Moving forward--meetings, scraping, shopping and more.

Picked up Sam at Dover train station last night.  He zoomed back from NYC to be at my meeting  with George and Karl, the plumber, this morning.

We had many plans and lists from Sarah--plans for the new bathroom and kitchen and lists of fixtures and appliances to be installed therein. After weeks of so little movement (George was finishing up another job, Karl was kept busy repairing lightning damaged water pumps), it felt like progress was on hand.

We walked through the house, marveling (as we always do) at the wreckage and weirdness that permeates all things.  Karl will give us some kind of staged estimate next week--and if all things are more or less as expected (not cheap, but broken down enough so we can manage the beginnings), we will proceed.

Buoyed by the meeting, we first headed out to do a couple of chores--bringing the garbage to the end of the road, a visit to our favorite farm stand to buy tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, basil and parsley, then a spin to Ideal Farms for still more garlic scapes and home where I made completely superior French toast with slices from the brioche loaf we'd bought at Fairway last week and a delicious salad of red and yellow tomatoes and basil purchased (and we are assuming picked) just hours before.

Now--we are really moving forward.  Sam is scraping like a champion.  We did a fair amount of research on stripping paint.  Our conclusion:  for elaborate trim and molding, there are no shortcuts. We are planning to repaint, so there is really no need to get down to the bare wood (if we were going to stain it in its original glory that would be mandatory), but the paint was put on so poorly, and comes off so raggedly, that we do get down to the wood in most areas.    There are all sorts of chemicals, heat guns, specially made pieces of heating equipment to address this task, but due to the lack of flat surfaces in our project, we don't really have that much choice.  Last summer I'd bought a soy based paint stripper which I had used unsuccessfully on the floor of the screened in porch.  After days of scraping, we gave up and ended up hiring someone with a fine sanding machine to do the job.  But this year, using the stripper   We have an array of quite good tools.  A scraper with many different shaped blades as well as an assortment of putty scrapers, razor blades, etc.

There is tons of discussion on the internet about various methods and techniques.  Some methods might be better or less toxic than others, but for this kind of trim work, there are no pleasant solutions. 

Sam is much more adept than I, but I try to do my bit while also shopping on-line for bathroom fixtures--sinks, faucets, etc.  More on all that soon enough.