A Quick update on the new studio.

My daughter is up from Virginia this weekend. She has a thing for demolition, particularly if it involves crowbars, so she joined me this morning. She had too much fun, I think, but that’s her degree in Historic Preservation showing through.

We finished the ripping up of carpet and padding and got it all in the dumpster. Then it was decision time about the floor. Keep the tiles and just paste down the ones that came loose, or keep ripping?

The decision actually turned out to be an easy one. A lot of the tiles came up with the padding and it was brittle, sometimes breaking in our hands as we pulled it loose. So it was time to see what was underneath the subfloor.

As it turned out, the subfloor was not plywood. It was some kind of fiberboard stuff. No rot in it, but it comes apart in small sections and with a lot of work. It’s going to take a while to get it all up. But when I do, the original floor is solid (Whew! I was sweating that one.) and so far, we haven’t found any rot.

So there’s a fair amount of work ahead to clear the floor, but after that? I should be ready to move in. There’s light at the end of this tunnel.

Tom

The good news is that the carpet and padding are coming up pretty easily. I got about a third of it done this morning and should finish that part of it Monday. There’s a big pile of carpet on the ground beneath the open window and that will get tossed in the dumpster Monday as well.

The bad news is what’s underneath. The original floor under the subfloor is half rotted. The subfloor is fine, but… there’s this awful, brittle, ancient linoleum tile held (sort of) on by thick black mastic. Ugh. Oh, and they stapled the padding to the tiles, so a fair number of them popped off when I pulled up the padding.

Too much trouble to pull up the subfloor and put in another so I will be gluing the tiles back down and painting the floor I think. Not pretty, but this is a working studio. All I want is light and space and there’s plenty of both here.

An update on the new studio.

A month or so ago I announced that I was going to be renting new studio space. A friend of mine recently bought an old Presbyterian Church in nearby Middle Granville, and I am renting the back room behind the sanctuary. It will get me about 4 times the space I have now, and great light.

My friend, Jeff Anderson, is turning the downstairs fellowship hall into a shop for making and repairing string instruments. And the sanctuary is intended to become a public space for performances, markets, and who knows what else.

I got the keys to the new space late this week. And this afternoon I took a few hours to clean the space out. There was furniture in there – desks and computer desks. Piles and piles of old mildewed hymnals and other ecclesiastical books (all but one beyond saving). Boxes of ancient Christmas decorations. A collection of fax machines (dead), a computer (Windows 95, version 1), random wires, moldy choir robes (a LOT of them, like a history of choir robe fashion for the last 6 decades.), trash, broken mirrors, frames beyond fixing.  things I did not recognize, and a few things I was just plain afraid of.  All this I hauled to the dumpster. After all that stuff, I took a hammer to a warped, heavy cabinet and broke it into pieces.

All of it into the dumpster.

Next? Pull up the musty old carpet and see what’s beneath it. And decide whether I am brave enough to pull up the subfloor to get to the original flooring, which looks wonderful, but who knows how rotted it may or may not be!

Life’s an adventure! I will keep you posted.

Tom

Rain, Wind, and Color

Watercolor
8″ x 8: framed
$200 + shipping

Special pricing for members of my creative groups (e-mail me)

Close Harmony

oil on canvas
24″ x 48″

$750.00

Contact me to purchase the original.  Members of the creative groups I am part of receive a substantial discount (contact me.). Museum quality prints and images of this painting on things like mugs, blankets, etc can be purchased at Fine Art America.

It’s the only outdoor show I do each year. Come see a wonderful group of artists and craftspeople, and support the Pawlet Scholarship Fund!