More Basement Storage

The space as it was two months ago. Pretty messy, huh?

After clearing out the junk, this is the original wall he built over.

We have been back in town for just over one week. We arrived midday last Wednesday, in almost-but-not-quite record-breaking heat (106°F/41°C, which broke the record for the day, but the record is 107°F, achieved on three other days in history). We met the record for longest hot wave (something like 4 days over 100°F/38°C, surrounded by another week of over 90°F/32°C, most of which we thankfully missed).

This house, this city, is not prepared for that kind of heat. No air conditioning, and the houses aren't built for cross-breezes. The oak tree that FemmeDommi planted on the west side of the house is finally tall enough to shade the front lawn, but not the big sash windows across the house, which soak in the sunlight like sponges. We all promptly wilted, except for HomoDommi, who moved right back into his project in the basement (a relatively cool 85°F/29°C).

He started the project in June, finishing the first part just before we left. He finished the second part, mostly bookcase, two days ago. The heat broke that same day, too, and now it feels like fall, with the high temperatures about 40°F cooler than a week ago. It's already hard to remember being so hot -- I've been wearing a sweater for two days now.

But at least we have a lovely built-in to fill.

The final unit. The stairs up to the main floor are behind all those books.

Painting the Living Room

About two years ago we painted the living room. It had been a gorgeous dark blue-green, but comments had been made that it was so dark that entering the room in mid-winter led one to dream of slitting one's own throat. So, in an attempt to lighten up, we painted it "Filbert" by Devine Paints.

(first photo, before)

Some of us liked it. Some of liked the lightening effect, but didn't like the color, which (when applied over a whole wall rather than a foot-square patch) resembled a smear of anemic peanut butter (creamy style). Some of us didn't like it.

We couldn't repaint right away; one doesn't. But the statute of limitations has passed, and now we have. It took several ballots, all of us voting across 14 different colors (children included in the vote -- they showed solidarity, both wanting "no change" or a brilliant blue which no one else liked), and in the end I think we got a color that everyone (even the children) likes a lot, and the room looks great. It's the Miller Paint Historical line: Wainscot Green.


(third photo, after)

The big difference, however, was not the paint, but the woodwork. After the discovery of the dining room's box-beamed ceiling, the single line of concave quarter round around the ceiling of the living room looked unpleasantly modern, bare and wimpy. So HomoDommi and I picked out crown molding and picture rail, and created a ceiling edging to balance the dining room. (He did all the actual work: the staining, many layers of gloss, the measuring, cutting, recutting, application, swearing, removal, reapplication, re-recutting, etc. I just supervised and gave opinions about color).

If there's a problem with the new look, it's that, after all that work (and expense, although as housing projects go this wasn't bad) it doesn't show. The woodwork looks likes it's always been there. Which is a good thing, I suppose.

For perspective, Lou and Peter Berryman question, "Why Am I Painting My Living Room?"

The under-a-dollar, under-a-minute Easel

HomoDomi has been deep cleaning his studio, in preparation to do some painting (the walls of the dining room are merely one project). We'll have a blog entry about the studio when it's done (or rather, when HomoDomi tells me it is done -- it looks done to me already). However, today I'll show you his latest project, an artist's easel, built for less than a dollar (all the wood was leftover bits from other projects). It is custom-fitted for the studio.





I am supposed to point out the nice details, for instance, the adjustable cross beam that securely holds the canvas in place.







Also, note the built-in ledge for pastels and pencils, with pegs for paintbrushes, and wipes, and holes for water bowls. (And here I thought that was a coffee cup holder.)









The easel swings up to hang flat from the crossbeams across the ceiling, so we can watch movies on the screen behind it (the projector is also attached to a ceiling crossbeam). Here is my first attempt to blog a video -- you should be able to see HomoDomi (with Celtic music in the background) swinging the easel down into place in less than a minute.

[As a side note, it took me half a day to edit and create this little movie (which was only 1:10 minutes to begin with, but off the camera was over 100 MB -- and now is compressed to about 4 MB). You can see both the good and the bad of my new camera in the movie -- 7.1 megabits makes for a sharp long distance movie at the start, but there's bad striations on the horizontals when I zoom in. I'm still learning the new camera.]

The living room

Usually visitors' first question upon seeing the box beams in the dining room is whether we think there is something similar hidden above the adjoining living room ceiling. This is a blurry photo, but you can see the plainness of the living room (photo taken right after repainting the room last summer).


We don't think there were. Mostly because the current ceiling is at the height of the original dining room ceiling. And we can't see above it when we poke a hole in the wall from another room.

We do believe the quarter-round currently installed is new. At some point (probably during the general "update" in the 1950's, when the kitchen was remodeled, and the dining room ceiling dropped, and the new windows installed in the dining room) that they also stripped off all the cornices from the downstairs woodwork. It remains only in the back room (currently a tv room) and the upstairs hall.

We will be installing matching, fancier, crown-molding in both the dining room and the living room when the mural is finished. I'm pushing to have the cornices re-installed (we can get the same cut at Rejuvenation House) but that would be fairly expensive.