Studio Shelves Day 2

Yesterday my brother and I spent another day installing the studio shelves.  We got the bookcases installed on either side of the north studio window.  I’m ecstatic to have so much storage now in the studio. I can’t wait to get them trimmed out and painted and start using them; unpacking boxes of junk that have been sitting in our basements for years upon years.

It was nice to spend two days working alongside my brother too; a rare treat, even though I don’t do much except hold up walls with my shoulder and talk the whole time. Still I think two sets of hands are better than one, and we weren’t in any hurry.

Sunday we spent a little time showing the house off to some special guests, interested in learning more about the design and sustainable features of the house.  It’s always enjoyable to tour the house and share what works and what we would do differently. Nature provided us with a beautiful, sunny day to show off how the sun bathes the front room with light.  The kids were even able to go out and play in the yard on a nice fall day.

For whatever reason two days of working on shelves has worn me out completely (and I didn’t even do anything). Or maybe it’s just a long week, month or year(s) catching up to me. We took the afternoon off to see a movie and grab a bite to eat.  I love going to the movies. I suspect probably because of the escapism. The more complicated and stressful my life becomes the more I enjoy getting away from it all every now and then.  Installing the shelves was a similar like diversion. A way station away from walking on the edge of a razor.

Here (below) are the pics from yesterday’s shelf install. Also today I started making the sunflower seeds from that sunflower head I picked.  The seeds are soaking overnight in saltwater, then tomorrow I’ll roast them for ~40 mins in a 300 degree oven, with some oil and salt. Friday we will install the last studio shelving unit and trim it all out. Also note my brother installed the laundry room shelves in between our store-bought cabinets.

We start by building the bookcase on the ground – sides, built in shelves, and back.

Here you can see the lower half of the bookshelf installed.

The completed left bookcase awaiting final trim.

The completed right bookcase. Note, it’s 10″ deep to clear the door opening, versus 12″ for the left bookcase.

I installed this little baby shelf, it’s not that great of a job but most of my mistakes can be covered by caulk and paint.

The completed bookshelves on either side of the studio window. The just need to be trimmed out and painted.

To get stuff out of the way for now I started putting somethings away, even though nothing is painted yet.

Here’s a photo of the new laundry room shelves, already for painting. Notice I still have to fix that hole in the drywall.

One sunflower head produces about one package worth of sunflower seeds. This one was pretty well dried out so the seeds were easy to remove.