Wren’s Nest Conservation Update — Preparing for Paint

You may or may not have noticed that the Wren’s Nest needs a paint job.

The last time the Wren’s Nest was painted, the year was 1988.

The first President Bush had taken office, perestroika began in the USSR, Rick Astley was #4 on the Top 40 charts, and it would be at least five more months before I learned to tie my shoes.

Painting isn’t as easy as it sounds.  First, our professionals needed to remove the old paint as best they could.  This takes, scraping, hair dryers, sanding, hammering stuff, and a lot of patience.

On the days when the weather isn’t so warm, the painters will use hair dryers to heat up the old paint.

Then they’ll scrape the paint off, cover the nail holes with putty, and sand everything down until it’s smooth.

It’s painstaking, especially on cold days.

Right around Christmas I was always cranky because the painters were scraping, sanding, and hammering about 18″ away from my head.

Pretty, ain’t it?

At least the Benjamin Moore paint rep was impressed with their work.  All of our other visitors are convinced we’re getting ready to tear the place down.

One mystifying side-effect of this construction work is that our visitors no longer ring our doorbell.  Folks just call us from the porch to ask if we’re open, even though our doorbell has been successful and functional since the beginning of time.

If you’re feeling limber, compare this picture with picture #2.  Not bad!