that was complete crap (the paint came out in a thin stream and required two coats where Rust-oleum had only needed one). So, lesson learned. Always use Rust-oleum. 


As you can see if you squint really hard at the photos above, the radiators were disgusting - dirt-covered, rusty. After sanding them down (cue my eye twitch) and painting them it was time to put them back together (the side pieces and front piece come off). But first I had to vacuum the radiators clean. You can't imagine how much detritus gets caught in there and accumulates.


But once clean, the pieces were put back together and they look new. Also, against the Revere Pewter walls they really stand out. I worried for a while that I'd chosen the wrong paint color. My father had wanted to stick with white walls and I told him we needed to go with something more of a grey tint that would look great with the wood beams and white baseboards. From the time I picked it until it was on the walls and I saw it in person I worried that I'd made a horrible choice. What if it was too dark or didn't match the floors, or looked horrible with the fireplace? The choice of paint color can really help or hinder a sale. But the worry was for naught because it all goes fantastically together.


In other news, the day our plumber (who we used on the last house) was slated to show up and start work he decided he didn't want to do it (honest to God, how to people run a proper business if you say you'll do a job and then day of you just think, nah, I'm going to skip that one? that's BAD business!) so my dad called in three new plumbers to get quotes and hopefully we have now found a new, reputable one. After putting the radiators back together we drove up to Lowe's (a quick aside - every time I'm in the Lowe's parking lot with my dad loading up the truck a guy will stop and ask if we need help. I find myself wanting to flex my non-existent muscles to assure them that a girl can help load toilets and a tub into a truck bed, but I also think, hey, that was nice of him to ask. And really, maybe he meant that my dad looks like he needs help. Just kidding, Dad.) to pick out the downstairs tub, two toilets, a couple lighting fixtures, the kitchen faucet, the guest bath faucet, the master bath dual faucets, and then the shower/tub fixtures. It was a lot of decisions and at one point I just got tired and said I couldn't make anymore decisions. 

So we're getting there. The kitchen cabinets are nearly all in, the countertops need to be ordered, the carpets have already been ordered, paint touch-ups need to be done, the bathrooms are the next big project (lots and lots of tiling), the decks need to be finished (probably this week) and then just landscaping. I can't wait for you to see it when it's done. The vision my father and I had is really coming together. 

~Stephanie

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