Spontaneous Renovations!

A refresher for those of you who don't recall: the living room was formerly my studio. This cabinet in the corner (yes... MY little cabinet of horrors!) was blocking the "front" door. The door had been graciously nailed shut by our house's previous owner. We will also fondly recall some of the other "improvements" that he made such as attractive ceiling holes, visible in the above picture. Or here in vivid close up:

But wait! I'm getting side tracked as is easy to do while contemplating household projects! That's for another day...
Where was I? Okay, so I painted the "front" door green and that sparked a slew of projects and the shifting of multiple tectonic plates. Like Bob has been saying for ages, "I'd love to get that front door opened up" and I know that the painting of the door roused us to action because on Monday, we moved the cabinet, Bob prised the door open and Hey Presto! The living room became a new space.

In all fairness to (mostly) Bob and myself, there was a lot of work between here and there. Not only had the door been nailed shut, the door frame itself had been partially removed and there were odd gaps and openings to fill. Poor Bob had to secure a new 2 x 8 for framing and then discovered that the door itself had warped. He set about shimming and planing and generally refitting the whole mess together. But now it opens! And closes!
He also replaced the knob- for which we had no key- with a nifty handle. Much easier to use and better looking. (Ahem: please ignore that weird exposed cluster of taped up wires. Future project!)

So we've been happily spackling and painting and enjoying going in and out of our new front door. Bob even dragged the lawn furniture over to that side of the house for us to take in the new view:

Now I have to find a home for all the studio stuff that was stacked up beside the cabinet. (Hahaha! Not an easy job as my studio annex is still packed with Mommy's furniture! Yet another project! Onwards and upwards!!)

Wrong Color!

(Gee, it looks better here! Oh well...)
Bob and I bought paint to redo the upstairs bathroom three months ago.After months of pinning paint samples to the walls and considering and re-considering we arrived at a consensus and purchased the paint. I am sure we all know how tough it is to determine the best pigment based on a tiny paint sample... But I was optimistic and awaited the perfect day to apply it. Lord knows it's been hot and humid and not great painting weather this summer.
So last week, Bob held his finger to the wind and declared that TODAY was the day: nice and breezy and dry so that you could air out the upstairs and the paint would dry quickly and thoroughly. I set to work.
And there is always waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more prepartion needed than you remember. You have to get the actually applicators and stirrers and pans and you need a screw driver to prise the lid off the can. Not to mention moving everything off the sink and the racks and out of the room. And then you need a step ladder; yes, it takes a while to prepare!
Finally, I began painting. I felt less and less sure as I went because it just looks so light.

See? Here it looks almost white! It's not a bad color, but I wanted one room in the house to have a saturated hue. The whole house is white!! I think I wanted a more "Wedgewood Blue": that is, a blue that has more grey to it... we'll live with the color as is for a while. At least it's clean!
                                                      
 In the meantime, Bob has become inspired to make us lovely and functional towel racks. We have had a stupid plastic one that was never correctly anchored to studs in the wall- that's what those holes are above. (Bob is spackling the holes with a unique way of securing the spackle when there is no stud behind. He has a small metal disk, to which he has affixed a string that holds the disk flat when the spackle is applied... neat!) Besides, we never had hooks or a rack on the door so we were limited as to where to hang towels or clothes. I can't wait.
So again, at least progress has been made. Maybe the color will grow on me; I think Bob is more sanguine about it than I am. It's a big step in the right direction!


                                                         


                                                             

Home Improvements

Just be glad that this posting isn't what I initially had in mind: a political rant celebrating the ostrich-skinned downfall of Paul Manafort (hopefully leading to the ultimate removal of The Orange Menace and Co.) Instead, I am focusing on subjects closer to home.
Like the bedroom, fr'instance. Next to my side of the bed, about four feet up on the wall is the above hole. The former owner of The BauHaus Chicken Coop, Ken the Kreative Karpenter, used to spontaneously redecorate the house with a saws-all. We figured out that this particular hole was carved out to accommodate a television set that was viewed from the bed that had been placed in the opposite direction from where we have it. (We position our bed in configuration with lay lines so that our heads point due north). The hole has remained untouched for the seven years we have lived here, as is, until today. Literally, it was a rough hole with exposed studs and a view of the back side of the bathroom, and a towel used to block the right hand side which opened onto a no man's land that exists behind the bedroom and bathroom. Not a pleasant place!

(There's the hole in configuration with the lamp above the bed.) For some reason, as I looked the hole this morning, I was newly provoked to ask, "Why are we living with a sizable hole in our wall?" I promptly removed the ceramic foo dog, the small metallic wind up walking alligator and the small basket of jewelry that had resided there and began cleaning, thinking I would commit to a small construction project. I decided to attempt to box in the hole.
I was preempted by Bob, who mercifully rescued us and set to doing things in the correct way. I will admit to thinking that I could have sliced up a few odds and bits of sheet rock and wedged them in and thrown some paint on it and called it a day. Bob does things the way they should be done, with drills and screws and skill saws and measurements. Here's a practical demonstration: the furniture was moved aside, tools were laid out and chaos ensued so that order could ultimately be imposed.

I admit that my contribution was reduced to vacuuming six and a half years worth of dust from the hole. (It was so bad that I didn't even photograph it for posting here! I had to bath my foo dog...)
But several hours later, Bob had neatly enclosed the space and all that awaited was for me to spackle the screw holes and paint it (at a later date).

 Big improvement! Neatly boxed in and clean; I was all set to fill in the holes and prepare for the eventual paint job but the spackle had been unused for a couple of years so it was moldy when I opened the can. EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! (It smelled sour, too!)

Hahahahaha. I had to include this to share the grossness! I'll post pictures after we've procured new joint compound and the hole is finished. Betcha can't wait!

More Autumn Color

As previously reported, Bob and I have been very busy ministering to projects around the BauHaus Chicken Coop. With the help of the new chain saw, Bob's been gathering fire wood (I helped a little...) and the pile is already growing appreciably. It scares the hell out of me (and Maggie and Robin) when Bob fells a tree as it lands with an impressive THUD but it does mean our house and studios will be warm this winter and Bob knows what he's doing (I hope!) so the more wood the merrier!
The above picture is our scabby front door, soon after I spackled it in advance of a good paint job. We have been threatening to repaint our many front (or side) doors for ages and even had a color in mind. Recently, we went on a very successful shopping spree; I think we hit 6 stores- certainly a new record for us. Bob got clothes and I got socks and we got blue paint for the front door. Yay!

And that's after only a single coat. Isn't that spectacular? It looks so clean and (in keeping with the BauHaus Chicken Coop theme) MODERN. It's the color of the October sky and definitely more cheerful that plain brown like the door frame. This has inspired us so much that we plan on hitting the other doors with a coat of paint before the snows fall...

And here's another bit of fall color that I couldn't resist. Around Maggie's field, there are several tree stumps, both large and small, that have sprouted glorious blossoms of mushrooms. Mixed with the pine needles, they're beautiful (and to my mind) more interesting than chrysanthemums!

All Kinds of Progress...

Not a great picture but very exciting sneak peek of how well the upstairs closet is coming along! Bob and I are halfway done on this particular phase. Bob finished the shoji screens, which slide along tracks and work nicely- like not taking up space at the top of the stairs but managing to look amazingly professional and modern. I couldn't be happier.
Today, I finished spackling and priming the walls, shelves and framework. We were careful and followed my sister's advice and got a really good primer that has a mold/mildew inhibitor/killer because I think we all remember the posting to the effect that we had (ahem) mold of some kind growing behind a cabinet that the previous owner of this house had zip-screwed to the wall to hide water damage. Oh, we knew it was there...
So after I demolished and Bob repaired the wall, studs went up and cross members appeared and Bob cut trim boards and stretched fabric and the pieces all came together. We needed a preview of what the completed project would look like, so Bob hung the doors. Robin posed in front of them; she's very intrigued with the changes materializing at the top of the stairs. (That is, when she's not practicing random evilness like thoughtfully chewing the electric cord off of the vacuum cleaner. It was a good thing I had unplugged it; it's not like the little monster doesn't have plenty of toys and chewables at the ready. I guess the consolation was I didn't have to vacuum the floor before our friends came to dinner last night!)
Anyway, today I sanded and primed. About half way through the job, I was humming tunelessly along with a pleasant late Mozart symphony (the Haffner) and remarking to myself how enjoyable painting can be when I managed to gently touch the edge of the paint pad to the paint pan which caused said pan to part company with the ladder where it was supposed to be secured with two hangers. A dramatic tidal wave of paint arced through air and landed not only on the wall but on the ladder and the floor. Yes, I had a drop cloth in place but a good quantity of paint resisted the urge to land on that surface... you get the picture. It took tons of warm water and rigorous sponging to lift the paint. It was a mess but I can only thank my lucky stars that the paint came (mostly) to rest on the carpet inside the closet (where the damage will not be easily seen) and only a bit ended up on the carpet near the bathroom. The afternoons painting session proceeded with less drama and I will apply the final coat of paint on Wednesday. Then I can begin the arduous task of moving all my clothes from my studio annex into the new closet!

The Whiteness of the Walls

Look! I have walls and they're painted white!
A blog posting of few words and several sundry pictures... because I'm tired! Nay, exhausted! All the schlepping and screwing and spackling and sanding then computer dilemmas that didn't want us to go online and post our progress. Days spent on ladders and in cars and trucks making endless forays to Home Depot. All the doing and wiring and then...
I have a studio.

I have switches- three way, no less (Thank you Jonathan!) (Surrounding wall not sanded yet in this photo.)
I have a fan: (well, I'd like to think I have many...)

That fan really works! It was quite hot in my studio the other day and I was worrying that the summer would do me in what with a black roof and lots of windows but the fan is super! Three speeds of air circulation and what a difference.
And I have lovely studio corners and spaces:

Look at that handsome space! I am so happy! But so tired. I'm retiring now. I have moved piles of art materials from here to there (and living room materials from there to here) and I deserve to sleep. I'm hoping to move the rest of my things in tomorrow, or maybe the next day. And  then to work!