It only took two years!

It only took two years to get this building looking respectable!  As many of you know from driving by, we spent the past week painting the front of the building. Next spring the top will be painted, but we're just thankful for the great Fall weather we've been having!  (We've decided that the building used to look like Mimi from the Drew Carey show!)

The last of the "feet" were painted this morning.  I had to hold off on them because Dale made repairs and the new cement required time to dry.

The process of painting using the scaffolding had many steps, which had to be repeated multiple times.  In this picture, we're working left to right and are about two thirds of the way done.  You can tell by the 5th window that is partially painted.  Looking back, it would've been nice to have had a picture every time we moved to the next window. 

So our day went like this...  The scaffolding was set up on the far left side of the building so Dale could paint the white parts above all the windows.  As you can see, he can only do one window at a time. While he was painting, I was sitting just below him cutting in the gray/green on the white beams.  I got a little ahead of him and had time to kill (and paint on my brush) so I used it as an opportunity to sign the building. :)  Now that we're both done with that section, we climb down to the ground, unlock the four wheels and move the scaffolding to the next window.  Zoom in on the picture and you'll see the wood planks on the ground.  Those are there because the sidewalk slopes away from the building and we need it to be level.  While move the scaffolding it's very important not to let the wheels fall off the plank.  The scaffolding is moved, wheels locked, and we climb back up to our posts.  We continue this working our way to the right until all the windows are done.

My view as I was sitting on the plank and painting the top edge of the beam that my foot is resting on.

The first beam is painted

Then we start the process all over again only this time we paint the beams and work our way to the left.  Climbing up and down, up and down.

Working our way back to the left, Dale took the opportunity to go take care of some city business since I could reach the beam on my own.  The only thing is that he took off in such a hurry that he only left one plank instead of the normal two or three.  Barely wide enough for the paint pan!

You may ask why we didn't do it all at once.  I asked that very same question.  Had there been less wind that day, we would've.  But because of the wind and three sections of scaffolding, Dale wanted the third section off as quickly as possible.

I'm not sure how he ever figured out out to set up and take this down all by himself.  

Dale is pictured here taking down the third section on Friday night.

This is where we finished on Friday. Just the feet to be painted and the window sill and doorway on the left that had to be repaired.  Those were completed today (Sunday).  I wasn't supposed to work at the building today, but I just couldn't resist!!

I almost forgot to mention, there are once the last of the windows have been replaced, Dale will have installed 79 windows!!!

Next project is the front doors.   I'm not a fan of this project, but really looking forward to see the beauty behind the layers of paint!

I need to finish the doors and also get back upstairs pulling nails.  Dale's very close to start framing the new offices!

Outside!

It's only been a couple of weeks since the last post, but I've been taking pictures along the way.  I was just reviewing them and realized how much we're accomplishing right now as we try to take advantage of this gorgeous weather we've been having!  Our goal is to have the entire front of the building painted with the first coat before the weather turns.  I've been using vacation time to work on the building and you'll find me there the next couple of afternoons.  This is so exciting!!!

This is one of two front doors as it has looked for many, many years.

Now the doors have been removed and temporarily replaced with plywood so that we can strip and refinish them.

The trim around the door was also removed and some of the paint stripped with the heat gun.

At one point, it looks like the trim was painted red to match the color of the brick.

Many people have asked if we were going to replace the ugly white doors on the front of the building.  If they had only seen the other side!  Look how beautiful!!!  Our goal is to strip the doors down to their natural beauty and leave them the natural color.  I sure hope I like doing this project! 

The first of the "pillar" is getting a new color.  I'm not 100% sold on it, but the nice thing is that we have all winter to think about it before the final coat goes on next Spring.

One the left side of the picture, the white beam above the new main-floor windows has been sanded.  As you can see the right side still needs to be completed and there there's a third one after that.  

Close up of Dale's sanding job.  Can't wait to see it painted the same color as the trim below!

The alley windows are in!!

I wonder how much time Dale has spent cleaning!

Now all the beams have been sanded and are ready for primer. 

The door and door trim have been painted to match the lower windows.  In addition, the white paint on the "pillars" above the door have been covered!  Yay!  Just waiting for Dale to fix the concrete pillars that are at ground level before I can paint them.  He could probably get that completed tomorrow if he weren't GOLFING! 

All the metal beams have been covered with white primer and are looking so clean.  Need to wait 48 hours before we paint them.  I think that's tomorrow's project.

Upper corner trim. Check!  And Dale painted the beams.

Dale asked me to paint these trim boards before he cuts them to size to put in the space below the main-floor windows to add a little pizzaz. Cool.  I can handle that.  Whipped those right out this evening.  Check.

Just as I was feeling like I checked a lot of items off the list today, Dale points over to the wall and says, "there's the rest of the trim that needs to be painted."  Well That's Fantastic.

We're thinking a deep burgundy for the top of the building.  And we may leave that to the professionals.  That is WAY UP there!!

Poor Dale has to tear down the scaffolding after every time we use it.  Which has been a lot the last couple of weeks.

Random thought as I was painting the window above the door today...  I looked in the window at all the cobwebs and dead bugs (eeeeww) and realized there will come a day that I'll be on the inside looking out because I will be painting in there.  Never a shortage of work.  Thank goodness!

And look what appeared!  We have a vine that just sprang up recently and it has flowers!  And it's mid-October!  

Tomorrow (did I mention that Dale's GOLFING?!?!), the window sills on the second floor will be painted and if that gets finished, maybe it'll be time to start stripping the doors.  We'll see what the day brings!

Tuck Pointing

I think this has been covered before, but I want to explain tuck pointing again because it is amazing the work that has to go into it.  We didn't know the INSIDE of the building would need the repairs it has needed, but we're very lucky to have had Craig Jones (Jonesy) come into our lives because he is doing an AMAZING job on the brick!!

Today Craig spent the entire day chiseling out all the old mortar between every brick. You can only imagine the dust!

Here's what an entire wall looks like after removing the old mortar.

Again.... Craig must go around each and every brick on the wall.

If you look closely, notice on the right side of the picture that new cement has been added back in around EVERY brick!  I don't know how he does this tedious work day after day, but I am so thankful he does!

Dale installed the new windows along the alley today.  Between the windows and Craig's work, it's really starting to look like the building we have envisioned for the past two years!  Can you imagine how beautiful these offices will be?!?!?!

Another shot of the work the Dale and Craig accomplished today.

You know that door that we always come in from the deck?  I've taken many pics from this vantage point.  I still can't get over the amount of light coming in from the new windows!

That bathtub still hasn't moved from the original bathroom.  And the new bathroom will still be located in this spot.

The brickwork in this picture has new cement and is complete.

This is a shot of the front corner.  It's the corner of the building that is closest to Vintage on Bridge.

I was very hard on myself thinking that I just couldn't fill nail holes properly.  As it turns out, the paint store led me astray, but thanks to Rich Gallus (Gallus Painting) I'm back on track and the nail filler material he recommended is a joy to work with!  Now I need to sand and touch-up so that it looks somewhat decent for the winter-- we don't plan on painting the second coat until next Spring.

I really thought we'd take Sunday off for a little R&R.  NOT.  Just saw the forecast and we can't pass up this incredible weather so instead, you'll find us out in front painting more of the building!