Category Archives: In Progress

Goodbye Guest Room, Hello Janery Studio

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In April I shared the Guest Room “Reveal” – in quotes because it wasn’t a finished in my mind – and told you I was taking the room apart.  If you guessed that I was clearing the space out to turn it into a dedicated workspace fro Janery, you guessed right.

For the longest time I was pondering the idea of transforming the guest room into my Janery studio, since Janery is something I spend time on every week, and guests are only occasional.  I think that’s why I was so unmotivated to finish decorating the guest room, because in my gut I felt it wasn’t the right use of the space.

Having my Janery studio share space with our basement TV room has been a total disorganized disaster.  I think it’s mostly psychological, but I have really had trouble working in that combo lounge/business space over the last year.

Then, when my first big bolts of fabric showed up needing a large storage rack, I realized that it was time to get serious.

With that in mind, I emptied the room a few weeks ago, and set about transforming it into a sensible workspace.  This fun ensued, but then you always have to have chaos before you create order:Basement Mess1

I moved my sewing table and storage into the space, using this floor plan.  My sewing table is quite large for the space, and if it gets to be too much I have a back up plan for turning it into an expandable yet smaller table.

Janery Studio Floor Plan

Then I set about building massive 10-foot shelves for part of the space.  It was quite an adventure that is still in progress, because it didn’t turn out right the first time:

Building Shelves1

Depending on how much I can finish before we leave for Italy, I’m looking forward to sharing the progress with you over the next few weeks.

It’s not finished yet, but already I know the change was right.  Not only do I now have a truly pet-free studio, I can enter the room, close the door, and know that it’s work time.

Project Updates: New Desk, New Chairs, Basement Mess

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I remember how, in my first year of blogging, sometimes I’d want to write a blog post but I had nothing to share.  Gone are those days. . . and here are the days where I have so much I want to write about, so many projects I want to share with you – yet not enough hours in the day to document them all. Oh, how I sometimes wish I had the luxury of being a full-time blogger, so I could just do projects and write all day long.

But since that’s not the case, here’s a taste of all the projects where I’ve left you hanging.  I’m slowly putting together detailed posts for them.

My second set of Roadside Danish Modern Dining Chairs:  Finished!!  Eek, I am so excited to have completed this project.  Ryan can no longer say “you never upholster the furniture you drag in off the side of the road.”  I am slowly working on a tutorial, complete with a video, for how I fixed the chairs. 

Mid-Century Danish Modern Dining Room | The Borrowed AbodeThe only problem now is Ryan’s penchant for doing 3,000 piece puzzles on our dining table.  Kind of screws up my ability to serve dinners and/or do tablescapes.

My next crowning glory is the building of my rustic farmhouse desk:

DIY Pottery Barn Desk | The Borrowed Abode

Again, a tutorial is in progress.  I’m trying to create actual building plans in Google Sketchup, but in the mean time may have to give you a general process rather than detailed sketches.

With my desk built and stained, my office is in the final stages of completion, and it’s just as exciting as the completion of the dining chairs.  Next projects in here are cord control, a charging station, and hanging some art.  Rustic Farmhouse DIY Desk | The Borrowed Abode But don’t go thinking it’s all rainbows and unicorns over here at the Borrowed Abode. Thanks to my removing the guest room, our basement currently looks like a bomb hit it.  That bomb would be me.

Basement Mess

Actually, the other half of my office does too.  I’m currently debating whether or not a yard sale would be worth the time and effort.  The reason it may not be is because spending a Saturday morning working on Janery may be more financially rewarding than haggling over  a 50-cent box of books.

What kind of projects are you working on?  With spring in the air it means it’s warm enough to spraypaint outdoors again!!

 

 

In Progress: Reclaimed Wood Desk

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I’m really excited about the reclaimed wood desk I’ve been building for my office; so excited, in fact, that I had to haul it up to my office before staining it just to see how it would look.

Reclaimed Wood Desk

Even though it’s not stained and sealed, it’s already a huge improvement from the plain white Ikea desk that I’ve been using for the last few years.

Old White Ikea Office Desk

I love how the top turned out after I joined the old boards and sanded them down. I’m reluctant to stain it, but at the same time I think I need to bring it closer to the other wood tones in the room.  Plus, if I ever want to get this weathered look again, I can just sand the new coat of stain off. :)

New Desk7It’s only about 5 inches wider than the old desk, but it feels so much more spacious.
New Desk6In addition to staining it, I want to add a false drawer front to the space between the two drawers, so that the front of the desk looks more polished. I know nothing about furniture design, so this has all been about figuring things out as I go.

As soon as the desk is done, I need to figure out a good solution to keep the cords corralled behind the desk. I may even build a matching little printer cabinet to sit beside it.

My Happiness Project: January Recap & February Goals

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The arrival of February is always bittersweet for me.  January feels like such a hopeful month, the month where you make a clean start for the new year, and I love that feeling.  It also feels quiet to me, because spring seems so far away.

This January I announced my intention to set monthly goals rather than sweeping year-long resolutions, as I embarked on My Own Personal Happiness Project.

How’d I do with my January goals? 

1.  Clear the clutter – I successfully completed this task early on, but it doesn’t mean we’re done getting rid of things.  I am always looking at spaces, analyzing if I really, truly need the stuff in them.

2.  Finish abandoned tasks -  This was a tough one.  I started out really motivated and energized, like so many of us do in the early days of January.  In January I had only one free weekend, the rest were spent traveling or packed full of small business activities.  A week-long business trip to Florida didn’t help either, but at least I got some good business advice out of it.

Here’s what I accomplished:

What I worked on, but still didn’t finish:

  • Blog re-design
  • Re-wire a vintage lamp for the living room
  • Remove Kitchen Shelf Fail and replace with art
  • Reupholster the dining chairs
  • Sorted wedding photos for those last pesky wedding posts
  • Organizing my sewing studio once and for all
  • Improving the pet feeding station

There’s more accomplished tasks, like making long-overdue doctor’s appointments, but they’d be boring to blog about.

February Goals | The Borrowed Abode

Because I made progress, but not enough, I’m extending the goal of Finish Abandoned Tasks into February so I can tackle these items:

  • Wedding blog posts that I never wrote. If I don’t do them this month, I’m not allowed to do them at all.
  • Finish reupholstering the damn chairs.
  • Finish rewiring the lamp.
  • Touch-up paint.
  • Finish decorating my office. This involves several projects.
  • Start working on the guest room (again).  This requires: finish organizing Janery products.
  • My friend’s dog beds (a year or more overdue).
  • Bedroom: Re-hang art.

The second big goal, exercising, is needed because I’ve become too sedentary.  Working a day job and working on my own business & blog at night means that I make less time for activity.  As a result I’ve gained weight in the last year, and especially in the holidays this winter.  Buying new clothes because your existing ones don’t fit comfortably – that’s not economical.   So it’s time to take action!

I scored a Groupon for 10 yoga classes for $35, so that’s going to help me kick off my month of exercise.   I’ve taken a “before” photo to help with motivation, and will share it with an “after” photo at the end of the month. Eek.

How did you do with your January goals, or your new year’s resolutions?  Are you setting goals for February or working on your own Happiness Project?