I know that could be any weekend, but last weekend was spent replacing flooring in her piano studio.

The carpet in the studio had to go and an allergic reaction my wife suffered last week sealed the deal.

We had a little money saved up and I found a great deal on laminate at Home Emporium.

Laminate, Underlayment, Tile, Mud, Grout, Schluter Trim and accent carpet was all had for under $300.00.

Once I ripped the carpet out I discovered some moisture around the patio door. This has been a recurring problem with this door, and the final solution is to install some gutters outside and tile the area so that any future moisture will land on material more suited to handle it.

The first installation project was to tile the patio door area and I tackled that before lunch.

Take that rain!

Starting at the other end of the room, the laminate went down really quickly and we were done by evening. Since the tile was laid in the morning, we carefully fit the strips around the new tile finishing all the cuts.

I always pull baseboard when I install laminate.

I think it looks much better this way and saves the quarter round which I detest.

By 10 P.M. I had replaced all the baseboard and door trim up to the front wall and had the room back in shape before Sunday.

Our new rug matched perfectly and my wife was one happy camper.

Teacher.

Sunday afternoon I grouted the new tile and relaxed after morning praise and worship at church.

Monday morning I added the final Schluter RENO T strips, amazingly good looking stuff, and had the room ready for business by 2.

Not bad if I do say so myself.

And I do.

I love getting rid of wall to wall carpeting.

I think wall to wall carpeting is the preferred flooring in hell. :)

Hopefully everything is up to par and we can get rolling on sheet rock, insulation, plaster, and carpet and put everything but the front door to bed by the weekend!

This is what things looked like inside this morning.

Here is the outside. Notice the dog ears on the corners of the garage? I got in touch with my inner cave man and beat the bricks out to square the framing out. I don’t have an updated picture of that, it was too dark.

Here we have the temporary door and new rough opening for the French doors all completed. Notice the nice square corners. I have to do a little brick work outside to close in the new opening, but I am so happy I took the time to do it right.

I filled in a 1/2″ depression in the cement where the garage door used to sit. I pulled out a ton of old framing for the door and was able to add back some 2×4′s and a 2×6 header to finish the rough opening for the new door.

The black 1×2 on the floor is there to keep the weight of the temporary plywood I tacked up off the cement for the night until it cures.

The door is on order and should be here by next Wednesday.

Looking back toward the house you can see the new tile we put down Saturday. All that is left is the edges which we will finish off when the drywall is in.

I also replaced the side door today.

Here is the new closet and some of the electrical. Most of this work was done last week.

We decided to go with a mini-split ductless HVAC system for this room which will go on the wall above the breaker box. It will end up blowing the budget a bit but will be well worth it in labor and energy efficiency.

After much prayer and council we have decided to invest a little money and a lot of time into converting our garage. The best thing is we will be doing this completely debt free thanks in large part to listening to and following Dave Ramsey and getting on a strict budget.

I highly recommend it.

The new space will be primarily used for Julianne’s Piano business which is growing by leaps and bounds.

I am so proud of her.

We will also use the space for our worship team rehearsals, I will start offering voice lessons, and Alex will utilize it for audio recording as he learns the trade.

I will be taking pictures of the progress and updating the blog as we go along.

After this project is over we start on the rest of the baby steps to becoming debt free.

We have big plans and can hardly wait till the next building phase where we will be replacing our garage with a new one complete with studio space above for me. Rohr Fine Art is my motivation to live like no one else so later we can live like no one else.

2.  Specify A.M. or P.M when you schedule a make up lesson.  I had a student come to my door at 7:30 a.m. for a lesson this morning.

3.  Even if you have a calendar of events, most people will lose, forget or ignore them.

4.  Send out reminders for every event you have.

S.  Send out additional reminders for every event you have.

6.  Email and call people for additional reminders for every event you have.

7.  Never schedule more than one make up lesson a month, per student.

8.  Specify that you will never schedule more than one make up lesson a month, per student.

9.  Most people will not pay you unless you remind them.

10.  Send out reminders every month that tuition is due.

11.  Most students will not practice unless they are motivated by three sources:  the teacher, the parents and themselves.  If you are the only motivation, they will probably not be successful.

12.  Do NOT agree to try to teach 15 minute lessons to 3 year olds.

13.  Do NOT agree to try to teach 4, 5 or 6 year olds, unless you have previously known the child to be advanced for his/her age.

14.  Always have a song ready for yourself to play for parents that ask you to play at Christmas Parties, recitals and other events.

15.  Smile and be gracious, even after the parent forgets to pay you for the 3rd time.  It couldn’t possibly be an inconvenience!

16.  Be encouraging and gracious, even after the child forgets to practice for the 3rd time that month.

17.  Send out progress reports for children that are not practicing and are not learning what the parents expect them to.

18.  My teenage children will not hear the phone ringing and answer it when I am teacing a lesson because they have headphones on.  Regardless, don’t interrupt the lesson to answer the phone.

19.  Smile and be kind, but don’t be a push over.  If you say you need to get paid, people will more than likely pay you.

20.  Take a break for a week or two during the summer!

Tomorrow is our reception!  That means that I will be done with piano for this year, although I do have 9 people that are coming in July for summer lessons.

You can see I have a maternity dress on now.

Elizabeth played “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”

As Daddy would say, “Isn’t she beautiful?”

Alex was a big help–and big as well!  He’s growing up!

This is me giving last minute instructions to my students.

David was the one taking pictures, so we don’t have one of his pretty face, but I will try to catch him at some point.