Before and After

After three weeks of renovations - here is our most up to date before and after. We still can't believe the transformation!

Before...

After....
We started installing the flooring last night and just for the record, lock in laminate flooring IS NOT as easy an everyone says it is! Hopefully by the end of this week we'll be able to share images of the finished product - at least for the build out phase.

Bella Buildout Update

The past week and a half has been CRAZY! Our painter was scheduled to arrive this past Tuesday so last weekend we had some major work to do to get ready for him. All the walls were up and the major construction finished, however we had lots of "finishing" work to do. Our Labor Day weekend was filled with finishing trim (my favorite!), fixing the stairs, fixing little imperfections and the biggest challenges - electrical and building the shelves. In many of the pictures you see Joel and John working on our future dress racks. We decided (after much debate!) to scrap the old shelves and build new ones. The new racks they made are awesome and they did a really great job! Our painters finished up yesterday and last night we started prepping for the the floor installation which is today's big task. I've got pictures of what the store looks like now that I'll post later today. You will not believe the difference!

Thank you to everyone who gave up part (or all!) of their Labor Day weekend to help - Our dads - Doug, Steve and Tom, our husbands - John and Joel, our good friends and other family - Chris and Ryan and my mom Kathi for planting our beautiful new flowers and providing nourishment! Check out the pictures below.

Construction Update

Bella Bridesmaid Build Out Progress

Here is a slideshow of the progress over the weekend. We have a little work left to do before the painter arrives next week but we're making tons of head way! Thank you so much to everyone who helped out!

Build Out Day One

Yesterday was the first day of build-out for Bella Bridesmaid. Originally we weren't supposed to start until today but we got a surprise by getting the keys one day early! So, we're happy to report that we are officially ahead of schedule :). The space used to be an interior decorator's show room. There is the front space and the back space that are separated by two walls but not closed off from each other. The plan is to remove the wall that juts into half of the front room and move it back to be flush with the other existing wall and then separate the two spaces with french doors so that we have a clearly defined space for both Bella and Soirée. Plus there are lots of "interesting" walls and overhangs all of which need to come out. Future plans include new paint, new flooring, shelves and much, much more! Here are just a few pictures of our first day - we got SO much done!

Before: This is the front room of the store looking from the front door in

Before: This is the store from the back of the front room looking out onto Oak street.

Stopping for dinner. Thanks mom for the great food!

During: The first cut into the wall.

After: This is the front room of the store looking from the front door in - but with the wall gone! Now you can see back into the future Soirée space.

After: It got pretty dusty in there so I wasn't able to take as many good shots of the front but you can see how the overhang (one of the "weird" walls that we can't explain) is going to be removed making it one big open space.

Thank you to our manual labor or "stud finders" as they like to call themselves - John, Joel and Ryan. You guys are amazing and we really, really appreciate all that you guys are doing (this was at about 11pm last night)!

Day two starts in about 45 minutes and we'll be sure to share more pictures of the progress. Feel free to stop by and visit - 6205 Oak Street - but don't come without a sledge hammer.