Wall Hanging

Parish life at St. John the Baptist is great. The people, the church, the staff, the area... are all wonderful. However, it has the old school office/rectory set up. That in itself is not bad, but there are no clear distinguishing lines that help draw good boundaries between personal life and parish life. That is, until now.

You may have heard about this amazing spiral staircase in New Mexico that a man just showed up and built for the sisters a hundred years ago or so. Legend has it that this man was St. Joseph. Well, I feel like I was blessed by that same experience on this job. Joseph Adams, a family friend from Lander, came over this weekend and lent me a hand. 

Here's the old set up from the vantage point of what is known as the parish office. Our task was to move the dinning room to a niche in the living room. Then build a dividing wall with a door at the end of the kitchen. Thus distinguishing the living quarters from parish space and making this carpeted area another office.  

Once our work was planned, it was time to buy materials. 

The wall is intended to be temporary, until one day when an entirely new office space is figured out. So we just framed right on top of the carpet, with the intent of taking it back down in the years to come. 

A stud finder was handy to find the rafters to mount to. 

Still have to have a hand saw on hand for those times when you miss-measure. 

Then Joseph showed up and we got to work on the siding. 

I'm not much of a drywall guy, so we went with the cabin look, which matches other paneling in the house. 

Hanging the door went rather smooth. 

Then got to priming and painting. 

The structure really shaped up well. Before Joseph went home we had to put the crowning jewell on, even though there was still trim work to go. 

Giddy up. Good work, son. 

Then Darin came in to help fish the internet and phone lines over.

Not an easy task, but he managed. 

Then we got to trimming. 

Cordless, baby. 

Mui bien. 

Good stuff. This is a text book case of planning your work and working your plan. I had been thinking about this and planning it out for the past couple months. Once completed in my mind, carrying out the labor was a breeze. Special thanks to Joseph and Darin for their help. Couldn't have done it without you. Thanks also to the parish council and staff, who supported and encouraged such an endeavor. Now we can move on to setting up a more permanent space for the pastor's office. Let's ranch!