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.