# 169 - The Jacked-Up Door

Our wonderful dog, the amazing "Howdy" has gone through our front stained glass door a few times. Well, don't worry, he doesn't actually go THROUGH it, he simply jumps on it expertly to cause all the glass to fly toward the street and he always walks away without a scratch on him.

Why does he do this? Well, he doesn't like anyone around the house, especially at the front door. It's a problem. He would even crash through a window, if he could. I think he's a big sweetheart, but not everyone else would be likely to share my opinion. He loves other dogs, women, and kids. Men...not so much. Uniforms...not so much. But, he protects the chickens, so he's a doll in my book.

The first time he broke the door, he was after the postman. For all of you mail carriers out there, I apologize on behalf of every foul-minded dog that you must endure, and I don't blame you for not wanting to come to our front door again.

If that wasn't bad enough, the dog pouncing on the door with his powerful front paws in Australian Shepherd fashion has resulted in us winning the "Most Ugly" door in the entire neighborhood for the past year.

I am shocked that the neighborhood association wasn't sending us notices about the blue painter's tape, masking tape, Plexiglas, and ugly appearance that our ruined door gave to our street. Granted, all the ugly stuff was on the inside of the house, but the blue line of tape through the center of the glass was surely not unnoticed by those who live closest to us. --- Wait a minute --- I forgot that we had taped cardboard to the exterior so the glass would not be a danger. Yep, back to being extremely ugly and a mystery as to why we weren't put "on notice."

So, this weekend, Deputy Dave took the door off the hinges (while I was still asleep) and he loaded it up into the bed of his truck to take to our favorite local stained glass shop. The women there are a bunch of funky ladies who I love to be around...fellow weirdo artist types, such as myself. Deputy Dave and I have taken classes there and it sure makes you appreciate this artform.

Those miracle workers put our door back together, AGAIN. It cost just under $200. but after we tried to find another pretty door, we decided that the repair fee was much lower than it would cost to replace the front door entirely. We also considered replacing the stained glass with alternatives, but nothing was workable...we do want it to be beautiful and to again be a selling point of the house. So, the plywood option was not viable.

And since the door is 3/4th stained glass and solid mahogany, it is well over $2,000. retail. And since we are about to list our house on the market, we knew we wouldn't spend that kind of money to buy a similar new door. No way.

But, this door is so pretty...as long as it is not sporting jagged shards of glass from the dog lunging at it.

To spiffy up the door another notch, Deputy Dave decided to totally refinish it, so he began the tedious sanding process.

Meanwhile, an old door to a storage shed had been installed by Deputy Dave as a temporary front door for the day, but it was a tad too little, so it wouldn't close all the way. But, that dilemma is nothing that a good old propped piece of board can't fix!

Can you tell we're Southerners at this point?

In one day's time, the door had come down, been repaired and sanded on the exterior, then rehung. It is a heavy door. I have no idea how Deputy Dave took it down and loaded it into the truck by himself. And, I have no idea how I slept through it all.

I woke up and the stained glass door was missing and the metal door was in place.

Next, can I wake up to find all of the windows in the house washed completely clean?

As for the door, after the funky stained glass shop people repaired it, we were told to not clean it for 48 hours so that the lead can completely cure. No problem. You already know I'm not keen on doing windows, but did Brice and Stefie REALLY have to carve their initials in the dust of the glass?

Look closely.

Now that I have a pretty door again, it's weird. I walk by it and do a double take. It is pretty again...just in time for us to sell the house. Why do we always do this? Why do we wait to make things awesome and THEN move out?

Oh yeah, I know the answer...I don't really want to LIVE in a house that is perpetually "staged." My kitchen stays a mess; I have dust; my floors have dog prints on them; there are extra books stacked in the corner; my paper shredder is in the middle of my master bedroom; and my windows are covered with a layer of solar-energy-dirt-goodness, and I like it like that. I like my "lived-in" house.

Also, the bottom line is...if we were going to continue living here long-term, we'd not be able to keep this door. Let's just hope that it lasts long enough to sell this house!

I'm so glad to have a repaired front door. It's a reason to breathe a bit easier, especially with our legal background...I can't help it, I'm always watching out for liabilities. This door had been a liability until the beautiful blue tape had been adhered to it. Everyone in our family and all of our friends knew us as the people with the jacked-up front door. But, it's great to not have to worry about a lawsuit waiting to happen as the next solicitor comes to the door and slices off an arm on the broken glass while trying to sell us something useful, like glass cleaner.

If they ONLY knew.

#32 - MORE SPACE - From City to Country

Do any of you enjoy stained glass as much as we do? Years ago, I told my husband that I was going to take a class to learn about stained glass techniques. My husband took the time to go along with me on the night that I was registering for the class, and I was surprised to find him saying, "Sign me up too."

For weeks, we stood side by side in a stained glass art studio learning old-school techniques. Pretty soon, we developed a team effort, I would do the copper foiling and David would do most of the cutting, we both would take the rough pieces of glass to soften the edges at the grinding machine. Each of us knew how to do each step, but we learned how to get through a piece of art pretty fast, together.

Turns out, my husband loves taking stained glass What he thought was just going to be a crazy effort to spend time with me, his wife, ended up being one of the best decisions he ever made because he is very talented with stained glass work.

My husband made two FUSED GLASS pieces that will be jewelry. Mine is the blue piece.
I made this by taking a black piece of glass and overlaying tiny hand-cut pieces of
vibrant blue and green Dichroic glass.

And, best yet, he makes beautiful designs and different artistic pieces and gives them to me or our girls.

After we designed our pieces and laid them out, we put the pieces on a sheet
of kiln paper on top of a ceramic plate, then into the kiln for hours.

Joyce programs the digital kiln, specifically designed for glass fusing.
The kiln is constructed differently and operates differently from ceramic kilns.

Years and years ago, during our first lesson in stained glass, we knew we'd eventually use our stained glass knowledge one day in our home. Now, we are making plans for beautiful stained glass accents to our future cabin. We would not be able to afford to pay someone to do this, so we will design and build our own windows for installation during the construction of our cabin in the woods.

Our cabin will be extremely budget conscious, so any touch that we can add ourselves will save us big money and add a touch of elegance to the rustic life.

I am in dreamy-land, looking at our beautiful pieces of work.
The kiln causes the pieces of our glass to meld together which creates a beautiful effect.

Personally, I will be incorporating different beveled glasses and clear glass patterns, maybe as a transom window over the front door with matching side panels.

Any art studio is a happy place for me.

One aspect of having land that we look forward to with great anticipation is having a metal building or some kind of workshop for us to do our projects. Since we'll be doing so much of the cabin's construction ourselves, this workshop is necessary. It will hold our tools, equipment and our materials.

Deputy Dave loves wood-working, we both love stained-glass works and here in the city, we have a small two-car garage and it is used to hold everything needed for the yard here at the house and for our acreage in the country. It holds every imaginable tool for gardening, it has household tools, Deputy Dave's wood-working machinery, etc. so we don't have enough space to actually use for a hobby work station. With the utility trailer stored inside the garage with the huge lawn tractor needed for our acreage sitting on the trailer, we have little room for mobility.

Off-site storage in our area would run at least $70. per month and there would be a potential for theft, so we give up precious space so that we can save money.

After we get moved to our land full-time, I don't know how we'll adjust to having so much space every single day. It will definitely be odd, yet welcomed.

In our "master plan" layout for buildings, fences, barns, etc., on our acreage, we will have to put in this workshop building on a budget. We certainly won't be able to build everything overnight, we will have to go day by day and this is why a master plan is so important. Of course, we are flexible and the master plan will probably change 100 times over as we learn more efficient, practical ways of making the future farm work for us.

Meanwhile, here at the house crammed between two other houses in the city, we manage to find space when needed so we can tackle hobbies, even if that means working during the day in our driveway. But you don't want to work with glass at your kitchen table. Little slivers of glass are a part of your world when working with glass and this is a hobby best kept separate from your regular living quarters. We've worked with stained glass enough to know that it is just like other hobbies, it can be messy, and a glass-kind-of-messy is not so wonderful to have inside your house.

For now, we borrow the studio, pay a small fee, and we have a ball. Once we move from the city, we won't have a few convenient luxuries, such as the stained glass studio down the street. I'm sure we will have to adjust. But, we've lived in different countries, so we can do this. Moving to our acreage is something we look forward to with all of our hearts. Therefore, we won't be around the corner from the stained glass studio any more, but we will have something even better at our fingertips because we'll have our own little workshop in our backyard.

Better yet, while working on my art I can set up a little stereo system and blare Mozart, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel or Martina McBride and let time slip by as I am engrossed in my work. Since I was an art major in college, this would make my soul sing along with my voice booming "R-R-ROXANNE"

We're getting ready to add backs to the jewelry so they can be used
as necklaces. Now, we just have to make matching little earrings.

Once we are completely finished with our necklaces, I will post updated pictures. It's hard to picture without the clasps attached to the back and without a chain or alternative type of necklace chain.

Above all, we have a beautiful time together as we create more beautiful things. Once we're in the country, we'll have more room for all things beautiful! However, my city claustophobia is increasing; I am ready for some SPACE!