Begin the Begin

Every good basement studio has to start some place.

So before the basement was cleared out of debris and what-have-you, it could be politely described as 'nightmare fuel'. It was extremely damp and musty, as it always had been, and all of the windows were broken and/or missing completely. After a few 'aviary concerns' lets say, the first thing that needed to happen was to replace all of the basement windows. Here are some before photos from July 2012, so you can get a clear picture of the space.

Future workshop space. July 2012

Future Studio! July 2012

A little more light & some sweeping does a lot of good. July 2013

Rawk. July 2013

Now before any actual construction could take place, there were some pretty obvious moisture issues that had to be addressed (#becausebasement). We had some pretty bad grading issues around the entire house, so we encountered everything from small seepages through the walls, to a veritable waterfall coming through a window after the window well had flooded. Utter joy. 

Those are just some of the greatest hits. No pictures from the waterfall, as I was too busy alternating between wet-vacuuming and looking like a crazy person bailing out the window well in the torrential downpour. Good times.

After re-grading the areas around the house, Kat and I enlisted the help of our good friends Dry-Lok and Dry-Lok Fast Plug, and got to work treating the inside of the beast. Oh yeah, and this was a whole year later, so now we are in July of 2014, for those keeping score at home. After cleaning off all the walls, the magic began. By the way, my wife is a champion. I will continue to point this out, but just wanted to throw that out there

Magical beginnings. July 2014

Workshop area with freshly painted walls and floors

​​Well, a week shy of the anniversary of my first blog that mentioned the beginning of construction, I have finally posted some photos of the process. It is amazing to look back and see what the space was, and what it has become. Stay tuned, as I delve into the riveting world of framing! 

July 2014

studio-to-be with the paint still drying