Window prepping & painting

What a great feeling, a huge sense of achievement!!  We have finished the laundry, kitchen and dining room windows and french doors!!

The mammoth task started with me paint stripping the windows weeks ago!!

haha, that's me in action!

Dave also removed a lot of the old putty too as it had hardened, cracked and some of it had just fallen out! Then muggins here, was wiping down one of the pains one day, being very gentle, and while doing so my hand went straight through the glass!  Ooops! I was very lucky I didn't cut myself, just a bit shaken.  Thankfully I was wearing rubber gloves at the time.  A phone call later and a glazier turned up to replace the pain for me in the afternoon.

That weekend Dave re-puttyed all the window frames.

Over Labour weekend we started the undercoating on the windows and french door.  Once dried I sanded them down and put on the first top coat.  I sanded them again and applied the final top coat.

Dave undercoating the kitchen window

dining room french door undercoated

Last Tuesday, I finished painting the kitchen and laundry window, inside and out ready for the kitchen to be installed on the Thursday.  Though the kitchen didn't end up getting installed, ahhhh!!! There was a delay in getting the panels from the painters!!! We've been promised it will now be installed on Monday.  Fingers and toes crossed!!!

Instead of masking all the window panes we are painting the glass then removing the paint from the glass with a paint scraping knife... it probably takes a bit longer than masking but you get a better finish.

The windows are looking so much better... look at the comparison above, white vs the mucky brown that used to be on the window frames! Above you can also see a sample of what were going to paint the weatherboards, its called Delta by Resene.  I think it will look really smart once completed.  I hope so anyhow!!

I also removed all the window latches, as they were covered in paint and a little rusty!

I took the following steps to polish the latches up.

1. Soaked in a jar of Coopers paint stripper for a couple of hours.
2. Rinsed in a jar of Coopers flusher.
3. Soaked in a jar of Coca Cola for several hours!!! (Just think what this does to your stomach!!!)
4. Rinsed in warm water.
5. Dried off.
6. Scrubbed with steel wool.

Voila they are all nice and shiny again!!

This weekend we finished painting, inside and out, the dining room french door, windows and outside side lounge windows.

North side lounge windows

North side dining windows, the two on the right.

Wow what a difference the white window frames make vs the brown window frames upstairs!!!  Can't wait to attack the upstairs!!  Think we will have to hire a cherry picker to do these, instead of scaffolding!!!  I will have to make some enquiries.

Dave also prepped and painted the kitchen/laundry sliding door.

Were getting there!!!