Friday, January 5, 2007

Art Studio


We've been doing lots of projects on Paul's days off, which usually occur on Friday. Today was no different. We have been planning to make part of the garage into an art studio (mostly for the kids). But first it had to be cleaned out. The previous owner left a bunch of junk in the garage, and it all had to be gone through. A lot of it was paint, which he could justify leaving because we'd "need" 16 zillion cans of paint for the house. One big find that left us all a little more wary and rose thorn gloves on my hands while cleaning the box out was hypodermic needles. Hmm. Three guesses as to what they were used for, and why they were hidden in the garage? Anyway, now we need to know what to do with them. They've been used and they're sharp, and I certainly wouldn't want a garbage pick-up person to accidentally get jabbed, or even a passing child or someone else to be looking through the garbage left out. Susan? Anyone? What do we do with these? Can we take them to a doctor's office and put them in their hazardous waste?

Anyway, we also found a big old slab of wood, that looks to have been used at one time for a table (brackets for legs are in place) and another time for a door (hinge marks in the end). I looked at it and said, here's our art table! Paul latched onto that idea and went back to the ReBuilding Center (we'd already been once to get recycled wood for art) and bought enough lumber and nails to build this beauty for $20. The piece of wood leaning on the table will be a lip that will hold pencils and brushes on the table. Paul said a plus to the tilted design is that you can't store stuff on it! Oh, there are going to be shelves underneath, too.

Now we just have to solve the heating problem. I bought a space heater, a Vornado, from Craigslist yesterday, but it just didn't put out enough heat. Paul found a very powerful heater on Craigslist today, a kerosene one that you can use in your house if the power goes out, which would be a definite plus. The guy said it heats his whole house!

One more random find: a funny little cannister with 70s style mushroom decorations. Perhaps it would even be worth something. I thought at first of taking it to Rerun and sell it, but I probably won't bother and will keep it out there to keep art stuff in.

We're having fun setting up our new house.

8 comments:

architect said...

Neat table! Good find!
Ick on the needles though. Hmmm, yes, they shouldn't go into the trash. The hazmet containers would be best, but whose? You could try the P.D. but not sure if that would open a can of worms you don't want. Um, keep us posted. =)

Lisa said...

This was a long time ago and in MN, but my brother went through a long medical condition when I was younger my mom used needles to give injections at home. I think I remember her putting the used ones into a plastic container and then throwing them out (maybe like a yogurt container). That might work for just one....not sure. Sorry about the needles! Great table!

monica said...

you could try your local health department, Im sure they know where to take them. i once found a needle in the parking lot of an apartment building where i cleaned for elderly women. i didnt have gloves or anything and i told the security guard and he took care of it. ick.

Susan said...

They need to be disposed of in a "Sharps container".
You can get tham at drug stores I think.
Sounds likea fun place to go through.

Elizabeth said...

Thank you, Susan! That's exactly the info I needed. I will look for one!

Nissa said...

Ooooh, lucky ducky! An art studio sounds divine!

As for the needles, I think you can get a shaps container at the pharm. They'll be able to tell you how to dispose. Lots of diabetics w/ needles...

Mimi said...

Whohoooo! A studio! How awesome is that?

And, a kerosene heater, good plan.

Christina said...

we have one of those containers because paul is diabetic. and wile he uses an insulin pump, therre are times (rare times) that he needs to give himself an injection. there is a place on swan island (metro recycling, i believe) thyat will take the containers (i don't know for sure, because we haven't actually filled our container yet:)