Champagne tastes on a beer budget...

Funny how simple often seems to cost more, and my quest for this or that leads to something totally impossible...

Take wind chimes...

I'd like a nice, large bamboo wind chime for the corner of the shed. I don't like little tinkly chimes, or fancy ones, or goofy ones; I prefer those that make you think of a mountain stream, or church bells, or a Tibetan monastery. The pentatonic scales ones are nice, too. Thinking, oh $20 tops.

Do not, repeat, do NOT go to this site--http://www.whimsicalwinds.com. They offer sound files, so you can HEAR their sound. The ones I really like are just a tad more...

OK, so we'll make one. I can find bamboo...it won't sound like Westminster Abbey, but then this isn't London...

So. We decided to have a motion sensor light on the deck, just so we know if someone's over there. (We HAVE been more than a little troubled by vandals this year...) We weren't in the mood to go shopping on the Saturday before the 4th, so I checked online...

TOO MANY CHOICES. And the one I liked best, a very simple, almost Japanese one that really seemed to complement the lines of the shed--it's more Craftsman style, really--cost way, way too much. As in WAY.

Meh.

A peek inside the shed...

The doors are trimmed out, now...we used 2-bys for the French doors since we had to enlarge the opening a little. This gives added strength and support. (That's my broom in the corner..)


This is looking in the French doors toward the back wall...all trimmed out and ready to paint.


...we used leftover underlayment meant for under vinyl floors for the walls; it's less temperamental than drywall and better for a shed, I think. It will be painted with leftover warm white paint we got for the rehab project, which will make it even lighter inside. (I'll miss the fresh wood smell, though.)

That's the Coffee Corner at left--just room beyond the French doors for a little stand with coffee on it. We'll put storage and book shelves on this big blank wall...looking for inexpensive brackets, now...

I had hoped to paint over the weekend, but still just wiped out and very achy, so not today, anyway. Still, it's looking good and nice to go out there and sit in the cool of the morning...

Outside's almost done!

We still need to sand and finish the deck and the French doors (I did some sanding this morning, thinking of Pat Morita and the Karate Kid!), but Mark built me the wonderful new step up for the deck and door and picked up all the construction debris. It looks so serene...

AND it's easier for me to step in. Ridiculous to need a step at that height, but hey, my arthritic hip tells me I did. Go argue with a hip. After we get the trench dug for the electrical, I'll plant a hosta or something by the step, maybe under the window...

Still trying to figure out what to do about the floor. It needs to be very easy to clean, and it, too, needs to be serene. We both really liked the big black and white checkerboard-patterned vinyl, but it makes my eyes jump! Maybe for a kitchen, but not for this...

This is my very favorite pattern, which I've had in almost every home I've ever lived in. They no longer make the color, but up until a year or so ago, they still made the pattern anyway. We used it in the rehab kitchen, in lovely warm, pale colors. (Anybody have a 10' x 10' remnant??)

And this is the version that was available only a
couple of years ago! Siiiigh....maybe it's a sign. Break out of your rut, girl!

I'm not that wild about most faux vinyl patterns, but everything is, pretty much. (One rather funny one yesterday was trying to look like aged blue barnwood!)

We did tongue and groove yellow pine at the cabin, but it's gotten water damaged too many times--and I just don't want that much more hassle. Paint would work, but...we'll see. One layer of plywood's gonna be a tad cold in the winter...

Walls and ceiling get painted first, anyway...

Sometimes it's GOOD to have a precipitous drop in income...

...mine seems to go down every year. (My accountant just shakes his head.) That's the bad news.

As a freelancer, I have to pay quarterly estimated taxes, and the good news is that hooray, this year my precipitous drop means we got enough refund to pay for the shed project!




The paneling is on, though needs tweaking, of course...and one more electric box cut...

J's working on the doorknob and face plate...

Siiigh...

...we do need a separate permit for electricity, which I figured (though why it wasn't on the original permit I dunno. Apparently the electrician has to apply for that.)

Said electrician stopped by yesterday, and offered info and suggestions (he thought I could probably go get the permit, but no.) He said the wire either had to be buried 18" deep or put in a conduit, 2-3" deep, which would be great. Not so worried about cutting the phone line, in that case.

Only the codes apparently say 18" deep. Period. So a trencher, and right across the phone lines. After the electrician gets the permit and schedules us...

(If I disappear for a while, you'll know why. No phone, no 'net.)

I'll be really glad to have all those t's crossed and i's dotted and be able to use the Serenity Shed for, well, serenity!