Slight Delay in Art Production

Slight Delay in Art Production

In July, our water heater decided to start pouring water all over the floor. But it was a bit sneaky because instead of on top of the floor, the water went between the wood laminate and the sub-floor. We didn’t notice it right away until the edges of the wood laminate started deforming. Oh no… Because of the way our house is made and the inability to replace 20+ year old wood laminate, we have to replace the entire floor. Our house is only on one level and everything needed to be removed from the house. When the house was built, the paint used was not very good and the trim and doors were all painted the same color as the walls, a tan color. This post has little to no art/fiber in it, so feel free to quit reading if you don’t want to hear the rest of the floor removal/replacement saga.

Picture of Ruth's studio before remodel

Here’s a picture of part of my studio room before this happened. I had just cleaned it out to accomodate the new work table given to me by my friend Deb.

Here’s a couple more photos showing how much stuff I have in this room. And it all had to be removed. I decided that since everything had to be moved out and this room had not been repainted since the house was built, I would paint it with bright white to hopefully make it feel brighter.

Ruth's studio with furniture in center of room and repainting in progress.

Here’s the room after the first coat of white was completed. If you look at the closet door on the right side of the photo, you can see the original color of paint. I was just planning on painting the studio but ended up with a much bigger painting project than planned.

Back of moving truck with some of the studio furniture inside the truck.

We had a removal company (that is being paid by the insurance company) come and remove everything from the house. Here you can see some of my studio furniture being take away.

Photo of the living room with furniture being removed and damaged floor to the left side.

Most of the furniture is gone and you can see on the left side where the floor was damaged. For a little fiber relief, my umbrella felt tree is on top of the wall unit holding the television.

Edgar on moving blanket in the middle of the living room floor.

Edgar had a hard time with all of this. People were stealing his furniture and everything is out of place. We’re now staying in our camper in the driveway with winter coming on fast.

Ruth's living room floor, wood laminate removed, showing sub-floor.

Here’s the living room with all the base trim removed and the old laminate torn up. The sub-floor has been sanded and hopefully, by the time this post goes live, the new flooring will be in.

Door painting station in Ruth's main bedroom.

Here’s my painting station. I am repainting all the inside doors (11) in the house. They were painted the tan color and need two coats of the semi-gloss white paint. So it is  taking me a while. I am also painting any base board that wasn’t white (all the closets) and also several doorway moldings that hadn’t been painted. Another bit of fiber is on the wall (right side of photo) that is usually over my bed. These are two needle pointed pieces, one that was stitched by my dad and the other (right) by my mom.

I have another three days at least of painting doors but the good news is how nice the house will look after this is all finished. This definitely wasn’t in the plan for this year but I’m finally getting these doors painted correctly after 23 years! Hopefully, next post, I will be back to fiber/art production.

21 thoughts on “Slight Delay in Art Production

  1. Poor you, Ruth. That sounds awful and extremely disruptive, particularly for Edgar, as you can’t explain to him what’s going on.

    It’s great that you’ve identified the silver-lining: how brilliant it will all look when everything is bright and freshly painted with all your stuff where you want it.

    I hope the rest of the restoration and renovation goes really smoothly and that you’re all soon settled back into your refreshed home.

    1. Thanks Lindsay, it’s been a trial for all of us but we’re nearing the end of the installation. Then to get all our furniture and stuff back. I’m thinking it will take a while to get everything back in it’s place. I’m painting my last door today (thank goodness) and I have rehung a couple of doors and they look so nice. I will be admiring them for a while 😉

  2. It sounds exhausting Ruth and who would think a little bit of water could cause such upheaval but when it’s all done you will be thrilled with result … and the bonus is that decorating is all done for a couple of decades to come!

    Painting the studio walls white is a good idea as the light bounces around nicely. You’ll soon be back in there enjoying your makings.

    1. Thanks Lyn and Annie, exhausting is a really good word for what I have been feeling. And it is crazy that 10 square feet turns into an entire house floor replacement. But the new floor is looking good and I think I’m really going to like my new studio wall color. Much brighter in there. Now just to get all my stuff back.

  3. Oh Ruth, I really feel for you. (We had the plumber in 3 times last week – the cowboys who originally built our house used any old stuff kicking around in their stores and the copper pipes were thin inferior Chinese stuff which keeps letting go).
    Well done you for taking the chance to upgrade your home as well as your work room. Thank heavens your water heater didn’t let go while you were on holiday!
    Poor confused Edgar, hope he’s ok now though.
    While scrolling down your post I spotted your umbrella tree and sat for several minutes trying to work out what it was – at first glance I was sure I could see a beak on the right hand side and the trunk looked like a bird’s single leg; and then a bit further down I spotted your parents’ needlepoint pictures, they’re great. It’s easy to see where your talents come from.
    Are you back in your refurbished work room yet?
    Ann

    1. Thanks Ann, it has been a trial but nearly finished now and I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I’m sorry to hear about your plumbing. We actually bought this house brand new but the builder was a friend of my husbands and didn’t know what he was doing. We had to have most of the plumbing replaced in the first year. So I know how that works.

      I am happy with the studio room, it feels much brighter and the doors are almost finished. It will definitely be an improvement when finished. I’m not back in yet but the floor should be finished tomorrow or Monday and our stuff should be back on Wednesday and Thursday of next week.

      Edgar is getting used to the confusion as long as we don’t leave him alone for too long.

  4. Oh no! May the work go smoothly and quickly and may you be back in your lovely home and studio soon. Sending lots of positive thoughts your way (especially to Edgar!).

    1. Thank you, the installation is going well and the painting almost finished. Edgar appreciates your positive thoughts, as do I 🙂

  5. I remember you telling us about it, but seeing it in writing and photographs demonstrates the magnitude, and the total inconvenience of it all. The door painting alone would drive me bananas. I do hope you will be back in your home, warm and cosy really soon.

    1. Thanks Marie, all the doors are finally painted. I was a bit nutty for sure by the time I finished. It’s getting much closer, hopefully middle of next week we will be back in the house.

  6. Oh no, I really feel for you (and poor Edgar), living on a building site is always stressful, never able to find what you need and living in a caravan, OMG, I hope you are back in your beautifully renovated home very soon. The pictures stitched by your parents look amazing, what a talented family you have!

    1. Thanks Teri, I am trying to “go with the flow” and pretending it’s not stressful 😜 My mom especially is a great stitcher. It’s too bad that now she can’t see well enough to stitch.

  7. How disruptive to your creative process, too! It will be so nice when you get things back into place and hopefully you’ll not be doing floor replacement again (nor painting!) Tesi

    1. Thanks Tesi, it’s been very disruptive to finishing my classwork. Luckily, I had the majority of it finished. Will be back in La Conner soon for our last class. I have no remodeling plans for a long time to come.

  8. Wow, What a lot of work even if your not doing the “work”. Who ever said a change is as good as a vacation was crazy. Poor Edgar, it’s so confusing having strange people doing things to his house. I noticed your ceiling decoration. did you do that? Did you throw out a lot of stuff when you were packing up? Sounds like you are nearly ready to move back in. That will be a good chance to do a little rearranging.

    1. Thanks Ann, yes, it has been a lot of work. It’s been stressful for everyone. I have been trying to get rid of stuff we don’t use or need. Hubby is not so receptive to that though. I have managed to give things away and throw really old, raggedy stuff in the trash. We start getting our furniture back on Wednesday.

      The mobile on the ceiling (leaves) was one of the handcrafted items I sold in the store. It was returned but had been damaged. It doesn’t hang exactly right so I couldn’t resell it. But I love it. It matches the colors in my house.

  9. Goodness, Ruth – the nasty surprise must have not been well received (by Edgar or the humans!) I’m glad there’s a positive, in that you’ll have a great looking place after all the floor is replaced and the walls are painted.

    As someone who wishes she could paint all her walls and doors various colours other than white, I had to laugh at your eagerness to have yours in that colour 😀

    I hope the works are finished soon!

    1. It was not a pleasant surprise, that’s for sure. The floor is finished (looks wonderful!) and now I am doing the very tedious job 🙄🙄🙄🙄 of caulking the baseboards. Then touch up painting tomorrow, as well as mopping the new floor, and furniture coming back in on Wednesday and Thursday. One benefit is how clean the house is. Very unusual 😜

      In regards to white paint on the doors and trim, I guess I am a little old fashioned. I have different colors on the walls except for the studio. I bring in more color with art.

  10. Oh Ruth,
    My heart goes out to you. We have had a few leaks here – they were buried underground (concrete floors and it took over two years of kango hammers in our reception area and walking across planks. We finally just replaced the heating system, and our floor and all the other places water seep into). I suppose they say every cloud has a silver lining but I am sure you would have put up with the previous decor if this had not happened. I think you are moving back in today so you will soon be able to enjoy all your hard graft.
    Helene x

    1. Thanks Helene, the joys of home ownership, eh? It would have been wonderful if we could have had our furniture and appliances back by now. But no… I’m hoping we get the rest today but apparently the company can’t keep employees 😕

    2. I’m not too surprised about the employee shortage Ruth – it’s much the same here for much the same reason…
      Bet you can’t wait to get the furniture back in and get back to normal.
      Wishing you every happiness in your ‘new’ home. Now I must get back to cleaning mine!
      Helene x

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