Doorways

March 9, 2022 Well, it’s getting close to St. Patricks Day, and that means the tower goes green. Not the best photo, but it is definitely lit up with a large green shamrock! Bob’s in Maryland, and getting his first McDonald’s Shamrock Shake of the season. It’s his tradition to take a Porsche out for the occasion, this time it’s the 1979 924 Sebring Edition. He loves these “special edition” shakes and waits all year for them (and I don’t have the heart to tell him that they are just vanilla with green food coloring). Meanwhile, in Coppell, Texas our granddaughter Scarlett is being her cute self. (We miss her!)

Scott and I took an afternoon and went through the house, top to bottom, recording the doorways and determining how they will open, in or out, left hand or right hand. It took me a while to get the hang of it. Good news for us, Scott numbered each door, recorded in his book, and wrote in sharpie on the jamb so there’d be no mistakes. It’s surprising how much thought has to go into determining the correct orientation of each doorway and how it will be used most efficiently. You need to consider traffic flow, position of furniture, interference with other architectural features, and so on. By the way, there are 26 interior doors, yikes!

Bob and I were attracted to three panel doors in a plain shaker style, and Scott had a former client send some pics so we could see them painted. We also really liked the look of natural wood, so Scott gave us a catalogue for custom doors which of course we loved (because we always like the most expensive stuff, natch). And, what about hinges, should they be brushed nickel or bold and black, which seems to be the current trend. Bob and I decided we liked the black hinges on stained wood doors, but not so much on white doors. But we all agreed on ball bearing hinges. No more squeaks for us! Why is there a stair tread photo? It came from the same house as the door photos, which is why we are seeing it now. You might recall that the stairs to the apartment are rubber covered, much like these. The stairs in the main house to the basement and up to the tower had been constructed to be covered in a durable non-slip product much like this, and here is another example. While it might be practical for the garage stairs, we’re not that fond of it in the house, which will present some challenges for us when we get to that point. But that’s for another day.

Process Update: we still have LOTS of cleaning to do…. Here we have the old “Chem Lab” which will become my art studio (I can’t wait!). This room is above the middle garage and between the big garage/apartment and the main house. There is a pull down stair to a large attic above.