Doors in January

Interior doors, including pocket doors.
Mahogany doors.

In this photo you can see the bathroom door leading to the kitchen/dining space, and the Forbo Marmoleum "Asian Tiger" insert in the "Sunny Day" flooring.

This is the half bath round flooring insert. Both sides of the half bath have pocket doors, one leading to the hall right off the caregiver room, for anyone staying in that room to use. The other side is into the jewelry studio, very convenient for dad to get to while working in the studio.














Mahogany doors. Right now the doors are solid, but we may cut windows at the top of them to let light in. Hollow core doors do not have many window options, so to customize the windows we will do this work later. The emphasis is to get dad in as soon as we can.
The front exterior door will be different and is coming from Washington state.

A Bright Promising New Year 2012! Paint, Flooring and Carpeting

We rented this 'conex" to store the NY household items after they were moved north to the site.
Forbo Marmoleum "Sunny Day" kitchen/dining room transitions to dark grey carpet in the living room space.

First floor entryway. From left: First floor studio, tokonoma, half bath, guest room and stairs

From left: fully ADA handicapped bath, bedroom, and living room space.The entire first floor has no thresholds and is completely barrier free.The recess to the left is for the refrigerator. There will be cabinets to the right of the refrigerator and on the opposite wall that is not in this photo.

It's January and the space is coming alive. the flooring is done, including carpet and Forbo Marmoleum. We chose "Sunny Day" as the Marmoleum color with two inserts of slightly darker "Asian Tiger" for a rectangular insert in the main bathroom, and a circle of "Asian Tiger" surrounded by a terra cotta colored border in the half bath. The circle is centered between the two sliding doors that open to the studio and the entryway. We couldn't help but place some furniture in the living space to enjoy the view. Some of the lighting is finished as you can see here in the living room. Dad loves it and has visited several times to check our progress. Still to do:connect water, drainage, install fixtures/toilets and sinks, appliances, and bathroom and kitchen cabinets. We are looking at bamboo cabinets and like the toughness and stability of the material and have a friend who will be making them. We tried to incorporate IKEA cabinets into the kitchen but it is very hard to configure such limited sizes into a space that is more than one wall that is closed on both sides. One glance at the catalog, or visit to the IKEA store in NY confirms that design problem.
We closed on the house in NY just after the new year and hope the new owners enjoy it as much as my family did. Fifty four years and it now has it's third owner. We are looking forward to the progress that concludes with dad moving in and beginning to work again. Our New Year 2012 begins with high hopes and best wishes.

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