Not-So-School Desks

Months ago (and months and months...) I picked up these two mis-matched old school desks at a thrift store.  I brought them home with the idea that they would get incorporated into a really neat little area in our attic; a writing nook with bookshelves and cozy reading spots.

Unfortunately, that area still only exists in my imagination, so they moved from the truck straight into the garage.

And sat there for months.

Then one day last month, since I was already wearing painting clothes, I dragged them out of the garage, cleaned them off, and prepped the one I wanted to paint.

I papered and taped all the wood to protect it from over-spray, shooed away the cats and the kids, and went to work.

One can of black spray paint and a few minutes later, I had an almost matching set of desks!

When the paint was dry, the desks moved...

back into the garage.

Last week, I finally had a chance to work inside, and I created a spot for them on our landing.

My two oldest daughters promptly claimed them and filled them with paper, notebooks, pencils, and dozens of unfinished stories.

It's not the cozy little nook in the attic that I'd imagined,

but it'll do for now!

Almost...But Not Quite...Done!

Not so very long ago (although it sure feels like it!), 

our house looked like this:

It was less "log house" and more of a "brown-house-with-bumpy-walls" kind of look.

Now, after a very busy, labor intensive summer,

it looks more like this:

A lot more of an "Oh look, a log house!" kind of look.

Although it looks done, it's not really, because I'm still spending insane amounts of time doing this:

masking and then sealing the checks in the logs.

But we're almost...just not quite...done!

Reading Record: September

And Then...

 While my husband sealed around the windows and doors,

and put up trim,

 I went around behind him masking and caulking all the trim,

 and then I stained and sealed it.

Tomorrow I will finish sealing the last of the logs and trim along the front of the house, 

and then I can concentrate on sealing more checks.

(Not to mention all the other big projects that are left on the list...sigh.)

***

Just for fun:

This is what you get when you give my second daughter a camera and ask her to try to get a picture of the paintbrush in action.

Not exactly what I had in mind, but artistic, nonetheless!

Reading Record: August

The Last Week

After the borate solution dried, we washed the logs to prep them for staining,

my husband got the staining done on three sides of the house

(he's still working on the front because we had to order more stain),

the log ends were sealed,

we applied sealer over the stain,

I filled in and sealed all of the butt joints,

and for the rest of my life a few more weeks I will be filling in checks (aka cracks) in the logs.

If you don't hear from me for a while, either my fingers are covered in goop and I can't type or I'm curled up in a chair with aching muscles and can't get up...except to go to bed!

The Last Five Weeks

Since July 24 we've been doing a lot of:

trim board removal

(and old nest removal from behind them...birds, bees, yellow jackets, and mice),

paint stripper application,

pressure washing

(aka paint and old finish removal),

sanding,

borating

(application of borate solution using a sprayer...that's borating, right?),

and the never-ending chore of removing old caulking from between the logs.

Wait, did I mention the never-ending chore of removing old caulking from between the logs?

Oh, I did?

Never mind then, I won't mention it again.