Aluminum Windows

Our firehouse has (5) 4'x4' single pane windows with aluminum frames. They are divided in half horizontally and the lower portion opens outward. My plan is to paint the frames black as well as the wood casing/sill (soon to be installed) and narrow (3/4") trim. 

Like so (pic from Schoolhouse Electric catalog):

Currently, we have 1 frame still coated in nicotine (previous occupant was a smoker); 1 scrubbed and ready to paint; 1 painted.

Nicotine build up on aluminum frame (identified by my mother, of all people...):

To clean nicotine off a window frame, I wiped with acetone (worked very well), then sanded with metal sand paper, then wiped with acetone again.

Before and after of acetone wipe:

To paint aluminum frame, Adam taped off the window glass and sprayed first with a layer of matte black spray paint, then 2-3 coats of "hammered metal" black spray paint.

We actually aren't "finished" with any of the windows...because we still have to paint the part that opens and the outside. Baby steps.

We just got the slider framed, too!

Arlie and Ezzie

Grill Man

Today was a good day. 

We went to the library and checked out several Little Bear books. It was the first show Elliott ever watched and I think we have seen them all...so time to read them :)

Then we rushed home and our carpenters installed a few more boards for our shiplap hallway. I LOVE how it is looking. Even though I am not installing it, I have put so many hours in already. Each board is at least 2 hours of work, plus all the dry times between coats, so it takes me about a week to get 6 boards since I mainly work at night when kids are asleep and house is clean. blah blah blah. (I haven't kept my blog up to date on our firehouse remodel, which is sad, but I will start now.)

Then, kids napped while I painted, sanded, stained ship lap. We rode bikes outside. The weather is nice and spring-y so Elliott and I grilled veggie burgers for dinner. Adam is working late.

We have a million things to do*...but I'm slowly making progress and I'm happy.

*I need to paint 32 more shiplap boards; scour the nicotine off 3 aluminum windows and paint them before tomorrow. I don't think that will happen, but I'll get started :)

Post Publish update: Adam and I stayed up until 4 am arguing, cursing, moaning, scrubbing, and painting one of the windows. It was somewhat successful...but still not sure if we will re-do it. In an attempt to speed up the process, too much spray paint was added without the proper wait time and a couple sections are goopy. Originally I wanted a black/blue window, frame and sill/casing contrasted with white trim...but we went with a black. It will match the house better since our floors are black and we will have a lot of metal. It is a "hammered metal" black spray paint, so it has texture. Some parts of the window look really good. 

I seem to frequently squeeze 2 or 3 days into one day.

More photos from the day:

current tabs

I have a problem with tabs...meaning, I always have a million tabs open on my internet browser. Right now, I have 19 tabs open, and here is a selection of them:
Typical tabs: Gmail, Gcalendar, Remember the milk lists.
Martha Stewart Cinco de Mayo recipes like enchiladas, tortilla and black bean pie, cilantro rice.
Dottie Angel's flicker photostream.
Day Out with Thomas - just found out about this and thought Elliott would love to ride a real train.
Index of all Thomas & Friends trains. Elliott has no idea this even exists. He is going to devour it tomorrow!
Northwest Railway Museum has a Santa Train!!!!! and they run normal trains every weekend. How did I not know about this?! There is a Mother's Day special next week: Mom's ride free when accompanied by a paying child :)
...and then a purely personal indulgence: Icelandic National Costumes. Nothing about family dinner, or child entertainment...but all about me sewing myself a traditional Icelandic outfit.

It's almost 1 am and I wasted a few good hours of sleep (or painting ship lap) but somehow still feels worth it.