September 28, 2021 Scott, Jason and Todd have arrived. They mean business, and their business is clearing out the useless junk that is in their way. I might as well not been there as I perched on a milk crate with my mouth hanging open, as they carried stuff past me, “do you want this?” – uh, uh, well, yes…. too late, it has been heaved into the back of the truck!
The really long, heavy ipe wood boards (apparently meant for the deck) came out and went into the now cleared out storage trailer, as well as the 26′ long aluminum joist…. whoa, that is VERY long! And heavy!
Meanwhile, in a galaxy far, far away, people are living in real homes, with real furniture, carpets, painted rooms, books on the shelves, and artwork on the walls…. they were loving their hygge, and their feng shui was prime…. and me? Not so much…
I can but dream…. lovely photos, yes?
Back at the ranch, wiring was continuing to happen; Jim the assistant electrician putting in all those “home runs” to the fuse box, Jason adding blocking to the ceiling, and Scott pondering why he ever agreed to do this in the first place!
The double mahogany doors that match the ones in the apartment…. from the bank in Boston…. They are supposed to go in the media room as the doors into my art studio. Scott and I were concerned about the height of the doors… so Jason and Todd carried one up from the basement (they are VERY heavy). Bob has been obsessed with these doors, but when I took these photos and texted them to him, it was clear to Bob and the rest of us that it was not going to work. The doors are 8 feet tall! That is the height of the room itself, clearly there was no room for the missing header, never mind trim and all that… and cutting down the doors is just not the right thing to do. So, we’ll have to think about this….
This room also needs to have the wall bumped out to accommodate the half bathroom. The original plans called for the wall to run the length of the wall, but my idea was to create a return – sort of a notch that would keep the original pass throughs intact and symmetrical on each side of the fireplace wall. Jason and Todd were super helpful by tacking up some spare plywood to simulate the look. Yes, it is going to look just right. Thank you to Sue Robinson for the original idea!
Bookcases. While chaos reigns, I have been dreaming of bookcases, sitting peacefully reading in my lovely, clean, bright, comfortable home with comfy chairs, soothing sunlight and a cup of tea…. someday! Lovely photos, yes? All for very different reasons…. my Pinterest board is getting rather crowded. 🙂
So here is the last story for you tonight. Bob and I have been talking about getting a sofa bed or something for people to sleep on if they come to the apartment – the only visitors who would actually want to visit would be my mother or our kids (and then only under duress!). Upon seeing how much a probably uncomfortable piece of furniture would cost, I said – why don’t we bring up the futon from our house in Maryland? Brilliant idea, right? We already have it and I’m driving the Touareg up anyway……… I am not going to bore you with the photos of us disassembling it, putting the metal bits in labeled baggies, folding up the mattress and hog-tying it with some straps, then stuffing all of it in the back of the SUV. Bob waved merrily as I drove away….
It took me a few days back at the apartment to face hauling all the pieces up the stairs – the mattress was a struggle. But I was NOT going to ask anyone to help me. Finally one evening I gathered a few tools together and sat on the floor with my phone (photos of the disassembly) to figure out how to put it back together. Two hours later, I FaceTimed Bob and said, “Look at this piece of s***!! This sucks! I feel like some kind of aging hippie sitting crossed legged on the floor trying to find the meaning of life by communing with a FUTON!” Every time I got one side attached, the other would come undone…. but eventually I prevailed, dammit. By then, I resembled an aging hippie sitting on a futon drinking a well-earned beer. Ha!
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