Construction Progress

Yesterday, we checked on our renovation project, and other than a few little details that need to be taken care of, my new studio is finished! The rest of the house still has a bit more to go, and no, we won't be able to live there full time for a while, so I'll only partially fill this space when it is time to move in, but it will be great to have the space!!! This was the first time I was able to see the floor, as it was covered almost as soon as it was installed - it's a floating cork floor, and should be much easier on my feet when I do all the tasks that I like to stand for.

As you can see, there are lots of lights (daylight flourescent) because I said I wanted it to be like daylight, although I do have the option of turning half, or all of them on. Even though I have extra task lighting in my current studio, I am usually wanting more.



The entrance is in a wide hall, and I have double doors.




Hopefully, the beautiful view won't keep me from working, although it is a wonderful distraction, and will probably inspire some new projects.

Looking back at the entrance, my design wall will be on the left, between the hall doorway and the exterior door, while my office area will be in the right corner, so as to leave my sewing space close to the windows for lots of natural light!

House and Studio Progress

Yes, our house is still a work in progress! The good news is that they now think it will be finished in about a month, and we can't wait!


I just love these pendant lights in the kitchen and dining room! Originally, we had picked out more contemporary ones, as they were all we had seen, but before the order was placed, we looked again, and these were available. They match the lighting in the rest of the house much better, since we decided to go with a candle "look".

On the outside, you can see there is still much to be done, although now it is mostly landscaping. If we don't do something with this sloped area of dirt, when the rainy season comes, we will be in for a muddy river eroding this area, so it has to be dealt with soon.

The lights have all been installed in my studio, and just in time for the painters to be able to use it as their temporary painting / staining studio. At least it will be mine once the house is finished!

Studio - slow progress

At times, it seems like it will never be finished, as the progress looks like it 's moving slow as a snail again. Here's the outside view of my studio. I have a door to a patio, and eventually a garden that will inspire me to work (and of course, a little daydreaming).


On the inside, there is tile up to my room, and I now have doors! (I don't think my husband would like his shadow here, but I must take pictures when I can.) They are working on the trim around the house, and more flooring is going in, although we've been at this so long, that some of the products get discontinued, and we need to go choose something else (unfortunately, that means more quilting time gone).

I am so looking forward to the end of this part of our journey!

Home and Studio Construction - update

Our narrow, driveway used to bend around a raised garden in the area that is now dirt, but we had drainage and other issues we are trying to fix, so needed to make some changes. We also had wooden steps going up to meet the upper part of the drive, which were so decayed, they were dangerous and also needed to be removed. So.... the garden area is currently gone, a new retaining wall put in place, and the drive will be widened, with the garden shrinking a bit. In the end, it will be much nicer than before, but a mess right now.

Inside, we have painted walls! This is major progress, as we can see that the finish work has begun. Upstairs, the wood floors have been installed, and here the stairs are still in progress. Because of the cement slab, we can't have hardwood floors downstairs, but will have a combination of tile and carpet, although my studio is going to have a cork floor, so it will be nicer to stand and work.

My husband and I checked out my studio, with it's newly painted walls. they have a couple of the flourescent lights installed, so I'm sure the rest will follow shortly. I'm really looking forward to the house being finished, but there is still a lot of work to be done - you know, simple things like doors, built-ins like the kitchen and bathrooms. Right now it's an empty shell that is just beginning to hint at what it will look like when it is finished.

Home and Studio Construction - update

Now it's been so long since I uploaded the picture of the living room after the demolition work was done on our house, but the work is slowly progressing. As the smaller changes we had planned to make, ended up growing as we found things that needed to be fixed or brought up to code, eventually we ended up basically gutting the house and starting over on the inside. It was so bad they had to jack up and level the floors, and replace 3 major beams that hold up the roof! If you look closely, while they have decided where the outlets will be, there aren't any wires going to them, since this room is one of those that hasn't been wired yet.

At least I'll eventually have a great studio in the space above, and a second laundry room with old upright washer and dryer so that I can dye fabric more easily again, as well as store all my dyes and fabric paints. We also managed to gain a loft for my husband in the attic space above part of the garage, entry and a bedroom, so he will have his own space too. The rooms have been framed out, and the new windows have been installed, along with new plumbing above the slab, and they are working on the electrical work. Eventually it will be finished, but it's going really, really, slow, and right now, I'm just looking forward to seeing drywall being installed so that we can get a better feel for how it is going to turn out.

house renovation

If you've been wondering why my posts have slowed, this picture shows just part of the reason. Last fall we purchased a new (to us) house that needed renovation, but had such a great location that we couldn't resist. Eventually, we want to live there full time, but are currently busy with the renovation, as well as fixing up the property. Last weekend we planted an orchard full of trees, as well as berries and kiwi vines, and we're still trying to keep up with all the usual things.