Florida Room Refurbishment

When we originally moved into our home, the florida room out back needed some work.

For whatever reason, the previous owners had the hot tub on the deck within the room, which made no sense at all to us (no fresh air, open skies or breeze...come on?!?). Plus, the home at one time had a wood stove, and the Florida room housed a smokestack which served no purpose and really took up alot of room, as well as ruined the flow of things. Lastly, the shingles were their original battleship grey, and the ceiling a solid blue.

This remodeling required some serious demolition with ye ol' sledgehammer and subsequent repatching of both the wall and ceiling. The wall was particularly challenging, as I had to locate and install matching replacement shingles. I then rerouted the electrical from the breaker underneath the house to the new location for the hot tub outdoors.

The original decking was a traditional wood (painted grayish-blue), but wasn't in great shape. So, I tore it all out as well and replaced it with trex. Ditto the steps.

Lastly, the dogs had a habit of busting/tearing the screen in the porch doors, so I replaced each lower side with plexiglass.

Naturally, the walls and ceiling were painting yellow and white.

Before and after photos:

Powder Room Painting

Our powder room - much like our master bathroom - was a former wallpaper victim, boasting not one, but two differing patterns. Again, creative, but not our cup of tea.

Thus, I stripped the paper (which proved far easier than the other bathroom for some reason), recaulked and spackled, and painted the ceiling white, the walls the off-toupe color again, and the baseboards ultra white. Additionally, the room lacked a mirror and adequate lighting, so I added that, as well. Following a few new fixtures, paintings and a little plant life, we had a brand new room.

Before and after:

Skeet Shootin'

Our friends Wallace and Nancy invited us over for a birthday party the other day. They live just a couple hundred yards from our house as the crow flies - right on the banks of Roanoke Sound. As Wallace's birthday happens to correspond to the time of year when his neighbors are off to Florida, he normally celebrates with a little skeet shooting. Sounds cool to me!

Well, I've only shot skeet once in my life - back when I was, maybe, 10 years-old. Sherry, on the other hand, has never even used a shotgun so, naturally, we had her shoot first. Hehehe. While Wallace launched the clays, Sherry shot a 20-gauge... without much luck, but resolved to practice more with immobile targets. I followed with a 12-guage and managed to hit every clay but one the remainder of the afternoon. Beginner's luck, obviously. We got to meet a whole new group of folks, and the Casey's were in attendance, as well.

A really, really enjoyable afternoon... thanks Wallacy and Nancy!

Master Bedroom Painting

Up to this point, our master bedroom has been the ubiquitous yellow walls with a blue ceiling... and in this case with 'clouds' as a bonus. Creative, yes, but just not our cup of tea.

So, we decided to revamp the room, and selected a deep red color for the walls with a standard white ceiling. Additionally, I wired the room for surround-sound, which was a pretty big job.

Check out the before and after photos. Note the spackling that goes on pink and dries white. Cool stuff!