I got as far as half-stripping the medicine cabinet.
A great percentage of wood trim at The Box House—all six bedrooms and both bathrooms—have been painted. Numerous times. There are, as far as I can tell, five coats of paint, the last being this absolutely brutal flesh color (that I've complained about before) that is resistant to just about every stripper known to man. Even the much-praised Silent Paint Remover was useless. I was so completely disgusted with my lack of progress, that I set the project aside "for a few weeks" to focus on other things.
Well, between the roof and the garden and the tenant unit and fun projects, like stripping sconces, the time sort of got away from me. And here we are, a year and a half later, still staring at this very ugly, half-stripped cabinet. Well, not all of it. Half of it is in the garage, half-stripped. I dread having people come over to visit; between the partially demolished state of the bathroom and the toilet, which requires a bucket of water to make sure everything flushes properly, it's just not guest friendly.
For us? We've been living with it forever. It's amazing what becomes "normal" after a while.
We were at my Cousin John's for Thanksgiving dinner, admiring his complete kitchen remodel that he accomplished over the course of the summer. A whole new kitchen, one summer. It put me to shame.
So now that we're just about finished with Mom's room--all we have to do is rewire and install the finished sconces--we'll be focusing our attention on the bathroom. And to heck with the strippers and the Silent Paint Remover. I bought a $20 heat gun from Menards and already it seems to be doing a better job at cutting through the paint.
I'll post pictures of the progress soon. This is a project that will take us through to Spring, because we're ultimately going to have to remove the radiator to tile the wall and floor. Nothing like starting this project just as winter settles in.
Wish us luck.
4 comments:
It's probably little consolation, but you're not the only ones who take a while to complete a project. I'm becoming the queen of unfinished projects. There are windows that have old dried paint on them that I meant to scrape four years ago. Or the nail holes in the trim that I needed to fill for two years. It amazes me how you can eventually get used to almost anything! :)
Oh, and good luck!
Yeaah, I'm down to a plywood floor downstairs, and that's the next to last thing that's going to be done. I estimate, two years.
I bought the much coveted Silent Paint Remover and have not been too impressed. I like the citrus stripper but do not like the mess. My tool of choice is the cheap heat gun. I have an expensive heat gun but it is too heavy.
I guess we all have those projects that take a loong time. Joanne probably doesn't remember the addition on our first house. Took off the "Florida Room" replaced with a 15 X 30 family room and 15 X 15 poured patio. With the help of friends and professional roofers it was completed in a few weeks. But we couldn't decided on paneling or drywall and paint. We looked at the silver side of the insulation for well over a year until the decision for paneling was made. . . . Then we sold the house. I have to admit the shiny silver insulation was festive for Christmas. :)
Boxhouse Mom
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