Newest house update.

Winter is coming to a close, but we just got a reminder that it isn’t quite gone yet. I spent the weekend in Denver with my daughter before sending her off to visit family for spring break. Unfortunately for me, it started snowing just as her plane took off, so I had the pleasure of driving back to Santa Fe through a blizzard. Castle Rock north of Colorado Springs was hard hit, but so was everything south of Pueblo. 25-40 mph on roads that are normally 75 mph, with 1/4 mile visibility and blowing snow everywhere. I made it over Raton Pass into New Mexico, thankfully, because once they close Raton Pass it could be a couple of days before re-opening.

The snow isn’t so bad here at home, but it is a reminder that winter isn’t quite over. I got home so late last night that, combined with the cold and snow,I had no motivation to work on the house today, so I am inside for the day.

I pulled a muscle in my back a few weeks ago, so I’ve been slowed down a bit, but I have managed to do some good stuff. Taking off the last few days has helped a lot.

I’ve put most of the vine work on the walls. By this I mean I have used stucco base to make a vine pattern over where the electrical wires were run. The vines will act as a guide to prevent drilling into wires in the walls. My daughter wants to paint them once the finish coat is on, that should be fun.

So far, I have put a finish coat of stucco on the main kitchen wall, all of the closets, and five of the six skylight channels. The last one is so tall that I think I’ll just paint it. In case you were wondering, finish stucco can be applied inside if you want a more textured look. It looks like a finish plaster coat, knocked down but not totally smooth. I used a color called colonial white, which is a white with black flecks in it. I want white in the skylight boxes, and this is what was available. The supply stores will not start getting new stock of stucco finish coat until next month, I was lucky they had this stuff available.

I also managed to start the process of putting trim on the insides of the windows, as you can see in a picture here. Just a little piece of quarter round to cover the seams. That job will take some time for all of the windows, I’ll finish that after the walls and floor.

Lastly, looking at this picture of the hallway, you can see something about my work process. Given that I am building this house for myself and not a client, and no one is living in it right now, I am spending as little time as possible cleaning up. That’s one of the first things that goes when you are on your own. I basically wait until things are unbearably messy to the point where working is inconvenient, then I spend time cleaning up to get things back in shape. If I were working on someone else’s house, or working on a house someone was living in, I would not have this luxury, but since I do, I’m maximizing work time and making the most of cleanup time.

The rest of the week will be dedicated to stucco work, and maybe floor work depending on how far I get. I am going to be dead tired by Sunday!