What's dave been doing since Christmas?

I've been busy like a beaver in the basement. See for yourself.
Before, the place looked like a, well, like a basement. most of the available space was my workshop. Then my dear company agreed that it was time I could start to Telecommute. So I needed a place to do so from. I've been using my computer in the space under the stairs since we moved in to this house over 4 years ago. And it just wasn't reasonable to spend 24 hours a week there. Really. I nearly converted the spare bedroom into an office, but we realized that sometimes, it pays to have an extra bedroom. So we cut the shop space in half, (and I'll have to put my large floor tools in storage: there goes the table saw, the band saw, the drill press, the sander, the dust collection system.) and turn it into a smaller hand-tool shop. So be it.
Now I'm in an 11' x 12' office, and it's done all but for the crown molding. I'll do that over the next week or so. I can spend my lunch hours fixing the details.

Susan picked the colour scheme, which is a Martha Stuart Butter White on the walls, and a "rusty nail" on the trim. The floor is cherry plank laminiate flooring, the desk is a super-deal from the clearance bin at the Office Depot, and the chair was half off at Staples as a floor demo.

CP Gives $1000 (pretax) for the telecommuters to outfit the home office, and that paid for barely a quarter of the renovations. But we put the love-seat in here, and there's a little electric fire place, so it stays warm while the rest of the house can stay cooler during winter days.

In the summer, it'll be nice and cool down here. It does lack direct outdoor light, but the overheads and the desk lamp are quite bright: I shouldn't suffer from S.A.D. too much.

I spent the money on a 22" widescreen monitor, which makes working on those Powerpoint presentations and spreadsheets tolerable.

Susan found a really nice "Media Room" french door, which is at the main entrance of the office. It has real character, and suits me well.




So here are a pair of before and after sets, from similar positions.