Paint and Progress

The weekend saw no rest inside Gladys.  We continue to paint anything that lies flat on a sawhorse for more than 10 seconds, and incidental chores always seem to rear their ugly heads.

We did take time over the weekend, though, to visit the Marina (which was too crowded to find a place to sit), and to take a walk down Victoria Lane.  Victoria Lane is a street that runs along St. Joseph Sound where, in the 1890s - 1930s, the elite of society came down from the North and built their "vacation" mansions.  We enjoy seeing the various periods of buildings on the street, and Rick is fascinated by what will appear on one particular lot.

Last year, someone purchased one of the old mansions with the intension of remodeling it.  The new landowner soon learned, however, that he could not put the electrical wires within the walls (rather than having them strung outside the walls and across the ceiling as they must have been done in the late 19th century).  He also found other costly and space-prohibitive barriers to his plans, so he had a "gentle demolition" of the structure.  The "gentle" part is due to the fact that he allowed contractors and others to come in to bid on the ornate woodwork, three-way fireplace, exquisite staircase, hardwood floors, hand-carved wainscoting, and other decorative features of the house.  Those items were carefully removed and preserved before the final demolition of the building.  What remains is a vacant lot with stakes and red strings outlining the planned structure that will grace the lot.  We both hope that the new owner will build a new "old" house-- a period piece that will fit into the neighborhood rather than a modern mansion that will be totally out of place.  Since he was careful about preserving parts of the last house, we think he might be sensitive to the ambiance of the area.

At the very end of the street near the Marina is another big old house for sale.  That house used to be the Yacht Club of Dunedin.  The house has been for sale over a year, and we noticed on this walk that the entire house was tented.  Tenting occurs when a company comes in, puts an air-tight tent over the entire structure, fills the inside of the tent with poisonous gas, and then lets everything inside die for about three days.  The two most prevalent reasons for tenting something are to rid the structure of bugs -- including termites-- and to rid the structure of rodents.  We tented Gladys the first year we owned her to eliminate both termites and fruit rats.  I wonder if someone wants to buy the old yacht club, or if the real estate company trying to sell it found problems and decided to take care of them.  What happens to that house also will be interesting to watch.

What is happening in this house shows progress even if it is not too interesting to watch.  (Remember the old saying, "That's as exciting as watching paint dry"? Well, that's where we are right now.) Rick finished painting and hanging the main bathroom door. We finished and set aside the hallway and bathroom closet doors while we work on the interior of closets, and we picked up casing that needs our attention next. Having run out of sawhorse space, we have make-shift sawhorses made of orange tubs in the garage. Whatever works...

Rick was lamenting that we did not do much again today.  I disagree.  He currently is working on the large closet doors for our master bedroom.  Why are we sick of painting?  We have 11 doors that we are replacing.  Each door must be painted with a first and then second coat on both sides; therefore, Rick will have painted 44 sides of doors by the time he is finished. Then there were the door frames which also needed two coats of paint... thankfully, we have completed them all.

Rick rolls one wall in the hall closet.

We also worked on the hallway closet today.  While painting the upper storage unit in the guest bedroom was like painting the inside of a cocoon, painting this tiny closet was more like painting the inside of a coffin while being in it!  I cut in the

The completely painted hall closet.

corners and edges this morning while Rick painted a door; then he came and rolled what he could with a little roller.  By that time, I had also managed to paint both elbows, parts of my forearms, and about 10% of my hair. I think Rick just wants my hair to be as white as his, so this is his devious plan to get me to that point!  The result of our labors, however, is a fresh, clean closet.

Other completed chores today included adding handles to the closet doors in the guest bedroom, picking up glass for the nightstands in that room, and adding the closet track in the master bedroom.

Handles make the closet doors look more
balanced, and they make opening the doors
much easier!

We took time out from painting after lunch to load our old Ethan Allen end tables into the truck to get them out of our way.  We actually purchased those tables 38 years ago with wedding money that we received from Rick's grandmother.  They have served us well both in our first apartments and homes and for the past three years down here.  However, they really do not fit into Gladys' decor, and they were really showing their age.  We intended to take them to Habitat for Humanity Restore, but to save time and gas we took them to Johnson's Furniture here in town.  They deal in new and used furniture.  The man we talked to said that they could not sell the tables, but they could donate them to the church to help the poor.  That's good enough for me.  I have no idea what church will get the profits  nor do I really care.  If the donation will help others, that is fine.  They are out of my house and out of my life.

Had they not taken the tables, I am sure that the magic curb would have worked also.  Last night we put out the old tracks for the closets, and they disappeared before the garbage collectors came this morning. Anything not wanted finds a home elsewhere via the magic curb.

We need the room in the house to bring in our next project.  Rick called today to arrange to pick up our cabinets for the laundry room.  They are coming unassembled, so we have no idea how many boxes we will have.  We probably will store them in the same corner of the living room that just held the end tables.  We will have to find time, soon, to get them assembled and installed.  That probably will not happen, though, until after Stephanie's visit which starts this Friday.  We cannot wait to see her and to take some time off.  What we are doing now is mostly cosmetic changes in Gladys, but, wow, do those cosmetics cost a fortune for this old doll!

Today was a beautiful day outside, so I am hoping that after dinner we can at least take a little time to sit outdoors or to take a walk.  Last night we actually grilled our dinner.  Doing so seems so unnatural for us folks from the North who usually do not pull out the grill until the snow melts in late April or even early May.  Yet the weather was the main reason we came to Florida and purchased Gladys.  We feel we have made great progress with her, and we continue to be happy with the changes we are making.