The first couple of weeks in our new house brought a parade of workmen through our doors. Most important were the locksmith, electrician and plumber. We had the locksmith change all the locks and add a doorknob on the scary attic door. During our initial house tour, we’d thought this upstairs door to be a closet. Much to our surprise, it wasn’t a closet at all but an opening directly into the attic. You had to turn a key to open this mysterious door as there wasn’t any knob. Subsequently, we had the locksmith add a proper knob. The lock is on the inside so you can’t trap yourself in the attic. This lends itself to one’s imagination, as in The Body in the Attic. Or The Secret in the Attic. I’m sure I’ll use it somewhere in one of my books.

This door opens from the upstairs loft. Upstairs, you say? What about downsizing at our advanced age? Well, we downsized in terms of price but not in terms of square footage. We didn’t want a pool and this house has a screened patio with no neighbors behind us. But in return, we accepted a house with a second story wing. It was a trade-off. We wanted a one-story ranch house but most of the ones here come with a pool. So we made a choice, plus we liked the layout of this place. On the second level is a loft, two bedrooms, and a full bath. This level will be the grandkids’ play area. The wall in the loft held all kinds of weird outlets with wires sticking out, same as in the family room and master bedroom. We suspected the prior family had elaborate sound systems set up with their media centers.

We tasked the electrician with removing the unsafe wiring in the attic on the other side of the loft wall as well as plating all unneeded outlets in the downstairs rooms. We gave the electrician myriad other tasks, such as separating the ceiling fan light switch from the fan itself, so we could turn on the light without turning on the fans. We had him add new outlets and dimmer switches, and got rid of the florescent lights in the master bedroom closets, putting up our choice of fixtures instead. He was here for two full days, and we still have some more tasks that need to be done. You only find out what makes you comfortable as you live in a house. And this one is still far from finished. More in the next post. I hope I am not boring you with this recital, but it is helpful to me to write about our experiences.