A touch of green

After a little break with a couple of rainy days then weekend visits to both sides of the family, Robin is back in the painting mode again.  He is pleased to report that the four walls of the house have received their four coats of paint.  Now he is doing the fiddly bits down low and up high, and adding a touch of green.  It may have taken a bit of bending and kneeling, but the base boards were quite easy to paint.  The formerly white plastic cover over the gas meter is now painted green too, mind you, it was rather splashed with coloured primer.

Painting the base boards

I joined the work crew today and held on to the ladder for stability while Robin was reaching for the stars.  Or maybe that should be, reaching for the barge board.  The apex of the house in the front is quite high and he has a fear of heights.  After applying a little bit of putty to fill up the cracks that time and weather have created, the next job was to sand it down and make it nice and smooth again.  (It’s not easy taking a photo with one hand while holding on to the ladder for dear life with the other hand). 

Sanding down the barge board

Then the first of the top coats was applied, changing the colour from the original yellow to green.  It was a matter of climbing up the ladder, working on the bit he could reach, climbing down again, moving the ladder along, and starting all over again.  No wonder he was complaining of sore legs.

Up the ladder painting

All this took a couple of hours, with me there to help hold the ladder steady.  Robin is not really comfortable up a ladder, so I was happy to help and offer some support.  The sun comes around to the front of the house in the afternoon making the conditions too hot to add the second coat, so we will repeat all this tomorrow morning.  In the meantime, the lawns need mowing.  Oh dear, I think he needs a holiday.