The future home of The Good Life – Life Coaching, as I found her:
A 6×13 building.
Vandalized over two years ago.
Asphalt in need of repair.
Under a metal canopy. She used to be a carwash.
But thanks to the generosity of the owner. The price is right. I know I can make her work. This is that opportunity I’ve been longing for to use all the knowledge I gained after we wasted all that newlywed money at Bed Bath and Beyond.
The office has a bathroom with an outside entrance. The recycling company used it for storage.
White with lots of dark spots, a filthy floor and toilet…
A really gross toilet buried under all that.
And a sink that is falling off and also just really needed to be removed.
The rusted white electrical box stands out as the primary visual of the space.
The office itself is a sort of robin’s egg blue, but much darker, reminding me of Miss Mustard Seed’s Kitchen Scale, which is a lovely color, but not for this space.
Previous tenants cut a hole into the cement walls for the air conditioner. The back of the air conditioner goes into the bathroom. If you don’t already know, these types or air conditioners are called “window air conditioners.”
The trim around the exterior door is the same blue.
At the time I could not open the door because of the barrels of beer bottles (I know, they should really be on the wall).
When we cleaned it out, I was too excited to remember to take pictures.
So the plan?
- Paint over blue paint with Colonnade Gray, my go-to neutral.
- Rip out toilet and sink.
- Paint over white bathroom with a cedar-grassy green.
- Make curtains.
- Put in beautiful furniture in light blues with neutral rug, using sewing table as desk.
- Hang curtains.
- Install ceiling fan.
- Make frames for art prints.
- Hang art prints.
- Hang book shelf.
- Replace floor in the bathroom.
- Install new fixtures.
- Create awesome light fixture for bathroom.
- Begin business.
Some of the ingredients:
Conduit curtain rods…economic, modern-industrial. We were doing it before it was a thing.
A pedestal sink and toilet from Craigslist for $50.
The progress:
The painting and furniture gave the space an incredible feel. The curtains are hung in the office, but I’m a bit uncertain of their effect on the space. Naturally there is less light, and they make the room feel smaller, a dangerous thing for a 6x 13 space.
There were adventures in painting, especially since I used old paint from three years ago, improperly sealed. But it worked and the interior is nearly done.
Melaleuca’s Clean Power and a wire brush scrubbed the blue paint off the tile. She’ll carefully paint over the grout around the edges with Colonnade Gray because it is, at the moment, Kitchen Scale Blue.
Once my signs arrive I’ll apply a frosted window film to the front door to protect client confidentiality.
More photos to come…
For a long time, art has been very meaningful to me. I imagine I’ve always been a visually oriented person. Discovering the beauty of fine art only increased that, first with internet searches in the early days of the internet (discovered Van Gogh and Turner that way), and later with art history classes in college.
To see the pieces I selected and read about their meaning, check out my website.
