Awn til dusk

I got up at the crack of dawn to do the second half of this project.
I cleaned it on the evening before with TSP and scrubbed and power washed the awning before painting it.

I started painting early, cause once the sun came to the front side of the house, painting would be even tougher and it would dry on the brush in my hand. The hammered paint I was using was a different formula to give it a simulated hammered metal finish. Same paint I used on the range hood. Except it was in a can and I had to apply it on with a brush and roller.

I was half done at 11am and finished by 2pm. The second half was tough. The sun was warm today and the silver paint was like a mirror reflecting the rays at me. The awkwardness of the awning was making it slow going, but I just had to be patient and not rush. I was going to finish and I'd still have the rest of the day to relax.

Tresa wanted to change the colour of the awning so it wasn't such a stark contrast between it and the windows. Besides everyone on the street has this white with brown striped awnings. And the old aluminum windows to boot. The guy hit the jackpot on this street.


It was a case of keeping up with the Jovanovicz's. Lots of Euros in this area. You can tell which ones are the Euros by looking at how clean their yards are. Everything is manicured and square like it was cut with a laser.

This was our house when we got first got it. Flag pole and all.
One tree, too close to the house, came down a few years later.
The tree in the white barrel came down the next year because it died.
Flag pole came down a few years ago.




Slowly, bit by bit, we have been changing the elevation of our house.
The two trees are gone, the flag pole gone.
Lawn was resodded. It was full of grubs and weeds. It was a losing battle of me vs. the weeds and grubs.



Those drafty and crappy aluminum windows that were only 14 years old, were replaced by a more modern and way more energy efficient aluminum clad wood ones.

We blacked out the railings in addition to the awning. And I finally put up the house numbers we got last year and mounted it to a nice piece of wood stock we got from Etsuko.



Projects to date this year:
[x] Garage
[x] Awning
[x] basement windows
[ ] upstairs bedroom - insulation
[ ] front basement - kitchen removal
[ ] laundry room - insulation



I deserve a treat.
Wagon rides!
We just had dinner and what better way to tire out a kid that doesn't get tired?
Have him pull the other kids on the street around.

Click me for more awning photos
Click me for more wagon ride photos