The furniture is here

The furniture was delivered on Friday, I couldn't really appreciate it since I managed come down with a cold and was feeling pretty sorry for myself. The two workers were polite, efficient and no nonsense and in two hours we had desks. Of course it took most of the weekend to just get the desks and computers set up the way we like. Poor Mark spent most of the weekend crawling around under the desks running cables. I did fuss a bit about all the cords and cables on the desk and he politely reminded me until we upgrade my mac, I'll need to have all these cables so I can have a windows machine. We've got canvas boxes on top of each of the hutches to hold various items. They all have little slots so we can label what's in each box. I'm hoping to get at least another 6 or seven for when we redo the closet. We had hoped that we could remove the closet system without damaging it, but that just wasn't in the cards. So we're going to install the bracket system that we've used in the laundry room but instead of wire shelves we're going to use wood shelves that we'll paint the ceiling color to lighten up the closet. I'm hoping we can put five or six shelves in the closet so we can have ample storage for things we don't use all the time.

The desks are still looking a bit messy as we arrange our stuff. But it's looking good. I'll add some pictures later. While this was a bit of an irritation losing the work space for a month, it's well worth it. I can't wait to actually be able to work from home. Is today to soon?

And the story continues

Ok, I know I haven't been updating you on the goings on with the new home office. The painting is complete and I love the colors. They're a bit darker than I originally thought, but with desk lamps and a new ceiling fan I think they'll be great. It took longer to paint the room than originally planned because of my error. I mistakenly told the paint crew to paint the doors the same color as the trim but discovered it was way to dark and they had to prime and repaint them. The doors are now the ceiling color which is so much nicer.

We also had the main bath repainted and I'm loving the new colors, but I'm not so sure about the gray in the shower. It's a lot darker than I had orginially envisioned. This is more of a charcoal gray and I was thinking smokey gray. But I'm sure I'll learn to love it.

All in all I've been really happy with with the colors and the job the painters did. More on the remodel to come.

At last the weekend is over

Sorry for not posting recently, but we've been frantically emptying the computer room, dismantling desks and trying to get everything done before the painters arrive tomorrow. To top it off, I hurt my achilles tendon and I'm wearing a fashionable boot (not so pretty folks). Mark almost broke his toes when he accidentally kicked the boot.

We found the colors (but I think I posted that already) and we're having the main bath painted as well. We're going more on the grays and tans in the bath pulling out the colors from the sink and shower surround. Did I tell you we're having Michael Parker do the painting. He did such a terrific job in the kitchen, he was our first choice for this job. His crew is going to move all the old furniture out as well as the carpeting which will make it so much easier for us. Eventually, we'll have all the rooms repainted and the ceiling scrapped smooth, but that's all for a later date.

Tonight the flooring was delivered and yippee, it's the right stuff. It's going to look so great in that room. Now all we need is to hear when the furniture will be delivered. Oh, please make it Saturday so we have the long weekend to get the room reassembled.

I will try to get some pictures posted in the next day or two as the painting progresses.

We're now fully committed to this change

Well, the furniture is ordered and should arrive in 7 to 10 days, that'll really put a squeeze on getting this room done. The furniture will have to sit in the warehouse for a week or so before it'll be delivered, that can't be avoided. We also found out the way we want one of the hutches is not standard and they won't guarantee the hutch. They'll still assemble it, they just won't attach it. We'll have to figure out a way to do that.

The flooring will be installed on Friday the 29th, and I'm going to try to get the painting done sooner if at all possible. I know it'll be harder for the painting crew if the carpet is still in place, but at least they won't have to be as careful of spills .

I've been a bit of a slacker today and haven't done any packing and my only excuse has been I didn't feel like going out and getting more boxes. Guess I'll be doing that tomorrow morning.

Let the fun begin.

Today, we get to start dismantling this room. Our goal is to move everything out that isn't absolutely needed over the next three days (sounds like fun for my birthday huh?). We're starting on the closet today, and going to try to get that emptied and dismantled. We're hoping to be able to remove the closet system and reinstall it when this is all done. Worse case scenario is it doesn't remove cleanly and we head over to Home Depot and buy a new system.

We've still got a couple of empty boxes from the kitchen remodel so we'll start with those and Mark will probably head over to the U-Haul store and buy a dozen or so boxes to finish up. I'm really hoping to be able to force myself to throw out the vast majority of "crap" I've accumulated on this side.

Oh, well, enough procrastinating, time to start emptying that closet.

Furniture is ordered

There's not turning back from this project now. Last night we ordered the furniture. We did decide to go with the Staples Cubix system. We were able to (well actually Mark was able to) design a layout that will give us both much more work room. We have an estimate for delivery for September so that actually will give us a bit of time to get everything ready. We went with an oak and sage combination. We also went with the "white glove" installation. They'll come out to the house install, level and adjust the furniture and then they'll take all the packing material away. Since the hutches on the furniture won't be so high we can't reach the top, we'll be getting some of the fabric storage cubes to put odds and ends in. I think I found the cubes I want at containers.com but I'm still in the searching stage.

We chose the flooring, we're going with a carmelized bamboo flooring and you'll be able to see the knots. Sorry don't have a picture of the flooring.

Of course, the next big stress for me will be picking a wall color. I stressed so badly over the kitchen color I'm dreading making the decision for this room.

So wanna guess what we're doing this weekend. You got it. We're going to start packing up the office. We need to dismantle the closet organizer so we can reinstall it after the flooring is in. And there's a lot of stuff in here that can be thrown out (and it's all mostly on my side...I'm the queen of piles).

The planning stage

I've heard it said that once you start remodeling your home, it becomes an addiction. Well, take it from me it's true. It hasn't been six months since we finished the kitchen (ok so Blue Ribbon did the kitchen ((http://www.blue-ribbon-construction.com/)) but we helped, we wrote the checks. Anyway, now we're on to our "computer room". Since both of us are now working from home a couple days a week, we've discovered that the computer room is not functional office. So, we're now working to resolve that problem.

First we called a "designer" and while she was very nice and had some great ideas, the prices were so much more that we originally thought it would be. So after much sighing and mumbling we agreed that we would look for another way to go.

We've called Rodney from Nationwide Floor & Window Coverings (http://www.floorsandwindows.com/) to give us a quote on getting a bamboo floor for the room which will make this so much nicer. I've really decided I don't like wall to wall carpeting. I'm not sure if Mark knows, but I eventually plan to have all the carpeting in the house removed and replaced with bamboo or cork flooring.

Anyway, we found some great office furniture at Staples that we'll be ordering from the Bush Cubix Collection. Staples has this white glove option where they'll install, level and adjust the furniture as well as take away the boxes and packing material. We figure after all the work it'll take to move all this "stuff" and old furniture out, we could use the help. While it's not free, it's well worth the money to me.

So, stay tuned as we once again brave the challenges of redoing a room. Who knows, maybe by the time we're ready to move, we'll be experts.