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.