A Week of Change - Picture Perfect Room Challenge [BEFORE]

Funky Junk Interiors

A completed room. What a novel idea!

We moved into this old farmhouse [our forever home because I am never moving again!] in the spring of 2010. Our three... THREE... attic spaces are full. The 2-car garage is full. No rooms are complete. Livable... functional... but far from complete. We refused to bring anything inside unless we have a specific place or purpose for it. And at this point, if it's still in the attic or the garage we can probably get rid of it.

But where does all the time go? I know ambitious people who finish rooms in a weekend... painting wallls, new floors, window treatments... the works. I'm too much of a perfectionist [some call it OCD] and I get lost in the details. I can't simply file a stack of papers because the folders are not labeled and organized. So I start to work on the folders and never get around to filing the stack of papers. It's a viscous circle... and it needs to stop! My favorite excuse is that my workshop isn't done. But even I fool myself... the workshop is work-able. Cluttered, not quite organized... but work-able. Let's be honest... if I really wanted to make a project happen, I'd make it happen.

So, is it any surprise that I chose the workshop to be the first completed room? Then I'll have no more excuses, right? Right.

Here is the raw, cold workshop before we actually moved in. Please excuse the sub-par photos... they are clips from a video I took with my iPhone.

The Grand Entrance

 

This room is an extension off the garage. It was once the wood shed. Which came first... the wood shed or the garage? That I don't know. We do know the garage came after the house. My guess would be the woodshed came before the garage.

The South Wall

A wall of peg board.  A crafty girl's dream!  The wall rests on a large, wooden beam that runs the length of the room with stone and mortar below that.  Totally awesome!  I know it's dirty and in not-so-good condition... but can't you see the potential?!

The East Wall 

This is one of two walls that is built into a hill.  It also has peg board that sits on a wooden beam.  Again, totally awesome!  You can see the damage caused by the water that seeped through the stone wall.  The worst area is the corner behind that propane dinosaur [which has since been removed}.  And, let me tell you... stone walls and a concrete floor is COLD in the winter time!  I have plug-in heaters that are not very energy efficient and raise our electric bill more than we'd like.  I think I'll go add "install heat" to the My 2012 list!  Can you see the pull-down steps to my very own attic space?  Now, how to convince Mr. Homestead to finish off that space so it's more usable.  And, how about a spiral staircase instead of pull-down stairs?  Oh yeah, I'm on a roll... 

The North Wall - Left Side

 

More peg board.  More wooden beams.  More stone walls.  More awesomeness!  This is the other wall that is built into a hill and it leaked the most.  I am fighting the growth of efflorescence on both the west and north walls.  Mr. Homestead and nephew Aaron dug a French drain the entire length of the workshop so that all of the water runoff from the gutter drained away from the workshop and out to the driveway.  Water problem solved.  I treated the efflorescence once already [before the French drain was installed], but some of it is growing back.  I will treat it again and hopefully this time will be the last time. 

The North Wall - Right Side

You guessed it... peg board, wooden beam, and stone wall.  Y'all don't miss anything, do you?  To give you an idea of how deep my workshop is built into this hill... I can open both windows and put my hand in the grass [and pet the dogs when they come to investigate what I'm doing].  This window is higher than the window on the west wall.  Being not-tall, I'd need a step stool to actually touch the grass and pet the dogs... but those are just minor details.  Basically, the stone walls are keeping back the earth and the wooden beams sit just above ground level.  It does make for a lovely view though!

The East Wall - Left Side

More of the same here.  This window looks out into the garage... another reason I think this space came before the garage.  And the garage attic space built around the workshop attic space.  Mystery solved!

The East Wall - Right Side

We have now come full-circle in my workshop. I have my own electrical panel, which makes adding more outlets and fuses so I stop tripping the breaker very exciting! Did I mention Mr. Homestead is an [excellent] electrician by trade? And, NO... our garage DOES NOT currently look like that! We can't even park in our 2-car garage... yet.

My workshop looks different now. All of the peg board is painted. Shelves and cubbies are hung on the wall. Notions and other crafting necessities are at home on their hooks. Stay tuned for a post of "now" pictures...

How is your Funky Junk Interiors Picture Perfect room challenge going? Will you be ready for the First Bragfest Linkup on Friday, January 27th?