Tiny House, expanded.
Remember how I said, Studio B was NOT the first on our list of projects? When we bought this house, we called it the big garages with the little house attached. We knew that it was going to be a tight fit for 9 of us to live in less than 1000 square feet. Our bus was under 300, so we figured we could hack it. But with the cold winters, we knew that we should put the finishing the basement as number one on our list of projects.
The basement... I can't even throw up and link to the blog and hope that you click it. I have to show the pictures here.
Yes, people, that is carpet on the walls! ...and the stairs ... and the ductwork. This basement was something special. Our plan was to live in the upstairs and add some bedrooms and bathrooms in the basement as soon as we could. Michael and I have limited experience in construction project. We can kind of hack stuff together and make it livable, but not close to perfect. We talked about the basement and wavered back and forth from "We could do this." to "We should really hire someone to do this." In the end, we decided that Michael really enjoyed playing music more than construction and that if they booked the spring tour aggressively we could hire someone to finish the basement and he could get right to video projects in Studio B.
We started the concrete work while they were gone. We had to cut some of the wall out to add an egress window and we had to jackhammer the floor to add plumbing. While the contractor did that, I worked on the curtains for Studio B. When they came home, they set up all the gear and did a video test, only to find out the camera didn't work correctly. It had to be mailed off for a warranty replacement. They started rehearsing and discovered a crack in Charity's cymbal. It had to be mailed off for replacement.
We looked at the calendar. Our contractor was booked out until June and we were on hold as far as video projects went. We changed courses and decided we could do the stud work, drywall, mudding, and painting in the 3 weeks before we went to camp in June. Let me just say, we about did ourselves in. I owe a HUGE thank you to the girls, who managed the younger kids and the household duties for those 3 weeks. I also owe a huge thanks to both Michael's parents and my new step-father, Leon for offering to finish up the painting for us. The contractors are working on the ceiling and flooring while we are gone. By the time we get home we will be in the final phases!
