Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Rainy Days and Monday...


There are benefits to having a basement studio...it's cool and  generally quiet. I have a lot of room and even a fireplace. And I've never had any issues being "underground"...until Monday night.

It rained.

And it POURED.

And POURED. And POURED.

And the waterproofing decided it was tired of holding it all back. So in it came. A spontaneous indoor water feature.

Some forecasters said we had as much as 6"+ on already saturated ground. Fortunately we were home. I grabbed the shop vac and started sucking it up as fast as it was coming in. Then we realized that water was actually shooting out of the laundry room wall like a fountain! So we moved the washer and dryer and I grabbed a trash can and then we started grabbing my (thankfully) empty dye buckets. And the shop vac ran and ran. And the carpet shampoo machine ran and ran. By some unknown stroke of luck we had a roll of heavy plastic which my brave husband took out into the storm and rolled along the backside of the house to try to stem the tide. After four hours of bailing I frantically grabbed and piled everything near or on the floor up onto my work tables. Thanks goodness I have lots of table space and shelves!

So now I'm in the aftermath. I'm swamped with interior design projects. I was supposed to start measuring a 65,000 sf office building today. But I've cancelled the rest of my work week and have begun hauling everything upstairs to higher ground.

Y'all...this isn't just my interior design office. It's also my quilt studio. You know what that means...

I have to move my fabric stash!!!    <:O

And my dyes, and beads, and threads, and books, and....and....!!!

Oy. It smells worse than a wet dog down here. And I'm allergic to mold. I'm having flashbacks to this project.

Everything is going to have to clear out of the room and the carpet is going to have to be pulled out. I have a company coming tomorrow to assess the "waterproofing" and I'm expecting that the paneling is going to have to be ripped off the walls to get to the block. I'm just hoping that the yard won't have to be dug up.

On the upside...when it's all over I'll have a fresh, clean studio! I've been needing to do some major cleanup around here anyway. This is forcing me to evaluate what I have (too much) and what will come back in.

But I'd rather have done it with self-motivation instead of this. *sigh*

So... I'll add myself to my list of interiors clients. And hope that Mother Nature sticks to EXTERIOR design from here on out.


6 comments:

Jenny Williams said...

Oh Karen! I really feel for you! We've been trying to get our basement into a place where we can "finish it off" to use for more than laundry & painting fabric. I can only imagine what you're enduring - ours just seeps down the concrete wall & fills the floor 4-5", which we suck up with the shop vac. But to have ALL of your design & quilt materials - your livelihood - in the midst of it - wish I could help!

Diana said...

brainstorming like you need another storm. are there college students or PHD's looking for work who would play "carrier" and lug your stuff up stairs? do you have insurance? are you documenting with photos?
wishing you well :-)

Salem Stitcher said...

Yikes! Let me know when we get to go to ikea to furnish your new studio!

Robin in WNC said...

Oh Karen I have been thru what you are going thru right now, only it was my whole house. I dried fabric in the sunshine for days and days just to get the dampness out. My machine and computer also went out to get rid of the dampness. Although we lost all the furniture ( I did not cry about that)I was able to save almost all my quilting supplies. It was lots of hard work, and one bonus, I lost several pounds during the ordeal. Good luck on your renovations and a new and improved office/studio

Nane said...

Yep you might as well look at the bright side of this....clean studio! I do hope the solution to future issues isn't too expensive.

Rayna said...

Oh, argh. Been there/done that and it's awful. But yes, you'll have a nice, clean studio. Don't worry, you'll start accumulating again:-)