Most of our friends know me and Chris bought a lil’ love shack nearly four years ago, a storybook Tudor built in 1924. My wife could care less about such things, but I am always working on our home. It’s just a modest lil’ two bedroom cottage, but I have polished and shined nearly every nook and cranny. Lawd, this phat daddy can’t stand no kinda ugly! I beautified other people’s property as a renter for years, so owning my own home means alot to me.
Construction, hammering, sawing! Aw… hell yeah, the smell of fresh cut yellow pine. My daddy was a carpenter and it smells like home to me. This picture shows my current project: the carport being closed into a garage. My handyman has installed a nice window along the back wall, next to the spot where I will soon have a work bench. A work space with a window is kewl and all, but what this RILLY means is… I can move all the tools, automotive crap, and accumulated hardware junk out of the windowless little building I had been using as a workshop and store it in my new garage. Pfft. And!? What’s so dang great about an empty little building? Welllp… then I can use that little building for my studio!!
With no windows, the building I was using as a workshop has always been very dark and somewhat claustrophobic. I never work in there… I just toss my tools in and root around trying to find stuff. It is a nicely built solid 12×16 building on a concrete slab, with a small A/C unit and a ceiling fan. It’s never leaked when it rains. The little building has a high roof with pulldown stairs and a little loft storage in the “attic”, with an octagonal beveled glass window in the peak. You can see in the second photo, it’s kinda cute.
Here’s the plan. I am going to cover the siding in the peak with cedar shake shingles to give it a little more architectural interest, and then add shutters and window boxes. If my handyman doesn’t let me down, we will be adding a tile floor, new windows, and drywall and trim to finish it out on the inside. I originally got two small windows to flank the door, but I think I am going to try and add three additional windows on the back wall. My budget is butt-squeeky tight, but I really want the new studio to be sunny and full of light.
After the renovation, Chris thinks she is going to use my new studio for an exercise room, but HA! We’ll see. <wink> It’s MY space! MINE MINE MINE! 
I picture her forsaken exerise bike in the garage with the rest of the JUNK.
Yeah, yeah. For those that didn’t know it, I am a painter. I was too passionate an artist in my youth to ever be a Sunday painter. But now I miss it. I hope to go into my studio on Sunday mornings with a cuppa cawfee, put on some music, and paint. Not because this tragic calling to be an artist was bestowed upon my tortured soul… not because creative talent is pure desire, a blessing and a curse… :::eyes rolling::: but because painting is such a simple pleasure.
Oh, and I took that pic of the contruction and emailed it to myself with my camera phone. Neat, huh? I was out in the world awhile back when Chris sent me a sweet picture of herself she took with her new camera phone, and she added a little message. “Miss you, honey. Don’t spend much money. I just paid the bills.” So I quickly sent her a picture of me with our bank card in my teeth. Ha. Yeah… hammering and sawing is fun, and art is life and death, GOTDAMMIT… but the truth is, I live and breath soley to tease my poor wife. Mercy. And I am good at it, too.
Grey day in Dallas. My somber Scorpio soul in repose.