Matilda Gets a Bath

Today we headed to Home Depot for supplies.  Two hundred and forty dollars later, we left with all of the exterior paint that I think we'll need to make her bright and sparkly, cleaning supplies to wash her, and the drop clothes, tape, and masking paper necessary to paint both her inside and outside. 

Upon our return, we set to work on cleaning.  We used buckets with diluted Simple Green cleaner, dollar store scrub brushes, a big push broom we already had, and a mop with telescoping handle that we got at Home Depot.  I was able to enlist help from my two girls (for at least awhile), but my dear boy had no desire to lend a hand.

 

It was immediately apparent what a huge difference washing alone was going to make.  look at this picture where the top has not been washed, and the bottom has.  Wow!  It was amazing what came off of her.  It took about a gallon of Simple Green, the high pressure nozzle on the garden hose, and a lot of elbow grease (and scraped knuckles), but we made a huge difference.

 

Before

                                                     

 

After

We're pretty happy with the outcome.  We have decided that we will tackle Matilda's exterior first, so tomorrow we do any patching she needs, and then we can start painting.