LAW 82: from chaos born…..

Those of you who have been following our adventures here on the Floating Empire surely know that Mungo and i have recently embarked on the Extreme Makeover of our cozy little houseboat. We designed and built the Empire just about two years ago. After that span of time we knew the changes we needed to make; the changes that would make life here on the Empire more pleasant than it already was.

Yes, we did have to take the back window wall down!

Most of those changes had to do with how we used the space. What made for traffic jams, what simply did not make sense. So stage one of the galley/living area is done(sorta). Okay, there's a lot of finish work that remains. But we have removed one of the two front king posts, giving us two more feet of walking and working room in the front of the galley. This was a major choke point, as the person working in the prep area had to move out of the way for anyone wanting to get to the breakfront or the front door. We can waltz around each other now.

Mungo is tired of this project

Yesterday saw us move the breakfront from its original position next to the front door to the other end of the galley. It now forms a wall, along with the refrigerator. The result is a space that is far more open. That is very good.  The downside, which is temporary, is the loss of some storage and space to display art. This will be addressed in stage two, i think.

studio before move

My studio has been total chaos for almost a week now. That's a lifetime folks. I actually have two active commissions working and have made no progress for a week. Eeek!  Today finally i was able to put the studio more less back together. The configuration in the studio is slightly different. We swapped the location of the head and my main work table. I also gained another work table. Yea! More room to spread out.

my new and mostly organized work space

We took the lovely little wall mounted kitchen table that we bought from Ikea more than a year ago. It was simply to small to allow us to do any onboard entertaining so we built a settee and a pedestal table that will sit four. That table is now installed next to my drafting table, making a nice continuous work surface.

Magellan and i have to share my rocker

It was a real treat to have friends over for Sunday Supper. Since the weather turned inclement we have been enjoying our Sunday suppers in the marina club house. Nothing wrong with that, well, we don't have heat in there yet, so…… So much nicer to not have to schlep everything up there and back.

We are taking a short break from the Extreme Makeover. We need to catch up with the finish work, think about where we go from here, and just enjoy the beautiful spring weather. Please feel free to check out the Floating Empire blog. Lots of new and exciting things there. Keep an eye for new things happening at Wild Shore Press. Mungo has a new novel coming real soon now. Really!

Thursday night's high tide, unusual in winter

Oh yea, a study in contrasts here. High and low tide here at Middle River Landing Marina. The difference, high tide last Thursday evening, the docks are under water. Low tide on Saturday evening, same shot, underneath the finger piers.

Saturday's low tide, much more common

More later,
Morgainne