Possessed

I think some evil spirit has possessed my husband because he is absolutely driven to get the work done at a super-human pace.  By the way, I checked.  When we were hanging clothes back in the master closet, I did not find any tights or red capes with a big S on them.  Nope.  Superman he is not, even if he is trying to act that way.

Nice weather is predicted for the weekend, so we have a chance actually to get outside and to start some of that work.  I just mentioned that we could finally get out, and he said that he would not work outside until the inside work was complete.  I said that was crazy.  The doors would wait to be painted until we had cold weather or rain; we should take advantage of every 70-something temperature we could find before we once again are faced with the 80s and 90s. Nope.  Hee won't listen to reason.  He somehow feels that he needs to get everything finished inside before Stephanie comes next week, so he is killing himself to meet that goal.

Everything fits in the closet with room to spare!  Yahoo!

Before I forget, I wanted to post some pictures of our master closet with our actual clothes in it.  I am thrilled with all of the storage space and with the fact that nothing needs to be jammed together onto a single rod or shelf.  Although I almost need a step stool to reach the second shelf on the right, having all of the rod and shelf space is great.  I know that I have way too many clothes here right now, but winter weather in Florida actually is more unpredictable than I thought.  I wore a wool jacket to church last week, and I was not too warm.  This Sunday, the weatherman says the temperature might reach 80.  Who can tell?  For now, everything fits into the closet, so I am content.

We arose early again today.  Sleep?  What is sleep?  Oh, yeah, that's what we used to do.  During the course of the day, we removed the master bedroom, hallway closet, and bathroom closet doors.  Rick painted the final coat on the second closet door for the guest bedroom, and then he painted the first coats on the three doors that we took down today.  While he painted those, I emptied the hallway closet and painted the first coat on the jambs of both the bedroom and hallway closet doors.  That may not seem like much, but this painting is very time consuming, and we are both sick of it.  Additionally, I am absolutely exhausted.

I thoroughly enjoy being able to take everything out of the closets and to finally reorganize what we have. Sadly, I also am finding things that I had forgotten we brought down with us.  Forgetfulness could not be a sign of old age now, could it?  In the hallway closet today, I discovered two forgotten candles, a third candle in a broken goblet (the only casualty of all the things we have moved), some super-strong zip-lock-like utility bags, and cross-stitch supplies that I never knew were hidden on the top shelf.  Wow!  This is almost like a treasure hunt. Hey, at my age you have to find fun where you can get it...

We needed some basic groceries, so we did take a break in late morning to get out to the store.  Steve had told us that a business in Palm Harbor called Steve's Produce had just opened a store in Dunedin.  The store is located near our house, and we were excited to hear that they sold Boar's Head meats in addition to fresh produce.  We took a trip there today and were very impressed.  Rick loves Boar's Head meat so much that he actually will drive to Appleton in Wisconsin just to buy it.  While we can get it at our local grocery store in here in Florida, we were able to purchase the same meat for $3.00/ pound LESS at Steve's Produce.  What a find!  While we were there, I also picked up some fresh tomatoes and two zucchini that I either will steam or make into bread.  I already know that Steve's Produce will be a weekly stop on our shopping agenda.  Thanks to "our" Steve for letting us know about it.

Massive doors cover the closet in the
guest bedroom.

Later in the day, we hung the second guest room closet door.  They are massive; however, since the eye follows them from floor to ceiling, the whole room seems larger.  The man at the millwork shop who suggested them said he had them in his house, and the large doors were "majestic."  I don't know if I would have chosen that adjective, but I think they will be all right.  I held up the handle where we will install it, and with that added, the door seemed more balanced.  We had discussed how we are going to cut the doors for the master bedroom closet, and I think we will have to just cut the bottoms as we did with these first doors.  With handles in place, the design is not jarring and the functionality will be intact.

Once we add casing and handles, the guest
room closet finally will be complete.

When we replaced all our our interior doors in our house in Wisconsin, we just sent them to a refinisher to spray.  I wish we could have sent all eleven of these doors out to be spray painted, but we know of no such shop and we do not have the budget for that anyway.  However, if they were done we would have saved hours --no, days-- of work.  This is a monumental task which is not over yet.  Rick mentioned this afternoon that we really need to go out and to get some casing to finish each of these doors.  Sigh.  More painting awaits.

I hope that Gladys appreciates all of the new "clothes" and accessories that we are getting for her.  In the end, every surface in this house will have been replaced, remodeled, refinished, or repainted. Each day we work hard toward making this house comfortable, fresh, and clean.  And once it is done, I hope that my wonderful husband will finally sit down and try to remember what a person does to relax.

Storage, Storage Everywhere!

The last two days have resulted in both a more sunny back yard and in much, much more storage in this house.

The first coat of paint changes the off-white walls to a
bright, clean white interior.  Since the upper storage unit is gone,
Rick could paint this closet in half the time of the other one.

Yesterday morning we made great progress in getting the master closet ready for our clothes.  We added two coats of paint which we love because the old closet has not been painted in the last 54 years.  Once again, Gladys has a new, fresh, white set of underwear.  Rick added new door jambs so we can mount the new track and doors later.

The guest room door...

Speaking of doors, we did discover one problem that we made with the closet doors in the guest room.  We knew that we had to modify the doors to fit the opening, so we cut off 3 inches on the bottom.  That may have been a design error.  As a result, the center rail is lower than the center rail that is on the room door, and optically it leaves one a little dizzy.  Too late now.  Neither of us was comfortable in cutting the top of the closet door because adding the insert at the top may have weakened the whole structure, and the top needs to support the whole door from the top tracks.  My hope is that when we put in the handle, the brushed nickel handle will bring the eye up and the door will look a little more balanced.

and the guest room closet door.  The bottom
panel looks a little low.

Yesterday also saw the heating and cooling contractor back at our house to hopefully fix our air handler problem.  After much discussion with the owner of the company, Rick and he determined that the problem might trace back to the thermostat. We were both shocked to learn that a new thermostat costs over $600!  Thankfully, that part of the system was still under warranty; however, the labor was not.  We still paid over $250 to get the new thermostat installed, but the bill could have been far worse. We hope that this will take care of our heating and cooling issues, and that we can rely on the system when we travel back North.

Although technically in our neighbor's yard,
the live oak hangs over the fence, so we could
cut what needed trimming.

Yesterday afternoon two men from our tree service arrived to trim back the Camphor tree and the Live Oak trees in our back yard.  The Camphor tree, especially, had some low hanging branches that threatened to decapitate our lawn mowing crew, and the branches also interfered with our neighbor's yard. We wanted the Camphor trimmed before we tried to build a fence, also.  What I did not anticipate was the strong smell of camphor when they cut the tree.  Wow!  My sinuses cleared up, and the air in the whole yard just smelled better.  Since wood costs a fortune down here, our neighbor Michelle came over and asked if she could have some of the larger logs for their fire pit.  The crew even cut them into pit-long logs for her.  As long as they are now piled in her yard, I could not care less if she takes them.

The Camphor tree, now trimmed, gives us lots of open area
in the center of the yard to plant a shade tree for the house.

With both trees trimmed, we now have room in the middle of the back yard to plant a laurel oak or some other tree that will shade the Florida room. We were told that trees grow more quickly in Florida; for example, what would take an oak fifty years to grow in Wisconsin will only take ten years to grow here in Florida.  For right now, we are getting more sunlight and that is not bad.  This has been one of the coldest winters in decades throughout the United States, so a little warm sunshine is a welcome addition to the yard.  Ask me if I feel the same way when the temperatures climb into the high 80s later this spring...

Rick could not sleep, so he was up at 4:30 this morning.  I finally gave up and rolled out of bed at 5:30.  After a quick breakfast, we were back in the closet, getting ready to add the Elfa system for our clothes.  I was a bit worried about making too much noise, but no one came knocking on our door to complain.  We tore out the baseboard at the last minute so we could bring the whole design down two inches.  We'll have to cut and install new baseboard later, but moving everything down was a good decision.  The upper shelf now has a 15 rather than 13 inch clearance, and I can more easily reach the upper rods.  The added two inches also allowed Rick to add a second shoe rack which will be helpful.

The new closet with shelves, drawers, shoe racks, and
double-high hanging racks give us lots of room for storage. 

Steve and Chris came over to see the new configuration, and then we all decided to take a quick trip to Tampa to The Container Store.  We wanted to go to take back some unused hardware and one shelf.  They had never been in the store, so seeing what is available is always fun.  Both Rick and I were shocked to learned that our returned merchandise amounted to $59.00.  Great!  We did buy a couple of storage boxes and plastic paint containers (since everything, including paint cans, wants to rust even if they are stored indoors), but those items were less than $20.00.

When we got home, I finished hanging up clothes and adding things to the top shelf in our new closet.  I love it!  We can access everything, and my shirts and good sweaters are no longer squished together into wrinkled messes.  Rick has room for everything, and we even have some empty shelf space on top.

What?  More than enough storage?  That concept is almost unheard of, but for the moment Gladys is offering us enough room for everything.  I am always amazed at what a little organization will do for a house. Since we just put everything away, we know where everything is and feel good that we have the means to keep this part of the house uncluttered and organized. Gladys just keeps getting better and better.

And the work goes on...

One of the side effects of one of the medications I am taking is insomnia.  I usually spend part of each night either lying in bed listening to Rick snore or in the living room reading my Kindle in the hope of getting sleepy once again.  Last night, miraculously, I went to bed and actually slept for 10 hours.  I needed that!  Sleeping that long was wonderful and one of the perks of being retired.

When we arose, laundry and painting topped our first-thing-in-the morning lists, and both were completed in fairly short order.  The guest room doors have another coat of paint on them, and now we just have to let them dry.

We decided that we would work on the master bedroom closet next since we both are anxious to get that complete.  While Rick finished painting the doors, I started to take shoes and clothes out of the master closet.  He soon joined me, but rather than pack clothes into tubs, he just took his side of the closet and piled the clothes on the guest bed.  OK.  That works too.

Rick removes the door jambs from the old closet doors.

Closet destruction was almost easier this time -- not in effort or execution, but in planning -- since we wanted to gut the entire closet.  We will build shelves all the way to the top, so the upper storage unit "floor" had to be ripped out also.  The result is a closet that will be much easier to paint.  Rick is certainly glad about that. In the last closet, painting the top was like trying to paint the inside of a caterpillar's cocoon.

With the upper storage unit removed, the closet seems huge.
This open concept will allow us to hang clothes on double-stacked
racks while still having a shelf above
everything for more storage.

In taking out the various nails, screws, and "extra" boards that were fastened to the interior, I wondered what the previous owners put there.  Belts?  Purses?  Maybe she hung an ironing board inside?  Who knows?  I just know that everything now is out, and we are ready to begin construction again.

Thankfully, the pink spackling dries white.  Paint will soon follow.

Due to various racks and rods, this closet actually had more holes to fill in than the guest room closet.  The spackling is currently drying, and if I know Rick, he will try to get a coat of paint on those walls yet tonight.  Maybe if the light fades I can convince him to wait until the morning.

He had to take the car in for an oil change and other minor repairs this afternoon.  While he was gone, I turned my attention to the outdoors.  I know that this will pain my Wisconsin and Minnesota family and friends who are enduring yet another below zero freeze, but the weather was hot and muggy here today, so I dug out the hose and directed the water toward the windows.  Six months of dirt had accumulated in the screens and on the windows.  A thorough wash-down, however, has really made a difference.  I actually can see details in the back yard again, and the egrets are white instead of a speckled gray!  If for no other reason, I am glad that the windows are cleaner so the light can come into the Florida room again.

Maybe tonight, if the rain holds off a bit, we will be able to take a walk by the Marina.  That is Rick's favorite place, and if I can get him out of the house, maybe he'll take a little time to relax and to enjoy our time here in Florida.

Today's Tasks

My mother used to say that my Grandma Rose was a driven woman who would get up at 3:00 a.m. just so she could be the first woman on the block to have her laundry hanging out on the line before any of her neighbors.  She had endless energy and was not happy unless she was doing something, be that sewing, cleaning, or cooking.  Mom said that Grandma Rose acted like someone was behind her with a whip.  I have found that the same idea seems to apply to my darling husband who is always fretting that we are not getting enough done.

Really? Not getting enough done? Is he serious?  I present to you what we accomplished since we got up at 6:00 this morning:

I had a 7:45 a.m. doctor's appointment, but since we were up early, I suggested that we stop by the drug store to order some medications for me.  By 7:09 we were in and out of the drug store and on our way to the doctor's office.

A little detour to the gas station resulted in a full tank of gas for the Toyota.  Then we continued on to the doctor's office.

Since I arrived at 7:25, I actually was called in a little after 7:30.  The doctor does not totally agree with one of the medications I currently am taking, but he agreed to continue the course of care prescribed by the rheumatologist at Mayo Clinic for now.  I have noticed a change in my eyesight which he dismissed as due to the Prednisone.  I guess I just will have to live with blurred vision for a while until I can get on a lower dose of that steroid.

After the doctor's visit, we returned to the drug store to pick up my medication, and then we were back at Gladys to "start the day."  Are you keeping track?  We already have completed three tasks before 9:30 a.m.

Once we changed into work clothes, we worked together to screw in the track that will hold the closet doors in the guest room.  We bought a Johnson track because we are very pleased with the ones we have for the pocket doors in the kitchen and in the master bathroom. Task Four complete.

With the track secured in the closet frame, we turned our attention to painting.  While I painted a second coat on the guest room door jamb, Rick tackled the larger job of adding another coat of paint to the guest room door and one of the closet doors.  Once again, they rest drying in the Florida Room.  Check off Tasks Five, Six and Seven.

Rick works on the drawer construction for the night stand.

While the paint dried, Rick started to assemble the first of the Ikea night stands that we purchased yesterday.  Once again, we were impressed with the design and engineering of the product.  While the wood is just pine and therefore inexpensive, the night stands are built well enough that they are sturdy and strong.  Stand one was finished by 11:20, and stand two was done shortly after noon-- with the exception of drawer knobs.  As I mentioned yesterday, neither of us liked the black drawer knobs that Ikea provided, so we decided to shop for new knobs later in the day. Tasks Eight and Nine were completed before 12:30 p.m.

After lunch, Rick scraped the wall around the guest room closet where the old casing had left a ridge in the paint.  Don't you hate that when that happens?  He hauled out the blue paint to do a little touch up work, and ended up touching the white ceiling with his brush when he was painting around the top of the closet opening.  Oops!  Time for the ceiling paint to touch up the touch up!  In the end, I am glad that the ceiling paint made an appearance since we had a couple of spots in the living room that needed attention also. Check off Task 10 (and, inadvertently, 11) from the "to do" list.

I have been waiting two days for the paint to really dry in the upper storage section of the guest room closet, so today I started to rearrange and to put away the items that we had previously stored there.  Rick helped me move all of the items that we had stored in the upper master bedroom closet also.  Some went into the bathroom closet, some went into the guest room closet, and some went into the garage.  The master bedroom closet storage area is now completely empty, so I am sure that Rick will be antsy about tearing apart that closet next.  Filling the upper storage area in the guest room completed Task 12 for the day.

By mid-afternoon, we both needed a break from the house, so we decided to venture out to Lowe's to look for drawer knobs.  I had a specific knob in mind, but I tried to tell myself to be open-minded to what Lowe's might have available.  We only needed four knobs, but I knew what I hoped to find, and I also did not want to pay more than $20.00 for the four.  Luck was on my side because we quickly found the small, oval, brushed nickel knob that I had in mind, and the four of them, with tax, only cost us $11.00.  Sweet! We finished Task 13.

The night stand with the new knobs.

The completed bed and new night stands.

From Lowe's we traveled to AAA to purchase season tickets to the Kennedy Space Center.  Rick researches everything to death, but he has saved us lots of money by doing so.  News flash: if you are a AAA member, you can purchase season tickets and then buy Mega-tour tickets for the Space Center for less money than buying a two-day pass.  Stephanie is coming for a visit in a couple of weeks, and we all agreed that the Space Center would be a different and enjoyable experience.  Rick and I are as  old as dirt, so we remember the Russian Sputnik and the first flights of John Glenn; Stephanie grew up during the Apollo and Space Shuttle eras.  We all are looking forward to going to the Space Center.  Purchasing the tickets took care of Task 14 for the day.  Are you tired yet?  I sure am!

Since Rick completed the night stands, we were once again presented with a gazillion little (and not so little) cardboard boxes and cardboard packing pieces.  Our recycling was hauled away just this morning, so with a lot of creative cutting, I probably could have fit all of the boxes into the empty recycling bin.  Rick had a better idea, though. We just loaded all of the cardboard into the trunk of the car and hauled it to the nearby recycling bins that the city puts out for residents.  Cross Task 15 from the list.

Our final venture for the day was a fast trip to the grocery store.  Have you ever gone in for one item and come out with a cart load?  Yup.  That happened to us tonight, thanks to the sales and to the "oh, yeah, I need that" remembering in the store.  Shopping for groceries completed Task 16 for the day.

Keep in mind, all of these tasks were done before dinner time-- and we generally eat early! Rick still lamented that he did not have time to flip the doors and add another coat of paint to each one, but his energy level was finally on empty, and I am just ready to sit and finish this blog. (Mark this as Task 17.)

While I was writing this, Rick went online to catch up on the blog.  When he came back into the living room, he said, "I just read your blog.  You know... we have done quite a bit, haven't we."  You think?

Sunday Shenanigans

I always say, "Life is choices," and I had to admit that after my experience with ill people last Sunday in church, we decided to skip services today instead of being in a confined space with not-so-healthy people.  Of course, by not being there, we have no idea who was there and how healthy everyone might have been.  We'll try again next week; perhaps everyone will feel better by then.

The day dawned cloudy with a promise of rain (for the next four days, even!), so we wanted to make sure that we got some of our outdoor chores completed before weather headed our way.

Rick wanted to get the guest room closet doors cut off while we could work with the garage door open.  We knew when we ordered the doors that they would be about 3" too long.  He had planned ahead before he retired that he might have to restructure closet doors, so he had made wooden inserts to glue into the hollow cavity that would be left if he had to cut doors.  His planning was absolutely perfect. We put the first door on the work table, and Rick used his new Festool saw on the door.  The cut was exact with no chipping, and the insert was a perfect fit that was both strong and snug. In fact, the insert made the bottom of the door stronger than the way the door originally was structured.  The whole operation went without a hitch. After clamping the glued-in insert in a couple of places, we brought the door back into the house to dry.

We repeated the process with the second door. That door, however, had a cardboard spacer insert glued a little closer to the bottom of the door, so when we cut the bottom off, the insert was in the way.  Rick figured it would "give" when he put the wooden insert in, but the strong glue and sturdy cardboard had other plans.  It would not budge.  Rick tapped the wooden insert in as far as he could get it, and then he took the Festool saw one more time to trim off the excess wood.  Once again, we ended up with a door that is stronger now than it was before.

While we were set up with saws in the garage, we took the time to chop up the woodwork that we had removed from Gladys so we could get it out to the curb for garbage pick-up tomorrow. Since recycling pick-up is on Mondays also, I took the time to cut up all of the accumulated cardboard boxes that had gathered on the back concrete slab.  Somehow we always manage to fill our garbage can and recycling every week.

The guest room door (back) and one of the closet doors
lie on sawhorses while they dry.  Painting doors is a
never-ending job this year.  The results, however, will really
change the look of the house.

We then moved indoors so we could continue with the never-ending chore of painting.  Rick added a second coat to the guest room closet door frame so we can put up the track for the doors tomorrow.  Then he moved on to the doors.  He put on a first coat of paint on the front side of the guest room door and a first coat on one of the giant closet doors.  While he was doing that, I painted the first coat on the door frame to the guest room.

By noon we were both tired of painting and working around the house.  We discussed looking at some of the local shops for some bedroom furniture for the guest room.  We did not have a headboard for the bed, and the "nightstands" in the room actually are living room tables that we have had since 1976. I feel a donation to Habitat for Humanity Restore or to Goodwill in our near future.

Rick checked online and found that even in the supposedly affordable furniture shops, a night stand -- on sale -- would cost us at least $329.00. Seriously? For Taiwan-manufactured MDF and veneer with cheap drawer glides?  We know the "quality" of the furniture in some of  those stores, so we also knew that we would not be comfortable spending $658 plus tax just for two night stands.  We don't have the budget to do that and still afford a headboard for a queen sized bed.

Rick suggested that we looked at Ikea.  While their furniture is not Ethan Allen quality, we know that it is solid wood and engineered well.  It certainly is not premier furniture, but it is affordable and it will more than meet the needs of an occasional guest.  For the fourth day in a row, we found ourselves driving into Tampa.

Our visit to Ikea went well.  We knew what we were looking for, so our stop in the crowded store was brief.  We found that the Hemnes headboard and night stands that we had chosen online were soon to be discontinued, so we are happy that we made the trip while they still had stock left in the warehouse.  We were not sure that we wanted the footboard that went with the headboard, but we had no choice but to pay for and take the whole package. Even in doing that, we still were able to purchase the whole suite for less than $425.00. And like the closet components, the ensemble was engineered and made in Sweden.  Maybe we will have to have a language requirement for our guests...

Once we returned home and hauled in the boxes, we had a brief visit from Steve and Chris to show them the closet, ate a little dinner, and then put together the headboard.  I like that the headboard is not too tall, so it does not block the light from the window to the back yard.  The slats in the headboard also will coordinate with the bead board design of the doors.

We were not sure about adding the footboard, so we called Lindsay who insisted that the footboard made the bed ensemble look complete.  OK.  We'll try it for a while.  We had to struggle a little to get it into place, but the results, I think, are pleasing.  The downside to buying Ikea furniture?  It all comes in flat boxes.  Assembly is not a problem, but once again I have a ton of boxes to deal with.  Perhaps a trip to the recycling center is in order this week since I cannot put any more into our recycling bin.

A completed bed awaits our guests. New night stands soon
will add to the totally white decor in this room.

Fatigue prevented us from putting together the two night stands, and I have an early (7:45 a.m.) doctor's appointment tomorrow.  I already am not pleased with the drawer pulls that come with the night stands, so I may stop at Lowe's after the doctor visit to see what they have that would better suit the room and my tastes.

We continue to slowly put together the inside of Gladys, waiting for the weather to behave so we can get outside to start our work on the painting and repair that Gladys so badly needs. Chris mentioned today that at least we had plenty to do inside to keep us busy while the weather is too cold to paint outside.  She is right.  We have been here 19 days so far, and we have made incredible progress on updating various interior aspects of Gladys.

Cold Feet, Hot Flashes, and a Little Elfa Too

Yesterday started with the realization as we crawled out of our cozy bed that the heat pump was, once again, not working. How did we know?  Once a bare foot hits a terrazzo floor that has not absorbed heat for a while, one soon realizes that something is amiss. Wow!  Concrete gets cold and hangs on to that chill for quite a while.  That's great in the summer, but not so great when Florida is experiencing a very cold winter.

In an earlier post I talked about the fact that the heat pump stopped working on December 9 just before we went back to Wisconsin for the holidays. Rick was not happy when he called the heating contractor yesterday to come back for the third time to fix the heat pump.  This time the technician came, saw the problem, noted some communication errors, and then gave us the bad news: he was not sure what to do.  He said that he would have to call the engineers at Trane for advice.  We also learned later in the day that Trane was bought out two years ago by Ingersall-Rand, and that since that time they lost 50% of their support staff and are very, very, very slow to respond.  The call from our service technician is in a queue, and we were told that they MAY get back to us some time this next week.  Until that time, we just need to turn off the breaker every time it goes down and restart the system. Eventually, that will not be good for the system as a whole, so we do need to get this resolved.  Thank God we are not in Wisconsin where temperatures are predicted to range from -18 to a high of 8 to 10 this week.

Ironically, after giving us cold feet in the morning, Gladys experienced a couple of hot flashes last night.  While that would not be unusual for a 54 year old human, Gladys should not be experiencing the same thing.  Last night the temperature was set at 73 degrees.  Gladys was up to temperature, so the heat pump shut down.  In less than 30 seconds, while the thermostat still registered 73 degrees, the heat pump kicked in again and started to heat the house.  Hot flash!  Gladys actually did this twice to us, and at this point, we are just recording everything that is going on so we can report it to Trane.  Trane used to be a good system and a good company, but we do not know if we could recommend their systems to anyone anymore. I know that people's attitudes sometimes run hot and cold, but Gladys does have to learn that she is not really human. Stay tuned for further developments...

The guest room closet with some of the shelves installed.

We started this morning with the intention of putting in the Elfa closet system in the guest room.  Rick is very handy and basically knows what to do, so the installation actually went very well. The installation directions were not the greatest; if a student had submitted them in my technical writing class, I would not have given them more than a C-/ D+. They were not complete and parts were confusing, but we figured out what to do in the end.

The problem end wall with vertical supports
that were slipping off the ends of the
horizontal support bar.

The only problem we had was with the end walls.  The upper support bar was cut a little short, so we were not happy with how the vertical supports rested on the support bar.  Rick said that we needed some vertical support anchors which we did not have.  We returned to The Container Store in Tampa and talked to a saleswoman who told us to move the shelf bars and vertical supports under rather than at the ends of the shelves. By doing so, the vertical supports would not slip off the end of the upper support bar.  Yes, that did solve the problem, but neither of us felt that move would be enough.  We still bought the anchoring system to make sure that the vertical supports did not move.

While we were at The Container Store, we also purchased a second shoe rack for the master bedroom closet.  After seeing how the guest room closet went together, we are sure that we can make some slight alterations to gain even more storage room in the master closet.  We can't wait to get that started, but we need to finish a few other things first... like cutting off and painting the giant doors that will cover the guest room closet.

Wow!  Everything fits with room to spare.

The fun part, after we finished the closet, was to fit everything back inside.  As I expected, we had room for everything with empty shelves left over.  Having too much storage is always a good thing!  We do not want to put anything into the upper storage area yet; the paint needs to dry for a few more days before I start to fill that section up again. However, the lower closet easily accommodated the items that we wanted to store, and those items are now much more accessible than they were before.

Tools rest on the shelves and the tool
chest can easily roll out of the way
for better access to the shelves.

We are very happy with the results of the guest room closet.  Our paint cans and Rick's tools will be in a climate-controlled environment (if we can ever get the heating/ cooling system to work!), we have room to store other seldom-used household items, and we can offer our guests a small shelf space and a hanging bar for clothes. Once again, Gladys just keeps getting better and better.

Paint and Plans

Work continues on the guest room closet which, as I mentioned earlier, is really more a tool/utility/ storage closet than it is a true clothes closet.  We have made accommodations for guests, but the majority of the closet will be used to protect our tools and belongings from turning to mildew or to rust.

Rick practically crawls into the close to paint the upper
storage area a fresh coat of white paint.

Rick painted the upper area of the closet, almost having to crawl inside to get to the corners and backs of the front walls.  He painted the frame of the closet on Wednesday morning; then we took a trip to The Container Store in Tampa to see if we could plan the interior.  We originally had invited Steve and Chris to come with us the next time that we went to the store, but we knew that a closet planning trip could be a long, drawn-out affair, and we did not want to have them wait for hours while we planned the closet interior. We promise, though, that when we know we have a shorter trip planned, we will invite them to come along.

The reason that we chose The Container Store is because they have a closet component system called Elfa that is more heavy-duty and far superior to any of the closet systems offered by big box stores.  We have not even considered Elfa in the past because it tends to be very pricey, but right now The Container Store is having a 30% off Elfa sale, so that brings the price down to comparable prices found for other brands in the big box stores.

Shelves coming out from the sides, room for a roll-out tool chest, and a
small area for guests to hang clothes all are part of the guest
room closet plan.

We met with a designer named Kristen, and she was great about showing us what was available and listening to our needs.  We had measured the closet carefully; however, we still came up with a question on one wall, so we took the design home to make sure that everything was exact.

Once we were home, we discussed the whole plan.  Rick is not thrilled about the shelves being wire shelves instead of solid materials, but wire is both strong and light-weight, so the shelves will suit our needs.  Wire shelves also give more ventilation than wood or melamine shelves even though we will put plastic liners on most if not all of them.  We measured the wall in question and discovered that the front of the closet is 116 1/2 inches wide while the back wall of the closet is 115 1/2 inches wide.  That discovery is really not terribly shocking since Gladys has plaster interior walls.  Whoever plastered that closet was just a little more heavy-handed in the back corners which resulted in an inch less of interior space.  Let no one every say that Gladys is not a strong, tough old lady.  She has withstood lots of storms and wind in the past 54 years, and with care I have no doubt that she could stand 54 more years.

We also took time last night to look at the master bedroom closet.  That closet presents a challenge because it tucks deeply into the corner on Rick's "side" of the closet, making what is behind the wall disappear from both sight and mind.  We came up with a tentative plan, so we decided to see what Kristen would design if we brought her this second challenge.

We started for Tampa at 8:30 a. m.  Normally, we would avoid getting into the morning rush hour traffic, but we wanted to get to The Container Store when they opened so they could pull our first order and so we could talk to Kristen about the second order.  Let me declare right here that you could not PAY me enough money to commute to Tampa each day, and we were far past the time when the traffic would have been at its heaviest.  I am so glad that I am retired and do not have to fight traffic just to get to work.  Thankfully, we made it to The Container Store without incident, arriving 20 minutes after they opened.

Kristen worked with us again, first confirming the guest room closet order and then helping us decide on what we could do with the master bedroom closet.  We have decided to totally open the closet from floor to ceiling, leaving us with less storage space on top, but with double high rods on the bottom and pull-out baskets that better utilize the space.  We still have a "hidden" area in the corner, but we can use that area for off season or seldom used clothes.

Our master bedroom closet presented some real challenges, but we
think that the results will more than suit our needs.

A rendition of what the master bedroom closet would look like when filled
with clothes.  I always laugh because who has so few clothes and shoes?

The systems were expensive but within our budget limitations.  We are excited to have the systems to install without having to build anything from scratch.  I hope that they go in easily.  They certainly will utilize the storage capabilities of Gladys far better than what has been used for the past 54 years.  Gladys is getting older, but she also is getting better in the process.

Doors, Doors, and More Doors

For the past few days, we have been concentrating on painting the coat closet and starting the work on the jambs.  Once the nail holes are filled in and sanded, we have to sand the rest of the jambs to "rough them up" at bit so the paint adheres.  Rick is not a huge fan of painting, so doing nothing but paint is hard on him.  We usually get a good start, but interruptions and trips to the store always seem to get in the way.

The coat closet door's final coat dries as it rests in the
Florida Room which is now our painting space.

Today started with a final coat of paint on one side of the coat closet.  The work is slow because we are trying to let one side dry before we flip the door over (at least while working on the final coats) to finish the other side.  I am not terribly pleased with the results of the doors; I think there are still too many brush strokes visible and the paint is not smooth.  We are trying to use the old can of paint first, and while the paint is supposed to be self-leveling, this time around Rick said it is a little more "gummy."  I don't want to just throw the paint out since it cost us $60 a gallon, but, as I said, I am not happy with the results.  Maybe we can use this old can of paint for the first coat or the back (inside) closet doors and use the new gallon for the finish coats.  I want to try to roll the paint, but Rick will not hear of that.  He said that a roller leaves a pattern that he does not like, but is an overall pattern any worse than brush strokes? I wanted to try to at least roll on the first coat on the back of one door to see the result; he is still opposed to that idea.  This debate is not over.

Once he finished the final coat on one side of the door this morning, we took some time to go to Woodcrafters to pick up the vacuum system for his new Festool saw.  We also needed to get the other guide and some clamps to go with it.  We both are excited for him to get the saw because it will open many new opportunities for us in making Gladys the prettiest old lady on the block.

The original closet with both upper
and lower doors removed. 

One of the prime reasons for getting the saw is to make accurate cuts on the bedroom closet doors.  The doors are eight feet tall, and we need to trim them about three inches to fit in the current closet openings.  We debated a long time on what to do with these 1960s closets.  Originally, they had a lower closet for clothes and a separate storage closet above.  Some people suggested that we just remove the upper doors and drywall off the upper storage, but with no basement and only a one-car garage, losing that much storage was out of the question.  We really did not like the looks of the two level, old-fashioned slide-bys, so when the owner of a local millwork shop suggested we just go with two doors and open the whole closet up, that seemed our best bet.  We still will have access to all of the storage, and we will have clean (although tall) doors that match the decor of the rest of the house.  I am sad that we still have no choice but slide-bys, but one cannot change everything in these old houses.

Rick spent the rest of the day removing the doors and outer framing of the old closet doors in the guest bedroom.  Stephanie is coming for a visit in another three weeks, so we want to get the guest room finished before her visit.  She is a trooper and will put up with whatever construction is going on, but Rick is determined to get the guest room back into livable order before she arrives.

With the closet contents removed (and stored in the bathtub!), the
frame came out and and reconstruction began.

The doors were soon gone (the large ones in the garage to act possibly as work surfaces while the smaller ones to the garbage pile), and the framing presented only a little tug-of-war with Rick.  The tracks for both sets of doors also will be on the curb next week, as will the closet pole and the warped shelf from the original lower closet.  Once all of the debris was cleared, we started to reframe the opening.  We had to add filler strips down each side and across the top to match the plastered walls.

We wanted to reuse the original upper shelf and to keep the space the same in the guest room, so Rick added a reinforcing board under the front of the shelf.  Then he used pocket-screwed in braces to further support it.  We bought a metal brace that will support the shelf in the middle from the top; that brace will always be behind the overlapping doors no matter how they are open, so no one will ever see it.  The upper shelf is now much more secure than it originally was.  Gladys is an old lady, so she was really beginning to sag in places.  The restructured shelf is like getting the old girl a new girdle.  The label may not say Spanx, but Gladys' shelf is now much more firmly in place.

The upper shelf is now faced and secured, and
the upper frame awaits paint and the track to
hold the new doors. Tools and a ladder will
spend the night out of the way tucked back in the closet.

Tomorrow we will finish the framing at the sides and maybe even get around to putting on a first coat of fresh paint.  The doors still need to be cut, we need to add shelves to both ends of the lower closet, we need to figure out upper shelves in the rest of the closet, and add the tracks and the doors once the doors are painted.  This certainly will not be completed by tomorrow, but if we continue to work on it each day, we will make progress toward our goals.

I am a very organized person, and I love that we can finally take time to plan where to put everything that we have accumulated.  The more storage space we get, the easier it will be to keep track of where everything is.  Because of the humid climate down here where everything wants to rust, the guest room closet that is climate controlled really doubles as a tool/ paint/ utility closet.  We are working toward adding an internal structure that will suit our needs while still giving guests a small space to hang clothes and to store a suitcase.

Rick said he felt good about what he has accomplished today, and well he should.  He worked very hard and made great progress into making the closet a very functional space.  Gladys, I think, felt pretty good about it also.

Doors, Windows, and Closets... Oh, My!

For the past two days, Rick and I (but mostly just Rick) have been busy installing the rest of the pre-hung doors.  On Thursday, Rick hung the three closet doors, and yesterday we put in the last two bigger doors which go to the main bathroom and the master bedroom.

We discovered a few more interesting facts about Gladys' construction. First, the door jambs that were used in 1960 were far superior to the jambs of today.  Both the wood and the construction of the jambs were great; unfortunately, we still believe they were covered in lead paint.  Out they went.  Secondly, when we removed the original bathroom door, we learned that our plans to gut that room will be more difficult than we could even imagine.  The walls are inch-thick plaster, and the pink and white tile that surrounds three sides of the room appears to have been put on with even more plaster.  We will need a jackhammer to demo that room when the time comes!  Thankfully, changing that room is not in the timeline or the budget for this year, and that is fine with both of us.

The newly hung coat closet door now matches
the guest room door.  Both, of course, need two
coats of paint and the hardware installed.

The closet doors went in with little hassle.  The main problem with them was just working in confined spaces.  The bathroom door took a little adjusting due to the thick walls, and the bedroom door caused the most problems since the plaster opening to the room was less than square or plumb.  All of the doors took more shims than we expected, but each now is swinging in its appropriate place.

An interior picture of the coat closet shows how
badly the dull tan walls needed to be freshened
with new white paint.

This morning started with Rick painting the upper part of the hall coat/ broom closet.  I told him that if he did the top part that I could not reach with the step stool (a ladder does not fit in the closet), that I would do the rest.  However, I ended up doing less than I had hoped to do.

I have felt pretty good for the last few weeks, having had only one "bad" day where my energy level and stamina were just not there.  Today turned out to be another one of those "bad" days.  My sense of balance is off, my stamina is short, and my energy is low.  I cut in the corners and trim on the lower part of the closet and eventually painted the baseboard that we left in, but I turned over the rolling of the walls to Rick.  I am totally frustrated that this happens to me and the burden of the work again falls on Rick's shoulders.  He keeps going from one job to the next, but I know that his arms ache and that he is exhausted by the end of the day also.

The last blind now makes the window treatments in the guest
room complete.  Yes, we still need a headboard and white
night stands, but they will come in time.

After the first coat of paint was drying in the closet, Rick took down the last old blind in the guest room.  We had gone to Lowe's on Friday to pick up the last new 2" blind, so Rick suggested that we take down the remaining old one and take them all to the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  After he had the blind down, he said, "Oh, what the heck.  I might as well put the new blind in."  Since we have had practice in doing so, installing the new blind only took him about 15 minutes.  We now have matching, new, clean blinds in all of the windows, and each room looks better for it.  The success is in the details, so having the valances and the uniform look helps to make each room look finished.

After the Restore, we stopped in the Woodcraft Store to buy the Festool saw that we will need to make accurate cuts both to the bedroom closet doors and to the utility sink cabinet when it comes in for the laundry room. We bought the saw, but they did not have the right size dust collection system, so that is on order for later next week.  That's OK since we will not be getting to the bedroom closet doors for some time yet.  We also still have to figure out how to restructure the insides of those closets; the Festool saw will come in handy to cut shelves later on, too.

Once we returned home, Rick tackled the coat closet again with a second coat of paint.  This time the walls did not suck the brush dry, so the second coat went on easier than the first.  The closets all needed to be done, so even though we really don't want to take the time to paint them now, having a semi-gloss, clean finish in them all is refreshing.

We are excited about the changes to the interior of Gladys.  Although most of the changes are cosmetic (new doors and fresh paint), the restructuring of our storage space excites me.  I have always been super organized, and I do not feel we have taken the time to be as organized as I like in this home. Now we will build more storage in both the bedroom closets and in the new cabinets when they come in for the laundry room.   We have tried not to accumulate too much in Gladys, keeping her fairly plain and simple, but any homeowner knows that one can never have too much organization or storage.

Gladys Gets Ready for the Beach

The weather has turned cool again which means that we cannot repair the stucco on the house or paint outside since temperatures for the next week are predicted to drop into the 40s.  Believe me, after sub-zero temperatures for a great deal of the time that we were in Wisconsin for the holidays, 40s seems very tropical, but it is still too cold for patching or for painting.

The temperatures outside, however, will not stop us from continuing to restructure Gladys on the inside.  One of the 1960s "shabby" parts of Gladys still are her original hollow-core, flat slab doors.  Through the years moisture has done lots of damage, helping the outer layers to delaminate and to peel up.  Creative cutting, glueing, and painting of the doors these past two years are all that has kept them intact.  Now is the time to move on to a better line of doors.

When we were in Florida in November, we ordered out all new interior doors and closet doors.  Once these are installed, we literally will have replaced every door and window in this house.  The new doors are the same design as the sliding pocket door and laundry room/ garage door that we installed last year, so each room will have that beach/ Key West decor to it because of the doors.

A corner of the living room now holds the guest room,
bathroom, and master bedroom doors.

Yesterday, Rick and Steve (thank you again, Steve, for doing the heavy lifting with Rick!) went to the millwork shop to pick up six pre-hung doors, one door slab for the master bathroom pocket door, and four mammoth eight-foot doors for the two bedroom closets.  We did not want to store the doors in the garage because of the moisture in the air, so we got creative about finding corners in the living room, dining room, and Florida room to house them until we could get them installed.

An empty corner in the dining room was
a great place to store the small closet doors.

Since the bedroom closet doors are too tall, they had to go on their
sides in the Florida room until Rick can modify them for
their eventual purpose in the bedrooms.

After running around this morning picking up needed supplies, including LOTS of shims, we started the demolition part of the door project.  The old door frames and casings all are covered, we strongly suspect, with lead paint. Rather than strip that all down and expose both of us to further health issues, we decided to remove them all and to start fresh.

The guest room and hall closet doors are
out, leaving lots of dust and debris to
pick up.

The first door Rick tackled was by far the worst door, condition-wise, in the house. He removed the guest room door and made short work of the frame. We were shocked to find that the door frames were not nailed into the frame of the house.  No nails penetrated the frame at any point. The only thing that held the door into position was the casing around each frame. Wow! I am surprised the doors have stayed in place all of these years, and further surprised that they opened and closed without problems.  Talk about a wish and a prayer construction!

After we removed the guest room door, we moved the new door into position and spent about the next two hours with shims, levels, and many long nails making sure the door was firmly attached to Gladys. While the original carpenters used no nails, Rick is following the Anderson building motto of "If one nail will do, two or three are better."  I'll let him patch the nail holes in these babies. I will admit, though, that if an earthquake tries to take down Gladys, I will be confident that a door frame is as good a place as any to be.

Our plan is to hang all of the pre-hung doors and then to take the doors out, to paint them on the flat, and to paint the frames where they hang.  I will be so happy to eventually have new doors where the hinges, handles, and strike plates are not covered in layers of carelessly slopped paint.

Rick works on removing the last of the debris
after removing the bathroom door. The hall storage
closet, opposite the bathroom, also awaits a new door.

Once the guest room door was in place, we spent the rest of the afternoon removing the doors and frames on the hallway coat closet, the hallway storage closet, and the main bathroom door.  The bathroom is going to be a challenge since the casing for the door actually went behind a corner of the vanity, and the walls of the bathroom are extra thick with plaster and tile.  Eventually we will gut that room, but for now that is both a monetary and a time expense that we do not want to face.

Not having a bathroom door when the room can be clearly seen from the living room will present a few privacy challenges, but we have the second bathroom in the master bedroom, so we will survive.  By this time tomorrow evening, we hope to have the new bathroom and at least one of the closet doors installed.

The closets have not been painted in many years, so we bought paint today to make sure that everything gets a fresh coat of paint and gets reconfigured to our liking before we call this project complete.

The new guest room door from the hall...

and from the inside of the room. 

Even though nothing is painted, we are pleased with how the one door that we have hung looks from both inside the room and from the hallway.  In our house in Wisconsin, we replaced all of the old, flat doors with six-panel doors, and those doors totally changed the whole look of the house.  We expect that giving Gladys some fancy new doors will make her one step closer to being a classy old lady heading for the beach.

Recycled Benches and Patio Stones

When we purchased Gladys, she came with a mostly-buried patio-block patio on which was placed a concrete table and benches.  A little creative digging revealed a rather large patio buried under two inches of dirt and grass. We also found evidence in the yard that at one time, the table was surrounded by three crescent-shaped benches; however, one had totally broken into pieces along with its supporting legs, and a second bench was on the ground because it, too, only had one intact leg.

The old patio set with workmen in the background two years
ago removing some of the Brazilian Pepper trees from the back yard.
The bench on the ground and the pedestal under the table are now safely
in their new home at Steve and Chris' house.

In the past two years, we have used the table to eat on only once.  The bench that was still standing had some broken decorative pieces on top, so it was not terribly comfortable.  Additionally, the patio really was placed too far away to carry food and utensils to and from the house for a meal.   We have used the table to hold tools while we worked on removing the jungle that also was growing in the back yard, and I have used it to hold doors and other smaller projects that needed painting.  Since a tree hangs over the patio, however, the table was not the ideal painting place since the tree drops leaves and seeds often.

We decided this year that since we never really used the patio or the table, we would be better to get rid of it all and to grow some grass for now until we can landscape the back yard.  The patio is in really rough shape.  The patio stone seems to be a mixture of concrete with lots of additional soft materials, and the roots of the live oak tree under which it sits have really done a fine job of heaving and breaking up the patio blocks.  Additionally, the patio was constructed of at least three different sizes and variations of block.  I like things to be uniform and precise, so the patio was not my favorite thing to look at each day.

Yesterday, Steve and Chris came over because Chris said she would take one of the benches for her back garden.  They have owned their home longer than we have, so they are finished with the inside remodeling and are concentrating on landscaping their back yard.  They took the bench that was lying on the ground since it was in better shape than the raised bench.  Experience has taught us that the bench support legs break, so I told them to take all three of the remaining legs in case one breaks for them also. Spare parts are great to have, and storing them costs nothing.

Steve helped Rick remove the table top from the central concrete pedestal; they put it on its side and rolled it out to the curb.  We used a broken brick to angle it toward the road so that the city disposal crew could pick it up for removal on Monday.  Rick and Steve also transported the other bench top to the curb.

I asked Chris if she wanted to take the pedestal since it was in great shape and could be used as a base for a bird bath, a bird feeder, or a planter.  She decided that she had a place for it in her garden, so Rick and Steve loaded that into the truck to take to their house also.

We took the short drive to their house, and both the bench and the pedestal were soon in their backyard.  By the time we came home, we had at least one car slow down to look over the table top and bench.  Remember the magic curbs in this city?  Anything that is put out to the curb usually disappears within 24 hours.  Rick figured that we would have to pay the city at least $50.00 to haul away the table top and bench, but I had hopes that the magic curb would work once again.

In less than two minutes, I saw a second car stop in front of our house.  A man on a bicycle followed the car.  The driver of a small hatch-back car opened the back, and Bike Man helped Driver somehow put in the bench and then wedge the large table top into the back of the car.  I have no idea how the two of them even lifted the table top since it was solid concrete and rebar, and Steve and Rick could barely lift it to its side just to roll it to the front.  At any rate, the table top was wedged well enough into the Driver's car that he was able to tie down the hatch-back and drive away.  Thank you, magic curb!  Within an hour of our removing the table from the back yard, all of it was gone, and we did not have to pay the city anything to haul it away.  Recycled bench, legs, and pedestal went to Steve and Chris, recycled table and bench top ventured to places unknown, and now, recycled patio itself follows today.

Three sizes of stone and two or three different materials had
made this patio a heaved up mess.

We know of a place in the city were we can take broken concrete. They gladly took our broken up sidewalk last year, but we were not sure that they would accept this patio block. This morning we took in a sample of the stone and checked with them.  They said that we could bring the patio in, and that they would recycle it.  Success again!  If we had not been able to drop off the patio for recycling, we would have had to rent a dumpster from the city for about $80 to get rid of the stone.  More money saved as we contribute to the recycling efforts of the city.

The good news is that since nothing was staked or fastened down,
the patio block is coming up fairly easily with a little prying with
a pitch fork that we "inherited" with our purchase of Gladys.

We actually started today early at the doctor's office.  I met with my new rheumatologist for the first time.  I like him.  He was very knowledgable, and although he did not question what had been done to diagnose and to treat me at Mayo Clinic, he also wanted to know WHY the doctors there had chosen to treat me with certain drugs and therapies.  He was very thorough, and I like that.  He will continue to work with the treatment plan from Mayo, so I am still on the same course.

Additional blood work this morning led me to a new lab in the city, and I also was pleased with their facility.  One change I will have to make (if I can ever hear back from my insurance company!) is to go from Fosomax +D-- which I use to protect my bones-- to a yearly IV infusion of Reclast.  Apparently, Fosomax +D, if it gets stuck in my esophagus, can have fatal consequences.  Who knew? 

Another disappointment this morning was learning that I am not to the point where  I can start physical therapy to rebuild my muscles.  The doctor said that I have not been on Imuran long enough to know what condition my muscles are in right now.  When I asked what I can do to keep active, his response was, "Walk."  OK, that I am already doing.  I am back to watching Rick work, and that really drives me crazy. My friends and relatives know that I am not one to just sit around all day, but at this point if I do too much, I may cause further muscle damage. We still do not know if the Imuran is working, and I probably won't know that until I return to Mayo for more tests in early June.

For now, the work continues on Gladys, but it will be slow.  I should be able to at least lift a paint brush, so perhaps I can make myself useful when the new doors arrive.  Until then, I guess I will just have to sit back, bide my time, and watch Rick transform Gladys into a classy old lady.