We finally got in a three-day weekend at Enon Hall and were bound and determined to make the most of it. On Friday I finished scraping the front face of the gambrel portion of the house and applied a coat of primer. I also started priming the smokehouse, but didn't get far before I had run out of primer.

Took off the rotten louver door on the front of the house. It actually fell apart in my hands when I pried it open to scrape the door frame.

Meanwhile, Gay set up our first official bedroom. With real beds and everything! No more sleeping in sleeping bags! She set it up "dorm" style with William's bed in the same room as ours since the other bedrooms aren't ready yet.

Had a plumber come and replace the anode rod in our hot water heater to hopefully eliminate our stinky hot water problem.

We also pulled up the last of the tape on the kitchen floor, finally revealing the completed diamond pattern. Everything looked great so we applied a coat of semi-gloss polyurethane to the entire floor after William went to bed.

On Saturday I painted the front of the gambrel while Gay and William worked in the yard. We decided to paint the house yellow after visiting a similar old home in Old Town Alexandria. The yellow looks good, but also looks very weird. I have only ever known Enon Hall to be white, so it'll take some getting used to. However, it doesn't take much scrutiny of the old clapboards to see that the house was, at one time, painted yellow. I made a passing comment that the fresh paint made the roof really look bad and Gay was quick to jump in with, "We're not getting a new roof right now." Guess she knows how one project leads to another around here.

Put another coat of polyurethane on the kitchen floor before going to bed.

On Sunday, we happily proclaimed the kitchen floor finished and brought the furniture back into the room.

I'm still not making peace with the yellow on the front of the house. Seemed like a good idea but it really feels wrong. Gonna give it a couple weeks and see if it grows on me. Gay and William like it a lot. Here's a before and after. What do you think?

Lest you think we're "done," here's a more honest angle.

Continued priming the smokehouse and got in some kayaking. A good weekend of work! -- Bill

Thanks to everybody for their paint votes. So far it's unanimous. Everybody likes the yellow. We'll just have to see if I can "adjust." -- Bill

Beautiful spring weekend for working at Enon Hall. I continued priming the smokehouse and replacing a couple boards here and there. Gay finished cleaning up roots and such from the newly cleared area behind the smokehouse and sowed more grass seed. -- Bill

Finished priming the smokehouse today. Nice to have this job finished. Below is what the building looked like in February when I first started pulling off clapboard after rotten clapboard...and today.

Not sure when I'll get to the finish coat of paint. Other priorities will surely take precedence.

Had to share this new sign in West Point, VA. Not sure I would hire these folks...even with the free quote!

Only had a couple hours at Enon Hall today so I spent them removing stobs in the backyard where we did our clearing this winter...so that the mower can get everywhere without damaging its cutting deck. "Stob." William and I swore this wasn't a real word a couple weekends ago when we first heard Gay use it. We laughed hysterically until we got home and pulled out the dictionary. Hmmm...real word afterall. Anyway, I hacked up a bunch of 'em today. Also limbed up another cedar and threw down some more grass seed. -- Bill