The Secret Affairs of Home Building

I may have just bought a couple of tops from Modcloth that have cats and dogs on them. Maybe.

But ANYWAY...

Progress is on the horizon! RJ's dad arrives in Creede tomorrow, along with RJ's nephew-age cousin (14 years young), and some shit is gettin' DONE! Particularly the siding on the addition, which I've been so anxious to get started on. This will not only make the house more aesthetically pleasing on the whole, but also lower our homeowners insurance--it will no longer be a home visually under construction. Along with the bonus of no more flapping house wrap.  We've got all the supplies, now we just need the Mann-power. (See what I did there?) I've also purchased the primer and the paint, and can't wait to get started on it in all my free time...oh wait, we're opening The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild on Friday, which gives me until about noon each morning. Well, we'll see what happens on my end...

I will be documenting all the home building deliciousness for the blog, so never fear. Another thing that should be happening (out of necessity) is getting the floor in the downstairs bathroom finished in order to hook up the toilet and a sink. The young cousin is supposed to stay with us for about 10 days, but we've all decided this is best only if he has a working toilet and sink close to the guest room. Our only bathroom is in our bedroom and in order to respect everyone's privacy, dis needz be done.

More soon.

PS. Everyone likes photos. So here's one. Ooooooh, in all its majesty...

Primer and Paint, READY!

It's Trim Time, Baby.

I want to add before I start that I am eating Zingers and drinking a slurpee like it's 1986. Up in here. Up in here.

As I type this, RJ's finishing nail gun shoots its rounds in the background. That's right, people, we're putting up interior TRIM! This is so exciting. One: because this is the biggest project he/we have had time to do in quite a while and Two: because trim is the glue that holds many home building processes together. Trim is what makes an unfinished corner look finished. It covers over the nasty edges of drywall and screws, or general unevenness and ugliness. It lines windows and doors and makes everything tie in and look special. It's kind of everything, people.

Our original idea was to paint all the trim white, so it'd look very classic. But RJ is creating all the moulding himself, meaning, he's found a way to put all the cool little decorative grooves in the wood without outside help. You can either buy moulding pre-made, which is expensive (and in many cases, the design is uninspired), or you can do it yourself. There is a machine that has super elaborate bits that create this look in one fell swoop, but it is also expensive to purchase the machine itself and each bit it uses is $100+.  RJ found some smaller bits his father had given him a while ago and realized he could make really cool trim just by using several different combinations of bits.

My finger is pointing to the blade that makes the design in the middle of this window trim piece, right above my thumb. 

It's, of course, more time consuming because you have to make several passes on the table depending on what the design is, but labor is free with this family. Another caveat working this way is that we've had to use cedar. It's a pricier wood but softer and therefore doesn't break easily when you try and carve things into it. It's also goshdang beautiful! So, we decided to leave it natural with only a coat of Watco danish oil to bring out the color. It's so pretty!

Fresh oil on the left, untreated on the right.

My favorite piece so far. That dark piece in the middle is also cedar. SO dark and red. Each piece is a little different.

I'm not sure how long this little work-on-the-house vacation will last, but anything is something at this point.

Trim added around the door.

RJ starting on the trim around the windows. Yes, baby jesus, YES!

The saga continues...