Studiofication
Mar. 6th, 2016 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrWhen Denise and I looked at this house, back in 2000, three things jumped out at us: The big living room wall, crying out for floor-to-ceiling bookshelves; his-and-hers lockable storage spaces in the carport; and the "family room."
The family room was a newer addition to the house, tacked on to the old garage (which had been remodeled into a master bedroom at the same time). It had a concrete slab floor, under the hideous orange carpeting, a pair of skylights, a door to the laundry room and two external doors, one to the driveway on the side, one to the back porch. I immediately decided it would be my studio.
But first, it was a storage space. The former owners didn't move out until three weeks after we closed, so we only had one week to move all of our stuff out of the old place, or pay an extra month's rent. So all the boxes ended up in a pile in my studio-to-be, as we slowly sorted our way into the new house.
Eventually, I got half a studio. I covered the rough-sawn walls on the studio side with white laminated masonite for easy clean-up (and fire-resistant cement board around the kiln). Built a heavy-duty work table and ware racks, moved in a wheel and slab roller.
Pulled up half the carpet.
I couldn't get at the rest, you see. It was underneath utility shelves full of boxes, not to mention the workbench and table I'd built. So for fifteen years I've been working around it.
As I've mentioned before, we're finally getting past inertia and starting to deal with all those years of boxes. So I decided to deal with a little more carpet, as well. It took dust mask, gloves and gardening shears, not to mention a lot of stress on our HEPA rated vacuum, but the swatch of rug under the slab roller and work table is gone. I still have to clean off the adhesive, but think I'll wait until summer when I can have windows open to help clear the solvent fumes. And maybe I'll be able to take out more of the rug.
But for now, there's less dust caught in my workspace, and more room under the table to store the ton of clay that's just come in.
The family room was a newer addition to the house, tacked on to the old garage (which had been remodeled into a master bedroom at the same time). It had a concrete slab floor, under the hideous orange carpeting, a pair of skylights, a door to the laundry room and two external doors, one to the driveway on the side, one to the back porch. I immediately decided it would be my studio.
But first, it was a storage space. The former owners didn't move out until three weeks after we closed, so we only had one week to move all of our stuff out of the old place, or pay an extra month's rent. So all the boxes ended up in a pile in my studio-to-be, as we slowly sorted our way into the new house.
Eventually, I got half a studio. I covered the rough-sawn walls on the studio side with white laminated masonite for easy clean-up (and fire-resistant cement board around the kiln). Built a heavy-duty work table and ware racks, moved in a wheel and slab roller.
Pulled up half the carpet.
I couldn't get at the rest, you see. It was underneath utility shelves full of boxes, not to mention the workbench and table I'd built. So for fifteen years I've been working around it.
As I've mentioned before, we're finally getting past inertia and starting to deal with all those years of boxes. So I decided to deal with a little more carpet, as well. It took dust mask, gloves and gardening shears, not to mention a lot of stress on our HEPA rated vacuum, but the swatch of rug under the slab roller and work table is gone. I still have to clean off the adhesive, but think I'll wait until summer when I can have windows open to help clear the solvent fumes. And maybe I'll be able to take out more of the rug.
But for now, there's less dust caught in my workspace, and more room under the table to store the ton of clay that's just come in.