Before and After: front and back

Our building used to be ugly and sad. Our goal was to create "curb appeal." Our building is now happy.

FRONT

The sign is a recreation of the original building sign, when the storefront was used as a men's tailor. The beams are reclaimed cedar, the door handle is scrap redwood, and the flower pot is an old wine barrel. We repaired and stained the concrete and built a wood panel with new street numbers. The photos are of NCAC clients.

BACK

We reinforced the back porch, welded salvaged steel gates, removed some ugly plumbing, and installed a new door and energy star windowsred. The windows are now framed in redwood. We painted the whole building and trim, and cleaned out and mulched the "yard." We continue to beat back the ivy, which seems to multiply like Tribbles.

Finishing Phase I

So, we finished Phase I of our project! Amy and I got married, went on an amazing honeymoon, then we spent two weeks working on the property almost every night and two full weekends.  We are tired and so stoked!  Here we go...

Mulch, $12 for a truck full, nice!  This is for the side of our property next to all the electrical meters.

Our loft apartment is laid-out and ready for our renters

Our bathroom was about 8-10 days of soothing, then detailed-oriented, then angry work.  At the end the scope of work is extremely satisfying.  Note the Kohler heads, exposed copper piping, copper curtain rod to match piping, subway-like tile, dark grout, plexiglass on the ceiling to expose the studs, and an industrial drop cloth as a shower curtain. 

Hanging towel and a local potted grass

White seems the theme

We added Redwood baseboards and stylized hooks

We are really happy with how the bathroom came out 

The aluminum siding, the tub, and bamboo really go well together 

 Our entranceway, laundry room, kitchen, and storage

And the Stairs

 Look forward to our updated business plan and completed Phase II plan soon.

Tiling Sucks

So I think we've clearly establishing our blogging roles+responsibilities at this point; Jon takes and uploads the photos. I talk about my feelings. With that in mind, here's the deal:

Tiling is the worst thing ever. It takes forever, it's hard, and even if you work for a solid week on it, it still doesn't come out that great. Tiling makes me cry. Those pictures you seem below of me smiling and looking cute are really just me putting on a brave face for the paparazzi, like Jennifer Aniston.

I thought I would wait to write this blog post until the tiling project was over, when I would have a sense of completion and satisfaction and perspective. However, it is now clear to me that the tiling will NEVER END.

The project began about 4 months ago, when we gutted the gross bathroom- pulling out a busted metal shower stall and concrete shower pan, ripping out drywall and linoleum.

Three months ago we refinished the floor and repaired the plumbing so the shower would actually work.

Two months ago we installed a shower pan and I bought some cool white tiles in the bargain basement of the carpet shop down the street and we thought we'd make quick work of tiling the shower. Then we got married and had a honeymoon.

That part was awesome.

When returned home last week, we buckled down and started prepping the bathroom for the tile work. We covered the walls in plastic sheathing and Durarock and mortar. We then laid and cut tiles for 10 years. Or whatever.

On the bright side, I learned to use a new tool- the tile saw. Tile saws are the greatest. They make a cool noise and clean cuts and re immensely satisfying to use. The problem with the tile saw is that to use it correctly, you have to measure tiles and the spaces in which the tiles need to fit. And ya'll know how I feel about the measuring.

So suffice to say I miscut a lot of tiles. Not by a lot, but by the tiniest fraction of a cut, which it turns out matters just as much.

Last night we spread the mortar, and tonight we will clean and patch up the mortar and hopefully seal it in the next day or two. And then, maybe this project will end. But don't count on it.

Ok, we've been busy - here we go:

We got married

Went on a Honeymoon in Maui

Got back and started landscaping

The rooftop deck has more green now

Amy and the tile cutter

2 full days and 3 nights of bathroom tileing

 I think there are tools for this but hands work well too

We are working our butts off because we booked our first AirBnB client for a week

Small Victories

Amy and I have been getting ready for our wedding and have not had enough time to focus on the Coat Shop as much as we would have liked this month. But, our wedding and honeymoon is shaping up well. Below are some pictures of projects that we've been able to complete in the meantime.

Below is a picture of our storefront with a new 1/2 wine barrel and flowers, planted beautifully by my mom (she is in town for the wedding).

Jay, one of our friends gave us a hand with our window casements. The redwood looks great. This is in the bathroom.

An updated roof deck, still modular! Its bigger, all the metal was scrapped from our basement or other projects.

We will host an Eureka Arts Alive soon, here is Peggy Prior's "Joy in the Morning Photography's" display of North Coast Adventure Center's action pictures. This is in the storefront windows walls.

This is a picture of Maui, where we will be heading soon (before or after the wedding, depending on how our planning goes)!

More work to do: We've listed our loft on AirBnB, http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/184336 and we need to complete our bathroom before we book guests between construction phases (we've already committed to a guest for a week!).

Thanks for reading,

Jon + Amy

Progress and Thanks

Fence: Design by Amy, inspired by Dwell, build by Jon

Gates: Sourcing by Amy at Arcata Scrap and Salvage, 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/arcata-scrap-and-salvage-arcata 

Welding by Michael of Gone Welding: http://www.gonewelding.com/

Cement work by Jonah of Monument Settings.  He did a great job, was close to our budget, and his end project looked great!  He fixed a crack, filled it in, and sanded/stained.  

http://monumentsettings.com/

Saturday garage sale finds: 

$2 table saw

$1 metal shelves

$5 stool

Amy's sunning herself after a rooftop lunch on our fully modular deck

Amy said I looked "pretty" in the light working on the wire for the railing built by our plumber, John from Jorgensen Plumbing of Eureka.  I added the wire cable but the design was Amy's idea.

He was also willing to indulge me and Amy's crazy ideas and materials:

http://local.yahoo.com/info-83711928-jorgensen-plumbing-eureka

Amy building a bench for our shower

We decided to enjoy our hard work with a wine, cheese, and crackers dinner with a soak in our Double Slipper tub, made for two.

We got our tube here: http://www.vintagetub.com/

Jorgensen Plumbing did the install of the tub

Amy and I did the corrugated metal walls 

We are really happy with the outcome of how this room was transformed from a nasty little cave to a sleek start of a loft space.

Thanks for reading,

Jon

Growing to Love

Let's be honest with each other. When we first bought the Coat Shop, it was the ugliest building we had ever seen. It was dark except for flickering fluorescent bulbs and smelled a bit like damp sewage. As I've explained before, every contractor or friend who walked into the place looked at us with pity and dismay. Some of you, gentle readers, expressed similar sentiments.

And the truth is, I felt the same way a lot of the time. It was a bit like finding oneself in an arranged marriage. Yes, I knew that buying a house was what I wanted to do. Yes, this property was well within our budget and had great potential. But was there an instant love connection? Hell no. I hated walking into the Coat Shop. Even as we made progress, the amount of work that lay ahead of us felt daunting. There was never going to be enough time, energy, or money to do all that we wanted to do.

Somewhere in July we hit the tipping point. Jon took over general contracting, we were able to link up with some amazing friends/carpenters/artists, and we worked our littles tushes off. And as the drywall came crashing down and we stayed up late sanding and sealing hardwood floors we found under the linoleum and we found a plumber who got our design ideas (and our budget) and built us the most beautiful shower in the world, I have started to fall in love.


Our fully modular rooftop garden. Brought to you by Jon

It's not a mad, passionate love. It is not the stuff of legends. But I'm starting to look forward to going home to it after work. I am curious how its day went. Yesterday, I even bought it a little wind chime- a gift for the Coat Shop for no reason except I thought it would be nice.

Last night, I wiped down our freshly sanded floors with a damp rag to wipe up any loose sawdust before we spread a hundred thin layers of polyurethane over them. It was painstaking. And y'all know I hate that shit. But last night it felt different. Tender. Worthwhile.

I think it's going to work out.


Working on our other project, the great River Wedding of 2011.