Rustoleum

While visiting my family, and still riding high on a few productive weeks on home improvement projects at the Northeast Portland Bungalow, I pitched in with a few odds and ends to help out.

I noticed the back door at our family home needed a paint job. The paint was peeling off the aluminum door is big pieces, and looked pretty bad. Using the scraper and sander attachments of a borrowed Dremel Multi-Max™ 6300 oscillating tool, we made short work of removing the old paint. We washed the door down with mineral spirits and were ready for paint.

We were instructed specifically to use the leftover can of RustOleum Protective Enamel. The can hadn't been sealed after it's last use, and had a thick skin on top of the paint. I punctured the skin by poking it with a scraper. I had to pull the skin out of the can with my hand, covering my hand in oil-based paint.

Have you tried to wash oil-based paint off your hand? It's not easy. First, clothing detergent (because I went straight to the utility sink, in the laundry room). No luck. Next, dish washing detergent- still no luck.

I was beginning to worry- it was getting very sticky and "smoke gray" skin is not too attractive. Luckily, we found instructions on the internet. It should have been obvious- so if this happens to you, do this: Scrub your hands with a good handful of vegetable oil and salt. The paint comes right off. I washed up after that with the dish washing detergent. My hands actually felt smooth and soft afterward!

I have to admit, I was a skeptic. I did not think the paint was going to look good- not after pulling that skin off the top! But the paint easily mixed, had good coverage in a single coat and did not show any brush or roller marks. It settled to a very smooth and even finish.

I had read some tips about painting with oil-based paints- load your brush or roller generously, and do not over brush. These were great tips. It gets tacky fast, so keeping the brush loaded helped. I had also read that it dries slowly, so we put the painted door in the sun. It was dry with no tackiness in about 2 hours. And it looks great! The paint is smooth and even. I can't believe I forgot to get before and after photos- but trust me- it looks a lot better. 

I want to recommend this paint to you, if you have a similar project coming up. I'd love to say I was being paid to say that, but no, I'm saying only because I used what I assumed would be a ruined can of paint and it came out great. 

Tips!

• There are some major fumes. You'll want to work in a well ventilated space! We were in a garage, with doors and windows open wide. 
• If you can, dry the door, appliance, or whatever you've painted in full sun.
• Keep the vegetable oil, salt, and dishwashing detergent handy!

Paint Colors for the TV/Guest Room

While technically a bedroom, we use the space for watching television and hanging out, as well as for overnight guests. Located in the front of the house, we expect that this was originally the master bedroom. It is wallpapered over a smooth finished plaster, and has its own entrance to the bathroom.

Similar to the dining room, we will:

-strip wallpaper and paint

-repair plaster

-repaint

Also, we're also removing the entrance to the bathroom. The door limits the sense of privacy you have when someone is on the other side of that door, so we'll have to take it out (and reuse it when we finish the basement).

When we painted the dining room last year, we picked a great dark blue (I think it's great, anyway). At that time, we also picked out colors for the rest of the house. I've started to second guess the original palette. Instead of tans and grays, we are starting to look at green/gray colors. Have a look:

Now:

The new greens:

What do you think? Should we keep looking?

2011 Forecast

In October 2010, this post described our progress, relating to a list posted earlier in the year (here: 2010 Forecast). We had barely touched the list! Our good intentions meant very little once the home improvement ball was rolling.

Last summer, the City sent us, along with our neighbors, a letter explaining the City's plan to replace our sewer. Good news, right? Did I mention that replacing our fully functional sewer connection will be at our cost? It isn't how we'd hoped to spend that chunk of money, but there is no way around it, so we have to bite the bullet.

This impacted our 2010 list, and will also play into our 2011 list. We can't very well build a retaining wall when it might be damaged by work in the street, and possibly in our yard. So that project has been simmering on the back burner, for a while. I just said simmering, didn't I? More like ice cold. Bummer.

Fortunately, the NE Portland Bungalow still has plenty of home improvement projects to chose from. Here is our pipe dream proposed "To Do" list for the remaining three quarters of 2011:

1.) The exterior:

-remove the poured concrete patio/sidewalk and replace with pavers

-fix the gutters and dig french drains

-prune the out of control fig tree

-remove old plants, till/level the yard, and replant grass

-build a shed for the grill, mower and other lawn care tools

The backyard has seen (and will see) better days:

Here's a peak at the monster fig tree:

There is a lot to say about this tree, and it could have an entire post just for itself. Maybe it will someday.

2.) The current TV room:

-remove wall paper, strip paint, repaint

-repair plaster

-remove door to bathroom and frame in wall instead

The current TV room:

The room is currently egg-salad-yellow paint over wallpaper, has about 5 layers of paint on trim, and has plenty of damaged plaster (not to mention holes in the plaster from insulating the room). This project should be very similar to the dining room project, and will hopefully go much faster.

(at this point, we'll play Musical Rooms, moving our bed to that room)

3.) The current bedroom:

-repair plaster (no wallpaper- woohoo!!)

-strip paint, repaint

-restore sash windows

The current bedroom:

This picture was taken during the insulation project, in November 2009. Clearly, this room will need lots of plaster repair. Fortunately, there is no wall paper to strip, but there are sash windows to restore. I'm excited for that experience, but intimidated by the unknown.

4.) And everyone's favorite category, miscellaneous:

-if we're ever really feeling ambitious, strip some paint off the fire place brick

If anyone has any good tips or stories relating to french drains, restoring sash windows, landscaping or anything else, please do share- advice might be just want the doctor ordered!

Spray Painting Lamps: Before and After

DIY inspiration struck again.

In a quest to graduate from furniture and accessories left over form our college years, I've been hungrily searching for lamps to replace these:

Collectively, I think I spent about $20 for both lamps and the missing shade. Please note: these lamps look better in this picture than in person.

When I have to shop for something, for the first time, I find that I lack any opinion and end up spending months pre-shopping before I feel prepared to purchase. Drapes? Shopped for about 22 months. Rugs? 6 months. Dishes? HA!

With visions of what the current-TV-room/future-office will look like in a few months (after removing wallpaper and repainting), I started getting excited, and feeling inspired. I wanted dark lamps with a clean, casual look.

The lamps pictured above were destined for the "donate" pile, as I started pre-shopping. I was looking for a dark base (to match the drapery rods I picked) and mica shade- in bloth a floor lamp and a table lamp. Most of what I found came in around $40 per lamp- ouch.

At Target, I was inspired to check out the lamps and shades that could be mixed and matched. This shade caught my eye:

I realized that I might be able to add new shades to my old lamps. Two shades were around $35 together (one large, and one medium). I couldn't find the exact shades on the Target website, but they are from Target's "Home" line.

At home, I found the shades did not fit *perfectly* on the lamps, and wobbled a bit. I made shims by wrapping strips of foil around the base of the shade, for a better fit:

A quick sanding, a few coats of spray paint, and the lamps were ready for their new shades. The brown spray paint did not come out as dark as I wanted, so I may repaint them, later. But for now:

Doesn't the little lamp remind you a child wearing a big hat? Not the most amazing lamps I've ever seen, but they will work for now. If I replace them, later, I will probably keep these shades, though.

Still stripping paint

First, I apologize for the lack of photos. Photos account for about 95% of the fun in a house blog, I think. I hope to add an updated photo with this post, soon.

It's been longer than usual, between posts, but we HAVE been working! We're nearing the end of the dining room project and it's hard to believe it's taken so long. I bet if we dedicate 3 or 4 weekends on the next room, we could get just as much done in that time frame. (Famous last words, maybe?)

Slow progress is still progress! We have the paint stripped now, and are about 30% through the "light sand" and hoping to finish the sanding, and the last plaster touch ups this week/weekend.

It's going to be great to take down the plastic over the doorway, and finally see (and USE!) our dining room.

Paint strippers and weather stripping

We tested a new paint stripper: Peel Away 6. It's the 3rd product we've tried, and the first product to actually cut through the layers of paint on our woodwork. I'm sure that different products are more or less useful in different situations. Our particular combination of oil and latex paints (2 to 7 layers) has reacted very well to this. After 12 hours, the paint scraped off with a plastic scraper and ZERO elbow grease. I repeat, ZERO elbow grease.

First, the application-9:30AM

Next, the test-5:30PM

(COMING SOON... the second test- 9:30PM)

One of our house's previous owners decided to remove a built-in bookshelf. Yes, I would have dome something totally different, starting with not removing built-in bookshelves. With that pesky bokoshelf gone, the previous owner added a pair of french doors. However, the stairs leading to the patio are only in front of one door, so do not use the second door. The doors aren't the sturdiest, and we have talked about replacing them with a better set. In the mean time, I've decided to do something about the weather stripping. For how much we love the doors, I think we set an appropriate budget for the weather stripping.

Old french door weather stripping:

A $4.97-fix!