Paint, 2. Us, 0.

The evening started out well. We arrived at some things looming, and gleefully tore into packages that had arrived via UPS. It was like Christmas all over again, as Rebekah and I examined the artwork and posters she had purchased online to adorn the walls of the building. Jeremy, my husband, computer tech guru, and sometimes helper-elf, arrived shortly before the pizza delivery. We ate dinner, formed a plan of attack, assigned tasks to one another, and dug in. Rebekah (aka Mom) and I decided we'd finish painting the bathroom doors in the basement. It was a good plan, and was going along smoothly until the paint gremlins got us.

Rebekah was painting the bright lime green at the bottom of her door, when it looked as if she slipped, knocking her can of paint over. "Oh no, Melanie! Help!" She called, as it oozed out of the can, and glopped lazily across the basement floor. The paint didn't even have the decency to land on our cardboard "drop cloth." As I went to step down from my perch on a folding chair, I landed on top of my bright pink paint.

"Oh No!" I said. I helplessly watched, brush in hand, as more paint puddled under my feet. I couldn't think, my brain seized up. "Call for your Dad. We need help," Rebekah said.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad! Dad?!"

"Floyd!?"

We called simultaneously up to my father, Floyd, fix-it expert of all things and rescuers of damsels in distress. He took one look and said, "You can scoop that back up into the paint can."

"But your floor..." Rebekah began.

"It'll clean up. That's why I varnished it. Yo, Mel. You're making a trail."

"But I took off my shoes and socks," I said as I hopped towards the double basin sink.

"Well, you're dripping."

I looked at the bottom of my jeans, and sure enough, they had been dipped in pink paint. I had to flip up the cuffs to stop making pink tracks across the floor. Meanwhile, Jeremy wandered down, wondering about all the commotion. Handing him a bucket and a sponge, we enlisted Jer on clean-up duty.

"It was the weirdest thing, like the paint gremlins got us," Rebekah said. "Honestly it was just one can after another."

"Well, I think we oughta just call it a night, "I said. "Usually when stuff starts to go this wrong, I take it as a sign, and pack it up."

"I'm with you."

Melanie

Happy New Year!

The countdown to our opening begins. We have a little less than two and a half months before our Opening. Some of our promotional work is finished, and our signage has been sent to the printer. What's left to do? It feels like just about everything!

Floyd began working on our boutique, prepping the room for paint, and taking down ceiling tiles. It will be the "Gallery for Functional Art," so we're focusing on making it the best. Our not-so-little-helper-elf, Steven (who also happens to be Nephew S to yours truly) has made major headway in the second floor bathroom. We love the antiquated pedestal sink with its separate hot and cold faucets, and the very dated toilet in the second floor bathroom, so we're going for a past meets present kind of look with modern wallpaper, and black and white subway tile. In between working on the bathroom, Steven can be found on a ladder, painting primer on the boutique windows' woodwork.

The community studios are coming along as well. Floyd and I spent a few weeks before Christmas vacation cleaning up two of the four looms in the weaving studio. I washed and polished the wood, while he removed any rust we found on the metal parts. What parts that couldn't be preserved, he and I replaced.

Floyd also finished the basement floor that leads to our future dye kitchen. And, we still have some minutiae to finish in the downstairs bathrooms: hanging art, finish painting the doors, etc. We have been very busy since my last post in November.

Behind the scenes, Rebekah and I are working on the copy for our website, which is currently under construction. Once up, we will list our classes and workshops, our current and upcoming events, as well as individual artist pages, for those who rent studios within our building. We will be spending more time updating this blog, so keep checking back with us over the next weeks!

All in all, things are progressing, despite the quickly coming deadline. We hope you had a wonderful holiday season, enjoying friends and family, lots of love, warmth and good cheer. Blessings to you and yours for 2010!

Melanie