window games

[kellan_the_tabby]

[ A 2 foot high, 4 foot wide hole in Tyrava’s side. It’s crooked. There’s an old-fashioned window fastened to the inside, which is also crooked. ]

It’s warm enough to actually work outside again, at least for a couple days, so here we are. This window needs … it needs help, y’all.

[ The same window, from the inside. It’s got six panels of glass between old wooden frame pieces. Most of the paint has come off of this side. ]

… I think I managed to find the only angle where it doesn’t look crooked from the inside.

I’d cut & sanded the window trim last time I got a chance to do stuff — did I even post about that? — so it just needed a couple coats of paint. The paint was ALMOST dry, but there was enough not-quite-solid sludge left that when I poured water in & stirred it up good, I could paint with it.

[ A short wooden table, which holds a can of paint, a small paintbrush, and four pieces of wooden trim, each four inches wide and the right lengths to go around the window. ]

… look, I basically don’t recommend ANY of my methods to people who wanna try building things, I just do what looks like it’ll work & a surprising amount of the time it turns out I’m more-or-less right. Ish.

Anyway it hasn’t fallen down yet. That’s got to mean something.

While the purple was drying, I got the screen over the window. Turns out if you bend metal window screen, it’ll stay bent until you somehow flatten it! Which I didn’t do!

[ There’s metal window screening stapled over the window. It’s crooked, and there’s folds in it, and it’s not flat. ]

It’ll keep the bugs out & the cats in, & that’s really the important part. Right? Right?

Anyway by then the purple was dry, so I did a couple coats of clear stuff.

[ The same four boards, painted purple, sitting on a table in the sun. ]

& then I did some pallet disassembly while I was waiting for that to dry. I’ve gotten a lot better at prying things in the last year!

[ Two pallets are laying on the ground. One has had several boards removed. ]

& then I got to do the fun part!

[ Same window, now with lovely dark purple trim around it. ]

Yeah, it’s still crooked. But now it’s WHIMSICALLY crooked.

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Comments

[roselightfairy]

It is so whimsical! And lovely!

[kellan_the_tabby]

thank youuuuuuuuuuuuu

[corvi]

Amazing how much different the trim makes! It looks much less crooked.

[kellan_the_tabby]

It really does help a bunch!

[danabren]

Did it work? YAY YOU DID IT!

[kellan_the_tabby]

it DID work, it's been more than a week & NONE of it has fallen off yet!

[sporky_rat]

And if the boys get claw-happy, there are some really good screen patches available now.

(Ask me how I know, living in the subtropics with cats...)

[kellan_the_tabby]

I'm hoping the metal will stand up longer than the plastic stuff would, but that's just putting off the point when I'll have to patch, not preventing it entirely

[leofsige]

Well, the screen is a bit unconventional but beyond that, it is basically how it works in construction. If something doesn't quite work, fill it, spackle it, nail it, screw it, swear at it, and then cover it up with something like trim.

I honestly LOVE how you did the screen. it ensures there isn't some gap that bugs get in despite the appearance of being bug proof.

Normal wear, tear, and cat will muck with the screen so starting with a crease or two means you've just jumped the gun a bit.

Also, as an artist you KNOW you see the stuff that isn't perfect more than anyone else will ever notice. When mom stepped wrong on a joist in the attic and stepped through the ceiling drywall over the tv, she swore she could always see the patch. Please note, the professionals who patched, textured, and painted the area did a perfect job. No one else could see it without knowing precisely where they'd done their work. A bit of imperfection adds character and charm.

[kellan_the_tabby]

tbh it's gonna STAY THERE & that's really the important part, I've long since accepted that I can't cut a straight line