Last night, my six week long project of repainting the windows at Glengorm, came to an end, speedily assisted by the midges.
Tom and I have had another project on the go at the same time and I am now looking forward to have some rest and relaxation for a while.
It has been a pretty epic undertaking, but I am happy to be reminded of my efforts every time I go out of the house.
A grand total of 96 windows have been shown love. 13 were new windows which only requires some mastic and mastic painting. The other 83 needed scraped, sanded, puttied, mastic’d, undercoated, glossed, and finally cleaned. The windows came in all sizes, from one pane to 12 panes and stretched up to 5 floors.
In this period, I have got through, 10 sheets of sandpaper, 4 old bath sheets, 2 tubs mastic, 3 tubs putty, 2 tubes silicone, 4 bottles of Mr Muscle window cleaner, 10 litres undercoat, 12 litres gloss, 4 litres white spirit and a good dollop of elbow grease. I have had the same 3 trusty brushes which I have nursed and chopped and changed, as the oil based paint does not like the cold.
My skill set has improved massively, and I have enjoyed this process. I find painting very therapeutic and I haver a bit of a m methodical approach, having the same routine for each one.
I have been wearing old painting clothes for pretty much all this time and have had paint stuck to my body somewhere all the time. My hands had been battered by the elements and all the various window treatments and my phone no longer recognises my thumbprint.
My fear of heights has subsided ever so slightly but I still feel a wee bit sick in the up and down!
Our very nice neighbour loaned us a cherry picker to get started. It was a bit of a beast and took a bit of time to get used to. It weighed 6.5 tonnes and was too heavy to take round to the sea side of the Castle. Mull hire came to the rescue with their cherry picker, much smaller, weighing in at 1.5 tonnes and is on tracks so we managed to drive it round. As a larger lady, this machine didn’t feel as sturdy and had to be manoeuvred carefully to avoid jerky movements. As the weather got colder, I found myself stuck a few times, the choke is on the main part of the machine and can’t be operated from the basket. I have to thanks Tom, Asha and Jodie for being on standby and coming to my rescue on the cold days. Although Tom didn’t actually help me with the windows, he was sterling in collecting and moving cherry pickers, refuelling, collecting paint and keeping me going. A few windows couldn’t be reached by the picker, and the old ladders had to come out.
I am aware that I am a pretty determined person, but my determination was severely tested as I reached the end of the project. There have been 3 windows that I could not physically get to, was I disappointed that the cherry picker didn’t go that high? No I don’t think I was . There are 3 windows in our flat that I have not done, 1 is falling apart and the other 2 are precariously above a glass roof but we will make a plan…
inside out 
last one 
painter with a view 
the front is done!
For now, we get to enjoy the sight of these windows all to ourselves. I do hope we will get open again soon for others to enjoy x