The upstairs is finally done and the downstairs should go pretty fast. Famous last words!
Since we finally had a REAL bed to sleep in, life was good. The killer futon went out to the curb and some unlucky soul picked it up within fifteen minutes. It felt very good to have a nice bed and no construction dust for a change. Maybe it felt too good.
The drawing below shows the layout of the downstairs. The plan was to tear out everything and get down to the original walls. Somehow we wanted the same look or feel that the old bank had but still design it to fit our needs. The most important thing to get rid of was "The Hut". Somehow it did not go with our idea of what the space should look like. Funny thing was that a lot of visitors could not believe we were going to tear it out.
We managed to camp out pretty well in the downstairs for over three years and even when we moved a lot of the furniture upstairs there was still more in storage and things we knew we would use later.The kitchen was not the greatest but you can learn to cook on a hot plate, microwave and toaster oven. I even baked pies and cookies in the toaster oven - small ones.
To be quite honest, it was rather nice not to have to combat dust for awhile. Suddenly it was October. During the upstairs redo we became rather active in our new community. My decorating business also kept us busy. October in Wynnewood, at that time, was Pumpkin Patch time. Marshell and I had instigated it the year before to raise money for the Chamber of Commerce and it seems like we lived at the Pumpkin Patch for the month. Then there was the Pumpkinfest at the end of the month It was fun especially the little downhill racers.
Suddenly it was November and my busy decorating time of the year. We had already decided that when we started to demolish the downstairs, I would retire from that business. The work table and all the fabric etc just was not what we wanted to deal with anymore. Besides Christmas was coming and we had gotten an awesome upside down tree. This was the only chance to use it until the renovation was complete. By the way, Marshell always smiles before the picture is taken - not during. Besides he hats hats.
Great we can start in January! Whoops! The Chamber needed to raise money for the Oklahoma Centennial Clock. Time out to produce and stage two musical shows. Rock Around the Clock and an evening of Country Music.
It was during this time that Marshell decided to run for mayor. Time out to campaign and knock on doors. He was in the end, happy he did not win. I knew he would have been great at it but at the same time I also knew I would not see a kitchen for a long time.
The Centennial Clock
Great! Now to the demolition. Well, not quite yet. We had two cars and lots of "stuff" in eight storage units. Marshell was always lamenting about not having a garage. Behind our building was the Wynnewood Ambulance Building. Wynnewood no longer operated its own ambulance service but during the school year an ambulance would come from Pauls Valley and stay for the hours school was in session. They decided they no longer needed the building or the upkeep so we leased it. Must say that it was nice to have a place for our "stuff" and cars. It also had extra rooms across the back for workshops and a bathroom with a shower. No more cutting of wood and sanding in the house!
Just when we were finally ready to start on the downstairs, I got the opportunity to go in with another gal and reopen the diner/soda fountain in the old drugstore a half a block away. What possessed me I will never know but I did it. My partner disappeared shortly after we opened. Maybe I had some secret desire to be a waitress or maybe it was a good way to drive myself crazy. Workers/helpers were hard to find so Marshell got wrangled into it. He quit a couple of times and I fired him once. He went to work on the building and I got help from my talented "chef" son. Business boomed and it became a 24/7 job just to fix lunch.
I can't talk too bad about the diner. At least we had a place to eat and better food than I cooked in the makeshift kitchen. Marshell began demolishing the downstairs, came over for lunch and I brought dinner home. He was also great help when I needed him even though the diner was not his thing. I didn't fire him again.
Next week you will get to see the progress.
No comments:
Post a Comment