TRM Results

The area under the overhang used to contain the futon. Or, the futon FRAME to be exact; the futon made its way upstairs to the new mission-style futon because we weren't using this room down here much. I'm getting another futon mattress. Soon. Anyway, I kept whacking my head against that overhang. I hated that overhang. But now, we have a workspace there. The table top looks yellow-beige because it's reflecting the lights, but it's really white. Don't you just want to come over and work here?



My first thought had been that we should try to enclose the entire area, floor to overhang, with back-to-back tall cabinets. But the quotations I had gotten for custom-building cabinets were expensive, and to my mind not worth it. Then I had Mike the Ukrainian in, and he suggested that to save money I could *buy* tall cabinets, put them under the overhang, and he'd trim them in. That sounded good, but I couldn't find anything to fit, either online or locally. Then it hit me: I could use those Closet-Maid 31.5" cabinets (I already had a couple) and put a table on top of them for a workspace! So I just had to purchase four more and arrange them back-to-back.

Then, I visited ReHouse -- an architectural salvage store -- in Rochester, and found a perfect-sized flat door for $10. I went to the Home Depot on Saturday night, and lucked into Brian. Brian, whom I never met before, but whom I now know intimately -- I know all about how a customer banged a door into his left hand in November and broke two of his left knuckles, I know the name of his PA who is helping him get over the injury, I know what radio stations he listens to. Oh, yes, it's good to be female when one has a project in the Home Depot.

Anyway, Brian suggested that to cover the table, instead of using the countertop laminate I was planning ($45 per 4 x 8 sheet and hard to cut), I use the same dry-erase whiteboard that I was purchasing to replace the current dry-erase boards in the frames that the kids had written on long ago with permanent marker (only $12 for a 4' x 8' piece) to cover the table. Brian expertly measured and sliced everything for me. He spent an hour mitering corners for me in two kinds of trim. I expertly admired his work.

And these photos are the result! I still have to find a way to anchor the countertop to the wall, and I still have to find the oomph to take apart the whiteboard frames (not in the photo) so the kids can have dry-erase boards.

And I still have to do my taxes. Maybe I'll use the Cool New Workspace.

P.S. The ultimate triumph: One of those cabinets underneath is EMPTY! That's right... I was able to purge and organize enough that we have room to spare! And everyone knows where everything goes! I keep looking around doing the Happy Dance.