Lovebugs and bedrooms

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Despite our best attempts to head up to Lake Byrd on Friday morning, we didn’t end up arriving until 7pm Friday evening. Oh well. Such is life. This was, however, the first night we were going to stay in the house. Oceana has been using the campervan (which she has since renamed the “Glam Van”) for mobile salon services. She informed me that she really liked driving the van and that I wasn’t going to be getting it back. Great. Looks like Jake’s getting a new van! The new-to-me van arrived last Saturday evening and it will become a work van with some campervan amenities. What that also means is that all of my tools will now live in the new van so it doesn’t make sense to bring the campervan up anymore.

Dual A/C’s? Yes, please!

We brought up a bed with us and set it up in the back bedroom. As the house still doesn’t have air conditioning, we set up a window unit in the bedroom window. Since there were two window units and the windows back there are abnormally large (4′ wide double hung), we set up both A/C units in the window opening. If one is good then two is better, right?! Well it worked. It cooled the room nicely and we slept well.

More old wiring

Saturday we focused on the porch again. This time we were working on the inside. Oceana helped me fish a few more wires for the front porch switches and I got a few round boxes and a 4 gang box installed. Of course, nothing comes easy in this place. The wall framing is 2×2 so a normal 4 gang box is too deep to fit. After cutting out the 1″ thick rough sawn sheathing, it fits! I pulled all the wires in and got the switches installed. I also installed the boxes for the two porch lights. While I was at it I removed lots of old wiring that was strung all over the front porch and in the walls. Much better!

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Beadboard Time

Since the new electrical was roughed in, I could now close up the half walls. We got set up on the porch to start running the beadboard. With the right tools and the right setup, the install actually went quickly. After installing the beadboard, we made a depot run to get some primer and other supplies. There’s still more trim to be installed over the beadboard but I wanted to make sure to get it primed in case it rained. On our way back from Depot we discussed our plans which includes a leisurely evening and priming the beadboard in the morning. That was until we checked the weather. Tomorrow is supposed to be rain all day. I guess we’re priming tonight!

Spraying like a pro

We taped and plastic’d off the front porch and busted out the new paint sprayer. I used to have a real nice spray rig until some fellas let themselves into my shop a few years back and decided they needed it more than me. It has been a few years since I’d sprayed with an airless setup so I humbled myself and read the directions. Got the gun set up and started spraying. I forgot how fast spraying is. There’s a fair bit of time in prep and masking but the application is real fast.

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Curtains for the bedroom

After the first coat of primer, we went back to the bedroom to hang some curtains. With the proximity to highway 27, the bedroom can be noisy. We picked up some real heavy blackout curtains and got them hung on both windows. Maybe it’s my optimism but I think they work. The bedroom seemed quieter. After the curtains were up, the primer had dried enough to be second coated. I sprayed on a heavy second coat and then we pulled the tape and plastic. That’s enough fun for one night.

A quiet morning

The next morning was a clean up morning. We got everything straightened away and I got the new front porch lights hung. Oceana spread some more grass seed and got the sprinklers set up. Salons are opening up tomorrow across Florida and Oceana has a lot to do to get prepared. We headed back home a bit earlier than normal so Oceana had time to prepare for the crazy week ahead. I’m already looking forward to getting the trim installed and getting the whole inside of the front porch painted!

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