The day my cat removed the carpet (photo studio update)

Hey! I'm Teddy and I'm going to be takin' over the blog post this round. 

My human is upstairs chanting something about boring weather patterns ruining her ability to be excited about this room and is inhaling a big tub of peanut butter, so let's just not go there ok?

I think her deal was of what she may find under this carpet. So, let's just tear it up and see! I am brave. Some aren't, eh? (no jab there, human...)

Pull... grunt.... GASP!

WHERE  IS SHE?!? THIS SHE MUST SEE!!! HUMAN!!! LOOK!

It's too bad she can't hear me think... what EVER. I'll just do it myself.

Ohhhh ho ho.... she's gonna LOVE this! Crazy concrete patterns painted out in a nice neutral grey! Clean, nice, what luck!

Total bonus round... cat paw prints embedded in the concrete! I think I'm gonna cry...

Ok, let's rip up more carpet.

Rest time!

Hey... wow.. I really LOVE what I've done to this place!

That heat box thing looks wicked on that angle. Nice temper tantrum, me!

Ok, so that was hard. Ripping up a carpet in massive chunks requires big time muscle. So I cut long strips to lighten up the load instead. I'm resting for another minute or 3 because this really takes it outta ya!

Gotta have at least one art shot. It's her rule. Otherwise it's too 'BO-RING.' I got her number bad....

Let's just wrap up these scratching pads on steroids and zip'em up tight with some packing tape, and we're done!

I'm not for hire. Just so you know.

Cats, unlike humans, are NOT afraid to say it like it is.

Nearly done now! These crazy strips have to come out. Nails in concrete.. now that's a trip!

Youch! I think I kinked my neck. So not cool. She's gonna pay.

By doing the rest. And when she tackles these file cabinets, head for the hills!

Cuz EVERY. SINGLE. FILE. has to come out, and it is STUFFED to the BO-RING gills!

Sincerely yours for today, 

Teddy Bear 

( heading out of town. FAR FAR away. )

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It's ME. I'm back. Human here.

That concrete floor?!? I'm in LOVE! I can't wait to throw some glazes (in a subtle way) on it to see what it can become. What a great surprise! Sure wish the rest of the floor downstairs was like this because I'd be putting that cat to work fulltime. :)

(Other photo studio updates can be found HERE.)

Who else wishes they had a concrete floor to play with?

The oh so many boring stages of a project

There are many stages I travel through when I work on a project.

Here, let's use my current project, the photo studio as a fine example.

Starting stage

I'm all excited to start something fresh and new!  Creativity is at an all time high and I just wanna MOVE. Full speed ahead! I giggle and run and jump and prepare for a gay 'ol time!

And since I love speed so much, I was going to attempt to cheat with the photo studio. I wanted the far wall done so I could use it immediately while I slowly completed the rest of the room. I have a fun treatment in mind and couldn't wait to get to the best part!

But as you know, one thing touches another and soon you're moving backward at a much quicker pace than forward if you don't do things in the right order.

The fun wall is officially delayed. I have to finish the other (yawwwwn...) stuff first.

Boring  stage

This is the point where I tend to lose interest in a project. What you're doing isn't creative, it's just a task. It's getting... boring.

So now let's sprinkle on some glitches and move on downhill shall we?

 Lookin' good, huh? Yeah well, let's move in a little closer...

Grit your teeth stage

The ceiling was being fussy. These pine ceiling boards have been up for some time now but they've long since settled and pulled apart a bit, making it difficult to paint in between all the sections.  Honestly, if I had a can of spray primer on hand, I would have given it a workout on the ceiling.  Since I didn't, let's just call this look the vintage boarded up look and call it a day. NEXT! (how does one paint all that in between stuff anyway?)

Then the curtain hardware (not shown, it was too boring) fussed and moaned when I wanted to try and remove it. Some weird screws were jammed into the window moulding (isn't this suppose to be in a WALL?) and I couldn't remove it easily without hunting for the weirdest tool known to mankind. Taking too long. PASS.

And why oh why I didn't completely empty the room before working I don't' even know. Oh right... I'm actually using it while in reno mode. So there all my props and mess sit... wonderful tripping material.

Quitting stage

Fuss, moan, whine, stomp, I walked in and out of this room a bazillion times yesterday looking for a GOOD reason to quit. Start, quit, start, quit.

 Danger stage

And then comes the dangerous stage. This is where I wander around the house looking for something fresh and NEW to start because I'm craving that Starting Stage again. I honestly was carrying around a roller loaded with white paint looking for a new place to smack it!

RED ALERT! Walk away from the walls! Get back downstairs and finish up!

Procrastination stage

 But I got so bored my eyes crossed so I went on the net to play for a short spell, dreaming of going to Hawaii or some such nonsense like that.  I even played out in my mind where we'd go camping this summer. I was about to walk outside to start cleaning the trailer that very split second but naturally I do have about 5% common sense clicking in from time to time. I shuffled my way back to my boring room instead.

To take artsy pictures of a crudded up paint can.  I'm sure paint stores all over are shuddering at how I did not anally wipe the rim clean after each and every single use. This here is livin' on the EDGE in paint country, friends! Fists in air... WOOOOO!

I've officially lost it.


Blog about the pain of it all stage

Yup. I made it here too. That's good, right?

So, is this why top designers have a team to take care of the boring? Where's that sign up sheet?

I think I've figured me out. I need quick and rapid change at an alarming rate. I guess that's why I have 7 projects or so on the go, huh?

Hey.. at least this way I can have a fresh new boring to wander to when an old boring gets too boring.

Need some help staying motivated? 

I wrote a post on that very topic back in August.

10 tips on staying motivated, positive and productive!

 
Guess I'd better reread it. :)

 Do you bore easily?

From ugly office to photo studio, phase 2 - and a celebration

 

My house is really difficult to photograph in. The day has to be juuuuust right with plenty of sunshine. And anyone who resides on the Wet Coast of BC Canada knows that just isn't happening this year yet at all.

So rather than just whine about it, I'm doing something about it.

Remember this room I deemed The Ugly Office, Phase One?

The best thing that ever happened to me was having a work computer crash on me during a power surge. (was that too optimistic? I'll try and tone it down)

You see, I was pinched for room with this new staging thing taking shape, so my needs were changing at a pretty fast rate. I needed room for my stuff. So I cleaned up the desk to get a decent photo shoot of it to sell.

I had it all nice and uploaded to craig's list when I realized I didn't want to sell it at all. So I gave it away to a good cause instead.

And in moved my... junk.

Please don't hate me for my good planning here...

You see, I had planned for the far wall to house floor to ceiling storage for the staging riff raff. But my needs changed in the nick of time yet again. It became apparent that I had to loose the junk room because I REALLY needed the room for a photo studio instead.

This is the best little room in the entire house to take photos. The natural light is the charm.

 The view of the dug up septic tank isn't half bad either!

It really pays to have a good sense of humor, doesn't it?

This beautiful pine ceiling has been in this unfinished state for... 2 years now? Or is it 3? I don't remember. Can you tell painting pine planks wasn't on my list of fun that day? I quickly got the nitty gritty done before the electrician arrived and called it a day year/s.

 

Down came the bulletin board walls. This end wall will be the main background for most photoshoots.

The (woof!) contractor above requested a proof of some potential cool in the room, so I started playing abit...

Hmmmm... yeah, that might work...

My favorite spackle in the whole wide world to date is Shur Stik. It's got a whipped consistency which makes drying time fly and is very easy to sand smooth. LOVE this stuff.

I generally do 2 coats total, sometimes 3, allowing each to dry in between followed by a light sanding with a sponge sander.

This is one sad tale. In a nutshell, the wiring in this room wasn't completed, so I attempted to move the works out of the room. And lost the net connection in the process. I'm not good with numbers nor wires, so back it all came and there it sits, further taunting me.

All primed! Talk about instant sunshine!

And whoever came up with the notion that darker colours make a room appear smaller wasn't here today to witness the opposite effect. Dark colours push walls back. White makes walls come forward. But I have some cool plans ahead. Let's hope they all work out.

And with that wet primer on the roller and brush, the ceiling got hit too.

Helloooo makin' headway! The primer I used as an indoor outdoor latex with a stainblocker, which is best for unfinished wood.

I personally love Cloverdale Paint found in Canada. Any paint suppliers wish for me to try others and talk about it? Call me. I'm FAR from finishing this house. :)

Ohhh, I've been waiting for this moment forever...

Even though the carpet was in PERFECT shape, I couldn't fathom it in every photoshoot. I needed much more versatile plans,  so...

... I cut it and held my breath. And was pleasantly surprised there was no gunk attached to the concrete below! I'll be ripping it up and crossing my fingers I don't find dreadful surprises... eep.

And let's also take a moment of silence to say goodbye to THESE. My (not what you think) Ikea purchases await install day!

 click pic for source

And how about a little cake to celebrate this new photo studio in the making? Tell me this isn't the coolest thing ever...

Oh... and one more celebration is transpiring Wednesday, April 6.

 

 click pic for source

 It's my 49th birthday! And my son and I have a big date planned! I'll tell you alllll about it after it's a done deal. :)

Did you catch that it was Miss Mustard Seed's birthday Monday April 4th? Even our birthdays run neck to neck!

Stay tuned for more updates on the photo studio, what I did with my junk and...

what I'm doing with my clothes that are strewn all over my hallway upstairs. I had commissioned my son to help me build a closet tonite. He went to bed at 7:30 instead. Huh... if that's all it takes to get the boy to bed early, I'll buy more closets!

Seriously, he's just excited about our plans. His theory is the earlier he hits the hay, the sooner tomorrow comes. No worries, the closet will wait for him just fine. :)

Curious... do you have issues with photos indoors as well? 

How do you get around it?

The parade runs until Friday! Click HERE to see who's up next each day.