Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Cracks and clutter

When cracks appeared in the arched, brick ceiling of the stone farmhouse we live in it meant that one of the walls had shifted and the vaulted ceiling, very stable as long as the vaults are intact, had begun to open.
As one engineer said to us..."they could stay up another 50 years or all come down tomorrow....".
As there is a another floor above this and we pretty much live in the kitchen we had no alternative.
We emptied out the room above; supported the vaulted roof from below with scaffolding, and rebuilt the floor from above after taking out the brick floor and sand and mortar that was laid on top of the vaults.

Lots more was involved but for the purpose of today's little discussion all the stuff that was in the room above; desks, tables, 2 armoires full of linens and clothes, bookcases, pictures, etc. etc. ended up in the spare bedroom that is also my studio.
So while the room was difficult to work in before due to the multiple uses it had to perform.
Now it is only barely possible to enter; and fully impossible to work in.
My wife is convinced that if I would only spend 1/2 hour "arranging" the furniture I'd still be able to work in it just fine but I know I can't.
And not only because there is a marble table top in front of my desk; obstructing the drawers and chair. I had hoped things would go quickly but we are now entering the second month and I'm going crazy.
This is the state of my current work space:


I've a print to finish and I am still trying to limbo my way under the two stacked desks, wriggle between the two armoires, slip to the floor and try to go under the table and using an umbrella, snag the tool box with all my tools.

I'm working on another solution and think I'll have a new work space to call home in just a few days.

4 comments:

  1. Ugh, I'm so sorry. I would be going nuts too. That's an amazing shot of the scaffolding, though. Pretty cool that they can do what they do. Hope your new plan works out -- let us know!

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  2. What a mess! How awful to be without your studio. Good luck on finding a new space. What a wonderful room all that scaffolding is in. Hope things get back to normal for you soon.

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  3. Yes it is a mess and I'm going crazy.
    The house is wonderful; it's an 1850's stone farmhouse and is as beautiful and romantic as it sounds BUT every time we turn around there is some major work to do or re-do.
    The big dilemma is there are several spaces that would make a fantastic studio but there are competing family needs-- if it's also a spare bedroom and you live in FLORENCE there are almost always guests.
    Printing in the kitchen means clearing out everything 3 times/day; etc. etc.
    I need a dedicated room if I'm going to get any work done and I hope I don't have to wait until my kids are grown and move out!

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  4. OMG! What a challenge! I can certainly relate to the frustration of printing in the kitchen although, after years of this, things have now changed for me.

    But you will, eventually, get your old space back I hope...I'm guessing the wait must seem interminable! Good luck to you.

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