Why we love Wisconsin (?)

Work on the basement is stalled for a while, although we are hoping the contractor's part will be completed soon so that Tom can finish up.

We did not think to take before-pictures, but it turns out I had a couple in my camera. Here they are. This gives you an idea of what the mess was like.

Those pictures actually are more in-the-beginning-of-the-process-of-remodeling, but you get the idea.

Here is a picture of the section that will become my basement office. That half-wall sticking out into the room will be a standing-work counter and at right angles at this end will be a regular work desk for the computer and stuff. I am hoping to put a meditation space in that back corner, screened off from the work area in some way. The other side of the half-wall (where you see the table with tools now) will be Tom's new studio for his painting. (All those white strips are not going to be there. They are covering some of the stuff that the contractor had to re-do, making for the present delay. The walls will be that gold color. BTW, my camera does not do colors well, and the color is warmer and better than you may think from looking at these photos.)

The other half of the basement (on the other side of the stairs which are behind and to the left as you look at this photo) has Tom's shop and a lot of shelves for storage of large items. Below is a photo of the clothing/linens storage closet in the nice half of the basement. It is complete and we have begun moving things into it.

Which brings me to "why we love Wisconsin (?)." The idea is that this is where we hang and otherwise store winter items in the summer, summer items in the winter. Today it is June 6 and at 10:10 in the morning it is 52 degrees and rainy. I told Tom that, although I like the idea of storing my winter clothes downstairs and having less clutter upstairs, I am not sure that it will be worth the hassle to take them down for two weeks every year and then have to haul them back up.

Seriously. My mother gave me money for my birthday (May 19) and I bought three short sleeve shirts and two pair of cargo shorts. I have been able to wear two of the shirts, once each, and no chance to wear the shorts yet. Tom and I are going to a festival in Milwaukee this weekend and I had figured it would be a shorts-&-t-shirt kind of day. Predicted weather? Mostly cloudy with high of 67. And the festival grounds are right on the lake, so it will be cooler there.

And I already folded and packed my sweaters!