I moved into an old Cape Cod last summer. We spent a lot of time getting it fixed up. I started immediately on my office by setting up the computer.
And stopped. That was last August. Hey, I had a computer with Internet access. I was done.
Well, no, I wasn’t. The office was dusty, painted a hideous shade of yellow, and had record albums glued to the ceiling. Actual vinyl discs. I know. Disgraceful. But enough was enough. I need to get back into web design professionally, and that’s not going to happen sitting in front of a TV with a dying Microsoft Surface Pro or an underpowered HP laptop I use mainly to remote into work.
So finally, late last month, I commenced to working. First, I had to move all the boxes out of the office. You know, all those books and whatnot that have been packed since last August. So for a week, my stepson Matt lost the man cave. I know. Hurts me, too. I’m behind on The Expanse, Westworld, and Altered Carbon because of it. This would require something that terrifies Candy, my fiancee: Me using power tools. Specifically, a disk sander.
This was because, when I ripped down the offending albums (They weren’t even good ones, but jeez, lady, respect the vinyl!), I also ripped out the surface layer over the ceiling drywall. Ugh. So cover everything up and start sanding.
I, er, probably should have located some breathing masks. Which I did. Two days after I finished this part of the project. Sanding drywall creates a fine layer of dust that coats everything, including the inside of your lungs. So I probably shaved about five years off my life. Well, who wants to live forever?
Besides Tol Germanicus from the Compact Universe series?
Then it was time to paint. I said the room was a hideous shade of yellow. The lady I bought the house from loved yellow. And bright red. And Looney Tunes wallpaper. It took us nine months to purge all that from our house. But the office I actually thought was painted white until I hit it for the first time with a paint roller. I chose blue for the nautical theme I wanted. Actually, when you walk in the room when the decorating is done, you’ll see a model sailing ship, a map of Lake Erie, a nautical display case, an anchor, a lighthouse (Marblehead, near Put in Bay. Thanks for asking.), and a wall hanging from India brought back by a friend. Turn around, and you see Harley Quinn on the cover of Playboy, Dogs Playing Poker, and Keith Richards. Plus a clock and whiteboards. But not yet. I had to paint. And it took two coats. The first coat looked like I’d just primered the room.
It took a second (badly applied) coat. I am not an interior decorator, and I don’t paint enough to pick up the mad skilz needed to do it right. So lots of tape.
Nonetheless, I painted the first coat over two nights, then repainted in one afternoon. Finally, it was looking presentable. I was almost ready to hook my computer back up and bring in the cabinets, bookshelves, and books! Almost. First I had to build some bookshelves to handle the load. The room came with these huge storage shelves which made it great for pool supplies and whatnot. They were lousy for books. So I bought two of those cube storage things from Big Lots and assembled them. Unlike that Sauder junk they sell at Walmart, these things went together sturdy, even if I did do a couple of things wrong on the first one. I like them!
As you can see by the printer in the last picture, I still needed to dust. So dust I did, killing two Swiffers in the process. I also rolled in an area rug I somehow managed to get under my desk by myself. Then I unpacked. Oh, God, did I unpack. I still have boxes. It needs pics put up on some of the walls, another shelf for in front of the desk and to store a set of books, and a lamp for lighting. But it looks great as it is now! Comfy, warm in winter, cool in summer. I sit directly in front of the furnace intake, so all the air goes right by me.
So this is where I will be writing and building web sites from now on, not to mention my day job on days when I work from home. I’ll have the finished product up next week for you to look at.