Studio City

My thanks to all who encouraged me to muster the confidence to call my office a "studio." Studio studio studio. Nope, still sounds weird.

Since my last office/studio renovation update on Wednesday, Karen and I have continued to make progress. Some of it is the sort of progress that isn't very showy: countersinking, spackling and painting finishing nails, etc. The kind of stuff you can spend an hour on and no one will ever notice but you'll know it was done right (or at least as best you could). Still: shelves are built and in place (securely, here in earthquake country) and we actually began loading some things into the cabinets tonight. It's beginning to pay off.

I have to add that, although we're dedicated, we're not grinding away around the clock. In fact, our local restaurateurs do an annual promotion called "Restaurant Week" in which they offer a prix fixe menu designed to lure in new customers, and which Karen and I exploit to revisit old favorites. So every other night this week we're stopping work around 5:30, putting on nice clothes, and going out to a very good restaurant, saving the best for our Anniversary this Sunday. We live right.

As the kids say on the Internet, Pictures or it didn't happen:

Various bits of trim and a door drying in the driveway after being painted white by Karen. There's a LOT of trim.

Striking my best James Bond pose (no, really, that's my BEST!) after screwing the first two bookcase shells into studs and the cabinets. By the way, that crummy paper light fixture is just a temp placeholder. I don't want you to think less of me.

I joked a while back that it's not an official home improvement project until Brian bleeds. So far I'm wound-free. But Karen took one for the team today, opening up a bloody gash on her finger (temporarily contained here by a band-aid that didn't hold for long). We really wondered if it needed stitches, but it stopped gushing shortly after Karen passed out. (Just kidding about the passing out but not the stitches.) It was my fault. I feel terrible.

The right side of the cabinets, set up for work: A printer, a Rolodex (adults, explain what that is to your kids), the house phone, an office phone/fax (adults, explain what that is to your kids), and my large-format scanner. The computer desk visible at lower right will slide over to fill that gap.

This is about how we left it today. The four big cases are 2 feet wide, the skinny center one is 1 foot wide. One of my favorite books is provided for scale. Still to come are vertical trim pieces for the bookcases, trim for the countertop edge, and a lot more shelves.

Finally, to keep you whiners happy, here's a dog with sawdust on her lips. It pairs well with dry spackle.

We may finish before Monday.