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 – 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 – 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 / Tiny House Update – April

MARCH MADNESS BABY!  WE KILLED IT!  No we didn’t have a perfect bracket, nor did we have Sister Jean, but we had some no-rain days, and got a lot accomplished.

May I first bring to your attention the beautiful front porch roof joists and decking… I mean – it is amazing, right?  Well maybe amazing if you knew:

• how many times I got on top of it,
• each board was:
  • jointed to square one edge
  • ripped to make them a consistent width
  • routed to make the edges interesting
  • painted with two coats of primer and paint
    • Why is the porch ceiling blue?  (From Gun & Garden magazine July 2015 issue), “So is the tradition of painting a porch ceiling blue. Some say the idea stems from the notion that blue porch ceilings prevented insects and birds from nesting. But more often than not, the color is attributed to the story surrounding the Gullah/Geechee shade known as “haint blue” and its influence on American design over the centuries.”  Our shade of blue is Sherwin Williams “Morning Fog.”
• how incredible it is that hubby got all of those joists perfectly positioned,
• a hip roof (the part where the angles all come together in the above photo is one complicated piece of construction (and apparently one bathroom steam shower salesman in Spring Hill didn’t think we were capable after we had already done it, and judged us by looking at us when we walked in the store looking to purchase a couple thousand dollars of supplies for our steam shower – I won’t dog him on my blog, but let’s just say my tongue is an inch shorter because I did want to tell him, “yes, I not only know what a hip roof is, but I built one, which is more that you can probably say AND having a hip roof on your house has nothing to do with whether or not you can put in a “simple” square box shower that you are selling, (or not selling to us).”
• the ends of those rafter tails are pretty amazing in the light and cast some amazing shadows, not to mention add to our craftsman theme
• I caulked each one of those joints on the top, even though there will be felt and a metal roof on top… because, that’s just what you do when you are doing it for yourself

There was also a lot going on inside:

• plumbing rough-in has begun,
• running underground electricity to the house has started, (although the day after we dug the trench, it turned into a canal)
• an interior bathroom wall was moved out 16 inches.  (This is something you can do when your are building it yourself and not add hundreds of dollars to the cost.)  However it’s a 20% increase on the size of the bathroom – which basically means our steam shower is 75% larger – WOW, that sounds awesome, right!  Well it is awesome when you are going from a 3 foot by 3 foot shower to a 4 foot by 4 foot shower!  Maybe not so awesome by some standards, but put some tape on the floor – stand in a 3×3 space, and then a 4×4 space… it probably will save you us a few elbow bruises.

Back in my October update I mentioned a few visitors to our humble dwelling, well now we’ve got dogs for days.  We’ve got “white dog,”  “brown dog,” and “black dog.”  “Black dog” is HUGE – like his head above my waist huge.

“They” are really cute UNTIL they (“they” is only white dog) starts digging up hubby’s watermelons.  So starting today – when the doggy train shows up, I walk them back home – no more treats for the digger and, unfortunately, his buddies cannot hang out either.  Because, as soon as I plant “my stuff,” I am going to be a lot more passionate about white dog up to her shoulders in garden dirt!  I cannot show the actual digging picture because there may or may not have been tears involved, but “white dog” was up to his shoulders in dirt.  Lucky for me, I go by the “do not plant until after April 15th rule, so my plants are still trying to survive in their mini trays.

Now the really, really hard part… picking out tile, flooring, lighting… follow my boards on Pinterest, and comment, please.

P.S.  So I have also been corrected that technically, a “tiny house” is 400 square feet or less, so since our “small house” is 600 square feet, I need to stop referring to it as a tiny house, (plus it is not on wheels).  So from here on out – “tiny house” will be referred to as “small house.”

Tiny House – February Update + 30-in-30 Part 2

Here is where we are at the start of the eighth month.

The front porch posts and beams have been installed.  We used Western Red Cedar and stained it a natural color.  The triangle above the porch, (gable end), will be finished out with handmade cedar shakes that we are waiting on from the Amish shake-maker to tie it all together.  We wanted something special for the metal t-brackets that connect the posts to the beams, so I trusted my best friend Google to help me find just the thing.  

We decided it would be nice to try to tie in the location to the design theme.  Our property is located on what is called Chestnut Ridge, so I sketched a couple of chestnut leaves and sent it to Cutting Edge Metals.  They forged these pretty awesome t-brackets (and square head screws) to “beautify” our structure support system for the front porch.  And like everything else we seem to lift into the air, they are hefty – about 20 pounds each… and that 20 foot beam going across the top is also one solid piece of lumber, weighing in at around 100+ pounds.

 

The weather is still refusing to cooperate more days than not right now, so we have been working inside the workshop on painting chores – like the roof joists for the porch – 2 coats of primer – 2 coats of paint – 6 edges – it keeps a girl busy for a few days.  Hubby routed out a special trim edge on the bottom sides to make the painting more interesting (time-consuming) for me.

Hub doesn’t seem to mind the weather as much as I do, so he has been keeping busy building some new raised planting beds for the spring.  They are conveniently located right between the house and the workshop.  I cannot wait to get some watermelons, peppers, herbs and more started in these beauties!

Standing guard over the fruits of our labor will be a bluebird family we hope finds its way to their new home that hub crafted and installed.  Note that no bluebird house is complete without a little engraving…

 

Another cold and rainy day project he completed with our oldest grand-daughter.

As for me, I joined the second 30 paintings in 30 days online challenge sponsored by artist Leslie Saeta.   The last one in September, I chose to paint rural Tennessee churches.  This time around, the subject matter is barns.  Here are a few of the completions so far.

 

 

You can see all of the churches and follow along on the barns on my Instagram page.

September Update – with a 30 paintings in 30 days BONUS

Here is where we are at the end of today!

Isn’t that stone foundation just the BOMB?

We’ve added a roof – square cedar columns for the back porch roof & rail, “tar” felt on the bottom exterior sheathing, and started the second row of sheathing using the “Zip system,” (it means we won’t have the extra step of coating the exterior with Tyvek or something similar because it is built into the 4 foot by 8 foot sheets (coated in green).

Some terminology, (because I had to keep asking Mr. Architect / Construction Foreman / Sweet-Patient Hubby).

Ridge board:  the LEVEL 2×10 board at the peak of the roof that extends from the back to the front.

Rafters: the boards that are angled from the ridge board to the top plate of the walls.

Roof joists:  the horizontal boards going across the house perpendicular to the ridge board that host the rafter tails.

Bird’s mouth cut:  the special v-shaped (also special angled cut) that allows the rafter to sit on the top plate.  The bird’s mouth cut is mostly covered up by my amazing hurricane clips (300+ nails driven by hand = sore forearm).

 

 

 

The roof rafters were a challenge – second to getting the ridge board straight and level.  The most challenging part, of course, was trying to stand and balance on top of the roof joists while lifting and bracing to make everything “plumb and level.”  (Plumb & Level seems to be really ReAlLy REALLY IMPORTANT!)

We had several rain days this week, (thanks Harvey), but nonetheless, we “topped” out the roof 

We installed the posts on the back deck for the rail.

And we put on the tar felt and zip-system sheathing (pic at the top).  It’s been a great week – but EVERY week is a great week when Hubby and I are out at the site – working together.

My father-in-law was out today, and he said we worked together like a surgeon and a nurse – I’m pretty sure it was a compliment to both of us.

BONUS TIME
Just to keep this blog interesting – since it is about more than our Tiny House Project, I’ve got a personal side challenge going – 30 paintings in 30 days – my theme is rural Tennessee churches, the first 5 are below, but you can follow me on Instagram to see my daily posts for the rest of the month – click here

Old Trinity Episcopal – Mason, TN

Unknown Church – Adams, TN

Cobb’s Chapel – Santa Fe, TN

Headricks Chapel -Wears Valley, TN

Abandoned Church – Adams, TN

August Update

Well, well, well – it’s been really sunny AND really hot!  But sunny days make awesome work days on the tiny house front.  We’ve made A LOT of progress, (for us) in the last month!  As in, you can see where the walls go, and that there’s going to be a roof!

Here’s where we were a month ago… see that dark sky – that was one of the not so sunny days, where we were spending more time carrying the tools in and out than we were actually building anything, but hey, a day building in nature is a good day.

We were so proud – we had squared a not-so-square foundation and we had leveled a not-so-level foundation.  So we were “good to go!”

 

The most recent “lumber package” as hubby so fondly calls them, came this week.  I think he only orders lumber in “packages” so the cost is at a level he can swallow, and the visual is a level I can fathom.

We built the walls in sections of approximately 9 feet high by 10-12 feet wide.  We used 2 x 6 studs and we placed them 16 inches on center, for all of you building techies.  Additionally, each wall section that fell in a corner had a diagonal (literally) inlaid support 1 x 4 mounted to maintain structural support and “square-ness.”  By the way – in the words of Huey Lewis, it is TOTALLY “hip to be square!”  (That’s my Huey doing the hard work.)

As of today – we have all of the walls in place, interior and exterior.  We have the temporary supports in place (and level, of course) for the ridge beam (roof).  The stone columns in front are for a covered porch that wraps around to the front door (where the step ladder is on the right).  There is an equally cool set of even taller stone piers on the back side for a similar covered porch and awesome view.

In the meantime, I made PICKLES!  First time growing the cukes & actually canning ANYTHING! 

 

Life is good in Santa Fe (TN) and I couldn’t be a luckier girl than to have this awesome builder/boss for a husband!

The Next Chapter…

I lost my job.  Not sure whether to follow that with a happy or sad face emoji… so I just won’t put either.

My husband, the architect/woodworker, retired about 2 years ago.  We sold the only house we’ve ever owned together and moved to “the country.”  In full disclosure, we’d been planning this move for a while, but with the loss of my job, we decided to go full tilt and start building the next house on our 10 acres of land.

A little history… about 18 months ago we started “the barn.”  It’s really hub’s woodworking shop, but it was an experiment — well, many experiments.  Can we really work together on a job site (aka can I take direction)?  Do we really like it out here?  How fluid are we on the plans?  Are two “retired” people able to co-exist after living in the corporate world for so long?  I’m happy to say, all of the answers have been a resounding “YES”!!!  Here’s “the barn” as it is today – still needs shutters, siding on the back, deck on the far wall… and more, but basically, it’s a go… AND WE DID IT ALL OURSELVES!  (except for the roof).

As these posts evolve, I’ll include the barn raising story, but for today, the excitement is all about breaking ground on the TINY house.

Our 600 square foot house will be close living quarters, but I think the most challenging part will be a single bathroom!

Our inspiration…

What’s the goal?  Well, given our record of a pretty slow pace, it’s “this year.”  Given, we are renting, “it’s 4-5 months” until occupancy and giving up our rental.  Maybe putting that goal out into the world will give us a greater goal, and we’ll “make it,” otherwise, we’re still renting!

The great part in building a tiny house when you haven’t built a “big” house, is that it’s practice:

• building walls (check on the barn, done that)
• building decks (check on the barn, done that)
• picking out cabinets
• picking out lighting
• picking/installing flooring
• downsizing… do you really need 45 t-shirts when there’s only 7 days in the week?

Oh yeah, we also upgraded to a Toro 60″ deck, zero turn mower… I’ve always loved mowing (thanks dad)… but I hated my first time mowing and accidentally taking this “big” guy out… I never saw him (thank goodness), else I’d been doing a wheelie back to the barn on the mower…

Next up… I’m trying a hay bale garden

 

 

Can you believe it’s almost here?

 

No, I’m not thinking about Christmas!  Although that is just around the corner, but I’m one of those people who like to celebrate my holidays one at a time, so no lights, decorations or stockings at my house until Thanksgiving has been thoroughly enjoyed with family and dear friends.

The “IT”  I am referring to is tax season.  That dreaded time of year when dear Uncle Sam decides it is time to “settle up.”

I have spent the last eight months working towards being ready to take on this tax season with the launch of a new business.  I am taking on clients and will work with you to make this tax season pain-free.

There is no one size fits all in the tax preparation business.  I will only work with clients for whom I can provide quality service specifically for their needs.  There are several keys to finding a perfect fit; ask these questions of any potential tax preparer.

• Do you have a PTIN?  (A tax preparer must have a Preparer Tax Identification Number issued by the IRS.)
• What records or documentation will you need from me?  (A qualified preparer will insist that you provide your W-2, 1098, 1099 and other verification of income and expenses.)
• Can I file electronically?  (It is the fastest way to get your refund.)
• Who will sign my return?  (Don’t trust a preparer who will not (or cannot) sign your return.)
• When will I receive a copy of my return?  (You should receive a complete copy of your return within a reasonable amount of time following your submission of documents.  You should ALWAYS receive a copy for your own records.)
• How do I find you if I have a question after tax season is over?  (My business is not confined to tax preparation; I am available all year.)

You want to end up creating a relationship with your tax professional, just as you would with your hair dresser or doctor.  Do your research and ask questions; it will be worth it.

If you are interested in tax preparation or other money management services, please submit the contact form below.

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