The Heroic Journey: Painting the House

We have embarked upon the Heroic Journey of Painting The House.

 

1.       The Call: Bubbling paint. Cracked windows.  Weird brown seeping through some paint—is that water damage? It is time.

2.       Gathering of Allies:  The pandemic. After all, what else do I have to do? I am not going anywhere, so I may as well do something useful. I bought the paint in March.

3.       Guardian of the Threshold:  Should I hire help? In the past, I have hired a high school student to help out. They needed to be reliable, reasonably tidy, trustworthy over my head with a can of paint, and entertaining. No one wants to be caught on a hot wall with a kid talking about a video game.  But, with the pandemic, it seemed dicey to try and hire someone, so we are on our own.

4.       Road of Trials:  Where to start?

a.       The Very Wet Wood by the bathroom window required the replacement of four boards.

b.      The cracked windows have been both difficult to remove—why is the glazing so tight around broken panes and so loose around solid ones, every time?—and replace, as we clearly cannot measure correctly.

c.       Dead caulking everywhere. I have pulled out long pieces of dead caulk above the windows and under some clapboards.

5.       The Gift: Going wall by wall to completion. I started on the front wall behind the grape vines in early April, so that was completed before the vines grew out. Having an area done and back in order was so gratifying that I decided to use that plan all along. I pull part a wall, trim back the plants, wash, scrape, glaze and caulk, paint, and reassemble. It glows. Then I admire for a day and move on. The mess is contained, too.

6.       Transformation: Will come, with a house that, once again, glows like a nasturtium in November.

7.        Return with Glory: House done. Time to move onto the shed. Or maybe the rental windows? And the process begin again….