D.I. Done!

The craft room/office is ready!  Finally.  Ok, it honestly has been completed for a week or so but I have been kind of distracted by work related stuff lately so I haven't had time to think clearly.

This time, Mr. Monkeygirl outdid himself.  He will personally confirm that I am picky. Just mention "bathroom floor" to him and he may just run screaming from the room (I'll let you in on the story in another post).  But there isn't one thing in my room that I would change.

The room looked like this when we started:

Now for the big reveal...drum roll please.brbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbr

I don't think the photos represent the real color of the room, but I can't seem to quite get myself together enough during daylight hours to take some pictures.  I have to give a big thanks to the following people.

1. Mr. Monkeygirl for letting me see "the vision" and for his willingness to follow through on my wild ideas.
2. SewWhat? for her expert advice and sewing talents on the window coverings.  Without you, I would still be trying to sew a straight line or searching endlessly for just the right thing online!
3. Skaterboy for his interest.  It is hard to get teenager's engaged in home life but he did drop in frequently and offer his opinion.  He likes it and I think his friends where completely floored by the change.  He says I should get a whopping big plasma for the wall so I can watch the DIY shows while working.  I think he is a really smart boy!
4. MEF Nik for sharing the DIY portion of her brain with me.  Without it, I'm not sure what we would have ended up with.  Our original plans would have been ok, but remember I'm a perfectionist and it would have driven me crazy.

Slight Change in Plans

We had a plan.  We had purchased the basics months ago.  We were ready to get to work.  And then I got a brilliant idea and everything changed.  The progress we have made so far won't go to waste, so that is the good news!

Mr. Monkeygirl is used to me changing my mind so I don't think this about face comes as a surprise to him.  So what changed?

1. Wall Color - I had a vision for a bright, warm color on the walls.  I found a color called "Pale Butter" that was my final choice.  Until I went to buy the paint.  I ended up buying a color called "Golden Chime".  If I showed you the paint samples individually, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them.  Old color - yellow with a green tint.  New color - yellow with an orange tint.
2. Desk Size - In a moment of panic, I decided to change the desk size.  Old plan - 10 foot long on one side with a 4 foot return- huge!!  New plan - 10 feet.  Still enormous and it saves us from having to have a custom countertop cut or - eeek! - trying to cut it ourselves.
3. Desk Height - The original plan was to have a desk that was slightly higher than a normal desk.  Why?  Because we had a base that was 28" tall.  Now? The desk will be counter height.  This will allow me to either sit or stand and work.
4. Desk Placement - In my vision, I would sit at my desk and get my inspiration from looking out the window.  Good thought.  The window does overlook the pool.  But the window also faces our neighbor's yard.  Picture a slightly smaller version of the junk yard on Sanford and Son and you kind of get the image I see every day.  So I decided to move the desk from under the window.  This move solves multiple issues - I don't have to mess with the windowsill height anymore, I get maximum space usage, and I don't have to look at the cr*p next door.
5. Desk Base - I bought these great storage cubes from Michael's.  I was going to stack them for the base of my desk.  Only I discovered a problem or two. First, the cubes are only 14" deep and the countertop is 24" deep. Hmmm, this is a problem.  We thought of 200 ways to try to support this desk top my they all seemed kind of dodgy to me.  Solution?  I decided to buy kitchen base cabinets to support the desk top (which is going to be a kitchen counter top anyway).  I get the storage I need plus the height I want and it is solid!

So a lot has changed over the past few days but we are making progress.  The walls are painted, Mr. Monkeygirl is working on the ceiling, we bought the base cabinets and lights.  We are getting there and hopefully we will be finished in a week or two.

Step 2 and 3

Mr. Monkeygirl rocked this weekend!  He took me out Friday night (to a retirement party, but out is out!), he tasted tested my creations (brave man), and he joined me for trivia and has some good answers to contribute!  The icing on the cake?  While I was off cropping on Saturday, he finished up the demolition in my craft room.  

How much does he rock?  He removed the ceiling fan and the associated electrical wiring, disassembled the grid from the drop ceiling, and he took all of the demolition debris away.  He even cleaned up the floor!  Today, he patched all of the holes in the walls and on the ceiling.  There were holes every 12 inches around the whole perimeter of the room from the grid so he had a lot to patch.  

Hopefully, it will all be dry tomorrow when he gets home from work so he can start sanding.  I guess I need to make up my mind on the paint colors and we need to order the countertop so we can move on to the next project.