Ye Olde Red Brick House

I haven't stripped paint for several months as it's just too cold to open the windows for ventilation. It's a gorgeous 57 degrees today but feels like it's freezing inside this old house. brrr Today, I cleaned the last 2 sections of plate rails and also cleaned up some of the crevices. Except for the window frames, I am completely done with the stripping part of the dining room! Hoping to tackle the windows next weekend... however, Brittany is due on February 5th, I may be a little busy if miss Everly decides to come early. :)

Christmas was wonderful! We went Austin and Brittanys' house on Christmas morning and I made pancakes, bacon and coffee. I love my little family so much!  My decorations this year:     At Brittany and Austins house on Christmas morning.

Jewell still thinks that raking is 'fun'. 

Even though I haven't blogged about it, I did strip paint for 2 Sundays since my last post. My family and I also went to the mountains one weekend for my oldest daughters 30th birthday. It was nice to get away from the valley for a few days! My two daughters and grand-daughters: My progress: I only have that tiny little section on the bottom to strip! But, the cleaning of the wood will take several Sundays. I'm almost done with this side of the room!

Another Sunday, another day of stripping paint in the dining room. I lathered the first window up with Citristrip and let it soak in for about 30 minutes. I won't dare use the heat gun around my old glass. I got the last 2 panels stripped! Getting the Citristrip residue of the window took an entire hour and a half. I hate, make that HATE getting the residue off. I use mineral spirits. I am considering buying the stuff specifically for removing the Citristrip residue. It was pretty expensive.... but so is my time. The hardest part of paint stripping are the curved edges. If it weren't for curves, I'd get a lot more done in 4 1/2 hours! 

I stripped paint in the Dining Room for about 5 hours yesterday, but there were a few breaks in there due to paint stripper exhumes trying to kill me. I got quite a bit done. It would go so much quicker if I didn't have to use Citristrip as it is such a messy and not so fun job cleaning the residue off of the wood. Cleaning up after the heat gun is so much easier! I was extremely happy to see that the window frame is redwood as well. (The window frame in my bedroom was not redwood, therefore it was painted). I'm thinking about 4 more Sundays of paint stripping this side of the room and I can start sanding/cleaning the wood for staining.

Being that I only strip paint on Sunday's (my five year old grand-daughter lives with me and I don't like her to be around the fumes), this paint stripping project goes on and on and on.... I will be so glad when I'm completely done and can paint my dining room red and white. Hopefully by Christmas. :) Today, I am going to strip as much paint as I can in this area: