You're not going to believe why it has taken me four days to post this. I'm telling you, you're not going to believe me! Ok, here it comes.......our internet is so sketchy and so slow here that when the school kids are home from school, I can't even bring up AOL. I mean it. Because of Christmas, all the kids are home and playing on the internet and because we are so far out of town, the internet slows down to way under 1mbps. Crazy, isn't it? So because the little urchins have been burning up the wires I have been unable to blog. Ha! I fixed that! They all must like to sleep in because it is currently 6:00 a.m. and I had zero trouble uploading my pics and getting the blog to come up on screen.
So, without further adieu, here's the next set of pics of the Most Dreaded Project of all.
It has occurred to me that maybe you'd like to see the outside of what we've been doing and put this all in perspective. The original farmhouse is obviously on the left and the studio is on the right. And you can see that the breezeway connecting the two isn't all that big, but it is! It's huge to me in what it means in availability. The studio has tan Hardi-Board on it and so we continued the look on the breezeway. Eventually the house, too, will match the studio as the vinyl siding is getting a bit old and brittle. But that's a project for another day.
Anyway, we were able to match the green metal roof of the studio to the one on the house and will also do that for the breezeway.......someday. I'm not pushing it, you know? We'd also like to fill in the area under the studio with some kind of wall as right now the studio is sitting up on blocks and underneath it is open. But again, that's a project for another day.
This is the view of the breezeway from the studio. It sure is nice having the option of simply walking from the house into the studio now. I can't tell you how many times a day I do that to work on one project or another. And last night I sat out there and watched Monday Night Football while I worked on some hand embroidery. Fun. Fun.
See? The ceiling planks match the ceiling in the studio and it's all painted. Joel even put up my funky pink chandelier that I had used at my shop in Florida. The dry wall still needs another skim coat over the joints and then I'll be able to paint it. The wooden boxed in chase on the far wall houses the pipes for the Mitsubishi air conditioner/heater on the wall behind the breezeway in the porch and helps to keep that room nice and cozy year round.
When Joel removed the window in the porch we went back and forth about whether or not to re-use it in the breezeway. One day I went to town to run some errands and when I came back the window was installed! And boy, am I ever glad he did it. It would have been really dark in that little space without the natural light that the window brings in. He's so clever, isn't he?
After the walls get painted, it's going to get real interesting to see how we match up the flooring. I know we will have to install a threshold to span the gap from one room to another. Yea, another little "problem" for us to figure out. We're so close to being done.........and then we can settle in and relax a bit over the winter. Ha! Don't laugh! We
do so know how to relax.
Isn't it looking great? I'm getting really excited to get some paint on the walls and watch it turn into a usable space. We have a huge armoire that used to be in our bedroom that simply doesn't fit anywhere in the house. I've repurposed it to hold all my scrapbooking supplies and we built the breezeway deep enough for the armoire to sit out there in it's own space and out of the way. We are doing whatever possible to utilize any available space for storage that we can, and this one is a real winner for us.
As you can see, I have some patching to do on the walls in the porch where we moved a few sockets. Then a quick coat of paint and some trim around the doorway and we're almost there! I think we're going to take a break until after Christmas and then just 2 or 3 more days of flooring and trim work and this project should be complete!
In the meantime, here's what Christmas looks like in my studio.
I keep white lights strung around the four windows all year long.....don't ask. It just makes me happy to have lights up! And this is the little white feather tree from my shop, Pink Florida Threads. The tree has pink and blue ornaments and colorful jingle bells for a garland. It has a wild colored tree topper, too. I made the tree skirt a few years ago with all my favorite bright colors in it.....pink, lime and teal.
And in the tree is nestled the little blue bird sitting on her nest with eggs inside it, just like the bluebirds I watch outside my studio window. Ahhhhh......all is calm....all is bright.
And so, until the saga of The Project continues in a few days, I'd like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas. May God Bless you and yours this holiday.
Deb
