Almost ready for paint and color!

Bucky from Dunham Brothers Paint, Marshfield, VT works on finishing taping and "mudding" dad's living room and space.

Dad's living space is now ready for paint and color, and then flooring. paint is such a lovely thing- making everything have an air of some color, but it is so difficult to choose through thousands of colors and color schemes. My parents traditionally had little color in the house, mom claimed it was the best way to exhibit all the art on the walls. Over the years I have come to believe that wonderful colors on the walls can actually enhance the display of art and compliment it in a way that white just cannot do. My good friend Nina has a wonderful sense of color in her home and the space breathes a calm refreshing space, so I have borrowed this pale green "air" palette to enhance dad's living space with a warm pale green, as I will most likely use upstairs in my studio space. for now, we test with a few quarts and see what inspires or moves us! My studio will begin drywall installation on Monday. It is great to see things moving along in a positive direction.
Mudding and taping continuing. We are excited to see the changes in the quality of light in the rooms, and the reflected light off the walls. This living space is 14 x 28 feet from right to left with 9 foot ceilings. It looks much narrower here.
The columns at the end of the living room have been built out, and from this view (above) you cannot really tell how much deep the window sills are.

Storage and Moving ON!

40' storage container being delivered in front of the new building.

Change of plans this month of July 2011. We realize we need to empty my childhood home and place it on the real estate market before winter hits, that being at least by August. So, priorities change and suddenly we realize we will need a quick storage solution if we are going to empty the house in NY and we are not finished enough to move into the new space. This storage container seemed like a monthly rental storage fix - close enough to the building to facilitate moving when it becomes possible, and large enough to hold two studio's worth of materials, art and household items.
After spending about two - three weeks in NY cleaning, sorting and staging packing for a larger truck move we are nearly ready. Childhood memories stirred by objects, fabric and the stuff of a life lived with creative parents has been a wonderful experience.
Finding my mom's art portfolio's from Chicago Art Institute was a wonderful experience, cut short by time constraints to explore further at a later date. The house was full of wonderful memories, some long lost in my childhood minds eye and re-discovered. How wonderful!

Reflected light

This is a photo that Doug shot the other day, in dad's studio around sunset. The reflections through the window onto the studio wall are amazing - a boat like, or vessel shape containing a darker shadow shape. I like to think of it having some sort of positive energy, as solar energy is mostly a most positive force of life.

Father's Day and we are at the sheetrock wallboard stage

Dad out for dinner, Father's Day 2011 at the Bee's Knee's, Morrisville, VT

Fleta oversees everything and everyone on the job, assistant to the general contractor.

The space above the stairs to the second floor will be for art materials.

Looking from dad's studio through the half bath - into the entryway, stairs and caregiver/guest room on left.

Summer has arrived and we are feeling the pinch, trying to work as fast as possible without making mistakes. The building took about 4 weeks to insulate using cellulose, blown in. Doug did most of the work himself, a one man job. it was done in three stages- loose fill, then dense pack, then wet pack for sound deadening, in places where sound transference would make a difference.
The handicap shower was fitted for valves and hardware,and sheet-rock wallboard has been hung on the first floor. Insulation will be packed behind the valve in the wall cavity. Taping and joint compound will start this next week. It is always interesting to see the seasons change. The building remains wonderfully cool, despite the heat outdoors and fluctuates only 10 degrees or so. Still, the building needs doors to replace the temporary ones, and flooring, carpeting and paint next.

Looking for a creative boost? 9 unusual ways to become more creative

Looking for a creative boost? 9 unusual ways to become more creative

More photo's of second floor studio flooring

Met with Andrew Meyer today, owner of Vermont Natural Coatings, in Hardwick, VT to discuss my studio flooring color. I am looking to add color and protection to the new spruce flooring for my studio and I would love to have the floor be a spring green color, like new grass- refreshing and light. Initially I researched staining the floor but there is not a company that makes a translucent stain in a light lime like green color in a water soluable base. I looked into earth pigment powders that are mineral based- and thought about staining the floor myself, then coating it with some sort of sealer.
Vermont Natural Coatings is a new start up company, a spin off from Vermont Soy based here in Hardwick, and they are making floor and furniture finishes that are water soluable and no VOC from cast off whey product from Cabot Creamery. They are just beginning to offer a line of tinted Poly-Soy finishes. Andrew was very knowledgeable about how finishes work on wood, penetrations of material and how they wear. I brought a small sample of watercolor colored spruce and we looked at a Pantone colors on the computer. I will research what color comes closest to what I want to achieve and get back to them. I am happy and honored that such a company is so near to us, and am excited to be working with them for this venue.

Upstairs Studio Flooring and January Update.

As slow as it seems, there are tiny important incremental changes going on in the building. The central vacuum is in as well as the emergency pull station connections, and a sprinkler system.
On the second floor studio, the flooring is going down- Siberian Spruce, rough cut, like a barn floor. I still have to experiment with semi transparent stains- as I would like the floor to have some color, most likely a soft light green tint. The floor will get a little sanding, as it is so rough it would hold all the sawdust, plaster dust etc. 60-80 grit should do it.
We had approximately nine visitors from Yestermorrow Design Build School, in Warren, VT visit last week, with a thermal imaging camera and lots of questions. It was fun to show off our energy efficient building choices and they seemed very impressed! http://www.yestermorrow.org/

Next up will be finishing loose ends so we can insulate the entire building; i.e pressure testing the upstairs floor radiant and getting some heat upstairs into the tubing, a thousand loose ends. All this must be done before the insulation is pumped in, since the ceiling and walls will not be accessible after that. We are not happy with the pace, but the holidays came into play, a trip to NY to clear snow and check on the house, and Doug has been working other jobs. It is what it is. Rushing any faster would inevitably cause some mistakes to be made.