The Office Project is DONE!

04 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by Jean in Home and other Repairs, Home Decor, January Cure 2016, Wood Crafts

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DIY, do it yourself, home decor, home furniture, home organization, homemade furniture, January Cure 2016, wood craft, wood crafts, wood furniture

The office project has actually been done for a couple of months. I’ve just had too many other things going on to write about it. The battle with the local fauna has begun and it’s gotten ugly, the pool water reached a point where there was no alternative other than draining and refilling (it lasted healthily for 10 years so I can’t complain, even though I complained a LOT at the cost. I’d best find flecks of 24 karat gold in that water at that price.), it’s weed season, a new planting season, and wind season. We also had a tragedy which took the wind out of my sails for a while and I’m still not over that yet, but here goes.

It’s been so long since I posted, I can’t start the reveal without reminding everyone what the office/storage/swap meet/ebay/junk room looked like before we got in gear.

Before

Other than packing up some of my husband’s things, we’d just closed the door on this room for 2 years and used it to store things we didn’t know what else to do with and couldn’t let go of yet. It was the junk drawer of rooms. I had been needing to do something constructive with it for 2 years. I decided during a previous Cure that I’d turn it into a Guest room/craft room/office, but still didn’t have the energy/heart to get to work on it. My brother had contacted me a year ago to let me know he was planning to come out this spring to do some hiking and wanted to visit for a couple of days. This was the boost I needed, but I still didn’t do anything about it until finally, three months before he was to be here, I was jolted into the home renovation version of last minute cram for finals mode.

My son and I cleared the room of boxes, junk, furniture, and dust bunnies. Starting from scratch we painted, pulled down the wall shelf unit from the north wall, repainted it the same color as the walls so my “stuff” collection would take visual priority, measured for a queen sized bed and craft tables, and built the tables. We bought 3 things for the room, other than cheap wood for the tables. I ordered a bedspread, glass chimes and a fabulous painting done by my best friend. Then, we added the crafting stuff, computer stuff and my collection stuff. The result is a relaxing place to work, play and sleep. Guests can relax, work and play in here too. The way it is arranged is very wheelchair accessible.

Eternity Tree bedspread from Pyramid Collection. Years ago I had gotten their Tree of Life bedspread for my own bed and I’ve loved it. They are machine washable!

My friend Daphne MuShatt’s painting. She has many available, but I’ve always loved this one and it reminds me of Maiden, Mother, and Crone life stages.

The colors in the painting and the subject suit this room, and my spirit, perfectly.

Funny thing about those shelves William made many moons ago when we lived in town. He’d decided on a paint color for his office (our living room) and painted the shelves to match so that the shelves would disappear and his History of Space Exploration models would stand out. The color he chose for that poorly lit room made you want to sing “Under the Sea” at night and swim laps through the living room. When I began repainting them to match the color John and I had chosen for this room, I was shocked to realize I’d picked that same color! I was terrified I’d end up in another giant aquarium room, but turns out, lighting makes all the difference here. I still think William had a hand in the paint color choice though because we went in thinking we’d made our choice online and this color caught our eye at the last minute.

The east facing office window. I watch the sun come up every morning with my coffee and Facebook friends and relatives. Those curtains were made with cheap cotton drop cloths and they were the first project for the new sewing machine. The glass chimes were ordered at the same time as the bedspread and also come from Pyramid Collection. The breeze coming through the window makes them sing prettily. My homemade incense drying in old glass tumblers lends a pleasant aroma.

Just a close up so you can see the patterned glass and pretty colors in the chimes.

Part of my Harry Potter collection arranged on the top of my bookshelf. Those “stones” were made by William about 5 years ago. We were trying to make a Sorceror’s Stone for a friend of ours. The stones in the photo were some of the fails, but too pretty to toss.

Unfortunately, my brother had to cancel his trip to Arizona, so I have a fabulous guest/craft/office available if anyone wants to come visit. Maybe if we add a microwave and a mini refrigerator I’ll just live in here.

January into February Cure: Office Project

15 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Jean in Home and other Repairs, Home Decor, January Cure 2016, Wood Crafts

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DIY, do it yourself, home decor, home furniture, home organization, homemade furniture, January Cure 2016, wood furniture

Yes, I know, I got so caught up in my office project part of the January Cure that I decided to drop the rest of the Cure projects and focus on the office while I was inspired. That room has been a major sticking point in my ability to move forward and for over two years I lacked the inspiration and will power to make real changes in there.

When I last blogged about the January Cure I had managed to clear everything but the furniture out. I had laid out a plan for the swap meet items and I have stuck to that plan. If an item hasn’t sold in 3 to 4 weekends, it goes to Goodwill or the local charity Thrift shop. I’ve made a lot of room in the garage this way and I’ve also created room on my swap meet table for crafts I’ve made myself.

The room isn’t ready for a final reveal yet (hey, it was a massive project), but my son and I finished the big build of the long craft/computer desk. Once I moved my computer to it’s new spot, in a tranquil room, with a view by a window instead of the dishes in the sink, I felt like writing. So, here is what we’ve been up to on the project.

Yes, we have a ladder. Apparently it is only useful for holding up the paint bucket, according to John who wanted to be practicing his stilt walking.

My phone camera does not like to get a good picture of the wall color. It is dark, but it is most definitely blue, not black, not light blue, not green. It changes drastically according to the type of light and time of day and has appeared as many colors in my photos, just not the correct color.

John started work on the long craft tables yesterday afternoon around 5:30. Here he was building the frame. We picked up eight 8′ 2x4s and a cheap chunk of half inch plywood. We had Home Depot cut the plywood to our specifications and John cut the 2x4s in our garage.

Within an hour he’d built the frames for both tables, attached the plywood table tops and had started attaching the legs.

Within another hour the legs were on, the building was done and we decided the remainder of the evening would be spent watching Sherlock on Netflix.

These are going to be crafting, sewing, painting, dyeing, inking, cutting and probably spilled on tables. I didn’t want to worry about ruining a nice paint or stain job. I didn’t want to have to buy expensive wood to get a nice finish on that I would then just mess up with any of the above activities. Good old linoleum peel and stick tiles to the rescue! We found lovely slate-like tiles that combine a rich, nutty brown and dark grey blue. I had plain white satin wall paint leftover from my door painting project a couple of years ago so I used that to paint the frame and legs of the tables. John cut the tiles to fit the plywood table tops.

Voila! Two perfectly functional, attractive, crafting tables for less than $50.00. OH and see that sewing machine? See those curtains hanging in the window? John and I are learning to sew this year and those curtains were the first project. They’re just an inexpensive (and washable) cotton drop cloth. I’ve picked up some dye and will be dip dyeing them at some point, but they look fine just as they are for now.

I still need to add my things back, make the bed, and hang the wall mounted shelf unit. However, if a friend shows up from out of town unexpectedly I have a perfectly functional guest bedroom. Well, you know, once I make up the bed, unless they want matching pillow cases.

January Cure 2016- The Big Office Project part 2 and closet

12 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by Jean in Home and other Repairs, Home Decor, January Cure 2016

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DIY, do it yourself, home decor, home furniture, home organization, January Cure, January Cure 2016, wood craft, wood furniture

At first I was disappointed that there was a 30 minute time limit this year on the closet project. I was extremely grateful for the full closet clear out last year and that is one of the many assignments that worked perfectly without me having to give it any thought at all during the year. I find that the only things that did not work well, were things I had a limited amount of time to do last year. Thus, I decided right from the start today that I would ignore the 30 minute time limit and get my hall closet completely cleared, cleaned and organized so that I could use a shelf for office supplies. Things didn’t go as planned.

The company that installed that new AC unit I had to spend nearly half my meager savings on last summer had made an appointment to come by as part of their routine maintenance agreement. Once he had checked out the unit, he came inside and showed me pictures of just how caked with dust my brand new AC has become. Since it is sealed from the blowing desert dust, the filth can only be coming from the ducts. Cleaning the unit is part of the maintenance agreement so that won’t cost me anything. However, to prevent the unit from clogging up again within the next 6 months my ducts have to be cleaned. There may be a few tear stains on that 600.00 check I had to write.

Anyway, so the guy is sending a team out tomorrow. This meant my closet project was immediately put on hold. I had to finish clearing and sorting the office so that workers can get in and out of there. I also have to deal with the lump of laundry on my bed immediately and not put that off while I work on other projects. Cleaning off my night stands was on my list of small projects but I now have to do that tonight so they can be moved out of the way so that the ginormous king sized bed can be moved over so the workers can access the vent.

Not a damned thing “routine” about AC maintenance. It’s forcing the bedroom, office, laundry lump and nightstand projects to be scrunched up into a 24 hour period. No flowers, just a “bend over”.

I did get to spend 30 minutes in a closet today. Just not the one I wanted. I needed to clear a shelf in the office closet for craft supplies to get them off the floor so that workers can move around in that room. I added more things to the garbage pile and more things to the outbox/swap meet box while making that space.

Thankfully, tomorrow is “work on your project” day so once the AC crew leaves (hopefully by noon), I’ll be able to get to that closet, create a space for office supplies, which will in turn allow me to clear a space for guests to place their clothes.

The office is now cleared of extraneous “stuff”. That pile on the floor is the “outbox”. Next step is to box my toys and the computer stuff temporarily, so the furniture can be removed and the new furniture built.

January Cure assignment Work on Project

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by Jean in Home and other Repairs, Home Decor, January Cure, Wood Crafts

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DIY, home decor, home furniture, homemade furniture, January Cure, wood craft, wood furniture

The blank pallet we’ll begin to fill today.

John is off today so we’re going to see just how fast we can get some major building done in the laundry room before he leaves to meet his Juggling Club in the park tonight. There are two big things I’d like to accomplish today.

We’d built a Day Bed early on in our building spree last spring. Actually, it the plan called it a simple modern sofa but it’s so huge it’s actually a Day Bed. I’ve no use for a Day Bed. I also don’t want to waste all that wood. So today will be spent taking apart the Day Bed and turning it into a narrow table that will fit in the laundry closet. My original plan was to turn it into a small table for the front porch, but that will have to wait. A table for the porch is just fun and decorative, while a place to hold small appliances is urgent.

The Day Bed we will be deconstructing today.

Yesterday I’d picked up a bunch of inexpensive wooden crates to store cleansers that I don’t need on a daily basis, extra sponges, light bulbs and small repair supplies. With the supplies neatly corralled and easily removed, and while John is taking apart that Day Bed, I’ll be painting the laundry closet.

If y’all have kept up with other parts of my blog and have seen the patio furniture and other items we’ve built, you’ll know I love rustic. The all black, white, grey IKEA spartan look is just not me. I’m a Hobbit. So, the narrow table we’ll be building for the laundry closet will be painted to look old, much like we did our patio tables.

The rustic look patio tables we built will be the look for the laundry table.

While John is deconstructing the Day Bed, I’ll whip up a cut list for the table so that he can go straight from deconstructing to constructing. I don’t have a ready made plan for this, but we built so much furniture last summer to fill the patio and backyard, that I’m confident I can do this.

We have a fairly limited amount of time, less than 8 hours, and two overly helpful dachshunds, so I’d best get out and get the ponies fed so we can get started! Time to crank up the Ride of the Valkyries, yes, to eleven.

Billiam’s Backyard and Patio Reveal!

01 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by Jean in General Farm Stuff, Grief, Home and other Repairs, Rural life, Uncategorized, Wood Crafts

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First of all, I need to thank John. Without his help some of these things could never have been accomplished and the rest would have taken me two years instead of 6 months. Secondly, I want to thank Ana White for the inspiration to Do It Ourselves, and the little family at More Like Home for adjusting some of the plans on Ana’s page so that the projects could be built with 2x4s and for their other 2×4 projects. Thank you to the Apartment Therapy and Houzz sites for their daily decorating inspirations. Thank you to the guys at Articulate Motion for keeping us in pallets, donating a chunk of fabric, and adjusting the metal fire inserts so that they could be used in the dining table. I want to thank the DIYers out there who showed us how to make Beer Bottle Tiki Torches and inspired our hanging bed. Speaking of that hanging bed, I want to thank the wood gurus at Home Depot for putting us on a safe path on that journey. Finally, thanks to all the friends and family who cheered us on and helped us through this traumatic year.

So, here we go! This is what the patio looked like before when we were in the first week of the redo:

Bleak wasn’t it?