Heading To the Porch!

Building went on hiatus this past week as we got parts ready. This particular adventure entailed putting the railings together for the porch!

So. Many. Pieces!

Constructing the porch is a sweet idea in theory. I mean, c'mon!! It's a wrap-around porch!! But, the reality of some of this process kind of blows.

The kit comes with a handy-dandy spindle spacer which is clearly included so no one goes ballistic trying to put one of them together.

It took a number of trial runs before I really got the knack for keeping everything in place long enough to put the rails on. The key to success was placing the spindles in the spacer and then butting one end against something heavy enough to stay in place while putting a rail on. Once one rail was on, you could hold on to it for some counter-pressure while wiggling on the other one.

I completely understand that that might not make sense. The doing of this boggled my mind enough that I make no apologies for being crappy at explaining it. But, the finished product before taking it out of the spacer looks like this:

Oh, and you need to have a string of glue inside the rail before putting it on the spindles. And, then, you need to set everything just so to let it dry. And, you have to really trust your cat isn't going to meander on to the table just to be cat-annoying and spend one of her nine lives. I'm just saying that I'm glad I have a really good eye for being able to get things aligned because I have zero tips for making sure the spindles form a 45-degree angle with the rail. I think I was putting together my last one when I thought, "Hey, I wonder if we have any graph paper floating around here," to put underneath as a guide for the angle. But, I was way late to the party on that thought. It took about an hour from the first to the last set, and the glue on the first set was not going to allow for adjustments. I was glad to seem to not need them. (See? I said, "seem." The jury is still out, and I accept that.)

They seem to have turned out, and, if not, that's what sandpaper is going to be for because, after letting the glue dry overnight, the painting process followed!

Ask me how delightful it is getting paint in the groove where
the spindles sit. Actually, don't.

By some miracle, I remembered to not
paint the surfaces that would need glue!

I'd applied one coat of paint and was in the middle of the second the next day when I looked at Aaron and said, "This is not fun at all." And, that's when he pulled up a chair and joined me. It took about 3 minutes before he said, "You're right. I see why this is not fun."

The first coat soaked everything up, of course, and the second is the one is just mean because you think you're going to actually get somewhere only to find out you need a third coat. But, that last coat has such a great payoff that it all ends up being worth it.

I won't pretend that I didn't look at the picture for the conservatory, that we have yet to build, and work to block from my mind how much the process of painting its rooftop railings is going to just suck. But, again, it's not about the process here. It's the payoff! Hal and pals need to really appreciate this.

As of tonight, I believe all of these pieces are painted and ready. But, I need to check them out again in the daylight to make sure. This particular painting project is long because you paint one side and let it completely dry before flipping and repeating. So, 3 coats is a 6-step process. In between time, I did get the porch floor down and painted, though:

It's almost impossible to see, but I sanded
the spots where posts will be glued. I
painted the first coat over the whole thing
by accident, but I figured it all out for the
second coat. And, my friend sandpaper
helped deal with the first coat.

It is, indeed, coming along!! We were too tired tonight to really think about the amount of thinking we anticipate having to do to get the porch build started. It's just around the corner, though! Stay tuned ...