Cleaning Up

It's time to get serious. Spring has arrived and the weather is gorgeous. I spent last night at The Beast and it was very comfortable even though I used the electric blanket for sleeping. I got to The Beast later in the afternoon on Saturday....around 2 p.m. I spent about 4 hours in the back yard burning sticks, leaves and tree leftovers from previous tenants and owners. The city allows for yard waste burning on the weekends so I had to take advantage. I eliminated about a third of the pile. Some of the pile turned out to be a mulchy mixture of rotten leaves and dirt so I moved that back along the stone wall and around the redbud tree. It's going to take another couple of Saturday burnings to get rid of the whole pile but all I have is time.

Later in the evening, after changing into my pjs (because I smelled like yucky smoke), I started cleaning the dining room and library walls, patching holes and slight cracks... and resurfacing. It is coming along quite well and The Beast feels so good now that the walls are beginning to look fresh and clean.



Here are some before/after pictures. I used my camera in my Eris Droid phone for the photos to experiment and gauge the quality of the images. I think they turned out quite well.

The walls are turning out nicely. I found a "tip" on some lady's DIY blog about fixing the hairline fractures in old school plaster walls and thus far her advice is working out nicely. After patching the nail holes and small chips (and large cracks) with plaster or fill in type goop... the lady suggested resurfacing the plaster walls with a mixture of joint compound and water. She showed a picture of her old walls before and after she had "painted" on the joing compound. It looked really great so I tried it and viola'. You stick a pile of joint compound in your paint pan and mix in water until the compound becomes thinner to a pudding consistency. Then, you just roll it on like paint. It gives you a nice, light texture (depending on the type of roller you use) and the compound oozes into the slight fractures and becomes one with the wall. It covers up the fractures and you have a brand new lovely surface. When working with this substance you MUST make sure the wall is totally clean. If there is any old patching plaster on the wall, the joint compound mixture will roll it off and make an uneven surface. The compound is pretty sticky but it rolls on easily and dries quickly. Depending on what shape the wall is in....you might need more than one coat before primer and paint. I have used two coats on most areas so far. Hopefully, in 6 months all the cracks won't suddenly reappear.... however, the lady I got the tip from was very enthusiastic and her walls looked fabulous.