Basement Rooms near completion

As some of you may know, we've been working for more than six months on adding two rooms to our basement.  Because we are doing so much of it ourselves, the progress is slow.
That said, both rooms are now very usable, although still need some finishing details.

We wanted to create a studio for many of our creative ventures.  Rusty's bass was the primary consideration when determining size of room.  The room needed to be big enough so that it didn't feel crowded, and yet small enough so that the acoustics would work for Rusty.  It also houses our books, our computers, the piano and the stereo/turntable setup. 

One wall is made up of bookshelves and the bass.

The opposite wall houses our computer desks and files.

This window lets in the morning sun which can be absolutely blinding during certain hours. I made a curtain lined with blackout material so that the bass would not have damaging sun on it in the early hours.

You might also notice the humidifier in the center of this picture.  After some very cold weather with a lot of dry furnace air, the bass began to crack down the front.  To say that Rusty was a little concerned would be a giant understatement!!!  The crack presented itself the first week Rusty began rehearsing for his NE Chamber Players concert, which included a world premier of Rusty's new piece.  Thanks to Rusty's repair guy who worked Saturday and Sunday, the bass seems to be well again.  The humidifier now runs 24/7.

This is the wall opposite the door to the room.  To help with acoustics, we have a beautiful rug covering most of the floor.

The stereo/turntable racks are stacked next to the piano and are awaiting installation.  The door to this room still needs to be purchased and installed.  Other than that, I think this room is finished.

Opposite the studio is my sewing room.  I wanted to have a "loft feel" to the room, so I left the ceiling open.  (We did hire professionals for painting the ceiling.)  To achieve the airiness normally attributed to a loft, I only have two actual walls in this room.

The window still needs to be trimmed out and stained, and then I will make drapes for this room.

 My sewing area is big enough to accommodate my grandpa's drafting table, my serger, and my sewing machine.  The picture of Irving Junior High drawn by our art teacher and a gift when I left the school is hanging above my sewing table.

A third "wall" is made up of open shelves.  This gives me a place to store many things that I don't use on a daily basis.  Do you see the row of hat boxes on the top shelf?

A double rack of shelves helps keep things organized.

A giant mirror adds to the open feeling and completes this room.

One of my favorite things in this room is the giant mirror.  It's a great assist when sewing, but it's also a fun place to do yoga in the early morning.

This project has kept us busy and mostly out of trouble.  It's been a lot of fun for both of us and we love the results.

Come visit!

Closing out 2012

The holidays were a wonderful time for Rusty and me.  Once again, the elves were busy in the workshops.
Rusty made a stool for Felicia in his workshop.

The wood on the top of the stool is from Frank's stash.

And I made aprons and hats for the grandchildren.

Celeste models her "cupcake motif" outfit.

The house was decorated with all the usual stuff.

Thanks to modern technology, we got to have a Christmas Skype with Mom and Dar, and another one with Ruby, Felicia and Sam.

And we had lots of fun with the White children!

Celeste shares her lip gloss with Anna.

Jake, Anna, Lindsay, Josh

Thanks to a little snow, Rusty and I got some practice in on our cross-country skiing.

By New Year's Eve, Rusty was recovering from his cold and I was a very sick puppy.  We joined the bike club for the annual breakfast on New Year's morning, but we were not up to riding with the group.  The temps were in the low teens.

Happy New YEAR!!!