Buh Bye Tiny Water Heater.......

This is the water heater that was in the building when we bought it.  It is way too small.  This is maybe one sink full of hot water?!  This just won't do.  So, we replaced it with a tankless, gas water heater, which is now in the tiny kitchen and not in the front bathroom.

Here is the tankless water heater in the very narrow kitchen.  It's ugly and takes up too much space but well worth it!

Bees

Here are our contractors working to remove the rotted windows in the new classroom/workshop.  These are going to be replaced with big six foot windows, as it appears that is what was there originally and we love lots of light!

So much light!  I'm thinking this would make a great yoga space too!

Then they started working on the second window.  And there was buzzing - then more buzzing.  Then Tim came in and said I think there is a beehive in there!  You see that whole panel on the left?  Yep - that's a bee hive - and there's some of it on the right too.

One of the guys knew a bee guy (apiarist, beekeeper) and he came and gently took the bees to their new home.  Honey was distributed - sticky work.  I kept some of the honeycomb and made a mold of it - I'll show you the necklace I made from the mold later!  I love bees - they keep our world going.  I have so many bee items in the store - check out The Bees of Summer collection if you love bees too!

The Deck

This is so ugly!  It's basically an old, metal industrial loading ramp.  The litle black dog hates to walk on it because her little toes get caught in the grate.  And can you imagine trying to walk on it in high heels?!

These stairs have a tread that would fit a munchkin - they are tiny and useless.  Also, no one really wants to gaze at the beautiful air conditioning unit as they come into the back entrance of the store, now do they?!

Amazing, huh?!  Stefan Vickery, of Vickery Construction, and his guys did this.  They did most of the work on the store and they are great!

I have a pretty little railing, and room for the A/C to breathe.  I can even stand over it and pretend I'm Marilyn Monroe!  That would make a great photo shoot!

Here's another view.

And another view.

And nice new, wide stairs for normal sized feet!

Then I painted it chocolate brown.  That's right, I painted it.  By hand.  With a Brush.  It took a long time.  But doesn't it look good?!

The little black dog is so thankful we have a nice deck for her to walk on now.  Here she is sitting in the sun, watching all the nice people go into The Oyster Bar for lunch and smelling the yummy smells.  I'm very happy with my deck, folks!

Buh Bye Ugly Bathroom.......

This bathroom is so pretty now, but let me tell it was not always like that.  Here is the proof!  Ick!  It was terrible!

The Bedroom Upstairs.......

This is the big room upstairs before anything was done to it.  It has no working electricity, no heat and air, no floor, and it has two weird little windows with really old wooden shutters that don't close very well.

This is somewhat better - there are lights now, and that thing up high on the wall provides heat and air.

The old windows with wooden shutters have been replaced with nice, new windows.

More pictures to come!

Classroom cabinets.......

Nice big cabinets for our classroom, because you always need storage space.

The Floors, the floors.......

We had some serious issues with the floors and had to redo them several times.  I won't even go into it.  Our final solution was to have C & F Flooring install our floors and they did a wonderful job!

The floors are so pretty and easy to clean.

Maybe after a few more years go by, I can talk about it - not yet!!  It was rough, I tell you!  Thank goodness for C & F Flooring!

The Bathroom Upstairs.......

They started to frame in the shower upstairs.

It's very tall, so it needs a light in the top of it.

They need a place to cut the tile, instead of going up and down the steep stairs, so they have a little tent.

It's looking so pretty!  Later there will be a glass shower door.

Add a pretty little cabinet - and then a mirror and some lights.

I love, love this floor!

More pictures to come!

Checkout counter from old doors......

I wanted to have a really big checkout counter.  I found one on Pinterest that was made out of old doors, so I asked Stefan of Vickery Construction to make one for me and of course he obliged!  It came out so good!  We got the doors from Habitat for Humanity.  They have such cool stuff there - check them out!

Tiny kitchen.......

We fit everything into this tiny little kitchen - except a dishwasher - and we might do that later.  There is a sink with cabinets and granite counter, stacking washer/dryer, and full size refrigerator.  Also, there are shelves for storage, along with a recycle bin.

You really don't want two people in there at one time, though!

Lovely tall brick walls.......

Underneath all of that mess were lovely brick walls!  It's going to be a great bathroom!

From one tiny future bathroom.......

Yes, the roof leaked. And made a horrible, stinky mess. Soooo glad this mess is gone now!

Wires, wires everywhere.......

Just a tiny portion of the huge amount of wires we pulled out of the ceiling - crazy.......

Buh Bye ceiling track.......

This was pretty easy to take down, but very sharp and awkward to carry!

And a big old window.......

This old window was covered up by the ceiling tiles, and the brick is completely different from the rest of the brick.

And we have an alley.......

It turns out that this room used to be an alley way, hence the old painted sign on what used to be an exterior wall.

Knob and tube electrical.......

Yes, it's the old knob and tube electrical system, but, fortunately it was replaced with new and modern stuff!

Takes vision to believe this will be a bathroom.......

I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Buh Bye nasty ceiling tiles.......

This is just a tiny, tiny portion of the humongous amount of ceiling tiles taken down.

And the unveiling begins.......

and I'm kinda liking what I see!  What to do, what to do?!