Do you remember our carport? The main structure of the carport was built back in May 2018, and while it has been usable ever since then, it has never been finished. Here’s what it looks like today…
The carport is behind my studio, and has an awesome concrete wheelchair ramp that goes into the French doors at the back of the studio. The ramp is nice and long, which means that the incline isn’t too steep. It has been wonderful to have this ramp these last few years, as it gives Matt the freedom to access the carport, which has another little ramp (made of recycled tire rubber) to get off of the concrete and to the back yard. He has a power wheelchair with large wheels that will easily traverse the entire back yard.
So while we’re thankful for what we do have, the downside is that it has never been finished. I have no idea why I made the decisions that I made five years ago, but when the carport was being built, I told the contractor that I’d install the lights, install the beadboard ceiling, install the ceiling fan, wrap the two big posts, do all of the caulking, and do all of the painting myself.
Well, that was in 2018. How much of that list do you think I’ve gotten done since then? If you said “none of it,” you’re absolutely right. I’ve gotten none of it done. The wires for the lights and the fan are still hanging down just outside the back doors where they’ve been for the last five years. (Don’t worry, they’re not actually connected to electricity.)
I never got around to finishing the beadboard ceiling, and a while back, we had a huge tree limb fall on the roof and poke a hole in it. The huge oak tree has been cut down and is now long gone, but every time it rains, the damage to the roof spreads just a tiny bit more.
At one time, I started adding some trim to one of the big posts, but then I stopped for some reason. And I never got back to it.
And, of course, since there are no lights and no beadboard ceiling, there’s also no ceiling fan. So working out here on those super hot Texas summer days can be a bit unbearable.
And how about that paint? Nope, I haven’t done a bit of painting, either. The original part is still gray, and the parts that were added when the carport was built are still the Hardi primer color.
I honestly have no idea why I thought I could (or wanted to) do all of those projects myself. I mean, I can do those jobs myself. And since I have a drywall lift, I could even do the beadboard ceiling myself. But whyyyyyy??? Why did I think I needed to do these things myself? Those men were already here working and building the main structure of the carport day after day after day. Why didn’t I just let them finish it?
I don’t know. I can’t explain myself. ? But since there have been no lights out here, and this is where I use my big tools (miter saw, table saw, planer, etc.), that means that I’m always at the mercy of the sun. As soon as the sun goes down, I have to quit working. So if the sun goes down at 5:00pm during the winter, I have to stop working at 5:00pm.
But that’s about to change because I’ve finally hired someone to finish all of these projects on the carport that I thought I was going to do myself but never got around to. And it’ll be finished just in time for the time change at the beginning of November when it starts getting dark noticeably earlier and earlier.
They’re scheduled to start on October 9th, and here’s what they’ll do:
- Repair the hole in the roof,
- Install eight of the thin lights (that look like recessed lights),
- Install one ceiling fan,
- Install a motion light towards the back yard,
- Install beadboard on the ceiling,
- Remove the Hardiboard material from the two posts, replace with PVC boards, and trim out to look like the columns on the front porch,
- Reattach any Hardiplanks that have come loose,
- Do any caulking that is necessary,
- Do all of the painting.
I’m so excited that this is finally going to be finished! I’m out in the carport all the time. I park back there about half the time. That is where I get Matt into the van if he wants to go somewhere. I have a friend who is dealing with some medical issues, so she parks back there and uses the ramp every time she comes over. And as I said above, that is where I use my woodworking tools. As much time as I spend in this carport, and as much use as it gets, it will be so nice to actually have it finished after all this time.
Once it’s finished, I’d also like to get the messy half cleaned up and organized, and then build three rolling carts for my three big tools — miter saw, table saw, and planer. That way, I can roll them out of the way when they’re not in use, and then easily roll them out when I need them. I had built a rolling cart for my previous miter saw that worked perfectly for it. (You can see that project here.) Unfortunately, when I upgraded to my current 12-inch miter saw, the new saw was too big to fit on the cart that I had built to fit the smaller saw.
So now the bigger miter saw sits on a folding table that is not convenient at all to move around. The table saw also sits on a table that has no wheels and is very difficult to move around. And my poor planer is relegated to sitting on the concrete floor of the carport. And that thing isn’t lightweight, so moving it around when I need to use it is a real pain.
The plan is to eventually build a workshop for me just past the carport, but that’s not really on the radar right now. We have plenty of land for it back there!
And, in fact, when Matt bought the landscape plan for my birthday last year, the landscape designer included my workshop on the plan.
So that’s a “someday” plan that I can look forward to in the future. But for now, it will just be nice to have a finished carport and three rolling carts.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
