bootsy star has walls!

It was a big today today for my little workshop! The walls are up and bolted/nailed/screwed into place.
It rained like crazy for most of the day...which was rude of mother nature. But, hey, in the northwest we have to roll with it. Our dear friends Lisa, Jeff, Ava and Jen came over to help and ohmygosh are we grateful. It turns out when the walls have giant windows in them they become very, very heavy!

check it out:

heading out to the shop. it hasn't started pouring down rain...yet

Jen screwing in the windows

James and Jen putting in the windows

This side is opposite the one with the front door....making this the back of the shop

Hunter wanted to be near Jen....but not when it was raining

Lisa: "you want it over here?" James: "no, I need it over there"

Jeff is inspecting something. Aren't these windows awesome? Note the building that will be our library behind Jeff. That is an entirely different blog post...

Jen and Lisa adding the brace things that attach the two walls together. Jeff is supervising

Jeff, Lisa and Jen working away

I think Lisa has gone mad from too much water

Ever loyal, Penelope Underfoot won't leave the team until the job is done...no matter how drenched she gets

Lisa bolting the wall in place

Child labor laws be damned! Ava helped too!

The ever present Penny watches as James prepares to put this giant beam thing in place (on top of the wall)

James and the giant....window

These are the five tresses that need to go up next. They form the roof....or will next weekend

James in the foggy rain. Doesn't the chicken coop look so tiny back there??

This is mostly to prove I was actually there! 

Jeff soggy and drilling 

This is the front of the shop. On the right there will be double doors. 200 square feet of awesome crafting space!

This is the first time (besides moving in the claw foot tub) that we have asked for help, and I'm so glad we did! It made the work go so much faster, and was more fun. I'm so grateful for good friends and their willingness to get wet!

Next will be the tresses- then getting the roof on. Once that is done I'll start siding the outside and then putting the insulation in the inside. My goal is to be moved in by December 1st.  More to come....

small details finish the bathroom

I have a thing for details. I think I'm finally done with the bathroom and wanted to share some of these finishing touches with you!

  

Our new full length mirror (even works for James tall self) came from Home Depot

Note the dots around the border

I picked this medicine cabinet for the dots around the edge. This came from Lowes.

The light switch and outlet covers have the dots. These came from Home Depot.

I have fake flowers cause they are low maintenance and I want some color. Flowers are from Craft Warehouse and gifted. Glass is from various garage sales and vintage shops. Creepy toddler painting is from an antique shop in Astoria. Frame is from the Providence Portland Medical Center gift shop.

These belonged to James' mom. I love the packaging

I found this at a super scary junk store on Foster Road. Always go in those. There are treasures!

The door is the original, but we replaced the glass with a custom piece from Gresham Glass 

I love this doorknob! We found it at The Rebuilding Center for $60. The key came from Restoration Hardware and I think we paid $10 for it.

These hooks came from Cargo and were $6.00 each. You may recall that 53 is the Wilson lucky number

This wall is now complete

I just found these at a tiny thrift store in Pacific City. I got them both for $5.00! The frames were gold, so I repainted them black to match the other frames in the room.

I picked up the cabinet from Craigslist for $99

I changed out the knobs with these to sorta match the doorknob

Make up containers with dots. They are from Salvation Army

I found this ship painting in Astoria and repainted the frame black. The mermaid figure I've had for about 15 years, and the whale I found at an antique mall in Springfield. The whale turns around and plays music! It was a splurge at $30 but I had to have it. I like how we have a nautical theme going. If anyone finds a small clock in the shape of a ships wheel, let me know!!

So, that's the bathroom. It's a pretty great place to take a luxurious bubble bath in every day!

great things start with a solid foundation

This past weekend we broke ground on my crafty shop, "bootsy star". We have been having perfectly lovely weather, and it kept up for us, so, yeah! On Friday we headed down to The Rebuilding Center to look for supplies. My goal is to repurpose as many materials as possible. I'd like to say that it's because I'm very green, and that is true! But it's more that I really like the look of old things better than new...not to mention they are most often better made. Anyway, so at The Rebuilding Center we found a lot of wood that would work perfect for not only my foundation, but the walls. We picked it all up for  just $150 bucks. Time to get to work! Saturday we (ok, pretty much James) put together the frame for the foundation.

wait- before we start...is my ear protection on correctly?

here is the wood....and penny

time to get started

but first penny wanted to inspect the wood...she had a few things to say

the foundation frame was put together on friday

now up on the cement block post things

Our plan for Sunday was to get the frame up onto the foundation, install the installation and then put in the subfloor. That was a lot...but we did it! We headed to Home Depot to get more materials. We ended up spending about $350 on the subfloor, insulation, deck nails, bolts and the cement blocks.

lets start by making sure this thing is level

doesn't this look tilted? it's level, really

time to bolt the frame to the blocks

insulation is in place

installing the subfloor

attaching the subfloor to the frame

ahhhhhh the foundation and floor are done

this is the view straight up from the floor of the shop

 It was a lot of work! By 6:15 on Sunday night James was sore and tired! I'm thrilled that we got a great start on my crafty shop. I'm already picking out paint colors and storage ideas for the inside. So excited!

make way for bootsy star

Finally! Finally, after six years of wishing we are starting the work of building my crafty shop 'bootsy star'. Hurray!

I looked at a lot of different plans, and when it came down to it, picked a basic cape cod version. I want a shop that is a rectangle shape and can accommodate the cool windows we picked up years ago. (more on those later).

Here is the sketch:

I bought the plans for $16.95 from the website www.icreatables.com. They have a really big selection to choose from.

I plan to put in a sliding barn door rather than a regular door, and it won't have to opening doors on the side; that is where the aforementioned windows will be. 

Here is the first step.... choosing the space on the property and staking it off. I'm so excited to get my crafty shop going! I've got some great ideas swirling in my head and I can't wait for my own work shop to get crafty in!

Penny is either helping or about to get brained

Penny is really not helping 

I'm not sure what Hunter is doing in the background over there?

Can you tell where it will be? Nestled in some trees

Add caption

View from the front of the shop

View from the side 

Of note, this is our 2009 Christmas tree. Cool, huh?

View from behind. I will be able to keep an eye on the ladies

The plan is to actually 'break ground' on bootsy star this Friday. I've already been looking at interior paint colors and shelving ideas, so team Wilson really needs to get a move on!