A visitor and the Door Trim

Another awesome and eventful week, that was also somehow restful, is in the books!

This week we found ourselves taking on a different role than we hold each week as both full-time employees, and part-time DIYers: we got to be hosts again!

Scott's dad came to visit for the first time since last February (before COVID took away what little social lives we had, and before this house was even a thought in our minds). We were able to spend almost 5 days with him showing him the house, relaxing in and around the pool, boating, and spending time with my parents as well.

We are super grateful that we were able to be hosts and spend some much-needed quality time with him. I think the only one more excited was Toby, he loves his gramps!

Here are a couple pictures from our weekend:

Did you spy the iguana? They're much easier to see when not blending seamlessly into the grass.

Scott did most of the cooking on the grill, with the pork butt above in addition to smashburgers, a full breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, and brats. Mom and dad hosted us for some awesome smoked plate ribs; there was no shortage of good food!

While he was here we did steel away to get a little work done while he watched and chatted. Part of this was out of necessity, and part was because we were just at home, enjoying the evening air and might as well get some work done too.

The item that was out of necessity was the gaping hole in our kitchen ceiling letting in the unbearable heat from outside/the attic.

Several months ago we took out a wall in the kitchen and pushed it (figuratively. We actually framed a new wall behind where the old one was) one foot closer to the entry door, opening up room for more cabinets/countertops in the kitchen.

When we did this we never closed up the ceiling because that whole ceiling will come down (as in- we'll tear it down), and we will raise the ceiling (as in- get rid of the bulkheads) to normal height. When that happens, this hole will be in the right place for the new ceiling.

While the plastic was great, in theory, it's been consistently in the upper 90s-low 100s and we have had trouble keeping the house a liveable temp (it's been low 80s inside). Scott borrowed a thermal imaging camera to see where the heat was coming from, and unsurprisingly this hole was the biggest culprit (our single-pane windows aren't helping tho, and surprisingly even the clock on our stove is putting out some heat).

Also, just for fun, here's Scott:

Scott got to work taking down the plastic and cutting drywall to fit in the hole.

With the drywall up, he taped up the seams with duct tape just to keep the cold(er) air inside and the warm air outside.

That definitely helped:

Significantly less red than before, meaning less heat.

The final step was to climb in the attic and move the blown-in insulation over the newly placed drywall to add another barrier for the heat to get through.

Let's look at those side-by-side:

It's not perfect, but it's significantly better! Unfortunately we are probably a long way from ever being able to keep the house at 68, but most days I'd settle for in the 70s, especially in this Florida heat!

Next we completed a small un-house-related project: getting sparkling water on tap.

We are addicted to the seltzer waters (all the brands, but Ahas are my faves!). We don't drink a lot of soda but it's hard to pass up those fruity (no calorie) refreshments. A while ago we kicked around the idea of having a keg of seltzer in the keezer to just drink or to make Italian sodas, so Scott made it happen!

It's just plain water with c02, but I have syrups for flavoring and limes from our key lime tree, so it's perfectly refreshing!

The final project for this week was door trim. Last week we bought the wood for the trim, so this week we cut, routed (to get soft, rounded edges), sanded (with 150 then 220), assembled, filled, re-sanded, primed, sanded, filled some more, re-sanded and painted. Whew! Everything is a lot more steps than you think it will be. One of these days I'll learn to set attainable goals and actually reach them 😉

We rounded out this evening after taking Scott's dad to the airport by starting to put the trim up. Our hallway has some funky corners (one door on an angled wall and one too tight in the corner for a whole piece of trim) that' require some finagling another day, so we put up the "easy" pieces tonight.

It sounds like a little thing, but putting up trim in this hallway will move it one step closer to being done.

We were asked this weekend how many projects are left before we are in a good place. Truth be told, I don't know, it's a bit overwhelming when I try to think too hard about it, mostly because my brain either breaks it all down and I think "we have 895,644 projects left!" Or, out of self-preservation I think, it refuses to acknowledge projects and says "just three more rooms!". The truth is somewhere in the middle. We are a long way away from being "done", but are you ever really done? Isn't there always something to change/fix/improve? For me, the house will feel "done" when the kitchen and baths are done. Then we'll be on to "nice to have" and out of "need to have". Until then though, we'll keep tackling each project one week at a time!