Prepping Interior for Spar Varnish

The whole interior needed to be as finished as we could make it, in order to get as much varnished as possible all at once.  Kyle did a lot of sanding of both loft floors, and installed trim on 6 windows.   I puttied and sanded the nail holes in the window trim and the wainscoting. I did a lot of work on the floor too, knowing that anything that was there was going to be there for the duration.  Such as dings, scratches, off-color spots, etc.  

This is a very good view of the sleeping loft, showing the slots where the lexan strips will go.  The photo was taken from the storage loft; the lightbulb that may be seen is in the fixture in the center of the cathedral ceiling portion of the house.



 

Floor boards for the storage loft were recycled from pine shelves I inherited from the apartment dweller upstairs, and then disassembled and saved.

Preparing the wainscoting for varnish included installing the 12V outlet covers, custom-made by Kyle, P and M, who was helping with their production. 

A sunny afternoon makes the tiny house interior glow, and my friend/host C was drawn in to absorb the sunshine. Everything was pretty ship-shape at this point, swept carefully and wiped down, so dust would not get trapped in the varnish.



 

A final view of the floor before it was to be coated with two layers of spar varnish.  It was very satisfying to create the "boards" and vary their tone and grain, and I spent quite a few days getting it to this point.  



 

It looks sunny in the photographs, but the weather was not being much more cooperative than it had been all winter.  Even though we had the heater inside keeping the space at 55 degrees or higher for the proper curing of varnish, K the painter was concerned about the need to open the windows a fraction overnight (so the sashes could be properly coated and cured). The weather prediction was for below zero, and he was not sure what a temperature that low might do to the wet varnish!  So he had us put plastic over the windows that would have to be left open, at least to prevent a breeze from sweeping in, however frigid the air on the other side of that plastic would be.

Here K prepares his bucket for varnishing window trim and wainscoting. Once that was coated, he would remove the drop cloth and roller the floor with satin-finish varnish.




 

This view shows the first coat of varnish going on my floor, shining wetly (and smelling strongly!).  Later I eventually realized that, in another geographical misconception, what I (who come from the New England boating region) had assumed was true varnish, turned out to have been "sparurethane" and not varnish at all.  The fumes have largely dissipated after two and a half months....  Anyway, it looks beautiful, and is incredibly tough.  It is slippery under stockinged feet, but that is actually nice for sitting on the floor, and great for scooting around the loft.  

In an attempt to tone down a little of the yellow "Jersey Cream" paint color, I had the ceiling painted with a lighter tone on the same paint chip page ("Crisp Linen"), but it made little difference, except to (slightly) clash with the yellow.  I contemplate painting the ceiling with a plain ceiling white at some point, but not now.  It is time to start building in the windowseat!