Really rotten weather for paint to dry has delayed things, we got in a lengthy hike of the Iron Ore Trail...

In Clifton Forge we found a True Value Hardware store that carries its own brand of sample decorator paints for about 75% the cost of the Benjamin Moore version and I found a shade of blue that matches the shade in the wallpaper border. By now many of you may have noticed I am VERY partial to blue front doors! :angry: :lol: I used it to paint the exterior door and trims.

Wow, this is turning out to be a patriotic color scheme such as I haven't used since my very first build, the Dura-Craft San Franciscan. I find it very appropriate in light of the 5th anniversary of 9/11!

I installed the acetate door inserts and prepared to assemble the front door.

By now we all know I left everything DH & I considered unessential at home, now expecting to be gone this long... I have two sheets of chamois at home for hinges & not about to go buy another to hinge one door, so I found some 1" wide twill tape to try, instead. I glued it to the doorframe edge and clamped the door parts together to sand all the edges even & have them fit in the doorframe, and then I glued the door parts together. I also installed the acetate inserts into the exterior window trims.

I installed the exterior doorframe and window trims and painted the porch blue and the porch trim & railings white; I painted the door & window pediments white & the pediment trims red. I'm leaning toward having naturalized American citizens own this store, the proprietor's initials being U. S. A. (this thought began buzzing in my brain long before the 9/11 anniversary hype). The gable trims, naturally, have to be red.

I painted the bay blue on the outside.

I like the eaves, I'll paint them metallic when we get home & install them then. I installed the windows and door, the pediments and porch & porch trim. :lol:

Next I sanded, primed and painted the upstairs stair rails white with a red bannister. This time I dry-fit the stairs the way I'll install them, facing the back of the house, and installed the stairrails (backwards! I have since corrected this, <mumble, mumble>.

I spackled the outer side of the stairs and when it was dry I painted the stairs white & the handrail red.