[A vintage, eight-paned window, the frame painted green, leans against a pallet; behind it is an equally vintage window screen the same size.]
Also a window, but that’s going in later.
Since we’re all very fond of vintage stuff — also (& not coincidentally) it’s way cheaper than anything new — me & Morgyn took a nice long drive down to an architectural salvage place in Florence, called, appropriately enough, Salvage, Antiques, Vintage Etc.
HIGHLY recommended, also extremely dangerous, be CAREFUL, we coulda spent several THOUSAND bucks in there without half trying.
But we managed to come home with naught more than a window, a window screen, a door, & the associated hardware.
[A pile of old-style brass door hardware sits in the seat of a folding camping chair: long oval door plates, matching oval doorknobs, the lock mechanism, and a pair of skeleton keys.]
… the hardware cost more than the door, & we picked one of the sturdiest solid wood exterior doors there. We COULD have just redrilled the door for modern doorknobs & such, but I would sooner destroy a stained glass window as an artist such as … oop, never mind, but you know what I mean.
Up side: it’s beautiful & VERY sturdy stuff. Down side: I could probably pick the lock with my fingernails, but, well.
The next step, of course, other than cutting a hole in Borgia’s side for the door to go into, is to build a doorframe. Fortunately I have a whole pile of wood, picked up from the back yard of a friend who was VERY glad to get rid of all the old fence bits. Yeah, it was a long drive, but also, check out all this wood:
[The back of the van, which is filled about three quarters full of lumber.]
Plenty of it’s long enough to make a doorframe, & even some sets of shelving, which will be happening later, cos WOW do we need storage.
[A small pile of worn two by four boards, some slightly warped, most about eight feet long.]
I found pieces long enough, cut them to size, & then set about the tedious job of hand-sanding them, because all my flap wheels are … somewhere. Probably in the storage unit. With everything else.
But it didn’t take TOO long to get them pretty smooth.
[A close view of a length of two by four lumber. It’s worn but not badly so, and has been sanded smooth.]
This wood is HEAVY. Maybe a bit warped, but sturdy as hell, & it might be a funky doorframe, but it’ll work, & it’ll LAST.
Just hadda screw the pieces together at the corners, & haul it all into Borgia —
[Loiosh, an orange tabby, is laying smack in the middle of the aisle that leads down the center of the container. Laying across his paws is a catnip pickle. He looks cranky, and also, extremely stoned.]
— once Loiosh allowed us to, anyways.
[The doorframe is leaning against one of the container’s interior walls, which is painted a lovely deep brown-red. The door, a solid wooden five-panel exterior door, is leaned up against the frame.]
Ta da! In place! Now I just gotta cut a hole through the metal for it to fit into, a task which should take several hours, possibly involve enough tool-related vibration to turn off my right hand again, & will likely make me cry at least three times!
