Joyce’s Crafting Room

The workmen have finished in Joyce’s house. I don’t know much about interior decorating, but I can honestly say I like how it all looks. More importantly, Joyce is real pleased with the results. I’ve seen Adam and Allan’s work on a big scale in Justen’s house in Santa Barbara, and I’ve seen their house in Arcadia, but this was the first time I saw their work on a regular house. I was a little afraid that it would look too gayass and ‘decorated’ – especially when those white davenports got delivered – but it all turned out real comfortable and normal. It’s not that I don’t like the way Adam and Allan’s or Justen’s houses look, but, let’s face it, they don’t look like places where ordinary folks live. That’s not how Joyce’s house turned out at all. I mean, you wouldn’t put your feet up on the white davenports…but, well, as y’all know…I even spent the night on one of those couches and it was comfortable enough for sleeping.

I said I wasn’t sure why Joyce wanted to redecorate in the first place – her house was very comfortable the way it was. It was a house you felt good in, even if it was your first time there. But now that I see the redecoration, I can see how maybe it was time to change things some. And any dude would appreciate the great big flat screen she put in the den: it would have been perfect for watching the Dodgers win the World Series on lol.

And I know it’s Joyce’s bedroom and not mine, but I like that it didn’t turn out too girly. She also had people come in and redo her closet, and that really looks amazing, with a place for everything. She’s super pleased with that. One thing I really appreciate is how she made the lighting in the bathroom way, way better. Now it’s perfect for shaving. It used to be kinda dangerous to put a blade to your throat when the light put most of your face in shadow.

So now it’s time for me to start in on the project I’ve had in mind for when the workmen finished. I told y’all about my plan already: I’m going to redo Joyce’s crafting room so she could have all her supplies organized, kinda like the way they did for the closet in the bedroom.

I’m real good with tools, but I don’t want to give y’all the idea that I’m buildling 8’ shelves or really big things like that. I reckon I can, but there were already shelves built in. So most of what I’m doing is rebuilding the insides of the units to accommodate Joyce’s supplies and make sure that everything has a place to go. Crafting involves a lot of little supplies, and you can’t organize them right on 12” shelves. I’m also, I guess you can call it ‘upgrading’ the big crafting table in the middle of the room, resurfacing the top, tricking it out with some drawers and putting on way better legs for support.

I’ve taken a lot of time planning out what I’m going to do. I talked to Joyce about all her supplies and what they’re for, and what went with what and how much she had of each thing…and which things she used more often than others…and, of course, how high she could reach. (Since she can’t reach the top shelves, I’m turning those into a gallery for some of her finished projects. She’s done some amazing things, and they ought to be somewhere you can see them.)

So it’s taking a lot of planning and measuring. I got started yesterday, and I should be done by Thanksgiving. That way Joyce will have her crafting room back in time to start on her Christmas projects. Since this is my gift to Joyce, I’m paying for everything, too. Well…almost everything. We needed to rent some power tools (I’ve got a pretty good tool box, but it’s not enough for a whole construction project), and Joyce chipped in for that. I’ve got them set up in the half of the garage that doesn’t have a car in it, so I’ve got a temporary workshop. Joyce has done so many things for me in the time we’ve been together that I felt it was time for me to do something for her. I don’t have huge amounts of money to buy her lavish gifts with, but I know how to build stuff, so this seemed like a great idea when she started redoing the house anyway.

I’ll admit that Joyce wasn’t entirely onboard at first…I reckon she wasn’t sure that I could do everything I said I was going to do…and that I was going to make a big mess in the house that she’d just gotten perfect. I didn’t understand the mess thing. She’s heard plenty about Dad and she knows that Dad taught me to use tools and build things…so she should have been able to figure out that Dad had a super organized shop in the garage. His rules were that you cleaned up at the end of every day’s work, and that no tool was allowed to be out of place overnight.

Once she realized I wasn’t going to make a mess and ruin the newly done house and the hardwood floors she just put in, she got into the idea of me making her a personalized crafting room. She’s wanted to see the plans and some of the work in progress, but I’m insisting on it being a surprise. Y’all may not know it, but Joyce is the peeking type. So, just to be sure she won’t see the room until it’s finished, I put a lock on the door and I’m keeping the key.

Now all I need is a real nice keychain to put the key on when I’m finally ready to give it to Joyce.