More "A-Door-Able Door" and Chicken Veggie Soup Day

Steveio has been working on his "A-Door-able Door". He finally got all of the varnish and old layers of paint removed. He's making quite a job of it. Honestly, if I had been doing the door I would have just sanded it lightly enough to get off the loose stuff, spackled up the few deep gouges, holes and dings, and then gave it some new coats of paint. But, in fairness, it did gum up the sanding belts pretty thick and was hard to removed that many layers.  So the heat gun did the job much nicer. 

Yes, we are going to paint the door. All of the other doors in the house are painted and we have no varnished woodwork other than the hardwood floors. So sadly, yes, after all this work it will get painted again. But Steve had wanted to remove all of the layers of paint and varnish that were on there to begin with. That's why he is going through all these extra steps. Like I said, he's making a job of it rather than a quick project or a hobby. That's my Steveio!

If you recall from a couple blogs back, this is the door in it's original shape. He was able to negotiate it for $20 and it is the perfect size to replace the modern one that is currently on our bedroom doorway.

Here below is the modern one on our bedroom doorway. This is actually a whole new doorway that was created when the bedrooms were shifted around to make a master bath. The previous owners did this work, and put in the new door.  Originally this section of wall had a big floor to ceiling bookcase. Once the bedrooms were moved around, this doorway was added. It's just a cheap hollow core modern looking door. It almost feels plastic in it's own way. I don't even know what it's made of. MDF?  Steve says it really bothers him and he has always wanted to change to an old wooden door that matches the rest.

Here are the original doors--- this one that leads into the bathroom from the master bedroom. That's why he was so excited to see this newest one on Marketplace because it exactly matches our other doors. It was taken out of an old home about 5 miles away that was being torn down to build a new home.

This morning, Steve wanted to carry in the door to do a trial run fit before he does anything else. Of course being an old house, nothing is ever square!!!  

I am the "door holder" and "tool getter" and "pencil sharpener" and any other task he needs my assistance on.  Even something as little as holding open and closing the front door to the outside as he goes in and out is helpful too. 

The door fits into the space but needs a little bit of shifting and shoving around to try and get it even. It's pretty much a close fit, but Steve is making much more of a job of it and is going to make it fit perfectly (of course).  Oh well, gives him something to do today. 

He shimmed it up to the correct height underneath and I came from the living room side to help hold it into place. This is going to work out quite well. We will need to move the striker plate and latching bore hole up a little higher and patch in the old one on the jamb. This old door has a higher knob then the other one. That's kind of strange, I thought in the old days that people were shorter and knobs were lower? No idea.

He marked the areas that he needs to cut a little bit off. Not a lot. Just a teeny bit on one side. Then he will bring it back in again and we can mark the hinges where he will have to mortise router out the space for the hinges on the door itself. Luckily he can leave the original hinges from the old doorway in place on the frame.

He only had to chisel out a tiny bit, 

and now the hinges will fit back into the doorjamb. 

tap tap tap

And there we have it!!!  (Steve is fond of that saying)  The pretty glass knobs we have throughout the house now fit onto the door and cover up the markings and cuts from the older 1970's brass knob. Steve put it all on for now to get things lined up, but he will remove it before we take the door back out to the garage to paint. 

Yes, we do need to paint it. 

It's only a pine door.

These are some of the flaws unearthed 

after all the paint removal. 

They will all be wood puttied up, and then sanded. Finally I will get out my paint and roller and brush and give it a good couple of coats with our trim color, so it will match everything else.  Now that Steve has the garage insulated, I can paint out there while it is laying flat on the sawhorses.  Much easier than painting it erect in the doorway in the house. Less runs and drips and the paint will lay more evenly on the wood. 

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While he was busy with the door, in between my tasks I started a big ole pot of chicken veggie soup this morning.  I chopped up the vegetables (yes, I chop the leaves on the celery for added flavor to the soup) and get everything ready to dump in the soup pot. 

I had two frozen chicken breasts to cook up, so I popped them into the pressure cooker with some water and Knorr's soup broth powder.  In 20 minutes they are ready to fall apart and soooo tender. 

I shredded the chicken up with a fork and knife, and dumped it into the soup pot where the vegetables were starting to simmer.  I also dumped in the broth (after straining it) from the pressure cooker for added flavor. 

Our local store carries these big jars of bulk spices they buy from the Nutmeg Spice Company.   https://www.nutmegspice.co/   They are re-packaged and labeled from our local store, but can also be ordered directly online.   I love the mixed  dried vegetables that I can add to soups for more flavor and a bit of color.  They are pieces of red and green peppers, spinach, dried tomatoes and also the same carrots, celery and onions that I already have in the pot. 

  

Oh my.... the house smells so good!!!  I love simmering soup in the middle of the day for lunch.  It's one of Steve's favorite lunches.  After all of his hard work on the door, he deserves it. 

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It's still another cold day in Wisconsin, but we've escaped the snow that has fallen to the north of us and to the south of us. The sun is out today, only kind of halfway cloudy. It does look like the weekend may warm up into the low 70s! 

I am scheming to get the motorhome loaded up on Friday morning so we can take off for one more camping trip before winter comes. Steve already winterized the water lines on the motorhome, but they can easily be dewinterized for one more weekend.  Tomorrow he and his brother Pete are going to spend the day helping their father get things settled in for winter in his garage and haul in firewood etc.  So I will send up the rest of the soup for those hard-working guys!