peeling paint on the ceiling
peeling paint on the handrails
Step 1. Scrape the Peeling Paint
Using a painter's tool and a step stool, I got to work scraping away the peeling paint on the ceiling - which is horribly miserable work to do because the paint flakes just keep falling in your eyes. And then if it's hot (which of course it was) the paint chips stick to you and it's just horrible. Once that misery was done, I was much happier to get to work scraping the handrails smooth, using a sanding block to get all the flaking paint off. While I was there, I decided to grab a hacksaw and remove the curlicues on the handrails, which were no longer all-the-way attached anyway. Then I just swept all the paint chips away, and hosed down the whole area and let it dry.
curlicues that were only halfway on
Step 2. Repaint
For the ceiling, I rolled on a new coat of stain-blocking ceiling paint. Again, working on ceilings is miserable because stuff is constantly falling in your eyes, but this was relatively easy because it was such a small space. Once it was done - I pulled out a can of black spray paint for the handrails. I don't often use spray paint and probably would have preferred just a can of paint to use instead, since I lost so much time trying to cover and protect everything - which still didn't work very well. The only nice part was that it took like 5 minutes to spray everything once the area was all covered and prepped.
newly painted ceiling - no more paint flakes
newly painted handrail - all shiney and non-flakey
no more curlicues
Well, not surprisingly, it was a mistake to start this project by painting the floor before painting the ceiling and handrails. I dripped ceiling paint and over-sprayed the handrail paint, and ended up messing up my floor. So I quickly grabbed a brush and touched up the key areas, making the floor nice again. I figured another coat of paint would only be helpful anyway.
yipes. obvious advice: paint the ceiling before the floor.
Step 4. Make Privacy Curtains
So, then I opted to make some curtains to give us privacy from our neighbors, who come and go often through their back door just on the other side of the handrail. Since it does get a bit of sun, I picked a sunbrella fabric in a fun blueish grey color, and just made simple unlined, grommet drapes. To keep them from blowing all over the place, I made tie backs using leftover velcro. I hung them with a standard tension rod (shower curtain rod), so that we didn't have to drill into the brick. The only trick here was that I was using a much heavier, outdoor fabric so my cheapo sewing machine struggled a bit on some of the seams - but going slowly and backing into the thicker seams worked great.
you just can't complete a sewing project in this house without help from Wally.
tie-backs with velcro
new curtains up and looking great
We have a team of contractors on site working on other stuff in the house (which I'll fill you in on next), so we asked them to add an outlet for the porch while they were here. So while we sat in nicely air-conditioned offices without any paint chips or dirt falling in our faces, they installed a lovely outlet that is mostly hidden from view - which will allow us to string up some fun lights to brighten the space at night.
new outlet - tucked behind the plant ladder
So, now this porch is officially finished. There is no flaking paint in sight, so I feel ok about the boy being out here. And since I no longer see a long list of to-do's when I sit out here, we can definitely enjoy it as well. The only other fix I would like to see is nicer patio furniture - but we can wait on that. Moving on - I'll update you on what the contractor has been up to, and then we turn our efforts to the sleeping porch.
no paint flakes to be seen
plant ladder in all its glory
oh- and happy 4th - cuz this definitely happened.
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