Dandelion Studio Coming to Life
For most of this month it seems we have been missing in action, at least as far as our posts and communication go. The truth is we have been lost in The Renovation Twilight Zone. For the past two and half weeks we have been tackling our attic to convert it into Dandelion Studio. From the moment we saw the attic space Kate and I (and other visitors and supporters) have envisioned it as a place where we create and encounter the Lord.
The problem was that it is in the oldest part of the house, which means it’s full of character, but nothing is square in the entire room! The the main ceiling joists are over 250 years old! You can still see all of the marks from the hand tools they used to shape them from the local trees. The nails in them were clearly hand made and looked downright biblical they were so old. I’m a handy guy, and Kate is always game for anything, but I had never tackled a job like this before. We were gonna need help.
We got estimates for hiring local contractors, but like the pool, and everything else we have tried to do on this house, the prices were way too high. One of our dear friends from Charleston, who happened to be a builder, wanted to come with some of his crew to knock the job out for us in a week, but every time we tried to schedule it something major happened in his life. And every time we thought through the logistics we realized it was not realistic. The Lord just kept on closing that door. Our friend still wanted to be a part of it though, so he gave a gift to cover the bulk of the materials and cut the price by 2/3rds. Thank you!!!
The same day we realized our buddy was not going to be able to come I received an email from a young man named Hayes, also from South Carolina, who had been a part of a mutual friend’s college ministry. The Lord had led him to take a gap year from studying electrical engineering at Clemson and come up to NYC to pursue his gifts in music, of which he has many. Already sounds like a match made in heaven, but it gets better. After a few conversations it came out that Hayes was a trained plumber and mason and had spent many of his formative years working with his grandfather and father on construction sites. He needed work, and we needed help! The Lord provided!
Enter Hayes! As you can see he is all business:)
Hayes brought his expertise and can-do attitude, which was incredibly helpful as we faced a lot of obstacles thrown at us by our wonderful old home. Being in his early 20s also made him just crazy enough to join Kate and me in one of our somewhat nutty adventures. One of the best parts was that it gave us a chance to host Hayes and share many of our stories of how the Lord had led us to take time off from seminary years ago and…you guessed it…move to NYC for some deep refining and healing. It was obvious the Lord wanted us all connected. Hayes had this to say:
Beyond being great in ministry, art, counseling, and listening, Kate and Sean have a quality that is rare: Hardworking.
They worked tirelessly to see the revamp of the attic finished, and despite setback after setback continued to work hard and make progress.
It was a great joy to spend time getting to know Kate and Sean. Their stories were not unlike my own, and hearing them refreshed my spirit, calmed my anxious heart, and gave me hope.
One of the biggest obstacles we faced was how to get all the building materials to the 3rd floor when the staircase was too narrow and steep. The answer, we discovered, was one of Hayes’ favorite things: pulleys! Working masonry jobs he had hauled hundreds of pounds of brick up multiple stories many times before. Granted he had large pulleys on those jobs and usually more than one to cut the weight. We were only able to find one locally that was sturdy enough to handle the job, but it was only 2.5 inches in diameter…tiny. That meant everything was still heavy, but at least doable. That little pulley helped us get 12 thick pieces of plywood for the new floors, almost 30 pieces of drywall, and some insulation up three stories and in through that window opening. I got my workout for the month. Watch us haul up 1 of the heavy pieces of plywood below.
We laid new floors, installed new windows, reinforced every ceiling joist, installed crossmembers to solidify the roof structure, moved plumbing vents, rewired electrical, framed in new walls, installed tons of insulation, hung drywall, installed a door, and have mudded (applied tape and plaster) all the drywall joints. We still have some sanding to do, then we paint, install trim, hang sliding barn doors for access to the storage crawl spaces, and finally install our new mini AC/heat system.
It has been quite a job, and the Lord has been faithful through it all. He has provided all along the way. We are so grateful! We will post pics of the finished product hopefully by next week:)
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