Studio building update – dramas and smiles

It’s all happening here now.   The carpets were laid last week –

Wet working area with grey vinyl surround

Vinyl bottom left of picture with grey and red carpets

All the greys are soft and delicate to go with the colour of the window and door frames.  The red strip of carpet greets you as you step in the door.  It was such a beautiful rich colour that I fell in love with it when I saw it in the shop and had to have it.  Common sense took over of course and I went for the pale grey for most of the studio especially along below the design walls, so there were no distractions for the eye from what would be hanging on the wall, but I did get some red along in front of the doors and windows, I love it 🙂

We did get the ceiling fans and lights in place just in time before the carpet was laid – we didn’t want the scaffolds being pulled around on the new carpet!

Installing ceiling an lights

Fan blades fold in when not working

Then the plumbers arrived.  Chaos reigned for a few days while new water lines were installed, replacing the old and already existing pipes under the house.  Every now and then the cry would come up from under the floor boards, “Don’t turn any taps on for half an hour!”

Then it was the drainage that had to be changed over – one day we had the toilet in the house, laundry tubs and the shower that we could use, next day it was only the studio toilet, laundry and kitchen and the message would be “Don’t press the button or pull the plug anywhere!”

The last bit of drainage work under the house was changing the pipes under the old toilet, from the old terra cotta to the new poly-pipes.  We were warned what could happen, and of course it did – in chipping the concrete away from the pipe the bowl broke near the base – not repairable –

There’s a hole in the floor, dear Henry dear Henry ….

so it was off to the plumbing shop to get a replacement, actually able to get the same as the one in the studio – we now have matching loos !!

All new loo

While this drama was happening, outside everything went quite smoothly.  The new tank rolled easily from truck to new resting place on its gravel bed,

Manoeuvring water tank

Tank safe on new bed of gravel

and the local water carrier came with a truck load of water to hold the tank in place so it wouldn’t move in  the wind – tank will hold 5,000 gallons and 2,000 is enough to keep it anchored in place until all the pipes are in place.

Transferring water from truck to tank

New drainage lines with gravel bedding

Meanwhile the outside looks much like it did last time I took a photo, still no deck, hopefully, touch wood, and all things crossed, we will have it before Christmas.

Studio today

Till next time, keep smiling 🙂

Another UFO is finished and studio update

Remember this quilt from a year or more ago?

Tunnel quilt original photo 2013

Which I cut the photo into strips and played around with it – read about it in this blog from January 2013 .

Ready for quilting

Well, a couple of weeks ago I looked at it again, quilting finished (and no photos of that 😦  ), but there was too much colour in it,  tunnels are dark and mysterious, not bright and colourful as this.

After auditioning various organza and tulle overlays, I decided that painting might be the answer.  Out came the paints – bother, no transparent black only very thick opaque which wouldn’t do at all.  Light bulb moment – Indian Ink 🙂 After trialling various glitter/pearl type paints, I found this watercolour medium in the local art supply store.

Ready to go

One and a half bottles of ink later, diluted at 3:1 with a few drops of the iridescent medium added to each mix of ink,  and painting it twice to get the depth of darkness I wanted, I added some pearl splashes to the area of the tunnel floor.

Those bright pinks and blues are more subtle browns now.  There is quite a lot of “water sparkle” on the fabric which isn’t showing in the photo, but very visible in sunlight.

Painting finished and tunnel transformed

Close-up

Now to finish off – do I bind it in the same fabric as the bars, or do I make a facing on the back? I don’t think this is a quilt to use the overlocker on.

Pinned on the wall now, so I can walk past it and think about it for a week or so.

STUDIO UPDATE –

The studio is still waiting to be finished and occupied.  The plumber was expected 2 Monday’s ago, hopefully it will be third time lucky – next Monday.  We can’t “occupy” until the building inspector says so, and the plumbing has to be done before that, even though it is an extension of an already existing occupied dwelling!

The fan lights for the ceiling have arrived, and when they have been installed (electrician needs to use the scaffolds to get up to the peak), we can go ahead with ordering the floor coverings.

Keep smiling – I’m trying to 🙂

Catching up with the latest news building the studio

A lot has happened since I last posted – life gets in the way when you are very busy.

The studio construction seems to be never ending, stop and go and stop again, usually because it is raining, again!  which is what happened when the builders were ready to build the roof frame, then again when the windows arrived, and again this week when the sheets of tin were delivered last week and the laden truck has been sitting in the yard waiting for the weather to change.  Yes, winter has arrived with a vengeance.

Roof frame ready for the iron

Inside looking up – it’s big

Re-aligning house roof to meet extension roof

Flat roof is on, now for the gable

The builders knocked off at lunch time today and won’t be back until the weather clears, who knows when.

In the meantime, stay warm 🙂

 

 

Week 5 building update

Things moved fast this week, the next layer of concrete was poured Tuesday afternoon, and you can read about it here on Jen’s blog – http://jenbeads.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/home-renovations-part-2/ with several pictures. Easier to do that than do the same on here

(If the link didn’t work for you, try removing   http:/  before the jenbeads in the address)

Once the scaffolding was off, you could get a better idea of what the building was going to look like inside, and how big.

Clean white walls

Driveway entrance

A slight re-calculation on door placement meant cutting out a bit of wall

Oops, doorway moved a bit

After the lovely sunny afternoon for the concrete, the weather changed and we had several days of mizzle (misty drizzle), not enough to stop work but you could feel the moisture everywhere.
Anyway, by the end of the week everyone was walking a couple of inches higher carrying clay under their boots

The ladder says it all

By Friday, the window frames and roof line for the study and storeroom were in place, and some of the flooring had arrived – to left of picture below.

Window framing

Floors happen this week I think, which will make it easier to work on scaffolds on a firm flat surface instead of the uneven dirt base at present.

There’s been  no rain over the weekend so far, and we hope it continues that way.  I know everyone wants lots of autumn rains, which would be nice if there was one big umbrella sitting over Flowerpot!

Keep smiling :-):-)

 

 

 

Building update

First truckload of cement

Monday afternoon, this was the first of 4 truckloads of cement – you don’t realise how big these trucks are until one parks right in front of you.  I am standing in the doorway of the house, and you can see the edge of the verandah roof at the top right corner of the picture.

Lucy kept a close eye on everything happening

Trenches all filled

Early morning preparation for wall construction

It is a new method of wall construction which goes together just like lego blocks.

Wall panels stacked ready

Styrene panels are locked together and concrete will be poured down the centre.

First wall and 2 layers joined together

End of day 7 – walls so far

Result will be solid walls, with high insulation rating.  Outside surface will be a paint render, while the inside will have plaster as usual.

Exciting times ahead. 🙂

New studio – week 1

Here we go – everything is happening so quickly, hopefully the weather stays good for the next few weeks.
End of day 1 – marking out the wall lines

Where the building will come to

End of day 2 – a lot of dirt was shifted to get this big flat hole

Dug down to floor level

End of day 3 – Beginning of trenches for footings and first holes

Shape of building with first trenches

End of day 4 – all trenches and holes finished

Holes and trenches all done

While all this activity is happening outside, I have had time to be working in the sewing room.  I am putting together a couple of kits to go with quilt patterns by Leesa Chandler.  Photos and story next time.

🙂

My new studio – it’s happening, yeay!

The dream started over 20 years ago, but something always got in the way.  When we were farming, any spare money went on new tractors, new tree planting, irrigation schemes, etc.  Now we are retired, the dream is finally becoming a reality.

This afternoon the builders arrived and began laying out lines ready for the digger tomorrow morning.

First boundary marker goes in (right where my car is usually parked)

 We thought everything would fit nicely into the lawn space, but  it was just a tad bigger …

Outside wall will be right over the driveway

I’ll keep you posted 🙂