Cedar Lee February 1st, 2010

When I first moved with my husband into our current home 8+ years ago, I took this terrible, fuzzy photo of our basement with a terrible camera:

This is just to give you an idea of what was there once upon a time–dark, fake-wood wall paneling, light beige carpet–somewhat dungeon-like, despite being a finished basement.

I immediately deemed it suitable for my husband’s lair.  He proceeded to turn the space into a mess of computer equipment and wires, disorganized papers, compact disks and what looked to me like piles of junk.  There was no semblance of decorating of any kind, aside from a few maps, car posters, and some paintings I’d given him.

The style of the computer monitors here dates this photo, which was taken before most of the accumulation of junk and wires.  (I tease, but to be fair, my husband is an amazing techie whiz and knows lots of stuff about computers.)

We were both happy with this arrangement until last year, when my needs outgrew my previous studio, a small spare bedroom upstairs, and I began taking over the entire house with paintings, tools, drying racks, art supplies, lumber, packing supplies, etc.  My business was growing rapidly.  Meanwhile, my husband’s many ancient monitors had been replaced by one large, more modern one, he sorted through and shredded a lot of papers, and he was streamlining his home office setup in general.

I loved my little upstairs studio–it was wonderful, with great natural light.  Just too small.  And he loved his basement lair, but it was too big for his needs.  Ultimately it just became obvious that a trade was in order.  So my husband moved his office upstairs, and I began the process of turning what I saw as a dungeon-like space into my new studio.  I started to get excited about the potential I now saw in the large, open space.

By February of 09 (nearly a year ago now!) I had made renovation plans and set up one corner of the basement as a makeshift workspace, and I was happy with the progress.  Click here to read a blog post from that time.

Enter pregnancy.  Enter debilitating fatigue and morning sickness.  My last memory of working on this renovation involved applying a little paint to the wall, crawling dizzily over to the steps to hang my head between my knees, eventually applying a little more paint, running to the bathroom to dry-heave over the toilet, crawling back for one more attempt, then finally falling into a nauseated sleep in a fetal position on the floor, surrounded by paint rollers and screwdrivers.  At that time I decided it was best to put the project on hold for awhile.

My baby is now almost 4 months old, and I’ve finally gotten back to my renovations.  It looks like this time it’ll actually get finished!

Here are a few progress pics for you.  The fake-wood paneling requires painting with a brush in the cracks between each panel.  You can see here I had done that step with primer over the original paneling in the far side of the basement.  My makeshift studio, which I’ve been using since I moved into the space, is over on the left side of this photo, continuing outside the frame.

(It’s a very large space.  I plan to put together a rotating gif for you to show all the angles of the room once it’s done.)

Last week I painted the far wall a gold color called “Allspice.”  I honestly don’t know what I was thinking when I bought that paint.  Oh, it’s a lovely color–energizing.  But it’s way overwhelming on a gigantic wall, and it reminds me too much of baby poop.

So I replaced “Allspice” with “Bronco Brown,” a more subdued and neutral, but still warm and energizing color.  You can’t really tell from these photos, but it’s a nice, suede-like caramel tone.  My husband helped me paint the ceiling (thank you!!) and we put in new light fixtures.  It’s a little less dungeon-like already!

I painted the weight-bearing pole in the middle of the room “Brick Dust” red, to match the color on the near wall.

Here’s a photo from the other side of the studio (you can see the red wall back there.)  Next on the list is new outlets, switches, and vent covers.

It doesn’t look like much yet, but it’s going to be fantastic when it’s finished.  I’ll have an office area, a painting area,  a sitting area, a baby area, a workshop/carpentry/packing area, and tons of space for drying paintings, storing inventory and supplies, and stretching out to work on projects in the middle of the floor.  More on this later…Wish me luck!

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