strange obsession

One aspect of the guestudio that I fretted over for a long time was the flooring. I knew I wanted a hardwood floor, and that I wanted it to be light in color, and it had to be rustic-looking. After much searching and consideration, I finally decided on some lovely handscraped flooring from Lumber Liquidators. It is birch ("Matterhorn Birch" by Virginia Millworks, to be exact), and it is exactly what I was looking for. I'm a bit obsessed with it, actually. I love it. The natural variation, the character, the charm - I find it... inspiring.



If you would like to see a timeline-style view of the guestudio construction, head on over to my Flicker page here. We're getting there!

Labor Weekend - Guestudio update

Hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend. I had hoped to spend a little time outdoors at some point, but there was just too much to do. Dave and I labored all weekend long and managed to prime and paint the entire guestudio! Here's the progress report.


The last time I shared photos of the place, the drywall had just started to go up. Here is the main room as it stood with the drywall just hung.

Here we have the same room, with the beginnings of the drywall taping and mudding process.

Fast-forward to today, when we got those walls painted!

Same view, but taken from the loft.

Speaking of the loft, here is looking up toward the loft, pre-drywall.

Drywall hung, waiting for tape and mud.

The scene as of today, all painted. Sorry for the shadows, but I didn't feel like using the flash.

A view from the outside, with all the siding hung. It's got trim around it now, too, but I haven't taken a picture since they hung the trim for some reason.

Looking back toward the parking area. Emmett is the official greeter of both the house and the guestudio.
There you have it folks. Lots of progress made in a short time, but still lots more to do. I'll try to keep you posted.

Singular focus

I watch butterflies flutter past...
listen to birds sing...
note that there's a cuckoo calling far off in the distance...
peek in on a snake that is slowly choking the life out of a small rodent body...
respond to the hummingbird that hovers in front of my kitchen window asking where the heck her sugar water is...

But every observation is hurried - greedily gulped down during breaks from the work we have been doing. The weather is hot and the butterfly sightings are good. The ironweed stands tall and quietly reminds me that it is still my favorite wildflower, despite that I lack the time to properly savor it.

We are building. Creating another special space in our woods. A space for me to work, a space for guests to stay when they come visit. A guest house, a studio. Or, as I have affectionately named it, the "guestudio."


The beginnings...

... of a shell...

... of a special place.
The construction has gone in phases, with the main framing being under contract to a local builder, then plumbing and electric handled by Dave and myself, and now shifting back to our builder for exterior and interior finish work. Then it will be back to Dave and me to finish up with painting, flooring, trim, fixture installation, etc.


The porch, already my favorite part of the whole structure.

Inside, there are materials everywhere! Emmett likes to keep us company while we work

Oh look, some of those materials are going into and onto the wall studs!
After working ourselves like crazy for 3 weeks, we are finally able to take a little bit of a break, but within a week or so we'll be back at it again when the pendulum swings back our way and we have to start painting. So while I have power back to my laptop, time is still a precious commodity. I have lots of cool photos to share, though, so I'll be back sooner rather than later.