Construction Delays Can Drive You Nuts

Rain, Rain Go Away Please!

A prolonged spell of extremely wet weather has been hampering our progress on the studio's exterior for the past several days. It has been raining buckets around the clock, to the extent that big trees are toppling all over the area due to overly saturated ground. A little rain is fine but this ongoing deluge that seems to have no end is driving me crazy. It makes getting anything done outside impossible.

We spent the afternoon working on the shutters, which we're fabricating ourselves. Why go the DIY route? Custom wood shutters were insanely expensive. Vinyl shutters, on the other hand, were more affordable but the color choices are limited, and none of the colors offered matched those on our house. By creating the shutters ourselves we're saving several hundred dollars -- and achieving a cohesive look among all of the buildings on the property.  They're a simple, country cottage batten style: each side comprised of two wide vertical boards topped with a pair of horizontal cross pieces. All straight cuts, nothing complicated. My hubby and I were able to get all of the lumber cut and sanded this afternoon. Tomorrow we should be able to start priming, painting and assembling them. Then it's a matter of waiting until this rain stops so we can install them on the windows. If it doesn't stop soon, we'll be using the lumber to build an ark.