Exterior base coat DONE! Interior plaster and painting continues. Lots more to be done; shares needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

That is what the remaining two sides of the house look like this evening. Philip brought a couple of extra guys today, and they had the west side (that's the shorter side, on the right) done within two hours. He also brought barbecued brisket for them to eat, plus dessert made by his wife. We've already scheduled the color coat: July 7th, which, if memory serves, will be exactly one year and one day after the first physical construction began on this house. 

There's still a long way to go.

In the meantime, remember that terrible patchy east wall in the kitchen? This is what it looks like now:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

In addition to the nine guys on Philip's crew, Sherm brought two with him, so we had a literal dozen people working here today. And Sherm and his guys were rockin' the slick finish. Because of the exterior plaster, we've had to take the front door off the hinges and leave it off, and the wind is drying the interior plaster really, really fast. They made it look like silk and velvet simultaneously. There's a lot more to go, but they made serious progress today.

We made . . . hmmm, a little less progress, but still progress upstairs:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

I got the two biggest walls covered with the metallic finish. I still have to do the other three, and while one is completely doable, the second can be done only part of the way, and the third (a small space) not at all. The ceiling is also not complete. Why? Because we ran out of paint, and this is a small town, where the hardware store closes on the Sunday of a holiday weekend.

Theoretically, it should have been more than enough paint. But with the texture on the walls (and with the heavy-nap rollers that have to be used as a result), it's impossible to gauge perfectly. This time, we were off by maybe a third of a gallon. Tuesday.

Speaking of what else couldn't be done today, and what did get done in spite of all common sense (or at least fear on my part):

Taping off the back wall of the stairwell. No, I didn't do it. Wings did it: on the right side, with the tall stepladder; on the left, with the extension ladder placed about four steps lower, and with Sherm holding it from the front and me holding it underneath. And I sweated bullets every second he was up there. Of course, I'm going to have to go up there, but the guys are gonna build me a scaffold to do it. Because the two side walls? The blue/silver/blue combo. The back wall? All metallics, in a neutral tones-ish combo. Which means that I have to be the one to do it.

This has been an incredibly expensive weekend here, with a big check out the door to Philip today, and more for Sherm's crew tomorrow. Tony and Reynaldo are back on Tuesday to pick up on their part of the work. We've got a long way to go to be able to live in it, which means that we continue to need consistent daily shares. Here are all the links:

• First, to donate, the PayPal link is here. 
• Second, for sales (which we really need to make, and I'll be highlighting some of his high-end stuff on the site this week), the link to Wings's site (preferably with a testimonial, if you have some of his work), because sales are gonna keep this thing rolling. 
• And finally, the link to our wishlist (which badly needs updating), with an emphasis on the Lowe's gift cards, because those are what will help us pay for all the stuff that will make this place liveable, like a water heater and flooring and so forth. A note here: I really do dislike Home Depot, but they have a terrific tile that would work for pretty much the entire downstairs (except the bathroom) that's less than a third of the price of a lot of what's comparable from Lowe's. So I might need to add them to the wishlist, too, much as it pains me.

As I've also been saying, we need to make some sales, and sales of some of Wings's bigger-ticket items would go a very, very long way toward this phase (the most expensive of the entire process, unfortunately). We've been blessed with a couple of sales this week, and this weekend I've posted Wings's two latest works. I haven't even had time yet to do a separate post for the new micaceous pottery by a member of his extended family. Please share them as they go up; his new work in particular is pretty spectacular. I have more work this evening, and I have to get on it. Many thanks and much love to everyone.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.