The next chapter… Chestnut Grove Studios

Twenty (and a half) years ago, as we were anxiously anticipating what the year 2000, (aka Y2K) would bring – I was a Computer Programmer, working in corporate America, on call 24/7… a single mom with two kids, ages 9 and 11… about to marry a man, my best friend, who I had met on my 30th birthday eight years earlier.

He was an Architect who loved history, music and art, working for a small firm and traveling 2-3 times a month… a single dad with two kids, ages 14 and 18.

As smart as you think you are at 19… at 30… even 40, we had no idea what was about to unfold in our lives over the next 20 years.

As we celebrate our 20th anniversary on June 1, 2020, we have said goodbye to our professional careers. We have left the big city of Nashville for a small 15 acre farm in Santa Fe, Tennessee, and we have built our own workshop, studio and tiny house. We have planted wildflowers, blueberries, blackberries, watermelons, chestnut trees, pecan trees, pine trees, fruit trees and our creative roots.

We are focused on our crafts and are ready to share that work and enjoy our new life as an Artisan couple crafting instruments and art in our self-built workshop called Chestnut Grove Studios. Logos, color palettes, and all that fancy business stuff will come, but we want it to show our love for the outdoors, art and each other. Prelim sketches look like this:

We have a facebook page that links to an online shop… an instagram account, and a pinterest page (search for us on any platform as “Chestnut Grove Studios”. Please follow us, look us up, message us, share us with your friends…and shop with us.

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P.S. Happy Anniversary Babe!

xoxo,

Robyn

Art Studio Reveal

It took longer than we thought, but it is complete and functioning.  Early last month, hubby banged out the framing, and then we covered the exterior of the walls with plywood.  We had the lighting and outlets installed, and then it was ready for me to put in the insulation.  That all went pretty quickly, and without any hiccups.  YAY!  (Check out the previous blog post for details.)

We debated over doing that nasty drywall work ourselves, or hiring it out.  In the end, we hired it out – thankfully.  There are just some building tasks I have learned that I do not enjoy doing, and am not very good at… drywall being one of them – laying tile another.  So, by mid-April the drywall was in, and the ball was back in my court.

The next task to be tackled was the painting.  I chose Valspar’s Summer Gray for the walls and ceiling to have a “blank canvas,” so to speak, for hanging artwork.  Since the floor was also just plywood sheets, I wanted to paint a checkerboard on the floor, and used the same Summer Gray as the walls and Sherwin Williams’ Mindful Gray.

The checkerboard floor was a fun little project – it is a bit trickier to paint it on the diagonal instead of just going straight across parallel to the wall, but I like the effect much better.  The steps were:

1. Paint the entire floor the lighter color (Summer Gray).
2. Find the center of the room using a chalk line, then measure and mark the locations of the squares.  The area of the room is 8×12, and I chose 22 inches as the length of the sides of the squares.  There was no special formula to find that number, but I did go thru several “to scale” drawings before I found a size that I felt gave me enough squares to make an impact.
3. Using painters tape, tape off the outside edges of every other row of squares to be painted gray.  This was so I would not have to go back and free-hand paint any edges.
4. Paint initial pass of gray squares, and remove tape.
5. Tape the outside edges of the remaining squares to be painted gray.

Remove remaining tape, and top with a couple of coats of polyurethane.With the flooring done, I passed the baton back to hubby to install the door, and do his special woodworking thing to craft some window trim.

While he worked on those items, I got busy trying to find a way to economically heat and cool the room as well as have access to “running” water.  It took a bit of internet searching, but I finally found exactly what I needed.

For heating/cooling AND dehumidifying, I chose this Black & Decker Portable Unit.  It vents out of the window and does not require any duct work.  So far, it is working like a champ, and I am very pleased.

 

I only need to have water on hand for a quick clean-up of a paint spill, to fill paint water jars, and for a preliminary wash of brushes until I make a trip to the house for a proper washing.  I found this portable “camping sink.”  It holds 4-5 gallons of water.  It has a foot pump that you press once to dispense about 1/2 cup of water, and even comes with a towel holder and soap dispenser.  The waste water drains thru a flexible pipe and into a bucket.  It also is working perfectly for my needs.

For storage I repurposed a variety of bins we were not using… they are different sizes and materials, but they fit the budget, “free.”  And making labels with my Cricut machine tied it all together.

Craigslist provided a source for a vintage sewing cabinet.

Goodwill shopping allowed me to snag an $8 bookshelf, and hubby had a work table he wasn’t using that I use for my primary work surface.  A plant, some lamps, and a few other items, and the studio is officially open!

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Now to get busy creating… upcoming art class I am teaching this month, and an art show I will participate in next month.

 

Catching Up… and what?!? an Art Studio?

Life has been absolutely lovely these last couple of months while hubby & I took a little break.  We spent a week in, (and around) beautiful Black Mountain, NC.  I was lucky enough to attend a few (group & private) art classes with Nadine Charlsen at 310 ART in Asheville.  Meanwhile, hubby took an intensive, week long course at the Warren Wilson College, located in Swannanoa, learning the art of Banjo building from the Pisgah Banjo Company masters.

I painted this: 

and he built this:

I’d say we both came away with something to treasure.

Hubby thinks the trip isn’t worth the drive unless there is a sweet valley to view and a gravel road to navigate.  We had both — going and returning home.  Pictures cannot do any of it justice, and apparently I have an issue with driving in fog that triggers anxiety.  (Luckily, it’s nothing a litlle ole’ martini can’t fix.)

We took our time driving to our destination in Black Mountain, NC, and spent one night in Highlands, NC at the cute Chandler Inn.

Photo from TheChandlerInn.com

The next morning we drove thru the cutest valley, and although it was a little early in the season for lots of greenery and blooms, the daffodils were peeking up from the ground.  This little cottage was a dream, and it backed up to the side of the mountain.  It was so beautiful.

Driving back, we took a detour thru Boone, and spent the night in one of the cabins at the state park in Roan Mountain.  It was cozy with rocking chairs on the front porch, no internet and no tv – our kind of place.   

We managed to squeeze in a quick hike in Carvers Gap near the top of Roan Mountain before heading home.

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Now for the BIG NEWS!  I’m getting an ArT StUdIo!!!  I guess if you have your paints, canvases, markers, brushes and other paraphernalia  all over the bed, couch, dining table, and every other horizontal surface in the small house – it doesn’t take long before hubby feels a little empathy for his budding artist.  He totally gets that having (most of) the lower level of the 2,200 square ft workshop is a treasure!

A couple of weekends ago, I was visiting my parents, daughter and granddaughter in East Tennessee, and this little cutie and I “framed” her into a little hideout.  Meanwhile… little did I know…  my sweet hubby was framing out a surprise for me… a 100 square ft studio upstairs in the workshop!

It has since been wired and insulated.  We are now waiting the installation of drywall!  I am so excited to be getting a dedicated place to create!  Hopefully it will be done before the next post, and I can share a “studio reveal.”

In the meantime – new watercolor and mixed media art is going on display and for sale at The Square Market & Cafe in downtown Columbia for the month of April.  The showing has over 40 original paintings by 8 local artists.  If you are close to Columbia, swing by for a yummy bite to eat, and enjoy the display.  Here are some of mine (before they were framed).

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* If you would like a print or note cards of any of the paintings in the slideshow, just email me, and I will get back to you on pricing – otherwise – feel free to head over to The Square Market & Cafe in Columbia and purchase any of the exhibiting artists’ original work for your very own!

Until next month…

Small House – January Update

This past month we have been focusing on wrapping up some of the interior finishing work that needs to be done… primarily, the window casings.  Just as we have done with most of the design decisions for the small house, we incorporated a craftsman-style to the look of the finished project.

The keys to craftsman-style are clean lines and balanced proportions.  Just like every other part of building this house, there were key “terms” to learn so that I could understand what hubby was talking about when discussing the construction, or helping with the installation.  My cheat sheet showing all of the parts and how they fit together:

We turned to Fine Homebuilding for some tips on the proportions:

• The thickness of the cap is the same as the stool (ours is 1 inch)
• The stool should be 1 inch thick and project out 2 inches
• The side casings should be wider than 3 1/2 inches (ours are 4 inches)
• The overall height of the cap + frieze + fillet should be about 1 1/2 times the width of the side casing – (ours is 7 inches – 1 3/4 times the 4 inch casings)
• The apron height is similar to the width of the side casings (ours is 4 inches)

We chose walnut we had in our supply at the shop to bring in a cozy feel, and to match the walnut floors we had installed throughout the house.

 

I think hubby really enjoyed this project because 1) it was inside work during December, and 2) he got to use all kinds of power tools in the shop.  After selecting the best pieces of walnut, he first cut pieces to their rough length (miter saw), and cut out any imperfections in the large pieces of lumber.  The second step was at the jointer to create a smooth, flat surface on the face of the wood. and then run that flat face against the fence on the jointer to square up the edge.  The table saw is where the next piece of action takes place, and that is to rip the pieces to width.  My favorite tool (planer) to watch comes next, and that gradually trims the pieces of wood to their desired thickness.  The pieces are then back to the miter saw to cut to their exact length.  Finally, because the milling process leaves sharp edges, he used a 1/8 inch round-over bit in the router to soften the edges.  The drill press also comes into play on faces of the apron, frieze and casings to bore out holes to accept the screws for mounting.  An 1/8 inch scrap wood is used to cut out plugs for hiding the screw that are countersunk into the holes once the pieces have been installed.

So in the blink of an eye, we went from this undressed window –

to this beautifully finished craftsman-style custom walnut casing.

I think they look great against the black window frames.  We will trim out the front and back doors exactly the same way as the windows with the head heights over the doors matching up with the head heights of the windows.

Here’s the one in the bathroom – the lighting is a little different.

Watercolors… Wow – who knew

So last month, a dear and long time friend showed up at my art class lunch.  After lunch, my friend was going back to our art class venue with my art teacher to have a quick lesson on watercolors.  Since this was a medium I had never used, I was curious, and they graciously let me follow along.  Well, low and behold, said art teacher gave her students, (me being one of them) a set of watercolors at our art exchange last month…

So I turned to Pinterest for some watercolor inspiration and discovered pen and watercolor wash!  WOW!  I love the look; I love the loose-ness; I love the lack of control.

I watched a couple of YouTube videos, and then painted a few pen and watercolor washes for our art show at the local Square Market Cafe in Columbia TN.

Next I tried a wagon wheel…

And, then… I remembered how good clothes smelled after they had been hanging out on the clothesline and did these… oh yeah, and how stiff those jeans would be after drying on the line.

Finally, my daughter sent me a wish list for Christmas, and it had a picture of a mermaid on it for my granddaughter, so I thought, well, I can just paint that, so I did…  Merry Christmas sweet girl!  I hope you like it.

Meanwhile in the workshop – hubby is working on banjo rims that we hope to bring to market in the not too distant future.  Lots of fun new things for me to learn with this process as well.  He is one impressive guy.  I will write a full post on the making of banjo rims coming soon – here is a sneak peak of what is in the shop –

We had our first snow at the small house this morning, but it melted before I could snap a photo – so instead I will share a photo of a sunset taken from the back porch last week.

Until next month….

Small House – November Update

SMALL HOUSE – BIG HAPPINESS  — That just about sums it up!  Hubby was channeling his creative side and gave me this t-shirt and necklace for my birthday last week.

So another month in and “we” have checked off a few more items from the to-do (aka honey-do) list.  While the kitchen faucet was a big one… LITERALLY!  

Getting the shower doors installed so that we could hook up the steam shower was, as my granddaughter puts things, “life changing!”

(Notice the nice teak seat hub also gifted “us” with on my birthday.)

The steam shower even has “an app for that.”  I can be down at the workshop painting or scavenging thru the storage bins upstairs for items to put in the booth at the antique mall, and think, “oh, a steam shower would be nice…” open up the app on my phone to turn it on, and BAM!  by the time I walk up to the house – that bad boy has already fogged up the shower doors.

Other semi-critical items on the list have been the front porch steps.  Right now the temporary treads are on, but by the end of the week, we will have installed the permanent ones to match the front porch flooring.

The kitchen countertop that hubby hand-crafted is also installed, and it just looks amazing!  It brings in a warm and cozy feel, and keeps with the craftsman style we have woven all throughout the building and designing processes.

So far we have been spared a frost to kill the plants, so we still have wildflowers blooming along the drive.  This weekend they are getting some new friends planted close by now that all of the big trucks are no longer coming in and out.  Even the barn is getting some landscaping started.  In the mix are Dawn Redwoods, Hemlocks and Rhododendron.

We may wrap this project up over the winter months since almost all of the remaining projects are on the inside –

Love grows best in small houses

With fewer walls to separate.

Where you eat and sleep so close together,

You can’t help but communicate.

And if we had more walls between us,

Think of all we’d miss.

Love grows best in small houses

JUST LIKE THIS.

                 author unknown

 

Small House – October Update

I have to say – 1 month in – 600 square feet is pLeNtY for us!  Even with just a curtain on the bathroom doorway.

I was so worried that once we got moved in, we would slow down, but we have NOT, at least Hub has not!  So what have we done?

Installed the kitchen cabinets!  YAY!  And temporary countertops out of partical board so we have that ever-important horizontal surface to collect things that will go on the yet to be installed shelves.  There are still a few exposed wires for the under-cabinet lighting, but we are getting there.

With the cabinets came the hard chore of selecting the hardware.  I wanted to mix and match the knobs and pulls.  I mixed four, if you can believe it, knobs and pulls in my tiny kitchen.

Some black knobs and twisted pulls on the drawers, some glass knobs on the doors, and a couple of copper finger pulls on either side of the stove to connect the copper lighting with the cabinetry.  I think it works!

A preview of the countertops…

Hub has been working hard combining reclaimed 100 year old long leaf pine flooring with some walnut we have had curing up in the top of the barn…  He even routed out a drainage board into the countertop to the right of the sink cutout.  We have to do numerous coats of Waterlox before we can install it.  We also have something special planned for the countertop to the right of the stove – hoping to have that complete next month as well.

We were able to get the shower components installed, so no more outdoor showers, but we are waiting on the custom glass shower doors that will enable the final install of the steam shower… another item to check off during the next month.  It works having a 4 ft by 4 ft shower, so having no doors/curtain does not keep us from taking a rain shower, or using the massage wand.  SwEeT!!!  And it is HOT… and it has plenty of PRESSURE.  The BEST SHOWER I have had in my own house in TWO years – wait EIGHTEEN years.  As a married couple, we have never had a shower this big or with this much water pressure, (the important things, right?)

In the garden – well we have pulled up the watermelons and planted a fall garden, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, lettuce, kale… oh wait, rabbits love that stuff – so for now, we still have kale and lettuce.  I’m thinking they must be working their way down their favorites.  I cannot imagine anything will be left after another week.  At least we are sustaining the wildlife… the ill-fated corn field to the deer and now the fall garden to the rabbits.  But we do have figs!  I am not sure they will ripen, but we are hopeful.We incorporated a metal sign I had made for our anniversary into the back deck rail where we watch some pretty amazing sunsets.

 

What is not fun – sTiNk BuGs!  We had them at the rental, and we have them now, but they are NOT inside this house because of the awesome insulation we did with Columbia Crawlspace.  For that, I am very thankful… but ladybug season is just around the corner.

Now that I/we are not consumed with construction chores, we are exploring new things… I am back in my weekly Creative Spirits painting class.  And this weekend you can find me at the Fly Pack Rat Sale.  I’ll have lots of extra stuff from moving and many of my Tennessee Church and Barn Series original paintings… notecards from paintings… kids Halloween t-shirts, furniture, books… and more!

I hope you continue to follow our journey – we’ve got more fun stuff ahead!

Small House – September Update… Moving Day!

We are officially occupying the small house!  Finally!  What a chore it is to move, even though we just moved a couple of years ago when we sold our home in Nashville and moved to the rental close by the construction site.  This is how just a small portion of the end of the last day of moving looks at the workshop.

Poor patient hubby has let our hoarding invade his workshop.  It is almost embarrassing the amount of stuff we have.  There is one major garage sale coming!

The first room ready is the bedroom, including art on the wall.  I bought this tile structure in 1996, and it means a lot to me.  It weighs at least 80 pounds.  The artist is Polly Cook.  I love many things about it – the sepia tone, how the intended cracks in the tile create the face of the male figure.  It was my first “art” purchase.

What’s finished?

• Wood floors installed (see above bedroom picture) – Walnut 4″ tongue & groove
• Bathroom sink & toilet are functional (critical components)
  

  
• Washer & dryer installed (no pic yet… there’s too much laundry)
• Rods and shelves in closet (no pic yet… there’s too much chaos)
• Heated floor in bathroom – there were multiple tests involved in this install to validate the 10 year warranty – i.e. I had to purchase a multi-meter and understand Ohms, let’s just say, the tile work was much more complicated
  

  
• Refrigerator moved from the workshop to the kitchen

What’s in progress?

• Installing the gas line to hook up the range (current cooking options are outdoor grill and microwave)
  

  
• Tile work in the shower (outdoor showers with the hose are invigorating, but I’m looking forward to that steam shower)

What’s next?

• Kitchen cabinets
• Baseboards
• Interior doors (bathroom and closet/laundry room)
• Steps to front door
• Rail on back deck
• Landscaping

Showers tonight were compliments of the gym we belong to; however, showers earlier this week were compliments of the hose-pipe!  I have not slept better in any other house than the house that we built!  More to come…

Small House – August Update

It’s official – we have given notice to the landlord… I have written the LAST rent check!

We started the month like this… pretty scary – it was insulation day.  We insulated the barn/shop ourselves, but we hired it out for the small house.  We used Columbia Crawlspace, and I highly recommend them.  EVERY nook and cranny has been covered with a hard spray foam – 1 inch on the vertical walls in the living spaces, which are then covered with the normal bat insulation.  The roof/attic space as well as the crawl space underneath are spray foamed with the hard coating at 3 inches thick.  The temperature between the attic and the crawl spaces is said to not vary more that 4 degrees than whatever we set the thermostat on in the house.  SWEET + no critters/bugs coming in thru the cracks!

Take that Lady Bug Nation!

Next was drywall day!  Woohoo!  We were both a little intimidated about how we might feel after there were WALLS in the small house.  Would it be too small?  Would the ceiling lines be too cut up?  Would everything close in on us?  It did not.  Thank Goodness, in fact it looked more open after I/we put on 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint – all white of course – because white makes everything seem bigger, (like your butt and your legs)…

Then the light guys came back and put in all of our sweet fixtures with copper to carry out the theme from the outside in.  Most of them are custom from fine crafts-people on Etsy.  The materials are mostly oil rubbed bronze and raw copper.

Above – is oil rubbed bronze reading lights in the bedroom.

Custom wall sconces for the eating nook on either side of the window.

Single wall sconce over sink with bronze and raw copper.

Another view of the eating nook with the sconces mounted.

Next is the flooring.  It is 4 inch walnut, tongue and groove throughout… right now it is “curing,” but installation starts tomorrow!  I am soooooo excited to see this beautiful wood go down.

The bathroom is the last INTIMIDATING project – tile, ugh – it should be fine, (according to YouTube), but whew, making tile stick to the ceiling seems a little daunting.

And so here we are… 30 days from sleeping in a new bed, in a new house.

Don’t worry, it won’t be finished, so there will be more updates as we put up the rails on the porches, trim out the doors and windows, put together and install the kitchen cabinets… the list goes on.

Below is where we were a year ago, and where we are now!

 

Small House – July Update

What happens when it feels like 100 plus degrees outside?  Work continues, but nothing happens without a lot of sweat; however, a hose pipe spewing cold water feels really good when you put it at the back of your neck… well until it gets to your socks and your feet are squishing around in your shoes for the next few hours.

Half Full – Half Empty – that is what the month has been about.

Half Empty – your phone dies and your car battery dies in the same week.  You lose all of your photos of the last month’s progress, (plus all of the photos of your amazing granddaughters, your trips, your wildflower garden progress, your foodie stuff, and everything else you had chosen to snap a photo of for the last 18 months)!  This equals not many pics for this post

Half Full – we have FINISHED putting the heavy-a$$ cement board on ALL of the exterior sides of the house!!!  We have finished putting the battens on one half of the house – AND – we have a front door!

 

Half Empty – the deer ate all of my corn.  As in    E V E R Y       S I N G L E      E A R… all 35 of them.  However, the next day I saw a momma and two little baby fawns scurrying thru the yard while I was mowing, so I guess she had some hungry mouths to feed.  (Glad this novice farm girl could help.)

Half Full – the wildflower garden is really going great!  I have all kinds of sunflowers, zinnias, poppies, daisies, and more!  I love being able to have fresh cut flowers in my kitchen window.

 

Half Empty – the grass grows so fast when it rains and every time I mow I get a rash on my legs that nearly requires medical attention.

Half full – the garden is producing… we have had squash, cucumbers, hot peppers, and even a few watermelon babies are soaking up the sun.  LOTS of blackberries – in fact, I’ve already made my first ever batch of blackberry jalapeno jelly – and a cobbler for dear hubby’s birthday.  After today’s blackberry picking, I hope to have enough for a second round of kitchen goodies – blackberry balsamic onion jam with bacon

Half Empty – there are no more half empty stories – LUCKY ME.

Some of the other highlights for the month include:

• Finalizing kitchen cabinet layout and ordering the cabinets
• Ordering bathroom and kitchen faucets and fixtures
• Selecting tile for the bathroom
• Putting up blocking for the kitchen cabinets
• Running the electrical for all of the lighting and outlets
• Purchasing the lighting fixtures

The workshop is getting pretty full will all of the goodies we (I) have picked out.  I cannot wait for the installations to begin!  Until they do, I just keep dreaming with my story boards.

All Full – Last night after we had showered and settled in to watch the news, the rains came… we looked at each other and said, let’s go over to the house to check for leaks in the roof…  Thankfully, there were no leaks.  So we just sat on the workbench to simply look around and reflect on how we had spent the last 11 months of our lives – together… learning, building, sweating, creating… it does not get any more full than that!