Sofa Move

Well since we got home on Tuesday I have been at it once again. I painted the bump out in the living room area. 2 coats of tan on the walls, 2 coats of chocolate on the window frames and blue with clouds for the ceiling (yes we did it in the living room also). On Thursday morning I moved the two recliners into the bump out behind the couch and we waited for Barbara's cousins and their respective spouses to arrive to help me move the couch out onto the porch. Barbara's cousin Marge and her husband Joe and Barbara's cousin Ed and his wife Pat arrived around 4:30 in the evening. After showing them around the place, that took all of 2 minutes, we tried to get the couch through the sliding glass door. It was soon apparent that it was just not going to go through the opening. We tried to take the sliding door part out but found out that we needed to remove the outer glass door first, the part that does not move. We removed the screws at the top and the bottom that we found but the door would not move. We then dug out the caulk but it still would not move, the top was lose but the bottom was still secure. Then Pat came to the rescue, she got down and found two screws on the inside that were holding the door in place, a big Woo Hoo to Pat. After removing those two screws the door came lose and after prying the bottom out (and landing on my fingers) the door was out of the way. After that it was easy to remove the sliding door and less then 5 minutes later the couch was on the porch. Then we just reversed the the process and the sliding door was back in place. Today I went to Home Depot to buy new screws to secure the outside door and a few other things for some other projects that have come up. When I got back I secured the door with the new screws and put new caulking along the bottom of the door. Then I glued the paneling that was buckling to get it ready for the paint able wall paper. Tomorrow I will be painting the ceiling (white) and putting the wall paper up. I am so sorry that I did not get any pictures of the adventure in moving a couch but I have not gotten to the store to get a new camera.

First Field Trip

On Monday morning Barbara and I got into the car and drove to Orlando to go to one of the closest Costco's to get the tires rotated. Bought four new tires at Costco a few months ago so I get free rotation and tire balancing for the life of the tires. Well after doing some shopping at Costco and having lunch we went to the Orange County Regional History Center. The admission was free due to our membership at Brandy Wine River Museum. We learned all about the history of central Florida, how the natives lived before the Europeans arrived, how the Seminole Indians were forced from their land and about the orange groves and how the Orlando area developed over the years. After the museum we went across the street to a local TiKi bar for a snack. Then to the motel. In the morning after breakfast we went to the Harry P. Leu Gardens and with our American Horticulture Society membership admission was free. The garden is divided up into different areas. There is an idea garden, a citrus grove, a butterfly garden, a rose garden and a vegetable garden to mention just a few. In the vegetable garden I found Jicama (pronounced hee-kuh-muh) which it turns out every part except the root is poisonous. Barbara and a neighbor tried to feed this stuff to me and her husband once, but that did not work out. Nothing good can come from a plant that is mostly poisonous. After leaving the gardens we drove home by way of the outlet mall in Vero Beach just off of I-95. Then home again.

Bedroom Project Done

Well got up early and after breakfast I put a second coat of paint on the wall patches, ceiling and door. Then I brought the bed frame into the bedroom and put it together. Then we just had to wait for the bed to arrive. The bed came and was put in place by the two young gentlemen and in no time Barbara and I were putting the sheets on it. It comes up alot higher then the one we took out put it is so comfortable.
I then started working on the drawers for the kitchen. I trimed down the sides even with the bottom of the drawer and put a piece of 1/4" wood along the bottom and glued and clamped them in place. After I got one drawer done I took it inside to see if it was going to work and it will work.
Around 3:00 PM today I was too pooped to pop so I took a nap on my new bed until dinnertime. I love our new bed.

Bedroom Project Day 3, 4 and 5

Day 3:
Barbara and I went to Home Depot in the morning and on the way stopped at a mattress store and bought a bed and scheduled it to be delivered on Friday Morning. We went to Home Depot to buy a quart of their no VOC paint in blue. Home Depot does not sell their no VOC in quarts only gallons so we just bought the small piece of paneling to use to fix the walls along with some silicone caulking and a tube of construction glue. Then after lunch I started on patching the walls. Had to cut some more wall supports out and then replace them. I only got the larger hole fixed before it was time to go for a refreshing swim and dinner.
Day 4:
Got a nice early start and finished patching the walls. Then put new base molding up. After that I nailed down new tack strip for the carpet, cut out the old padding and cut a new piece of padding to replace it. Then I unfolded the carpet and put it all back. Next was to start painting the ceiling and walls. Just after lunch George and Pat drove into the park and past our house. After doing some more painting Barbara and I went over to George and Pat's house to say hello and see how their trip down had been. While there I helped George unscrew his front door, only person I know who does not lock his door for the summer but screws it shut behind two pieces of plywood. Barbara and I then went for a swim and then we decided to go to Lowe's to get the quart of blue paint for the ceiling, another gallon of white paint and a bathroom scale. Then we went to a Big Apple Pizza for our first Florida pizza. It was OK but not like our La Gondola pizza back in New Jersey.
Day 5:
I got to work painting the walls in the morning and got them all done. Then I painted the ceiling over where the bed will be with the blue paint. After lunch I put a chicken on a can on the grill to cook for dinner. had to cook it early so we could get our afternoon swim in. While the chicken cooked I went back into the bedroom to put some clouds on my blue ceiling. It was very simple I took a plastic bag and crumpled it up and dipped it into the white paint and then after blotting it on a wet rag I dabbed on white puffy clouds onto my blue ceiling. I think it turned out real well. After taking the chicken off the grill I went back into the bedroom to work on the space where the drawers where under the closet. First I unscrewed the last drawer and pulled it out, it was the worst one. Then I measured and cut the wainscoting we had bought so long ago (or so it seemed). When i had cut the last piece and I still had 4 inches to cover. I thought I was going to have to go and buy another pack of wainscoting to cover it and Barbara said just cut a piece of luan and paint it white so that is what I did. When I am done you should not see any difference. Tomorrow I have to get up early and finish painting, the white part of the ceiling needs a second coat as does the wall patch. Then I have to put the bed frame back together and wait for our new bed to be delivered.

Bedroom Project Day 2

Well after getting a late start, had to pay the bills first, I got to work on fixing the floor. I cut and installed some 2x2's for support of the new plywood floor, I screwed them to the existing floor and the 2x2's that were still sound enough. I used ring nails and decking screws so they should not come out or rust. The next task was to cut out the rotten wood in the wall. It took me awhile but I got it out. Then it was time to cut the plywood for the floor. I stuffed new fiberglass insulation between the floor supports and then cut and fit the two pieces of plywood. I screwed the new floor down with 2" deck screws, it is not going anywhere.
After that I needed to get cleaned up before our afternoon swim so I headed to the bathroom for a shave and shower, that felt good.
That is all for now.

Bedroom Project Day 1

Well today I was going to start painting the bedroom. I moved the bed out and deflated it, yes I have been using a blowup bed, then I had to remove the patch on the wall. What I found caused me to pull the rug up and see what was going on with the dip in the floor there. Well the floor had been patched once with MDF (medium density fiberboard) instead of plywood. That would not be so bad but there must have been another leak that was never looked at and fixed right away. I had to cut a bigger hole in the wall to get back to fiberglass insulation that had not gotten wet and good wood to build the new floor on. I still have some more wood that needs to be cut out from the wall but I will do that after putting the plywood down tomorrow. After tearing out all that I had to go buy wood and supplies for tomorrow at Home Depot. By that time it was time for my afternoon snack and a evening swim.
After our swim I cooked the steaks Barbara had bought earlier today along with some onions, red peppers and potato slices. It was delicious.