Autumn came back this week and it was much appreciated…not quite ready for the winter spell we had.
Mums
The mums in the back yard have burst out in a real show of colors. They’ve multiplied a lot since I set them out last year. They are, however, a call to us to finish all the outside projects, so that’s exactly what our agenda was today.
Willow is here, so her project du jour was painting the siding under the wrap around porches.
Willow's a good painter
They don’t really show, but that was the point of painting them dark green. They essentially disappeared.
House foundation under the porches
She did a great job and was pretty fast. It was a pleasant day, so working under the porch wasn’t too bad.
Willow's green thumb..fingers...hands....
She’s a good painter, but kinda messy! It all comes off with a little “GOOP” and a fingernail brush. Good to have that done…it’s finished under there! Yay!
While Willow painted under the porch, John got busy with the trim around the back porch and down the side of the sun porch.
Just a little more outside trim
Hopefully he can finish that tomorrow.
I started grouting the tile on the front porch.
Grouting the front porch
We had already applied two good coats of sealer this week, but because the grout is black, I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to clean the haze off. Not bad at all.
Grouted and cleaned
The final clean up was done by rubbing the tile with microfiber shop rags. Those things are great. You never have to worry about them leaving lint on anything, and unless we get paint or poly on them, they wash and clean up very well.
We used an enhancing sealer on the 6″ tiles because we wanted to highlight them, but the rest of the tiles were sealed with a regular penetrating sealer. They cleaned up very nicely. John and Willow helped clean them, so I just kept grouting.
Finished front porch tile
We mitered the edge tiles and wrapped them down over the first riser and the apron past the stairs. It finishes the space very well.
Earlier in the week, I added the “back-splash” around the tub.
Tub "black-splash"
The pattern just runs around the tub and stops at either end where the walls turn back.
Tile around tub
I tried to clean them well as I set them, so hopefully it will require very little effort to finish cleaning and sealing them.
Tub tile
I want to do that ASAP so we can permanently install the tub.
Tomorrow’s project for Willow and me is to pebble dash the last wall on the lower level. It’ll take us several hours, but is kinda fun.
Our lists are getting shorter and the weather’s getting cooler. We still have plenty to do, but we’re making progress every day, and trying to have a little fun along the way.
The Fly
I don’t know when move-in day is yet, but I know it’s getting closer!