Purple Reign

So after a week of silence, I bet you thought I was already off the blogwagon, didn't you? You also probably thought I'd not done anything further with the shop.

Both not true.

Progress Report:
1. I've finished hanging the lights. They are bright! Yeah! They're wired so I can have overhead light just over the area where the workbench will be or I can have light over the rest of the room or I can have both (or none, I suppose...). Also have can lights against the back wall where I plan on installing a bank of base cabinets. I have plenty of outlets along the walls, so I can use portable lights for when I need to create a raking effect.
2. I've narrowed down flooring selection. Hopefully this week I'll be able to view samples of the three or four I'm going to choose from and will be able to put in the order. Would like to get the flooring ordered this week so I can get it into the room to acclimate for a few days prior to install. We'll be pushing this part to the wire. In the mean time...
3. *sigh* The walls. Ugh, I hate purple. So far, the exercise room purple walls, painted by the previous home owner, have defeated me. After three (3) coats of KILZ, I can still see a hint of it coming through. Is it because they painted virgin concrete? Is it purple paint coloring from Hell? Why can't I get it covered up? I'm going to let my third (3rd) coat dry for more than 24 hours and then I'll go down again and see what it looks like. Maybe I'll paint a test area with the semi-gloss top coat to see if it is giving me good coverage.

Wish me luck. And toss any advice my way you might have on painting purple walls.

Oh, and I had an interesting idea for the box commission I recently received. I'll toss some photos/descriptions at the person requesting the box to see what he thinks. If he likes it, I'll start working on dimensions and details. Don't worry; I'll probably let you know what I'm going to do.

A Sinking Feeling...

This blog entry is dedicated to Fred and Brian. Without their hard work, my wife would never have been motivated enough to prod me into action...

On Friday, the taper/mudder finished with my workshop walls! Apparently, the fee I paid him didn't include cleanup-after-sanding, though, so I have a bit of a mess on my hands still. No matter - it feels good to almost have this part of the process behind me.

I thought I would be able to get down there on Sunday and do some cleaning and wipe down the walls in preparation for paint, but I was wrong. Apparently, recent trips to my sister-in-law's house (Fred and Kate) and some friends in Lawrence, Kansas (Brian and Belinda), got Dana itching to have a few more items checked off of my "Cinderella List". The first one that came to mind was replacing the kitchen sink.

We'd actually purchased a replacement sink over a year ago (closer to two, honestly), but were putting off the installation because we wanted it to coincide with new cabinets and a counter top, as well. Alas, we are financially responsible people and so are waiting until we have the money saved up before we perform our big kitchen renovation. It will probably take another two years to save up enough money - this was apparently too long.

So on the way home from church this past Sunday, we stopped by Lowe's to pick up a few necessities I knew I needed, made our way home, changed clothes, and got right to it.

Taking out the old sink was satisfying. It was acrylic and probably 20+ years old - the faucet was rusted and the coating had scraped off the bottom in several places, so it didn't easily come clean.

It was so light-weight that I had to remove nine clips holding it to the counter top before I could take it out. Here is a picture of the sink as it sat in the garage post-removal. I kept the plastic wrapped tight for over an hour after it stopped moving, so I felt safe in uncovering it to snap a few pics for you.

Take note of the ever-present stains in the left side and the absence of any glossy acrylic coating in the right side. It's removal was a triumphant moment, indeed.

Of course, once the tools came out, Teeters the Helping Cat made her presence known. She used her acute sense of observation to determine exactly what tool or part I needed next and did her best to thwart me by batting it away. But look at how cute she is - you can't be mad at that innocent face for long!

You might also notice the white knobs on the doors in the first and third photos. Dana started working on replacing those while I was working on the sink. Again, we'd already determined what kind of pulls and knobs we wanted - we really just wanted to put them on new cabinets. You'll see the change later on...

Nothing is ever easy in my house. Because the new sink had a different drop to it, I had to adjust pretty much every piece of PVC under the sink. I suppose I shouldn't complain - it could have been chrome.

Teeters once again made an appearance at this point. You'll notice, however, that I refrained from any displays of PB as I finagled the pipes into place. As a joke, I did have my pants pulled down just enough before this picture was taken, but quickly yanked them back up as Dana reached for the camera. Normally I wouldn't have minded, but I hadn't grown my Hulk Hogan mustache back yet and it just didn't feel proper, you know?

You can't see it in that last picture, but I believe at this point my back is broken in two separate places - a result of trying to crawl around under the sink attaching the plumbing back up. You also can't see the hernia I narrowly avoided trying to lift the new sink into place. Did I mention the new sink is cast iron and weighs in at just around 130 lbs?

Here is a shot of the new sink in all it's glory - it is called a Smart Divide Sink by Kohler. It has a half-divide separating the two sinks, making it easier to wash such things as cookie sheets and cutting boards without trying to wedge them into one bowl. (Here you can also see the results of Dana's hard work - the new pulls are going to look great when we have new cabinets on which to mount them, but I think they look pretty good on the old ones, too! Good job, sweetie!)

I'm of the school of thought that if you're going to do something, go ahead and do it right the first time. In this case, it meant spending a little extra to get drains that matched the new faucet.

Once again time eluded me, but I need to hurry up and find the time to get down to the basement and do some sweeping. When I came home from work today, I was greeted by Teeters, the Black and White Shop Cat - black on her right side and white on her left side, where she had been laying down in drywall dust. Parts of the house looked like David Caruso's team had just finished dusting for finger prints.

So while I didn't get to spent Sunday working on the new shop like I wanted to, and the closest I got to woodworking was knocking out the two support blocks in the front of the cabinet with a hammer so the sink would fit, I still feel my time was well-spent. After all, marriage is all about comprimise, right? Plus, putting in a new sink made my wife happy, and that means a lot to me, too.

Unfortunately, we spent a lot of time staring at the surrounding cabinets and appliances this weekend. I know it reminded me that I still haven't changed out the old dish washer with the new one (sitting in the cardboard box in the garage). Let's hope Dana was temporarily blinded by the dazzling sparkle of her new sink, at least until my back heals...

My New Shop, Episode 7: Slinging Mud

Yesterday evening, Mike and Joe came over to evaluate the basement workshop space and figure out what they would need for materials to tape and mud the drywall for me. After about 15 minutes, Mike came up with a price and a material list for me to purchase. I agreed to the price and later on that evening ran over to Home Depot to pick up six 10' sections of beading and two 10' tear-away strips along with about 100 lbs of compound (some light purpose and some multi-purpose).

This evening, they came back over to start putting up the corner beading and apply the first coat of mud. They were just about dead on with the material measurements as it doesn't look like there was more than two or three feet of corner beading left over (you can see it to the right of the buckets in the second photo).

Mike said it will probably take two coats in most areas, but an additional coat might be necessary in some places (some of the ceiling joints). At the most, this looks to be a three-day job. Maybe that means I'll be able to prime walls for paint this weekend! Right. Most likely, I won't have time to do anything until some evening next week.

So far, things look good. It is nice to see it all coming together. Once the taping and mudding is done, I'll be able to prime and paint those danged purple walls! Oh, and I've already purchased my main ceiling lights, so I'll be able to install them after I'm done painting.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to do much more after that, due to low funds. And I won't really be able to get more funds until later in the fall when my Business Journal editing picks up again. In the mean time, I'll bring my bench and some of my stationary tools into the shop to get a feel for where I want them set up (well, and start using them).

In the mean time, in lieu of flooring I'll probably end up swinging by the local farm supply store and picking up some horse stall mats so I'm not standing on concrete the whole time I'm working in the shop. When I do get around to putting down a floor, I can still keep the mats to use in front of the bench and cabinets to help protect the floor from the worst of whatever I might do to it.

I'll try to take a few pictures and post an update after Mike and Joe are done and I've spent a little time cleaning up.

My New Shop, Episode 6: Time to play in the mud

The past few days have seen a nice bit of progress made on the basement workshop. Sunday afternoon, I went downstairs, put on some Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and finished hanging some drywall inside the room that my little brother and I hadn't bothered with before. The pieces were all pretty small and I could easily handle them on my own.

After that, I cut open a bag of formaldehyde-free fiberglass insulation and started filling in voids in the highest spaces. There were several larger areas in the floor joists I wanted to make sure had as much sound-proofing as possible.

When that was done, I insulated the walls. It seemed to go faster than my last insulating session - maybe because I wasn't working over my head the entire time. One small part by the furnace slowed me down; I popped the nails on one side of a sheet of existing drywall, turned off the heat pump, removed some duct work (to the whole-house humidifier), pried it open as far as I could (there was more duct work in the way), and managed to wiggle some insulation between the studs. Then I closed it back up, re-attached the duct work, and continued with insulating the walls. I had to stop before I could hang any more drywall because it was getting late.

Yesterday evening found me back down in the basement, hanging drywall. Except for the part where I was trying to move sheets of drywall by myself, this went very smoothly. The full sheets were all up in the garage; I quickly determined I should measure first and cut them into the desired sizes prior to lugging them down the basement steps. This part took me about two hours or so.

I did not hang drywall on the framed wall past the furnace. I'd like to use that area for pegboard and organize my less-often used tools (clamps and jigs and the like). Taking advantage of other areas of the basement will mean less clutter in my limited shop space.

I suppose the title of this entry is a bit mis-leading. I'm not going to tape and mud the drywall myself - I know my own limitations and I'd rather get this done within the next year or two. So this afternoon, I'll start calling a few people recommended to me by friends to get some bids on taping and mudding the room.

That will take me into a nice little vacation starting tomorrow morning when Dana and I will drive up to Ohio to visit her family over the holiday weekend.

Talitha cumi!

(A bit of a round-about entry, but… if you can stick with me, I think it’s worth it.)

The pastor of my church, Pastor Jim, is currently in the middle of his 3-month sabbatical. As a result, we have two guest pastors presiding over the flock, as it were. Pastor Kirk, a kindly man from the St. Louis area who teaches and researches at Wash. U., is filling in during June and August. Pastor Sarah, a very young recent graduate from Eden’s Seminary, is filling in during the month of July.

Since I’ve been attending Grace UCC, our track record with guest pastors has mostly been miss or miss. I can’t exactly pinpoint one or two things that have left me less-than-satisfied during Pastor Jim’s absences. I don’t believe it to be a resistance to change as I’m a fairly open guy. I don’t think it has to do with sermon topics, either. That would mean we only have guest pastors when it coincides with an unpopular sermon… hey, wait a second…

(Just kidding, Pastor Jim.)

After four weeks, I must say… Whatever it is the other people were missing, Pastor Kirk has it! His sermons to date have been poignant, succinct, and entertaining. These are all key characteristics of a sermon that keeps the congregation interested and attentive.

From the first minute he stood in front of us, it was obvious he didn’t want to just fill in for a few weeks and move on. He has taken the time to try and learn as many names as possible; he spends as much time as it takes to visit with the congregation before, between, and after services; he steps down from the podium and off the dais to speak to us at our level; and he always finds some way of making the sermon very personal to each of us.

He ends each sermon with a plan of action – something for us to ponder or question in our own lives or, as was the case yesterday, something for us to actually do.

The Bible passage read and discussed this past Sunday concerned some of the miracles of Jesus. It was Mark 5:35-43 – Jesus’ healing of Jarius’ daughter. It is a great passage for the message of healing and faith and one which easily sticks with me. It ends with Jesus taking the girl’s hand and saying, "Talitha cumi"; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

Or, as Pastor Kirk put it, “Get up! Get up and live!”

Get up. Get up and live.

Six simple words (four, really, as two of them are duplicates) that have so much power in them! And after the recent losses in our entertainment industry, the message seems to ring louder and even more clearly in my ears. Get up and do something, because you have such a limited time on this world as we know it.

“Get off your arse, Ethan!”

After church, Dana and I did our usual shopping (that always seems to go on for way too long). And when we finally got home, I got up. I got up and mowed the lawn. When I was done mowing the lawn, I sat down for a minute to drink a few glasses of water. And then I got up and headed to the basement. I finished a small section of drywall inside the new workshop, cut open a bag of insulation, and started filling in voids and wall spaces. Two bags later, with all of the insulation in place, I started hanging drywall. I didn’t get very far, however, because Dana called me up for supper.

After mowing and hanging drywall and insulation, I had to shower and change clothes before I could sit down anywhere. After a shower and some supper, I got up and logged onto the computer and worked on my current editing assignment for the American City Business Journals.

I didn't get to bed until 11:45 last night. I was tired and sore and still slightly itchy from the insulation. I even managed to impress my wife with the speed at which I fell asleep (I cut my time down from 15 seconds to about 8 or 9). I slept more peacefully and soundly than I have in a long time.

And when I opened my eyes this morning, the first thought I had was, “Get up. Get up and live!” That’s how I want to try and start each day.

But not only that, it is how I want to start treating my time after 5:00 p.m. each day. I feel like I'm wasting half my life because I never seem to get anything done when I get home from work.

I feel change in the air, though...

And so I say unto you, my fellow woodworkers and blog readers...

Get up! Get up and live!

My New Shop, Episode 5: Hang 'em High

So for some reason, I've not made any progress on the workshop for about three weeks... until tonight.

I don't have any new pictures. I was really only able to get down there and finish screwing in the drywall Noah and I had already hung.

But it's amazing how just making a little bit more progress can motivate you to do more. So tomorrow night, I'll insulate the open wall spaces. I'd like to also try and hang the rest of the drywall, but I'm afraid I have a small detour to make if I'm going to properly insulate the room. There is a 4' section of wall that already existed and doesn't have either side exposed. I need to temporarily remove some duct work (to my whole house humidifier, which is currently not turned on) on the furnace so I can take that section of wall down and insulate it.

If I can get all of that done tomorrow night, I'll be very happy. Then I can get started on hanging the final bit of drywall and have someone come in to mud and tape.

They call it "mud and tape", but really isn't it "tape and mud"? Or am I the only one who calls it "mud and tape"?

In any case, I'll be so incredibly happy when that is done because then I can make the walls purple no more!

I can't even imagine...

My New Shop, Episode 4: Purple Walls, Drywall, And Dry Skin

Last Saturday, my little brother, Noah, came up for about six or seven hours to help me get some drywall hung in the new workshop. We didn't exactly get it completely done, but we were able to get it to a point where I could finish up the rest with little assistance.

I'd talked to my older brother the night before and he recommended I run some speaker wire before we hang drywall. I do enjoy the swish of a hand plane playing harmony to Jerry's melodious vocals, so I stopped by a Radio Shack and picked up 100' of wire. It would have taken me two minutes but for the two salesmen and five sales pitches I had to fend off.

No, I hadn't thought about speakers yet; I don't even have drywall hung. Yes, I would consider coming back in to look at what they had when I was ready. No, I'm not interested in gold-plated extra-insulated 12-gauge Monster wire that really helps carry all of the sound, from the low base to the highest trebs, and provides me with the best quality music. I'm not an audio-phile; I just want to listen to some music when I'm in the shop for Pete's sake. No, I don't want to buy my male- and female-adaptors yet. Remember, I don't know what speakers I'm going to get. No, I'm not... You know what? Ask me one more question and I'm not even going to buy the damn speaker wire!

Sheesh.

Anyway, we started by taking measurements and figuring out how many pieces of drywall we would need. To try and aid in sound reduction, I wanted to use 5/8" drywall on the ceiling. To make it so we didn't have to lug 20 sheets of 5/8" drywall into the basement, and because it matched the thickness of the drywall used on the other framed wall in the room, I went with 1/2" drywall for the new wall.

And thank goodness for that. After hauling 13 sheets of the heavy stuff down some difficult stairs (I don't have a walk-out basement), I was ready to call it quits for the day! But Noah smartly suggested we hold off on bringing down the last few pieces until we saw how much we really needed and leave the four sheets of 1/2" drywall up in the garage, as well. With a right arm that felt like Jello, I was in complete agreement.

While Noah started taking measurements on the first piece, to account for an outlet hole and to mark joist lines, I hung speaker wire in what I refer to as the bulk heads. You can see the blue painter's tape holding the wire in first and second photos.

Once I had the wire run, it seemed like things moved along pretty quickly. After a few hours, we had all of the flat part of the ceiling done. Another hour saw the I-beam and the duct work boxed in. Thank goodness we didn't bring those last few pieces of 5/8" drywall down because we ended up not needing them. What's more, the amount of drywall waste we had set aside at that point was pretty minimal - less than a full sheet, all laid out side by side, I'd say.

Then we began working on the inside wall. After we finished the right side, having used part of two full sheets of 1/2" drywall, I asked Noah if he was sure we'd picked up enough.

He said, "Yes."

I queried, "For both sides of the wall?"

*silence*

So later on, after we'd finished the inside wall, we went back to Home Depot to return the remaining sheets of 5/8" and pick up another four sheets of 1/2". By that time, it was getting a little late and I knew his knees were starting to bother him, so we just unloaded the drywall into the garage and called it a day.

I finally got downstairs after church this morning to shoot a couple of pictures (now that the camera is back home). I generally avoid using the flash, because it always seems to cause glare, but it was either that or hang some lights I'd have to take back down before the room could be taped and mudded, so I thought I would give it a try. They turned out pretty good!

Before I start getting bids on the taping and mudding, I need to finish up a few things, as you can see. Some of the drywall already hanging doesn't have enough screws in it, so I have to go through and make sure each piece is secured well enough. Then I have to insulate the new wall and the wall shared by the other room before I close it up with the remaining drywall.

Once that's done, I'll be able to have someone come down and tape and mud my joints.

After that, it's priming and painting and no more purple walls!

Saturday night, after Noah had left and I'd cleaned up a bit in the basement, I sat down and took off my work goves to rub my sore fingers. After a bit, I looked down at my hands to see large bits of skin had come off with the slight friction I was making! Then I remembered I'd been working with drywall (i.e. gypsum) all day. I wonder if it was just a form of dermatitis resulting from the talc-like drywall dust... A good dose of hand cream seemed to bring them back to normal, so I'm not worried. I mean, it isn't like I'm shedding skin and starting to speak in Parseltongue, right?

My next two immediate goals are to finish hanging the drywall and find someone to mud and tape for me. In case the latter takes a bit of time to find, schedule, and complete, I have one or two little projects I'd put on hold during shop renovations. Maybe I'll dig them out and try to finish them up in the make-shift shop to pass the time. I also wanted to write a review on a tool I've been using the heck out of during shop construction.

Slight Shop Update Delay...

My younger brother and I did get most of the drywall hung on Saturday. In the process of doing so, however, we had to remove all light sources but the can lights. As a result, I was unable to take proper pictures of the room. So I need to hang some lights or figure out a lighting source before I can photograph the progress.

Yesterday afternoon, my wife flew to Colorado for work. She knew she was only going to be busy part of the time, so she took the camera with her in case they got to do some site seeing.

Now, even if I get the shop re-lit and swept up, I can't take pictures.

So there will be a slight hiccup of a few days to my shop update blog entry.

Not a bad thing, really, as it gives me time to finish hanging a small piece of drywall on the ceiling, add a few more drywall screws where necessary, insulate my new wall, hang drywall on the outside of it, sweep up the floor a little better, and then come up with a catchy blog title for the next entry!

On a side note, I noticed today that I've made the Woodworking Magazine Blog Roll!

As long as I have a purple shop, I might as well be giddy...

My New Shop, Episode 3: Now It's Purple And Fluffy...

With a box to make, projects around the house, work, bird watching, and a whole lot of other things to keep me busy, I haven't been able to get back to working on the new workshop until this evening.

When we last left the shop, it was framed in and the electrical had been run for power and lights. It was ready for insulation. Earlier this week, I started looking for some because I had to put it in before my little brother helps me with the drywall this weekend. Turns out it was more difficult to find than I thought it would be...

Earlier this year, we had additional insulation blown into our attic spaces to try and cut a little more off of our cooling and heating costs. My wife, who works in the environmental field, was concerned about VOC's off-gassing from the formaldehyde used as a binder in most fiberglass insulation. After a few months of searching, we finally found a company who uses formaldehyde-free fiberglass insulation. Turns out their bid was very competitive, as well, so we went with them.

(Our budget billing has already dropped $10/month since then, by the way.)

After spending that much time and energy in putting a healthy insulation product into our attics, I thought it would be very silly to put regular fiberglass insulation in the basement (where the VOC's could rise through the rest of the house). So I started looking for any local companies who sold formaldehyde-free fiberglass insulation batting. After several hours of searching on-line, I finally found a company who specializes in the product, but they weren't exactly "local".

The brand name of the product I'm using is Johns Manville. They actively make and market insulation products that are better for your home environment. Unfortunately, there are only three places within fifty miles of my house that carried their products. The first one I called said they hadn't carried JM products in two years. One of the other two places was over in Illinois - not someplace I'd be going soon. That left Washington Lumber Supply in my home town of Washington, MO.

Having grown up there, I knew the store hours. It left me in a bit of a quandary, because I knew there was no way I could make it from work to the store before closing time.

Then I remembered I had two brothers still living in Washington.

(Duh.)

So I called my older brother and asked him if he could pick it up for me if I paid for it over the phone. He agreed. I called the store and placed my order.

The next day I drove down to my brother's house to pick up the insulation. In the process, I found out exactly how many bags of insulation I could fit in my Xterra and still see out the passenger-side window. (The answer is six, in case you are wondering; three bags of R19 and three bags of R13.)

It was a quiet ride home.

This evening, I went downstairs, sealed all of my duct work seams with HVAC foil tape, and installed the insulation.

It was hot and itchy and I had flashbacks of helping my brother finish his entire basement most of the time I was working on it. I was able to finish the ceiling in under two hours.

It had nothing to do with my calculations, but three bags of R-19 was just about the exact amount I needed. I was left with a total of four feet of ceiling still needing a little insulation by the time I'd finished.

Now my workshop is purple and fluffy. Not exactly the manly space I was looking for... I can't wait for this to be finished!

Well, I can't wait until I can paint those stupid walls, anyway.

I'm not going to insulate the newly-framed wall until we get drywall up on the inside, but I will insulate the areas around the steel I-beams and any other gaps in the ceiling before we close it up. I also picked up enough to insulate the only other interior wall (on the right in the first photo). I will do that from the other side before I hang some better quality peg board in the other room.

In the second picture, you can see the fluffy white insulation juxtaposed with the fluffy black Baby Teeters.

She spent a lot of time with me this evening. I don't know if she was more interested in what I was doing or in the Paul Simon CD I was playing. She gave us both a fair amount of attention. She is a wonderfully curious cat and managed to pick up one of the only bits of insulation I didn't sweep up. She doesn't photograph well from a distance in poor light, so you can barely see it on her chest...

This Saturday is the annual local plant sale sponsored by the Missouri Botanical Gardens via the Shaw Nature Reserve; Dana and I are going to go to that early in the morning. We will get back home before noon to meet up with my younger brother so we can hang some drywall.

Hopefully I'll have another shop update for you by Sunday!

My New Shop, Episode 2: It's Still Purple...

But it's framed in!

Mike and Jimmy showed up right on time Saturday morning to get my workshop framed up and work on the electrical bits. I'd spent several hours on Friday night (just before I took pictures for the last blog entry), cleaning the area up in preparation for their arrival. Mike had a shopping list and a cost estimate, so I grabbed the money I'd set aside for materials and we headed to the closest Orange Box store (just five short minutes away, if that).

Jimmy and I started on lumber while Mike went to pick out electrical supplies. We were amazed at the quality of 8' long 2x4's we could pick from! It didn't take us 5 minutes to come up with the 30 boards we needed. Picking out the five 16' boards took a little more time, but not as much as it took us to find the one straight 12' pressure treated board we needed! By the time we found Mike, he was pretty much done, as well. Ten minutes later, we were in the checkout lane. I was pleasantly surprised when the total amount came in at just under $325 (plus I was able to return $27 worth of unused materials this afternoon).

After we got it home and unloaded, I was only able to help out for an hour or so before I had to take off for a few hours. I had to go to a shop tour of Quinn Saw Blades, something put together by the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild. I'm the newsletter editor, so I wanted to be there to better write an article for the next issue. I didn't get back from the tour until almost 1:00 PM, at which time most of the framing was done and Mike was already started on electrical. They had to frame in a steel beam and some duct work and plumbing, so I'll lose a little ceiling height in a few areas, but that can't be helped. It is the cost of building a shop in a basement.

Much of the existing wiring was a hodge podge of sorts, so we took it all out and pretty much started over from scratch. It is now wired to use five shop lights in the main part of the room and three more on the left-hand side over by the windows where the bench will be (I only have two lights up right now; I'll hang the rest after the drywall is up). I went a little "green" at this point, re-using three cam lights behind the steel beam in the back of the room that were pulled out of a room upstairs earlier this year.

I wanted to save as much space as possible while keeping my costs down, so I didn't frame out the concrete walls; I'll just paint those white with semi-gloss paint. The outlets on these walls are high enough that I can put a bank of cabinets along the back wall and have these sit a foot or so above the counter top. The wall on the right is drywalled and we had access to the other side (via the tearing down of the really cheap peg board), so that's why you just see outlets and no PVC conduit there.

That's where we stand right now. I called my little brother the other day and he said he would be happy to come up and help me hang drywall. Before he does that, I need to insulate the ceiling and walls. That's something I can do on my own, of course. Hopefully I'll be able to get it taken care of this week or next.

Unfortunately, the same weekend I decided to make my temporary shop a hectic mess, I got a box commission! And a rush job, at that! So I might have to hang one or two more temporary lights, drag my small bench into the shop space, and make do for a few weeks to try and get this order done.

I was tempted to not accept the order, partly because of the lack of a shop and partly because the time frame is so short (the wedding is on May 2nd, which also happens to be my birthday), but I'm always up for a challenge.

Yeah, I know. My shop is still purple. I'll just have to deal with it for a few weeks, mostly by not looking up from my work if I can help it.

My New Shop, Episode 1: It's Purple!

Ok, let's get this out of the way. Yes, I have a purple room in my house. Horrible, innit? In its previous life, it was apparently used as an exercise room. I don't know about you, but it makes me want to high jog in place, singing, "I want to live forever."

Can you see past the purple (it's really more of a lilac, I believe...), though? Can you see the potential? A bank of cabinets against the back wall, pegboard storage above, a nice bench in the middle of the room and a few select power tools along the sides (bandsaw, drill press, scroll saw, and my latest acquisition, an old Delta/Homecraft disc sander). Tomorrow morning, I'll have a small crew of two over, helping me with Part One of turning this purple room into my new workshop!

"Exciting" is not a descriptive-enough word.

The short wall, over by the utility sink, is going to come out. The new wall will be about a foot closer to the sink and will meet up with an extension of the existing wall between the two support poles on the right. It might look tempting to just continue the short wall all the way over, but the steel beam above causes problems if we do that. I can't put a standard-sized door in a wall under the beam, you see. So we'll bring it out a foot and make the door open into the rest of the basement.

We'll just frame it up for a door for now, because I don't yet have it. I have three door requirements causing me issues at the moment. Call it green or call me cheap, but the first is that I fully plan on getting the door I'm going to use off of Craig's List or some place like the Habitat For Humanity store just a few miles from my house. The second challenge is that I need the door to be mostly glass. Because I need a mostly-glass door, it should be an exterior insulated-and-thermal-pane door. The third is that I want the widest door I can get, so it has to be a 36"-er. That makes finding a door from Craig's List or HFH a little more difficult...

Why does it need to be mostly glass, you ask? To be honest, it's for my cat, Petite Chaton Noir (Teeters, for short), as much as it is for me. Teeters is my shop cat, my work partner, my apprentice, and my mentor. Any time I'm doing a project around the house, whether it is hanging curtain rods or hanging a banister, assembling a wall cabinet or working on a box in my make-shift shop, she is there, watching me intensely with her big green eyes and fully-dilated pupils.

Anyone who has ever had a black cat knows just how difficult it can be to photograph one. I think this is a pretty good image of her. Honestly, it's a challenge just trying to catch her sitting still for 20 seconds. She's a bit of a racer...

I'm not yet decided on whether or not I'll be letting her in the work shop with me; she tends to pick up dust easily with her bottle brush tail. But she would be absolutely devastated if she couldn't at least watch me while I was working. So, for her, I will close off my room with a glass door.

Hopefully, tomorrow afternoon will find us with the framing and electrical done. That is pretty much it for the hired help. After that, it will be up to me and my brothers to insulate, hang drywall, tape and mud, paint, and put down the floor. A great friend of mine (the same one who put in the wood floor Teeters is lounging on) owns a carpet and tile store, so he's going to supply me with click-install cork flooring. Once I have everything else done, I'll finish off with that. It should make for an easy-to-stand-on floor that is also tool edge friendly for my more clumsy moments.

I can't really start moving things back in at that point, though. I don't yet have the cabinets for the back wall, so again, I'll be hunting Craig's List or the local papers or the HFH store to find what I need. There is a small section of ceiling behind the beam along the back wall. I recently took out four recessed lights from my living room (replacing them with airtight insulation-rated recessed lights); I'll be adding those back in behind the beam to supply lighting for the cabinet workspace. The rest of the room will be lit with a re-arrangement of the large amount of florescent lights found throughout the basement. I will try to achieve a natural lighting effect with a combination of cool and daylight bulbs.

I have other ideas for storing lumber and things I don't use all the time, like clamps and jigs, but I'll go over that some other time.

For now, I'm going to get some rest. I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow!

In case you're wondering... I have the paint picked out already, and it is "sailcloth white". Goodbye purple walls.