43) Empty Inside*

With Monday came the renewed push aided by an impending deadline and a surprise visitor to get the basement “party ready”. The first step was to drag out the last of what was still in the basement (minus the three massive pews that you decided would be far too difficult to drag out and store somewhere else without getting in the way for three days). There were sheets of unused plywood to contend with along with a large pile of miscellaneous pieces of wood of varying sizes and purpose. Then there was David’s makeshift tool bench… an ugly yet useful former and heavy duty, ruggedly constructed wood shelf that turned on its side with an old piece of plywood screwed over the newly appointed top made a great temporary workstation. Finally there was a plethora of tools… all of David’s tools from nearly two decades working in the trades… along with all the brand new ones bought just for the purpose of making marked improvements to the church…

“What are we starting with?” You wanted to know. You had just put on your nitrile gloves. They glistened with oil at the wrists. They weren’t necessary but the feeling of dust made your skin crawl and so anytime you worked with anything dusty or dirty you’d slather your hands in a thick coat of olive or avocado oil to nourish them before sliding them into the black gloves.

“What are you doing?” She asked. Jackie was horrified.

“Oiling my hands so they don’t dry out while I’m working…”

“You just… they’re in oil all day just sliding around in there?!”

“I mean it sounds fucking disgusting when you say it like that but yeah… pretty much.”

“That’s gross.”

“You yucking my yum?”

“Yup.”

David was used to the whole oil schtick by now. The one time he had questioned it you let him know that things could be way more weird… “I read about how these elderly women in Italy who had picked olives all their lives had skin on their hands like those of a 20 year old… so honestly the fact that I’m not slathering this shit on my face and walking around 24/7 with a BDSM gimp mask on my head should make you pretty thankful…”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” David had asked.

“I don’t like dry skin or dust…”

“Not what I meant…”

“I think that we should get the big things out of here first. I’m going to slide all the wood boards back out the window we brought it in through and did you see that I already disassembled my ‘workbench’ I had over here?”

You hadn’t noticed but sure enough, one more massive thing out of the basement.

“Oh wow… no I didn’t but now I see… this is great! When did you do this?”

“I couldn’t sleep… woke up early and figured that when after an hour of tossing and turning and not being able to go back to bed that my time would be better spent working down here than it would be spent doom scrolling.”

“So what I’m hearing is that I need to start slipping you regular tea instead of decaf at night?“

David rolled his eyes and laughed. “Let’s bring all the wood to the window then I’ll go outside and you just hand me everything ok?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Within no time all of the wood, the large pile of scrap and sample trim, 2x6s, 4x4s, 1x8s, and old shelves were all hauled to the window and then sent outside the window with the ease that trekking through the kitchen and around countertops and the island sink and then the laundry room with the rickety steps could have never afforded you.

Already the space was looking so nice without the giant stack of scrap wood and the massive former shelving unit turned work table in the middle of the space.

Little projects, cans of paint, all painting supplies, an old makeup vanity you were refinishing for your youngest, and more was brought into what would eventually become her room. For now it was a catchall for everything that wasn’t going out to the workshop but couldn’t stay in the basement.

“Quick break before we haul all of the tools out to the workshop?” You said pointing to the rows of neatly arranged tools between two of the basement’s support columns.

“Sure,” David said as he pulled off his work gloves and the two of you went into the kitchen, into the laundry room and through the French doors that led out into the church’s yard. The weather was phenomenal. The sky was clear and bright, a warm sun shone on the neat rows of planters put in by the artists, the former owners. Your freshly planted rhubarb was beginning to take off in the warmer springtime sun.

“It’s a shame,” said David as he passed you one of two freshly rolled J’s before he fished through his jumpsuit’s front pocket for a lighter. Upon finding it he placed the other J in his mouth and pulled with his lips, lighting the lighter with a quick flick of his thumb and a little puff of blue white smoke… “that we’re having this weather now and when your mom gets here next week it’s going to be freezing and rainy…”

He handed you the lighter and you lit your J, “Yeah I know… this weather is perfect, I’m sure she would have loved this but she knows the whole northeast weather routine… at least I’m pretty sure she remembers that… plus I think she’s way more excited to see the kids than she is about getting some decent spring time weather.”

“That’s true….”

There was a long pause while the two of you stood in the sun smoking your joints, staring at the church, and drifting in and out of disparate trains of thought before you interrupted the silence with a long drag and an exciting revelation…

“Do you know what I realized just now thinking about the basement?”

“What’s that?” David asked as he exhaled a wispy cloud of smoke.

“So the basement is just about emptied now… right?”

“Pretty close…”

“Do you realize that the last time anyone saw the basement like this was 131 years ago? We are the only people alive right now, that have ever seen the basement back down to the bare foundation and mostly empty. That wouldn’t have happened since right before the masons started applying the cement and plaster to the walls… and even then they probably had a bunch of tools and mortar down here. Maybe we’re the only ones that have ever seen it nearly empty and down to the stone…”

“Oh wow… you’re right! I didn’t even think of that.”

“It’s strange to me that in 131 years of existence that we can add some ‘firsts’ to the experiences had here.”

“That is nice to be able to add our own new stories to the history of this place…”

“I think the kids box sledding down the stairs and running down to open up Christmas presents last year were probably firsts too…”

“Roller skating and skate boarding in the sanctuary?”

“Maybe…”

“You ready to empty this thing out?“ David said stubbing the end of his joint into the muddy yard before picking it back up to toss in the trash inside. You did the same and handed him your dirty roach.

“Let’s fucking do it…”

Trip by trip the two of you carried out pliers and screwdrivers and a large array of different sized hammers and sledgehammers and prybars. David wouldn’t let you carry too much, your shoulder had really gotten bad as of late, but you did manage to find an empty five gallon bucket and make multiple trips carrying multiple items at once this way (with the use of your right arm).

“That’s smart,” David said when he saw you carefully selecting cumbersome but light tools into the bucket.

“Gotta tick up the brain power when the muscle isn’t muscling…”

“Work smarter not harder…”

“Yup.”

When the two of you had finished the church basement was a cavernous empty space save for the three massive pews. Sometimes the sheer size of the basement was lost on you both, hard to gauge with no references like furniture to base the visual against… but now seeing the three eight foot long benches arranged in a long line with a good four feet in between each one, and still more than enough space to line up least two to three more if you had them, both the scope and scale of this project became apparent.

“Holy. Shit.” You said staring in amazement at the old stone walls and the golden honey oak of the ceiling, “We did this…”

“We’ve come a long way since we started… lot more left but…”

“Shhhhh… let’s just enjoy this for a few minutes before we start listing out everything else we still have to do… “

And the two of you did. You stared at the ceiling, and the stone walls, and the flooring that no longer had massive rotted holes… or sagging sections that dipped and groaned with the littlest bit of weight…. or the nearly 3/4’ gap between the floor and the wall… You admired the freshly repaired ceiling beam that had once been rotted to an oily dust that rained down whenever the kids ran upstairs. You took in the warmth of what had once been cold and generic white painted walls, now covered in a rich deep brown clove color and how they tied in the wood ceilings to the space.

“Ok…” you said after you couldn’t smile any bigger or take in any more of what the two of you had done or else you might just start crying and get all emotional… you didn’t have time for that now… you had a party to get ready for… the first party in your newly renovated chouse…

“You ready to put together that list of shit we still need to do before this birthday party and my mom comes…?”

“Of course you tell me now after I brought that 1 by 10 by 10 foot long board back outside…”

“Stop it…” you laughed… half the joke was knowing that David was only half joking. The other half was how much work you still had to do… from now until forever… and that that was ok with you both.

Here’s the space the next day after we finished cleaning, priming and painting the floors. I went in later and painted the white around the base of the walls and columns. It will eventually all have molding but for now… I couldn’t take the white lol.

I wanted to do something a little different and rather than telling you a story I decided that I would show you some top secret stuff… I’m not sharing all this anywhere but here. Basically we’ve had some ideas of what we’d like this finished church to look like… and while we haven’t gotten it all figured out just yet, we’re getting there.

Using Ai we added current photos of the church to the program and prompted it with our design ideas. While the Ai renditions aren’t 100% accurate in scale or what will be our final design, they’re in real strong vibe alignment with what we’re hoping to create.

What we’re looking to do with this makeover is to tie in the last 131 years of this church using desing elements from now-ish, all the way back to the late 1800s. We’re not looking to jump on any trends, we’re just looking to create an eclectic and cohesive menagerie of old vs really old, while saving major $$ on quality furniture (no MDF crap here… we’re going granny sheik with real wood and in some cases aluminum…), and keeping some awesome stuff out of the landfills. Besides, eating breakfast in a toasty warm kitchen on a MCM little table from grandma’s house just tastes better than that breakfast you eat off the particle board Target table… don’t ask me why… it’s just science.

What we’re also hoping to do is add a LOT of plants. I had a garden in Florida that I absolutely adored. My backyard was my haven… so when we decided to move north I wanted to be able to have that green all year round. Non-negotiable. We’ve started with palms, pothos, oyster plants, ferns and more. We also plan on continuing to grow a year round indoor vegetable garden with herbs and fruit too. Hoping to be a bit more self sufficient and maybe even cut down on our produce bill (somehow I doubt that but ya never know).

Put it all together and you have a magical, eclectic, antique garden church house with a dreamy warm kitchen (smell those fresh baked English muffins and rhubarb cheesecake); a massive family space with reading nooks and dining and cozy couch cuddling among the ferns and tomatoes; a navy blue guest room with a stunning view, vaulted ceilings, and a bed so comfy the guests may never want to leave; an inviting foyer with oriental rug and runner, mirrors, warm understated lighting, and an inviting table with a seasonal arrangement; a dark green reading room (not pictured in green) with a newly built in closet (we have no closets to speak of and are entertaining the thought of building one out); and a gorgeous bedroom with a thick warm rug, a gorgeous ceiling and an inviting shade of sage green.

These are some of the Ai generated spaces and while not an exact, a pretty close idea of where we plan on taking this space. Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

While not exact these two mockups of the Family Quarters (the basement we’ve been working on) are the general feel we’re going for. While the furniture and rugs are a bit too matchy for my liking, we’re definitely leaning in to the garden feel. We plan on adding some quirky fun too like the vintage neon OPEN sign I saved from the trash and brightly colored art and knick knacks. While I do love the Ai generated look I want to take it a few notches away from the current “Pottery Barn” aesthetic to more of an “ecentric artist enclave”

Not Ai but I did snag this adorable little metal enamel cabinet at the antique store for $39. As you can see it was in pretty rough shape, but not rough enough shape that we couldn’t turn it into something cute. I cleaned it up really well then gave it a fresh coat of Sweet Pea colored paint with a satin finish. We plan on leaning really hard into the Sweet Pea color in the kitchen.

Speaking of kitchen check out our plans for the space! While the above photo’s bottom right has removed the large commercial sink from the center of the space (we don’t plan on doing that), this is pretty darn close to the look we plan on creating. Furniture pieces won’t be exact (as we’re thrifting and working with what we can find) but the rest of the look is going to be pretty spot on. I was honestly shocked when David mentioned that he’d love pink in the kitchen… my darling dear… SAY. NO. MORE.

The next two images are not Ai… they are photos of the current state of our “Sanctuary Restroom” and the wall paper we plan on hanging on the newly constructed wall. Outside wall of the bathroom will be done in a brick veneer to match the existing brick. For this space I wanted to go with a medieval gothic vibe… a dark moody wallpaper, gold fixtures (and deer antlers), gilded mirrors, a pretty runner, and scrolling sconces. This is going to be that bathroom that guests will be taking selfies in… which may or may not be a good thing depending on the size of the line…

Imagine this… you’ve just rented out our sanctuary space for an event, or are coming over to our “chouse” as a dinner guest… you walk in and you’re greeted by the image below (with way cooler art on the wall of course): fucking swoon. Your first impression would be… “I don’t want to leave…” and also, “wow I bet the lady that owns this place is the most awesome and cool person on the entire planet with the best personality in the world… and her husband is so lucky to have the best wife ever” probably… and also you’d be right lol.

Ok so now let’s set the vibe for the primary bedroom: sage green. It’s calming, warm, inviting, cozy, and elegant without being in your face extravagant. We’re going to get this room pretty darn close to the mock up here with the exceptions being the rug (probably won’t have an exact match) and the tv (which will be replaced by the mirror that goes with the piece, the old crap no longer needed on the ceiling, and the ottoman will probably go to make room for our dog… also named Ottoman’s bed. Oh yeah… and expect more plants. I’m thinking hanging baskets of ferns… The door pictured leads into the bathroom which was just painted a much darker shade of green… we love it!

Now for the room off the primary bedroom… I don’t kow what the f was going on with Ai and my prompts… which is sort of hilarious that I’m even complaining about the inaccuracies of artificial intelligence that definitely surpasses my real intelligence but I digress… LMAO. So proportions are waaaaaayyy off here BUT the picture shows what we’re thinking of doing in our Reading Room… the room right off of the primary bedroom (and belfry bedroom). This room will be painted a very dark and moody green color but the biggest transformation, should we decide to go this route will be to add the built in closet shown below. Currently we’ve got nothing for storage and I’m thinking that one large closet would look better than 3-4 massive armoires making us look more like a furniture store and less like a home. Anyway… here’s the concept, just not entirely accurate.

This is one of my favorite rooms… the belfry bedroom. While this rendition is a little too vanilla for me with all the white, I was wanting to illustrate the look with the curtains and the navy walls. Our actual curtains and bedspread will be a warm yellow ochre. I’m hoping to add two gorgeous wingback chairs (yet to be procured), to integrate some pretty braided rugs I already thrifted, and to add some live plants as well as some cool art (I might know a gal).

The last interior images illustrate color only and not the decor we plan on keeping or adding… I did want to show you the color we chose for the Reading Room (above and also the space we want to add the closet to… you would be standing in front of the closet if there were one in this picture, and looking to the staircase that takes you up to the belfry bedroom). I hope to add some cozy chairs or a couch, an electric fireplace, and some dramatic curtains.

Below is the bathroom. We actually painted this space the green shown while my mom was in town just before my shoulder surgery. We still have some work to do in the space, like adding trim, decorating, and adding my old farm pulleys to hang my plants from, but so far the color and space look amazing!

And finally… here’s a look at what we plan on doing with the church’s landscaping out front. We opted for something really loose and organic to juxtapose against the rigid and incredibly linear design of the church’s architecture. I wanted the building to look as if it were existing in the middle of a beautiful wildflower fairytale garden. I think this is going to hit the nail on the head. We will be tilling the lawn and planting our flower seeds next week! Can’t wait :)