Building The Art Studio (more photos)

Today, DH Jon and his buddy Ben finished the shell of the west dormer.  We're so glad to be this far.  Rain, rain, and more rain all last week, and cloudy and cold all day long.

Above: Standing in the middle of the studio, I'm facing the east dormer.  On the right of the floor is the opening for the elevator. 

I'm standing at the north end of the studio looking south to the balcony doors.  Left is the east dormer, and barely visible to the right is the west dormer (sewing room).

Standing in the middle of the studio I'm facing the east dormer, and great view of the old blue barn. 

Above: this is the west dormer 8' x  12' room just like the east dormer.  DH Jon will put countertops around the south and west walls.  My sewing machine and serger will be in this room.   This is so exciting, I have to pinch myself.

Louis Wain - Artist - Cats playing in Catland

This is an oversize print by Louis Wain.  He spent his career painting cats doing human activities.  This print was a gift from a friend Pug Matzen who visited me Memorial Day.  Isn't this a jewel?  This one was published around 1910.

 

The Art Studio Build Continues

The old tune: "gray skies are going to clear up, put on a happy face." 

Well, the boys are trying their best.  Last night there was quite a bit of rain, and they put plastic everywhere to keep out the rain.

Below: the walls are up on the east dormer. This will be a great view.

My brother came over to help set the trusses on the east dormer. 

Below is Dad taking a break at the north wall of the east dormer.

Below: Mom cleans, fills, and sands original spindles from the front porch. 

This is some tough work.  Mom has such patience!

More Photos (Build East Dormer) Art Studio

Started building the east dormer on Tuesday, June 1.  I asked Jon to move the east dormer to the north  4 feet to give me a longer east wall to accommodate students and easels.  Jon hates the idea but is going along with my request. 

The boom truck lifting floor platform for the east dormer into position. 

Below: I'm standing in the south end of the studio, facing east.  This photo taken before platform was lifted into position.

Below: I'm standing in the south end of the studio, left is the west dormer and right is the east dormer.

Jon and his brother Paul moving platform into position.  Upper left side of platform is opening for the elevator.

Jon braces opening.  Paul is knocking down metal flashing with a chunk of lumber and a hammer.

Below:

The lower left side of the photo is my Mom Lorraine sitting in a lawn chair.  She meticulously cleans spindles for the front porch restoration.  The tops of the spindles are toast and require gouging out wafer like decayed wood. 

Afterwards she fills the voids a little at a time with wood filler.  Mom and I cleaned lots of spindles last summer together.  We're getting near the end of restoring the spindles.  Next step is to prime and paint them--getting them ready for reassembly of porch rails.  We fabricated new rails, but will use the old spindles to reconstruct.  We don't have enough old spindles and have to fabricate a dozen new ones to complete the porch.

Below:  Brother Paul (standing) and Jon (kneeling) prepare opening to shim platform (leveling the adjoining floors).

Above: in the center of the photo you can see the elevator opening in the corner of the east dormer platform.

I'm standing in the north end of the studio.  These two photos show the west and east dormers.