How Hard Could it Be?

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Building on my post from yesterday about cascading decisions in home improvement that begin when you utter the words "As long as we're...demoing/removing/replacing/upgrading" — I want to address the other troublemaker question of "How hard could it be?"

My recommendation is that whenever you find your most optimistic self asking the question, "How hard could this be?" :-)

Your most negative, pessimistic self needs to answer, "Much harder than you can ever imagine" :-#

Case in point: I knew wanted to preserve the beautiful wood casement on the my front Living Room window. The window is huge and a focal point of the Living Room. The casement is original to the house, is oversized, is made up of many pieces of wood moldings pieced together and is really beautiful. However, it was in sad shape and in need of serious repair — especially where the shutter hinges had been removed.

I stripped it as much as possible with a chisel made some progress, but couldn't get the rest of the wood to even out enough that I could repaint. 

I sanded aggressively by hand — no change. I used a palm sander — it got gooey. I used a tiny belt sander — and the past 50 years of acrylic paint balled up like little sweater pills. I tried a heat gun and behold — I started to make progress.

That's when I got the bright idea that because it looked so great in that little section, that I should use that same technique for the entire window, taking it down to the bare wood.  Stripping it down would make it much easier to repaint and I've seen these things done on Home Improvement shows during a commercial break. 

After all, "How hard could it be?" 

After Four(4) Hours of stripping.

After Four(4) Hours of stripping.

Well imagine using a heat gun to dislodge over 100 years of stubborn paint build up — we're talking lead, oil-based and acrylic in a variety of colors. It felt like the equivalent of removing a 1/4 inch exterior vinyl window covering. 

At 16 hours...

At 16 hours...

 I'm at 20 hours and still only half-way done, so the short answer to that question is "really hard."

I do love the way it turned out. Now that I personally know how much better the outcome is, I would probably do it all over again. All of which means this is how I will be spending my Winter months as I apply the same process to the Office and Sitting Room windows. However, now I'm not naive enough to believe there will be and makeover show magic.

The morale of this story is...next time your ask yourself, "How hard could it be?"  Step away. Take a break. In fact, sleep on it.  If you're still game, then go for it. Just remember, it's probably harder than you think.

—Laurie

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