One Room Challenge: Week 5

This week featured a conglomeration of tasks as we continue working on our One Room Challenge porch build.

Weather and a few technical problems really hampered our progress this week. It has been so incredibly dry in our part of Florida, so I can’t even be mad about the rain that kept us from working for several days.

The Siding Saga Continues…

One big technical issue we faced was replacing the rotten novelty siding. It turns out that because our home is so old, novelty siding no longer comes in the size we need.

Instead, we ordered siding that was two inches larger from a mill about 45 minutes north of us. It should be ready in seven to fourteen days, which means painting the siding will probably one of the last pieces to the puzzle rather than the first.

The real mystery in this whole saga involves a random piece of old novelty siding in the too-big size we ordered. So it remains to be seen if other areas of our home feature this larger size, and we just don’t know it.

But a real win is that we finally decided to go with composite flooring for the entire porch, and it looks so good with the siding and final paint choices.

Construction Progress

While we sorted out siding, my husband worked on some of the more technical aspects of the porch build. In an attempt to reinforce the roof’s eave, he ripped the old soffit off the existing roofline to access the targeted area. He even found a squirrel’s nest for his troubles; so much for that soffit.

Once reinforcement was finished, he installed a header board, the official start of the new roofline for the porch.

Back on the ground, he installed a deck beam along the bottom of the house to begin attaching the bracing. Several trips to Lowe’s to find brackets that got the bracing right up against the house resulted in one perfectly level brace on the east corner of the house. It allowed us to see just how high the porch will sit and how long the porch will be. Much more bracing will come, but this finished piece gives a great blueprint for each additional piece.

And oh my gosh, I will have so much space for furniture!

We also purchased the 6x6x12 posts for the front of the porch, which will be attached to the concrete footers we poured back in Week 2. A defective product actually is adding to some headaches on this front. So what should have been easily will now need to be pulled apart and redone. Certainly frustrating but necessary for the safety of our porch.

Furniture Planning and Dreaming

While Rob tackled all of the successful and frustrating aspects of the build this week, I turned my attention to the furniture. I drove all over creation to nab four cans of spray paint that I envisioned for the furniture.

If you remember, I previously shared how I’ve hoarded all kinds of vintage wrought iron patio furniture throughout the years. I’ll be using all of the pieces on the porch.

To test the colors I found, I wiped down four wrought iron chairs and painted the backs, narrowing it down to two colors in the process. But those two colors changed once I pulled the chairs out of the shade and into the sunlight. The jury is still out on which green I’ll choose, but at least my choices are narrowed.

Originally, I planned to sandblast the pieces, but I think since they will be housed on a covered porch, I’ll wire brush any loose pieces and rush and just proceed with paint.

What also shifted during the chair debacle was the actual paint color of our home. When it came time to test the chair colors against the blue paint color, I painted a large piece of the siding in the chosen blue only to discover the paint was too blue. “Gator Blue,” as as a matter of fact, for our University of Florida friends.

So, word to the wise: If you’re painting your home, be sure the swatch size is generous.

We’ve settled on a new blue, but I can’t rule out another trip to the hardware store to look longingly at blue paint chips.

The only other “unknown” left to resolve is the fabric for the outdoor furniture. I got two two-inch pieces from JoAnn Fabric yesterday, and I’m having a hard time deciding. Of course, making a green paint decision for the furniture might actually help that decision along.

So, In Conclusion…

Last week was a piecemeal success; it involved lots of little work in a lot of areas. This week, the weather is exceptionally dry and cool, so we should be able to make quite a bit of progress this week.

We hope you’ll check back in with us next week, where we hope to have quite a substantial construction update for you. My hope? That I’m looking at the flooring of the porch by this time next week!