The New Space
OK, so much for dragging out the suspense! After writing my “before” post, I just had to go grab the camera and take the “after” photos. Here’s the new space…
The view as you walk in from the rest of the basement:
The general layout of the room–craft table on one wall, writing desk in the center, computer work space on the other wall.
The computer wall. (Check out my Granny Smith Apple wall too–the fourth wall of the room, all around the doorframe, so I see it when I look out but no one sees it when they look in. Thanks to all my design consultants who encoraged me to add some color!)
The computer desk, built based on instructions from this blog here. Basically, we took two storage cubes from Target, trimmed them to desk height, and put on a top made of MDF board covered with white Formica. I love the length, the depth, and the storage space underneath.
The craft area here. Tons of storage on either side, plus my sewing machine and accessories in the overhead cabinet. The table is one Than’s dad had made long ago for Than’s desk. We recovered the top in white Formica to match the room. The chair is one Kaye found for me on Craigslist. $15, some sanding, and a fresh coat of paint–not too bad, I’d say!
A look at the new light fixture, the projector on its shelf, and my favorite piece–the Craigslist roll top desk. I’ve always wanted one! The green thing on the top is a metal bread box, perfect for storing all my cards in. The canisters in the window are made for flour and sugar, but they seem to hold desk items just fine! (I have the matching silverware holder on the computer desk as my pen/scissors storage).
A closeup of the desk, top up and tray pulled out. Ahh, the possibilities of all those little spaces. Also a fun look at the Welcome rug mom got me, perfect for tying my green accents into the oranges of the other basement room.
Now come the fun parts–organizing, reorganizing, new storage containers for inside the closet, creating art for the walls…. I’ll let you know what Kaye and I dream up! Thanks to everyone who helped so much, and especially to Than for giving the go ahead and doing so much of the work to create a space for me to be myself–not just mom, not just homemaker, but all the other parts of me too.
It’s Finished!!
A full week before his Valentine’s Day goal, Than finished the last pieces of my Christmas gift. We have been re-doing the basement office, transforming it from the messy blue dungeon into a bright space for work, play, and projects!! I don’t have any good “finished” photos yet, but I’ll start with some “before” pics to give my “after” post some more drama (and to make you anxious to check my blog for the rest…!) Speaking of checking my blog, the long blog silence is due to the remodel–it’s just no fun to work at the computer when it is crammed in the corner of the family room, and besides, there was so much to do!
I can’t find the photos of the room before we moved everything out, but that started just after Christmas. Throwing lots of things away, cleaning out tons of hidden piles of stuff, and packing the rest into the spare bedroom.
Only the computer left, and that was pushed around the doorframe with extension cords to find a temporary home in the corner of the family room. Functional, but not ideal! (Perhaps a plot to make me even more grateful for what was to come…)
Next came the demolition–out goes the ceiling and the built in closet. Watch out for Than with a sledgehammer!
Bryan (my brother-in-law) came to do the electrical work–some new outlets and moving the light switch. Caleb (a good friend from church) helped Than hang the drywall on the ceiling. Then a huge mess of spray on texture–that stuff gets everywhere! Speaking of mess, check out the pile growing on my back patio…
Mom arrived for a visit and she and Kaye helped finish the texture. The longer the project went on, the more grateful I was to be surrounded by people who knew what they were doing! I sure don’t. After the texture came paint–goodbye, blue walls! Hello, warm cream (the same color as the trip and wainscoting in the rest of the basement.) Oh, and hello granny smith apple! (Nope, you can’t see it in this picture, but watch for it…)
Somewhere in here Than installed our new halogen light fixture in the ceiling, and then Bryan came to teach him how to do the floor. We used the same wood laminate as in the rest of the basement, and the guys had it down in about 2 1/2 hours! Wow! Then baseboards, cabinets, a Craigslist desk found by my sister…
Next, finishing construction on the computer desk we built ourselves. (Here is an in-progress photo.)
Added one more cabinet, then Than’s dad came over to help install Formica on the craft table, the computer desk, and my filing cabinet. Mom and Kaye got me started with green accents, and I am sure more will appear as time goes on.
Today we moved the computer back in place (after 30 minutes trying to remember how to connect the cable modem to the wireless router to the computer to the phone router to the phone!) and I did my first craft project in my new space. I’m so excited! I’ll spend tons of time rearranging and rearranging again as I settle in, and hopefully some fun projects will adorn my walls and liven things up, but it’s done! Can’t wait to show you some pics too, although I highly recommend a live personal tour to get the full effect.
Grace-Filled Home #9
This series of posts highlights tangible everyday things in my house that are reminders of how God has extended grace to me. Today’s story…
Welcome to My Home
Kaye and I saw this shelf and mirror set in a crowded consignment store we visited one day while she was living with me. I dragged Than back to the store a few days later to look at what I thought would be the perfect addition to our living room, only to find that it had already been sold. I was so disappointed! A few weeks later we arrived home from a week long vacation and found the mirror and shelf installed in our living room, a perfect fit. Kaye and Bryan were the mystery people who bought my shelf before I could get to it, and they were the mystery people who put it in my home. The shelf reminds me of the grace I saw when we lived together–the mutual benefits of life together, the blessings of restored relationships and unexpected time to share the ups and the downs of everyday. Grace welcomes you to my home.
Cooking
Just a quick photo today–Katya helping me cook with her new apron from Grandma. (I think it was actually Nathan’s new apron, but she seems to have taken it over!)
Destruction for Construction
As my Christmas gift, Than gave me the huge gift of a remodel for our basement office/craft room. Hooray! My sister is our official design consultant, my brother-in-law is contributing tons of construction know-how, and Than is putting in most of the labor. Here is how the room looks at the moment…
After cleaning out lots of unecessary things and moving the rest into temporary storage in the spare bedroom, the room was ready for the project. Than took out the ceiling last week and the old closet this weekend. Bryan installed the necessary outlets and next comes drywall. I’m so excited!
Year in Review
As we race headlong into 2010, here is my review of the Baylor year 2009…
Grace-Filled Home #8
This series of posts highlights tangible everyday things in my house that are reminders of how God has extended grace to me. Today’s story…
Memory Wall
I love the memories I have when I look at the photos on this wall, but the grace comes when I remember the sister who helped me paint the frames to match and patient brother-in-law who carefully measured and remeasured and nailed everything in place. A small project, but it means a lot to me and I remember his handiwork when I look back in time.
Belated Christmas Pictures
As I attempt to get back on the blogging bandwagon, I will include these photos as follow-up to my earlier “no Christmas photos” post. Then I promise–I’ll quit writing about last month and move on the the quickly vanishing month of December instead.
Nathan, proudly displaying his glittered hands while making an advent craft. Each week we decorated the theme of that week’s advent wreath candle in a different way, and used our creations to decorate the guest room.
Katya with Grandma, opening the last door of our Advent calendar. Both kids got into this tradition and took turns rearranging the characters when it was their day to open a door.
Nathan with Grandpa, showing off some new Christmas presents. Check out Uncle Nate back there too!
Katya helping to paint the letter shaped ornaments the kids gave as Christmas gifts to friends and family. Nathan was very helpful in cutting out the clay, threading the hangers, and decorating the gift envelopes, but Katya was definitely the faster and more thorough painter! (I guess it helps that all she had to do was touch an ornament and it would be half covered!!)
Nathan helping Daddy put up the Christmas lights. We added several new LED strands this year and enjoye the display very much.
Nathan and Katya eating breakfast in the light of our Advent “wreath.” Than and the kids made it while I was away at a holiday cookie exchange, and we enjoyed it so much! It was quite attractive, easy to move on and off the table, and the candles were big enough that we could burn them at almost every meal. Nathan helped Than write the name of each Advent theme on the lid of the corresponding candle.
OK, there’s not much order, but those are the best Christmas photos I have to offer! For more, check out my sister-in-law’s blog posts here, which also include my kids at a few family events…
http://www.thebaylors.org/thesprings/2010/01/christmas-with-the-baylors/
http://www.thebaylors.org/thesprings/2010/01/chili-christmas-with-the-baylors/
And now, enough Christmas. Time for a new year!
Grace-Filled Home #7
This series of posts highlights tangible everyday things in my house that are reminders of how God has extended grace to me. Today’s story…
A Thing of Beauty
A thing of beauty is a joy forever, and this is one of those things. What started out as a gift for Nathan from his Poppy ended up in this beautiful creation that our children and many of their friends continue to enjoy. To me, the grace comes when I look at the rocking horse and see the godly love for my kids of the man who made it. When they are far too big for the horse, they will still be able to see they were loved. That is indeed a beautiful thing.
The Pictures I Didn’t Take
Sorry for the long blogging absence–Christmas preparations, craft projects, out of town company, holiday celebrations, disrupted routines–too much going on to blog about! (Ironic, I suppose, that I have more time to blog when there is often less to say…) Anyway, another result of the December events is that I took pictures less because I was so busy doing rather than observing! Therefore I have entitled this catch-up post “The Pictures I Didn’t Take.”
<beautiful cookie tray photo here>
Baking is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. My sister and I enjoyed a day of baking together, and got a lot done thanks to Than taking all three kids to the museum and out to lunch so we had the house to ourselves! I also had a cookie exchange and of course we can’t do Christmas without gingerbread, which we decorated with Than’s family. Our complete cookie menu this year: Raspberry White Chocolate Marscapone Sandwiches, Gingerbread, Chocolate Crinkles, Jam Fans, Peanut Butter Combo Candies (aka Turtles), Cinnamon and Peppermint Hard Candies, Chocolate Cherry Ginger Cookies, Chocolate Peppermint Squares, Sparkling Gingersnaps, Classic Sugar Cookies, Mint Twist Butter Cookies, and probably something else I’m forgetting.
<large group of smiling people photo here>
Of course, lots of family in December means lots of family gatherings. We saw just about every single person we’re related to, and many of them more than once, over the past month. Rather than make a long list of parties and family members, I’ll just comment that it is good to catch up with people we see infrequently, and fun to watch our kids grow and mature in their interactions with those who love them. We’re glad that time with family is a central part of our season!
<photo of kids in the red wagon here>
Gift giving is another standard part of the Christmas season. Nathan and Katya both helped make gifts in the form of crafts and baked good that we shared with family and neighbors. They helped us walk around the block with the wagon to deliver our goodie trays, and Nathan especially took great pride in handing out the initial ornaments he and Katya painted. He spent lots of time by himself at naptime, painstakingly labelling envelopes. We certainly hope to encourage the joy of giving, a challenge in a time when so much getting takes place!
<photo of thoughtful looking Than reading to raptly attending children here>
OK, so maybe the above photo never quite happened, but we did value spending time almost every day celebrating Advent as a family. We have a calendar and a book that we use, and Than helped the kids make an Advent wreath with five candles which we lit at many of our meals. They both got excited about looking forward to Jesus’ birth, waiting for the day to light the next candle or open a new door. I also wrapped up our collection of Christmas books so we opened and read a new one each day. It was a fun way to increase anticipation and enjoy our books a little more than we usually do.
Aside from all the events and routines that I didn’t capture, the photographs that will always be missing arethe impossible-to-take ones that captures Katya’s giggling excitement, Nathan’s anticipatory questions, my warm sense of contentment and richness, Than’s sacrificial care and giving–all the things that are very memorable but unphotographable. So perhaps it is OK that the camera stayed in its case too much while our memories were being filled instead.
