The best-laid plans....

It's a shame to waste the title of this blog when it could be sooo good for so many things.  However, this particular plan was my plan to do a nice pictorial feature on the kitchen evolution - starting with the photo of the appliances lined up against the wall and a folding table as the only work surface and ending with the latest shot of the built-in coffee maker being moved, which was completed today.  Note:  If you decide to put in a built-in coffee maker, it's a good idea to put it where you really want it the first go-around.

However, yesterday was a bad electrical day in Andrews.  The power was off - on - off again - on again, etc., ad nauseum.  When one of the ONs happened in a big sudden surprise spike, our online computer fried.  This is the computer on which I usually write these words for posterity, because that's where Picasa and all the pictures are stored and the email and online shopping take place.  Took place.  So, no pictures today.  Looks like we try to recover the data on the hard drive and move it to a new ($$ouch$$) computer.  Hope we recover those pictures.  This blog might be pretty boring without them.

Our commitment to the building is cemented

It was a very big deal the day the concrete was poured in July, 2002.  We needed a ramp for the garage - the makeshift wooden planks just weren't cutting it.

                                    

 We also had the base for the steps (to be completed at some future time with marble tiles) leading into the residence stairway entrance poured.

                                      

The entire gallery floor sloped from the back wall to the front windows about 11".  We still don't know why the original concrete was poured that way.  At one time the building was a wholesale grocery and produce market, so someone suggested maybe that was so they could hose the place out.  But then the water would just flood in front of the windows, so I still can't figure out what the sloping floor was about.

                                       

Anyway, we leveled it so that we could put in the display cases and shelves for the gallery.  However, there was another problem at the front door.  How to resolve the fact that the floor was now higher than the threshold to the doors?  We could either have the concrete men make steps or a little slope leading up from the door or a step at the door and cut the bottom off the nice, old, original doors.  We opted for the slope so that the gallery would be handicap accessible. 

Every day was some decision like this, trying to balance practical concerns with aesthetics with the budget.

You don't own your home, it owns you.

That's me looking into the bottomless pit into which our money is going.

My husband, Tony, has been keeping a spreadsheet on all that we've spent since we bought the building. That's my source for the data to do the "bottom line" page of this blog.

Above is the old wooden hatch that covered the roof access when we moved in. One of the first things we did was to replace that with a clear plastic bubble hatch. So now the building has three skylights - this small one and two big 4x8 skylights.

This is an 8,000 square foot building. The front is 40 feet wide and it's 100 feet long and has two levels. When we moved in there were two complete baths upstairs and three areas that had been partially remodeled and a makeshift kitchen. All that was good, because it meant we could live here while we started our renovation. There were two wood stoves for heating, but no HVAC.

Even though the upstairs was only barely livable, we decided to put most of our efforts into the downstairs for the first few months, so that we could get the business up and running and open the gallery. The gallery was my whim. Mainly because everyone we met in town said, "Oh, we are so glad there will be another business on Main Street," and we didn't have the heart to tell them that our business of cutting picture mats was not one that the town could sustain - we would still depend on our Georgia, Florida and other out-of-state customers.

We did have a tenant, Sierra Springs, in the downstairs corner shop already in place when we moved in and they have remained with us all this time.

Here is a quote from my December, 2002, Christmas letter: "I have a vision for this town, as do many of the other residents. We see Andrews becoming a center for arts and artists and a destination point for tourists."

That hasn't happened yet, but we're still working toward it.

Social Butterfly

No work today. I spent the entire day connecting.

First of all a photo op at the Valleytown Cultural Arts Center http://www.andrewsvalleyarts.com/ to show off some architect's renderings of renovations to the old First Baptist church building that is now the Arts Center. That's me in the hat behind the left poster. Tony volunteered to be the photographer.

Then Tony and I decided on a rare treat - breakfast (well, brunch) out together.

In the afternoon, Lisa Scott and I attended a community connections tea party (NO, not a political rally! Tea and scones, actually.) at the Gleanings Foundation http://www.gleaningsfoundation.com/ in Robbinsville. Fabulous mountain views!

Finally, in the evening, a Phat Trout get-together of our Andrews' friends and neighbors to welcome spring. There seemed to be a lot of dogs and puppies at tonight's gathering. Luckily, they were all pretty well behaved. The humans managed to behave themselves, too.

We are more connected to our town and neighbors here than we ever were in Atlanta. Small town living has its advantages.

One of the reasons we're here.

Today my friend, Cathy, and I hiked Bartram's Trail from the Nantahala River Gorge up toward the Appalachian Trail and Cheoh Bald. It was a perfect spring day with cool breezes and warm sunshine. There are several beautiful waterfalls up the trail. Yes! This is why I love living here, sore knees and all.

Our total hike was probably only about 5.5-6 miles, but a lot of the terrain is steep and rugged. It took us about 6.5 hours, but that includes lunch and stopping to rest and admire the views.

This was partly penance for the extra peach and berry shortcake with real whipped cream I ate last night.

Tonight I feel tired, sore and happy. No problem sleeping I'll bet!

It's good to remind myself of all the positive reasons we're glad we're here, in spite of roof leaks and high electric bills. Sometimes you just need a break from the building.

It took six months to get moved - can you say demolition?

This picture of the building was probably taken around 1904-1910.

Before we could get moved in and even think about re-doing, there were things that needed un-doing. Like the so-called studio apartment (complete with waterbed) in the area where we wanted to put our shop.

Like the not-to-code stairs that led from the first floor to the very center of the largest room on the second floor.

Like the heavy metal lath and concrete walls that lined the upstairs hall. We just removed the side on the hallway. We did this to take away some weight from the supporting walls downstairs and to make it possible to run wiring through the walls for outlets and switches without a jackhammer.

All this before we actually even moved into the building.

Wish we had known then what we know now

We were such innocents.

Our objective: Get out of Atlanta, the traffic is murder.

Our criteria: To find a two-story building on the Main Street of some quaint small town in the North Georgia mountains where we could live in a loft-style residence upstairs and have our business, and perhaps some rental space, downstairs.

Our business, by the way, is cutting picture mats for artists, photographers, interior decorators, etc., or anyone who needs picture mats in volume. Our website for mats is http://www.picturematdesigns.com/

We started our search for the perfect location in 2001. Our search went farther and farther north until we wound up in North Carolina. We found this building on Valentine's Day in 2002 and finally closed on it in June.

It's a great building. I thought so then and I think so now. But I never suspected my vision for it would be so hard to realize. When we first walked into it, I said to Tony, my husband, "It will probably take at least ten years, but this could be a million dollar building."