Family Project 2011

On August 18th, Danny and I met my brother, Al, and my two sisters (Louise and Rancie) at Al and Marilyn's new home they are building in Madison, Mississippi. We had been planning and looking forward to assisting Al in painting his house using the professional paint sprayer that Danny had. Before we arrived, we had visions of beautifully painted walls, quick work, and plenty of leisure time for visiting! HA! Were we ever mistaken! Now, don't get me wrong, we did so enjoy helping out and had some fun along the way, but we worked and worked and worked in heat and humidity! Much was accomplished and we were thankful that we could help. Here are some photos to document our work.




The house design is based on a lower Louisiana style, and it has around 3,000 SF. It has a large open living room, dining room, breakfast room and kitchen. A mud room, half bath, and a large pantry are between the kitchen and the back entry. To the left of the living room is the master suite which includes the bedroom, two master closets (one is reinforced to be a safe room), master bath and a large craft room. There is also a guest bedroom and bath down the hallway from the entry. To the left of the front door is the stairway that lead to a bedroom, office, sitting room, a storage room and a bath.

Al is pictured left as he was finishing up sheet rock patching where some light switches had to be moved. Marilyn is shown below bring lunch for all.

Here is the beginning project - All nail holes in the baseboards, crown molding, door frames, window frames, kitchen cabinets, craft room cabinets, pantry shelves, bath cabinets, closet cabinets and mud room cabinet had to be filled and sanded. Crown molding and all trim work had to also be caulked before primer was applied.

Here are four of us resting and enjoying lunch. Don't we look cute?

Louise was filling in nail holes in one of the closets. She always looked great, but can't say the same about the rest of us.

Al and Danny are covering the bead board kitchen ceiling so over spray wouldn't get on it when Danny sprayed primer.

Once the caulking and nail hole filling was mostly finished downstairs, Danny began to spray primer. He was extra hot since he had to wear a vinyl lined paint suit, goggles and a mask!

Cabinet doors and drawer fronts had to be prepared for primer on the fronts and backs and then primed. Once that dried, they had to be sanded and wiped down before the enamel paint could be sprayed.

Of course, the same had to be done to all the interior doors as well.

This photo is of the kitchen with the primer applied. We look back and laugh at how silly we were to think that we would be through in a week. CRAZY US! BUT during that week, we were able to make a huge dent in all the work that had to be completed before the "Pretty" painting was done. Both Al and Marilyn were very appreciative for our assistance.

Their beautiful house is sitting on about 6 acres out in a country subdivision next door to their good friends. A lovely pond on the neighbors' land is visible from Al and Marilyn's house. What a peaceful setting!

After a full week of work, Danny and I (tired but happy) headed toward Memphis on August 26th to see our kids and to attend Keith's sister's wedding. Another satisfying trip in the summer of 2011 was finished!