Outside is almost finished!

So, here was the scene Saturday morning. 

The crew arrived at 2:30pm the previous afternoon and worked until 8:30pm. They finished all of the siding around 11:30, but the calking would have to wait until the rain blew past. 

 The black that you see is a protective wrap, the white is Azek trim board. The bottom bead board is wood and will be painted or stained. I'm leaning toward a dark stain. 
Now, we wait again. The city still needs to complete an electrical inspection, we're hoping by Tuesday. After that, we'll insulate and close the walls, the entryway ceiling, paint and put the 3rd TV back up. Stay tuned!

Windows are in!!!

Finally! So, this was the scene 9/19/11 at around 9:20 am. The crew quickly removed the plywood and started framing the openings. 

After the metal braces are installed, the glass is carefully inserted.

After the windows are insulated, we're ready for siding. Hopefully this week... 

 More to come later this week!

Sorry for the delay

As mentioned in the last post, I was still painting. Good news,  I'm done! At least, for now. As you can see, the entry, support column and even the exterior of the door are now a glossy black. Oil based paint gets everywhere and is really hard to scrub off. I'm so happy to see things shaping up, however, the windows won't be in this Friday like I had thought. In fact, we still don't have a date yet. Hopefully tomorrow we'll know more... 

What do Iron, spiders and shirts have in common?

They're all a part of this new post! So, I found this guy near the top of the iron support column when I went in to apply the primer coat. It totally looked like a hermit crab and it was pretty big. He decided to move on and surrender the column to me without a shot fired; wise choice. I was too exhausted to take any photos of the primed column when I finished, you'll have to take my word for it.Finally, my sister came through and photographed the only known surviving Millie's shirt from the early 1980's. This shirt was once owned by Burt, was given to my brother Kevin and stolen from him courtesy of my sister Ashley. We will reproduce a slightly updated version of this shirt, that will be available for sale as soon as next week (hopefully) Btw, that's no longer our phone number.

The iron should all be finished by Wednesday, hopefully sooner! Will the glass be in this week?

Grinding rust off iron is so much fun; wanna try it?

Sorry for the update delay, I've been caught up in attending to the iron works located at the entry. It's been a really busy couple of weeks and I thank all of you that have dropped in to support us! We really do appreciate all of the kind words. The best part has been chatting with the neighborhood folks and answering questions!

 This was the state of the entryway last Thursday, about an hour after working at it with the power grinder (or whatever you call it).

 As you can see, there was a lot of rust, which makes clouds of red dust, fun!

 The column is now 90% paint free! Just have to do the top, then I can prime it. The sooner the better, it already started showing rust today!

 Had a way awesome party on Tuesday night, one of the patrons drew this. I love it and am trying to contact him to get permission to use the image.

Our friendly staff is here to serve you! (Toni and Emily) Thanks to Burt B, our favorite original customer , for the first picture and this one! Don't forget, Bears are on this Sunday, come on by for the game!

The mundane waiting period begins

It's about as exciting as circling the airport, waiting for clearance to land after a long, exhausting visit with your family. As we wait for the glass to arrive, we look for ways to kill time. Here is a side by side comparison, you are able to see the brick that was added on top of the building (have no idea when).

 A little closer (Jacob is the key grip in this shot)

 A little neon to help with the lighting situation.

 The active gas line has been deactivated, cut back and capped.

Ready, set, wait. We wait for the electrical inspection, hopefully next week. After that, the interior should come together pretty quickly. Lot's of curious people poked their heads in to ask what's up, we appreciate all of the kind words and suggestions. Yes, there will be a grand reopening party, but I don't know when exactly. Hope to see you before we're finished, stop in and say "Hello!"

Power up!

The Electrician finished installing outlets today, we now have some power in the front and more important, a place to plug lights into temporarily. Last night's "Pumptoberfest" beer tasting was a huge success, despite the fact that we appear closed from the outside. Lot's of new faces mixed in with our loyal regulars, the beer was awesome!  

I contacted a beer distributor about more banners to hang over  the plywood to announce that we're open, but I'm ready to get a sheet and some shoe polish, "Hicks style"!

We're now ready for electrical inspection, however, city hall is closed until Tuesday. We need to pass before we are able to insulate, close the walls and paint; bummer. My experience with city hall to date tells me we won't be inspected until next year, earliest, and that's if we're lucky. I hope I was just kidding. So, we are still open, normal business hour. Please come down and take a look around, we love the company!

 

Day 2: windows are framed!

Day 2, it all comes out! The siding was first @7am.

 Electrical was shut off @8am (in the front walls) then the crew took it all down!

 The view from inside.

 Look Ma, no walls!

 I grew very attached to this look.

 The framing seemed to go by quickly, just the metal on the ceiling kept us from opening on time @6pm.

 Here's the product of day 2! We'll have some lighting outside tonight, will help signal that we're open.

 Same shot @7am day 3!

 By popular demand, the original exterior...

It won't be exactly the same, but it will feel more like early 20th century chicago; 1906 represent!
We'll have electrical work done by 11am day 3 (electrician is working while I type), windows will be measured today and the exterior will hopefully finished sometime next week!