Building A Wall

I realize that the title of this post seems to refer to a notorious project that is being trumpeted about by a recent occupier of the White House (that will cost billions and accomplish nothing other than to make many people's lives worse than they already are...). But in this instance, the title refers to various barricades that Bob and I now live with as a matter of course. These demi-walls are set up to temporarily block a certain young dog access to rooms in our house.(Hi Robin!)

As we all fondly remember, Lil' Robin the Good refused to be confined when she was a mere pup. She scaled barriers of every description and height, perhaps employing magical powers, as she seemed to miraculously appear on the other side of whatever wall was erected. It was impressive. We finally relented, and gave her the run of the house and so far we have suffered no disastrous consequence, excepting Robin's consumption (with no ill effect) of several pairs of reading glasses, sun glasses and Bob's prescription glasses and a passel of pens.
However, when we're not present, we do restrict her access to a few rooms with these temporary barriers. Inexplicably, these pieces of plywood and fiberboard work where more serious blockades never did. And you may ask, why not just close the doors to these rooms? Because Lil' Robin doesn't like closed doors and will scratch and whine vigorously until the door is opened.

My studio, the bedroom and the "office" are all off limits as they are beyond impossible to secure from her idiosyncratic quest for things to chew. (I call it "shopping": she cases a room, checking out all nose-height surfaces.) Robin seems content to roam the rest of the house, and in general, we have been lucky that furniture has been spared. And Robin was a pretty quick study in the house training department; we really didn't experience many "accidents" of the liquids and solids variety.

And look! There's Lil' Robin now, with an entertaining assortment of her preferred chewables: empty seltzer bottles and plastic perennial pots, with the occasional foray into more traditional things like balls. And below? The Magic Robin! (Looks sort of like she's saying "Who me? I didn't eat that!")

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!

This Sheet Rocks!

I really feel we're closing in on completion! Bob and I worked to get sheet rock on the walls and should be done with that tomorrow. The begins the messy joy of taping and applying and sanding joint compound.
The walls make it seem like an actual room, not just an uncompleted space. I can already envision making masterpieces here...
Here's another shot of the corner. it is great that we got the entire north side of the studio covered.

It's one of those funny paradoxes: does the sheet rock make the space appear larger or smaller? Maybe a little of both.
And meanwhile, back in my old studio, we had four sheets of sheet rock up for me to work on, and we had to take them down so as to reuse them. Of course, this necessitated my moving an ungodly pile of magazines, art materials, a flat file, years of old work that was piled up. What a mess!

My old studio is a complete disaster! But I guess we can recite the old saw about having to break eggs to make an omelette. I keep reminding myself (and Bob) that a remarkable side effect of my studio being completed is that we'll have a real living room. A place to entertain and (gasp) relax.

No Time!

The clock in the kitchen inconveniently died this past week. Habit forced Bob and I to constantly look at the wall to see what time it was (or wasn't as there was no clock). After the fiftieth attempt at telling the time, I resorted to a studio version of a clock. It's symbolic of the fact that we have simply had no time to even go to a cheap department store and purchase a clock. (Conceptually it's great; you simply set it to whatever time you wish it was.)
And on to what everyone is really interested in : the studio project. With one thing and the next, such as a seriously ill, hospitalized co-worker, I have had to work extra hours and we have had less time to work on my studio than we had planned. And our friend Joe, whose legs are visible in the below photo with Bob's legs, has also be super busy and unable to come and help with the framing. That left Bob and I to only one day this week.

Bob and I purchased many two by fours, in various lengths, to commence the wall construction. Of course, after careful measuring and laying out of skeleton walls, Bob started up the skill saw. And noticed an odd thing: the supposedly 8 foot long 2 x 4's were all short.
Turns out the lumber yard had given us "pre-cuts" which are great if you're making a standard interior wall. But for us? We needed the extra couple of inches...
So back in the truck went all that wood and we had to return them for the correct wood! A waste of an hour or so, but at least it was a nice day weather-wise and we got to double check our math.
Bob and I feel like we accomplished quite a lot, given the vagaries of a full moon day, but I could use another solid week of working on the studio. I'm anxious (as is Bob) to get that roof up so that all our lovely wood isn't wet, or the crawlspace beneath the floor doesn't get all damp. We'll be at work tomorrow, at least until we need to leave for one of three openings that we're participating in in the upcoming week!
No time!!