We Live Here

On February 23rd, we moved into The Coat Shop.  Well, technically, Jon moved into the Coat Shop.  When I left Jon and The Coat Shop on Friday morning, it looked like this:

The Coat Shop as construction site.

Then I went cycling in Healdsburg, CA (which is lovely this time of year) with my father and brother.  Three wily Cirinciones, roaming the hills on road bikes.  Good times.

While I was riding my bike and drinking tiny sips of wine out of goblets, Jon and his buddies were belaying our furniture (see earlier post) up to the second floor.

The move: in progress


Jon spent Sunday evening unpacking and organizing for my homecoming. When the weekend was over, I drove "home," but for the first time "home" was not a tiny apartment above an Irish sweater shop.

Said tiny apartment, now free of Jon and Amy

 Instead, I hauled my grubby panniers through a steel gate, up a flight of stairs, and into this:

 BAM!  Fire roaring, bed made, drinks poured, and Jay Z playing on the stereo.  I dropped my paniers, kissed my husband (who gave me a tour of our newly inhabited home) celebrated.  We live here now.

Little Disasters and Big Ups

We...are...so...close.  It's maddening.

The past three weeks have been a shocking flurry of activity.  We met our inspector for the first time.  He was very friendly.  He said he liked the work we were doing and was impressed with how much we had improved the building and what a positive influence we were on the neighborhood.  He loved us!  Then he made us change a bunch of stuff.

So for a few days we were two steps forward, one step back.  Put up a wall.  The inspector inspects.  Take down the wall.

Neither Jon or I takes kindly to being told what to do, so we both bristled under the directive gaze of the inspector.  But we breathed deeply and smiled and nodded and did what he said until he left, satisfied that his power reigns supreme in the fiefdom of Eureka.

Our friend Dan visited for a week.  He brought his friend Montana.  Montana staked out the Coat Shop as her territory immediately, if you knowhatimsayin, but:

It was worth it.

Dan is intelligent and talented.  He's also a bit nuts.  One day while Jon and I were working, Dan did this:

And this: 

FOR REAL.  Dan hauled our appliances up from the first floor to the second floor by his damn SELF. He said it was the highlight of his week with us.  I pointed out the nights we made drinks and dinner and told old stories until midnught.  He just smiled.  Dan is awesome.

In other news, we hired a guy to fix the drywall we (ahem, I) thrashed during the Demolition Derbies.  I got a little carried away with the crow bar and did some pretty serious damage to parts of our walls that were supposed to stay exactly where and how they were.  

I did some research on drywall work and quickly assessed that it required patience, an eye for detail, and a lot of time. That eliminated Jon and I as candidates for this particular task.  

Every day this week I've watched the guy we hired diligently mix and spread the drywall compound, tape the seams, wait for everything to dry, sand it down, and then DO IT AGAIN.  Good call, Jon and Amy.  This dude is Sisyphus incarnate.

We're having another work party this weekend.  Lots of little projects to set us up for the big guns arriving next week: The sprinkler installers, HVAC, and roofer (Jon will have to write about that particular project.  It's his baby).  Once we get those guys done, we're doing the floors and then we move in.  Simple as that.  So...close....

Little bit of progression

stay tuned

Going the Distance, but Still so Much Farther to Go

Joey plaining our redwood beams down to beautiful 1x6 siding and molding.  We were super lucky to find him, his tools, and a kindred designer/maker's soul.

Dan, so tired after attaching our roofing material to the interior commercial storefront.  He came down from Oregon to give us some help for the week, so great!

This is our interior wall in the office/storefront - depending on the renter's choice.  It will look great with bright white walls/ceiling and shinny OSB flooring.

Here is our loft space closer to being complete (redwood walls to come).

Our first dinner with friends in the loft, more to come

Nicole and Wanda came to celebrate Amy's birthday and to help us scrub walls, floors, and get the place ready for our next week (and closer to completion).  So much help and awesome company.

In progress

So, we now have a real loft apartment (all still rough though).

This is Amy and me trying to layout our kitchen.

More soon...

Lovely Bones

We started round two of demolition and framing this weekend.  Our goals are: demolish the existing ceiling and floor assembly between the two levels, expose two walls, and build a new floor/ceiling assembly that creates room for an apartment on the second floor.

Our dear friend Roger has taken on the role of dad-figure/contractor for the next month.  He basically gives us "to-do" lists and checks in on us periodically to make sure we haven't cut our arms off or hit a gas main.  Otherwise, we are left to our own destructive devices.

Well, not entirely alone.  Our friends Christi and Lukas came on Saturday to help us break stuff.  Lukas is 10 and has a way with a crowbar. See below: 

On Sunday we asked a bunch of our friends to come help us continue to break things.  No one could make it, and Jon had to work a ropes course.  So it was just me. So sad.  And also really, really bad-ass.  I was a one woman wrecking ball- tearing through lathe and plaster until I hit brick and redwood.  I only concussed myself once.

We since have managed to convince two carpenters, Joey and Greg, to help us out with the framing. We met Joey when we visited his mom's shop in Arcata, the K Street Annex.  We loved the stained concrete floor and counter made of wood scraps, so we asked the girl working there about the guy who had done their construction and design.  She thought we a little creepy, I think.  But we left her our contact information to pass on to the mystery designer.  Eventually Joey called us, seemed pleased that we liked his style, and agreed to join Team Coat Shop.

I went to a show with Greg on Sunday night and found out he was looking for off-season gigs, so we grabbed him too.  Greg goes on 4 hour bike ride sin the morning and then comes and does construction with us until 8 at night.  His blood is pure diesel, I think.

We are a few days ahead of schedule right now, so our next adventure is to haul some major appliances up to the second floor before the subfloor goes in.  Jon insists this will be a piece of cake, just a matter of "setting some anchors and tying some knots."  We'll see...

For Lease

Yes, we are getting closer to leasing out our commercial space.  We are looking toward April, 2012 for the lease start date but that is dependent on our construction progress.  Our construction loan gives us till June to complete the project, so we have a bit of flex-time.

We have two options of leasing out the space:

1. Lease the entire storefront area + the office space + 1/2 of the basement (all for below market rate, per square foot) for $1250.
2. Lease a 1/6 share of the storefront, office, and basement storage.  This would be a COOP model where we would be part of the community and help organize the store.

We are excited that we are looking to complete this entire process in 12 months, a year early (fingers crossed!)

Here is a picture of my mom helping me with the For Lease sign.  Its a board we spray painted with chalkboard paint and then hung off the illuminated Coat Shop Sign.