Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Powering Through



Jon has set up base camp in the Coat Shop. He is operating his business, North Coast Adventure Centers, from his laptop and cell phone in the storefront while building a roof top garden, replacing the water heater, and re-finishing the floors. He is a powerhouse, as evidenced by the fact that the pace of work has increased three-fold in the last two weeks.

Here are some things we've accomplished:
The illuminated signs for the building are up AND working!

We replaced the broken glass in the storefront with a wood panel, complete with address numbers and a mail slot.



We started re-finishing the wood floors and walls, using my all time favorite tools - a sander AND a crowbar.

Good times...


We spent the weekend trolling hardware stores for tools for these projects, and on our way back to the Coat Shop we passed an Open House sign in front of a beautiful Victorian house. We walked in and cased the joint. It had high ceilings, original built-ins, leaded windows - all spectacular. There were 4 bathrooms and the house seemed to go on and on, a labyrinth of lace curtains, ancient wallpaper, and more than a few "trouble spots."

The real estate agent chirped that there were hardwood floors under the carpet, but she didn't know the condition of the roof or the plumbing. Two years ago, I would have walked out of that house full of fairy tale visions of clawfoot tubs and mahogony floors. Now, I calculated engineering fees and feet of insulation,

As we walked out, I said to Jon, "Wow, that's a lot of house." Jon replied, "That's, like, $750 in dump fees." Word.

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