this is probably the whitest flat i’ve lived in. but our second contract is expiring soon and we need to seriously start looking for another place. i’m terrible at this.
see commentsTag "flat"
We’ve been working on our flat to-do list and completing it according to our plan looked more and more unrealistic. Now, we’re not giving up but… let’s just say it feels like we’re heading for a heart attack, working far too hard to enjoy working after work.
Anyway, to eat that frog, we started with the windows and boy, were we right. They need so much input! After two full days of stripping paint (that is, three layers of paint: white, yellow and blue, in some places), we were still working on the first window. It seemed that the stripper we used worked fine but, considering so many layers of paint, it had to be reapplied and that takes time on its own. Using a stripping and kitchen knife was far more messy and brought better results so eventually we gave up on using the paint stripper.
Let’s face it, we should change these metal windows for PVCs but we’ve decided it wasn’t a must and so they’re staying with us for a while. At least the kitchen ones. We kind of like the bare, industrial look of them. We’d love to paint them white on the outside, as required by our lease, but leave them untouched on the inside.
But is it possible? After some online research and conversations with DIY shop workers / owners, we’re not sure. To prevent corrosion, these windows need to be protected. They are galvanized (covered with zinc) but the idea is to prime them and paint afterwards. Enters trouble. There is no such thing as clear primer. Not within my reach at least. The only people who seem to encounter similar problem are bikers and model lovers – they want to keep their bicycles or model tanks as raw as possible. And what do they use? Car lacquer. The advice I got was to use varnish. As we know, varnish is for wood but it’s also used for yachts and that involves covering metal parts, too. Easy? It would be but consider the colour of the windows. Blueish grey. Varnish, especially the oil-based one, yellows with time. And as much as it complements the looks of wood and possibly rusty metal, it does nothing for the tones we want to keep.
I guess we’ll end up painting the windows. Karol suggests colours different than white. Unsurprisingly, there aren’t too many metal paint colours to choose from so we’ll need to give it a thought. For now, back to stripping!
see commentsSo yes, last year we bought our first flat. And I’ve started a blog about it elsewhere. But then I realized that it was going nowhere and being in too many places at once simply doesn’t work for me. Finally, I added the posts here:
Więc tak, w ubiegłym roku kupiliśmy nasze pierwsze mieszkanie. Zaczęłam o tym inny blog. Później jednak doszłam do wniosku, że do niczego to nie prowadzi i bycie w zbyt wielu miejscach jednocześnie nie jest dla mnie. Wreszcie dodałam te posty tutaj:
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Są po angielsku i nie będę ich tłumaczyć. Nie wiem jeszcze, czy będę tłumaczyć kolejne (o mieszkaniu). Ale wiem, że gt działa całkiem dobrze, więc jeśli chcecie, dajcie mu szansę.
