What's up

In renovation news, although the primary reason why I decided to finish the basement room was to make space for the Boy when he moved in, I've decided to do it anyway without him.   I'm looking forward to having a dedicated place that's larger than a shoebox to work in each day.  The contractor was supposed to start today, but today's a holiday so I wasn't surprised when he was a no-show.  I'm guessing he'll be here tomorrow, or we'll have to have a talk.

These are the before pictures... it's basically an unfinished basement, but I thought it'd be fun to keep a photographic record of the progress.

From the stairwell, the left hand wall and door will be opened up in the foyer.  The floor will be changed out on the basement level of the foyer (the stairs won't change) to match the brown porcelain tiles that will go down throughout the basement... haven't decided what pattern it'll be laid in yet.

This is pretty much half of the basement.  We'll be finishing 2/3 of what you see here.  

A wall will go in at the far end of the little bump out on the right.  That wall will go all the way to the other side of the room on the left, closing it off, and will be floor to ceiling bookshelves.  There will be a window built into that wall, to avoid blocking off all the light that comes from the window at the end.  ... And we're mulling over possibilities for a hidden door amongst the bookshelves for untraditional access to the room behind it (which will be finished at a later date).

The bump out on the right will be my new office area, with a built-in desk and shelves.

This view is from me standing where the wall of bookshelves will be, looking forward.  The bump out/office area is to the left now, stairs to the right.  I am planning a sectional couch in that front area, with the tv on the front wall.  I know what couch I want (a down sectional) but I don't have plans to buy it right away.... maybe in the new year.

In other news, the wee beastie is growing like a weed.  He's trouble and he's bad; but he's all sorts of cute so I suppose I'll keep him.  I like the shaggy look, so I comb him every day, brush his teeth/clean his face most days (to prevent the goopy eyed look he's got in that first picture), and give him a bath every week.  He's *almost* house trained, and he's *almost* leash trained.  He can sit on command, and knows to come to me when I call (but isn't quite 100% reliable yet.)  I've been teaching him to lie down on command, but I've also been teaching him to shake his paw and to imitate a zombie.   He's quick, but not nearly as quick to pick up new commands as Tallulah was.  I think maybe he's getting confused by learning the three new commands at once, so - as cute as the zombie is - we will be focusing on his lying down on command until he masters that and then moving on to the funner tricks.