projects – Page 15 – The Hermits' Rest

Blinded in a Good Way

Lee had been waiting patiently for the rest of the blinds to go up at the Pope Residence, to save on electricity. The new-ish windows aren’t terribly efficient, but not old enough to replace.

Now that the stair rails are done, and the custom sized blinds for the really long windows are in, Lee’s dream can come true. They’re going up.

There are even blinds for the upstairs rooms we haven’t renovated yet.

Sadly for some, I like light, as do my plants. So my shade stays up.

Plus there’s the collection of brass birds, which I don’t want to touch.

Lee and Chris quickly got Kathleen’s shades up, while she was working offsite. I also spotted the snakeskin she recently found, displayed on her light fixture. So cool.

Lee’s office has been amazingly bright and cheerful. No wonder he hasn’t moved much in. It’s also pretty warm in there. Once the blinds are up, it will be a lot more hermitage in mood, and efficient in electricity needed.

Well, I like light. I need my shiny stuff to shine!

Blind Weirdness

Here’s something. The blinds for the building were all ordered on the same day, from the same store. They are the same brand and style (real wood, but not fancy).

However, there are three different mechanisms for raising and lowering them. Some you just push up and pull down, like in my office. Some have sophisticated buttons you have to press before raising or lowering, like in Lee’s office.

Others have the traditional string pulls, like in Kathleen’s office. Those may be challenging.

More Blinds

Anyway, the whole downstairs is blinded now. Lee is very happy with his dimness.

The reception room now really wants its furniture!

I wanted to see how the blinds looked from outside then I remembered all the sand burs and the fact that the grass is knee high. But I did it, so you can see.

The outside pictures really make it clear that the exterior also needs a lot of work. We will get there! In the meantime, I look forward to enjoying my office from all angles, every day. Next week?

Finished: Railing and Rugs

We got two big things finished over on the Pope Residence project today. First is the one that matters: the stair railings! Ooh.

The masterpiece! (I’ve removed most of the blue tape since).

Everything finished getting painted. Once it was dry, Chris had to attach the pieces to each other. There was no way to do it outdoors, so he very carefully used the acetylene torch.

The results looked like this.

After that, the welds got painted. Carefully since it was indoors.

The trim on the other side of the stairs is next. But it’s already pretty glorious.

Rugs?

Yes, the new extreme pink rugs arrived and are in my office. I also brought my favorite heirloom table over for the lounge corner.

The extremely pink chair will look great there.

Lee and Chris also brought my new filing cabinet over, and it’s by the smaller pink rug.

I found I had a little spare time today, so I put the crystals on the old chandelier we painted white.

I am not putting the ugly plastic bits back on. Maybe I’ll get other crystals or something. As it is, it makes a nice pattern on the ceiling.

Now there are just a few touch-ups and such left, but we’re just about ready to get final inspection.

Office Construction Zone

Today I got more things over to my new office, which was fun. I was really excited to unpack my fake wood stove and see how it looks. It’s not bad at all!

This is the view from my desk. Lee put the theoretically valuable cats on there and we decided to keep it that way.

I keep trying things on the mantel. I’ll eventually be happy. There will be a lot of plant and seating movement before I’m totally happy. I also brought over my very old bookcase just to hold things until other shelves are done.

Much of today was spent with Lee building this shelving unit for me. It has the slash of wood theme the barn door and other furnishings have.

There were a few adventures and mis-steps, but we achieved furniture-hood! Lee is not fond of pictorial “destructions.”

I can hide office supplies! And will have a better arrangement of “shit” as Chris calls it, later.

That unit matches my rolling drawer unit, and the filing cabinet that is the last piece I need to fetch from across the street.

That’s one way to get desk drawers. And I can put my headset and other necessities in a basket on top.

Lee and I enjoyed a well deserved rest as he used my nice desk chair. Ahh. I’ll have less back pain with it!

Lee insisted on a picture of him and his “desk.” He will eventually bring in his nicer one, but as soon as we can actually occupy the building, we’ll be using that room for our team members for a short while.

The middle stretch of stair rail is fabricated, by the way. It and the top will get painted and installed on Monday, I hope. Then we can get inspected!

Going up! The top is done; it’s just not standing up. It’s upstanding!

Oh yeah, now that the giant box is gone, the bathroom is as done as it will be for a while.

I love motivational toilet art. Should have put the seat down to not spread germs.

Here’s a few more pictures. I’m mainly taking these for my own records in case I want to try something again. And I like looking at the room; I admit it. This will be it for a while, though!

Tomorrow I have a book report to write!

Safety Time at the Pope House

What an achievement! We have half a safe stair rail at the new office. Today, Chris got the big rail all painted a shiny black. It was cool how he held it up.

Later he and our strong assistant administrator, Meghan, hauled the gigantic contraption upstairs. I think they’re both glad that only has to happen once!

It looks pretty good, doesn’t it? I’m obviously feeling very safe now that it’s screwed in. Yes. Safety achieved. Now he’s working on the smaller stair section, which shouldn’t take too long.

As for my office, I just did a few little things. I brought over the big art pieces and even hung my favorite! Tomorrow the rest of the furniture comes, other than the computer. Can’t actually work here until it’s all certified.

I ordered lighter and pinker rugs for the seating areas and a very pink chair to put in the dark corner. All was deeplyon sale, so if it looks awful, I can change it.

Office Move, Phase 2

Today I spent my lunch hour moving some of the things I can carry myself over to my new office. First, Chris helped me position the desk on the rug, so we know that will work fine.

Then, I brought in my plants, who will be happy to have a “home” at last. I was able to bring over my hat rack, chairs, and some big decor items, and it already is looking cozy.

Ooh, why is the plant blocking our view?

Most of the stuff in the office will shift around as we finish things off, but it makes me happy already.

What’s Next?

This weekend I will get the filing cabinet and rolling drawers moved over, as well as a bookcase I’m gonna use until Chris makes the built-ins behind my door.

Ooh, look at all the stuff. It’s the view from the desk chair.

My office chair will come in from the ranch house, too (that one fits better in the room. And I’ll build the big bookcase that’s in a box in the bathroom. I’m hoping Lee can help hold up some parts while I put it together. I want to let Chris concentrate on the stair rails.

Ooh, the seating nook. It needs the lamp and a table. And no one likes that rug. The little fireplace will be sitting on the tile at right.

After that, all the furnishing will be done. We are still waiting for the glass in the interior window and the shelves that will go in there. That will hold shiny glass stuff. The glass top for the desk is also important, especially since leaving the doors outside for so long has additionally “aged” them. More character! I do have a smaller piece of glass on my current desk that will be a fine substitute.

Ooh, you can see the red inside the desk from here. The new chair will be white. My big tree art will go above the upholstered chair.

And Chris said he would build a cool custom shelving unit behind the door, which will be triangular. I have a hanging light fixture for the seating area that will need some work to install, plus something to hang the spider plant from.

Ooh, I like my pink vases. Wish I’d gotten the third one before Pier 1 went out of business. My sister gave me the cool old chair.

But I can use the office while that’s going on, for sure. And I can leave things in the old office until there’s a spot for them. I hope you enjoy the current pictures, and look forward to Phase 3 (with maybe some art, too!) as much as I do. It’s the most exciting thing of my quarantine period! Well, maybe next to Rip the bull calf.

That bottle will go somewhere else. But, that’s the view from the desk.

Bathroom door shut. Peace plant in corner. I can hang a picture from those electrical conduits.

The hat rack and second seating nook with mother-in-law tongue plant. That door is permanently closed. There will be art above the door, probably my bluebonnet painting. The filing cabinet will be under the window.

Two hours later: I already decided I didn’t like the way the chair looks in the above photo, so I moved it.

It’s Office-ial

The day I’ve been waiting for has come! Fancy Pants finally started laying eggs again! That took a while.

No longer Miss Broody! I love her ombré eggs.

No, that’s actually not the big news. It’s that I am able to put things in my new office. Chris said so!

Ooh. Ahh. The rug in the back left blends in a bit much, so I may change it out.

The rug for my floor magically showed up, so Lee and I spread it out. Hmm. It’s blue. No idea why I bought that rug, but the color goes nicely with the ceiling and the wall decor thing.

Looking out. The window will have stained glass hanging in it. The bathroom contains the bookshelf that I’ll build this weekend.

The pole thing shows where my desk will go, approximately. The desk has made it to the Pope house, but isn’t put together yet. I’m not sure if we’ve ordered the glass for it yet.

The window in this picture will be frosted to let in light but have privacy.

It looks like this weekend I’ll move more stuff in, though I’ll have to stay at the other office until we can officially occupy the building. The stair rail is almost done, too!

My favorite view, where you can see the ceiling. Picture the little stove over by the mantel, a chair in the corner, and my desk on the rug.

Continuing Up

No doubt you’ve been wondering two things. No, not why I keep writing and why I share my journey all the time! You wonder How the floor in my future office is turning out and how those stairs are coming along! Of course.

Well, the office floor sat and dried a long time. We hoped it had filled in all the gaps. Then, a couple of days ago, Chris put in clear silicone gel. It’s now drying.

Once it clears and dries, he will put in clear gel or something. Then we will have a floor. Maybe it’s not what we envisioned, but it will be pretty.

As for the stairs, the framework now goes all the way up.

Hey, it’s safer already! The rail shown below goes across the top here.

Chris has carefully marked where each of the rails will go. And he’s making them now.

Marks for what size metal rod goes where.

The first one he’s completed shows the pattern. There’s a large center piece, then another every four inches going both ways from there.

The small ones are either 1/2” or 3/4”, and there’s a subtle pattern. Depending on how wide a piece of railing is, there may be more or fewer small ones.

Just after the final piece was attached.

When it’s all done, he’ll paint everything black, then install it permanently. Just a couple of attachments using the acetylene torch will turn the whole thing into one piece and it can be attached to the stairs.

This welding has to be done outside, due to sparks that would eat the floor.

I hope you found these pictures as interesting as I did. It’s fun to see safety, creativity, and craftsmanship all come together this way!

Going Up? It’s Stair Rail Time

Yep, Chris is still plugging along at the Pope Residence project. You know what’s more fun than welding? Welding when it’s 104 F outside! That’s what’s been happening.

The butterflies and lantana don’t care about the heat!

Before welding could happen, though, a lot of planning had to be done, because there are lots and lots of specs and safety regulations we want to be sure to follow. You want to get a thing like this right the first time, since it’s going to be one sturdy, heavy item.

This may not be the best angle, but you can see it’s going up!

So far, the rails look beautiful. They are all at the right angle, high enough, and spaced appropriately. I am very impressed. I especially like the end of the rail. It’s a nice touch.

There’s still a lot of welding and attaching to do, and the rail has to turn the corner and finish going up the rest of the way. But hey, it’s cooling off and will only be in the mid-90s F for the next few days. This project is not for wimps.

There will be rails every 4 inches, of course. This is just the supports and framework. But look at all those levels.

Trim! The Home Stretch!

Really. We’re on the home stretch of the Pope Residence. The trim went in on the two remaining offices. It wasn’t easy, but it was less messy, thanks to attaching the shop vac to the saw.

My office looking toward future interior window.

Since the baseboards were already cut, that went fast. And the quarter round was already painted. So much nailing went on!

All that’s left is caulking and touching up. And finishing the floor. Oh hooray.

The reception room is also the work room.

Chris also finished the base for my big office mirror. That looks GOOD. We have to plug the hole behind the mirror and then it will sit straight.

And the window mirror for the main bathroom is up. It looks great in white.

Wait until you see the finishing touches! I’ve ordered some fun furnishings. And we have the novel experience of watching Chris make the stair rails to look forward to. I’m excited.

Speaking of Shiny Things

The fun with mirrors didn’t stop all day today, plus Chris finished the stairs, which are ready for the rails to get fabricated. The shiny wood is complemented by shiny metal trim that will be darned sturdy.

Chris was saying this staircase is his most impressive creation. I must agree. This is one hand-made object with so many parts!

The real and fake wood look good together.

Every time I climb these shiny stairs I’ll think of all the work that went into them and the horrible staircase they replaced.

Since we were on a mirror kick, I brought over my Ann Allen original mirrors that I’ve been carrying around for years (since 1998). They are really happy things that I knew would look great in my office bathroom.

I’ll smile every time I wash my hands from now on! They will go great with the other art I plan to put in the room. So glad I know so many creative people.

I really need to change out those light bulbs.

And Tubby got put to work today. He makes a good mask drying rack! It’s nice to be able to use the office a little bit.