Category Archives: Reno

It’s Not Easy Being Green

June 26, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

Our house became green (primer green, not paint green) in many steps. Each step below is a different day, and often there were several days in between each step.

Here’s the original yellow house:

Then, step 1 (you can read all about my reaction here: http://702parkproject.com/2013/06/14/im-in-love-with-a-stripper/):

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Step 6:

Now all that’s left is this one sad little window. I’m hoping that was finished today! You know, I said I hated this color, but the more I look at it, the more I see the resemblance to my dream house…

I still want the green to be a little more saturated, but we’re definitely getting closer!

The Official One-Month Report

June 20, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

Happy anniversary to us!! We started work on the house exactly one month ago today. What a difference a month makes!! I can’t believe how much has already happened. Here are a few shots I snapped this week.

The house is still two different shades, which makes for an interesting sight:

The brick on the front porch, the front porch ceiling, and the front porch trim have all gotten their first coat of primer and are already looking cleaner.

Almost all of the plaster throughout the entire house has at least been touched. Much of it has been filled in.

The house is still very messy, but it is starting to look more like organized chaos than just a total train wreck.

Lastly, we had to remove our mailbox from the house so the painters could get started, and getting our mail (still intact) has been a huge issue since then. So this past weekend, we bought a standard little mailbox and stuck it in the yard. No more mail problems!!

I also started a “wish list” board for the house on Pinterest. Some things are ridiculously priced and will never happen, but some are actually achievable. I realized I had tons of pictures that showed my tastes and hopes for the new house, but not really any actual products I’d like to buy. The new wish list covers that! I’m pretty sure I will be creating my annual Christmas list from this board for years to come!! Check it out at http://pinterest.com/sarahgshouse/wish-list/

Photo Link

June 19, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

No new photos today…just wanted to add this link to my menu.

Check out lots of before, during, and (eventually) after photos at http://702parkproject.shutterfly.com!

An Update and Some Pictures

June 17, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

I hope yall had a super weekend! Mine was great because I got to see my husband (who took a one-night break from studying), we found out the sex of our good friends’ baby (it’s a boy!), and I got to celebrate Father’s Day with both my father and father-in-law. But most of all, NC State beat the crap out of UNC!! Woop woop!! Hate those Tarholes!

But back to the house…I headed over Saturday morning for a photo shoot. You can see all of the pics on my Shutterfly site: http://702parkproject.shutterfly.com/. Here are a few of the highlights.

1. We have electricity in the whole house now! The electrician built us a sweet little panel in the attic for easy access. I especially LOVE the old-timey light switches!

2. We have running water (and flushing toilets)!

3. Our basement is finally (relatively) dry, but needs a whole lot of cleanup!!

4. We are now VERY secure. In addition to the alarm system for the whole house, the basement is now wired to the alarm system, and we have several exterior motion lights.

5. Our house is half mint green. (See previous post about the primer.)

6. Our house is a MESS!!

I’m Not in Love with a Stripper

June 14, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

I’m in love with a primer.

I was just so excited to share the mint green house with all of you that I didn’t wait to hear back from the contractor on what it actually was. (Although I did do some research and found several chemical primers tinted the same color…so it was an educated guess!) I can see him cracking up, imagining my freak out when I thought it was paint.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the peel stop primer:

1. It locks down peeling paint (we have that)

2. It seals any worn, cracked, or weather surface (we definitely have that)

3. It is much thicker, usually 3 times thicker, than regular primer so it provides a smoother surface (we need that)

4. It dries very quickly (we need that)

Also, since I last posted, we got an update on the progress. The electrician started work in the attic this week, and will do the bulk of his work next week. They are hoping to start on repairing/replacing the soffits next week as well. Plaster repair will continue and hopefully not take too much longer. First we were crawling, then taking baby steps, and now we are definitely running! Let’s hope it stays that way for a while!

I’m in Love with a Stripper

June 14, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

Sorry, I just had a flashback to my T-Pain-loving days in high school! I’m back now…

I feel like each day after work, I have an adventure. I commute back to town and I truly never know what I’m going to find at the house! It’s kind of like a little game I play. Yesterday, I pulled up to this:

Needless to say, I was a little shocked. In the back of my mind, I knew that there was no way the house was ready for paint yet, but I gave our paint colors to the contractor last week, so I started to freak out a little bit. Yes, I have picked out a green for the house, but this is MINT and not at all what I chose. But when I got closer to check it out, I saw that paint was on all the wood, including the trim…not just the siding. I chatted with my neighbor a bit and he assured me that it was the chemical paint stripper we had talked about. So I very quickly went from WTF to YAYYY!! So that’s why I’m in love with a stripper.

I feel kind of lucky that I got to see the house in this color, though. In choosing our colors, we considered a more minty green, but ended up going with a deeper sea foam green. After seeing this, I feel sure that we made the right choice!

I also walked in to find that they have put tape around all of the plaster cracks to help hold them in place. (Again, sorry for the bad iPhone pics. I promise to go over for a photo shoot this weekend!)

I hope y’all have a great weekend!