After many (a ridiculous number) of coats of paint, we can finally put down our paint brushes. At least for a little while. Good thing too, because I don't think my neck could have handled another coat. One reason for so many was because we tried to use a "satin" finish paint, but once we got a couple of coats on, it looked horribly blotchy. Especially during the day when the sun was shining on it. So, we had to start all over with two more coats of flat paint. It finally looked pretty good, but two of the long boards needed some touchup, so I spent the better part of one morning painting them again. After it had been drying for about an hour, the wet, blotchy look wasn't going away.
Luke said, "I hate to say this, but you didn't happen to use the Satin paint, did you?"
No, no, no, no, no!!!! Ahhh!
So, I had to start all over and paint another two coats on top of what I had already "touched up."
Next up was floor prep. We had been living with what we had dubbed the "Ghetto Wall" for about 3 months.
It was a happy day to rip that thing out...
Next was the old railing, which came out pretty easily except for the post. It was in there to stay! Holy moly. The post was installed about a foot and a half below the sub-floor with two huge bolts and at least a couple handfuls of heavy duty screws. It took Luke and I at least 20-30 minutes to get it out.
After cleaning up the mess, we spent the next few days walking around like idiots, testing the floor, trying to find any squeaks so we could fix them. The next person who replaces the floor will see all of our "X marks the spot" areas...
And here is a sneak-peek of our floors. It kind of feels like the beginning-of-the-end to be finally laying down floors. Although, I know that we still have months of work left. Especially since we have just decided to completely reconfigure the kitchen... (I'm so excited!) More details on that coming soon...
