April showers bring May flowers

It seems all of April I have been too busy to keep up to my posting. Read on to find out why.

Going back to Design Tuesdays I have faithfully been watching and following the progress on Sarah's House. The rooms she is turning out really are stunning and imaginative. I like what she is doing. One of my favorite things about the show is how they interject true thoughts and humor into the narrative. The chemistry between Sarah and Tommy is outstanding. The show is well done and worth the watch. I only wish it was on earlier in the evening.

Moving Designz is expanding. I've been working on our not so little pet project for just over a year although I have been dreaming of it for several. We are opening a storefront location "Moving Designz Home and Cottage" in the historic Journal Pioneer Building. We will be stocking our store with beautiful home furniture, home decor and all the little extras that make a home a home.

I thought I would track our progress through this blog. We only recently completed lease negociations. We're truly excited and a little nervous at the amount of work we have to do over the next 2 months to get ready to open. It's like when you build a house, first you do the homework and decide what you want and then you get hit with decision upon decision. Often some you never thought of.

Here are a few pictures of what it looks like now and I will add more as we go along.
Looking to the right... this area will be the main showroom.

and to the left.... this area will have more showroom space and our work island.

Yes, the place needs a lot of work. It's hard to tell in these images but the place has loads of character, high ceilings, brick walls and even comes with 2 bank vaults. It not only housed The Journal Pioneer (our local paper) but was Summerside's Bank. Lots of history... I'll let you know if I find any hidden gems.

The first thing that is happening is a total clean out following by chipping plaster to expose the brick walls. The landlord will be carrying out our leaseholds for us since he is also a local builder. Our first issue is whether to paint the brick walls white or to leave them au natural. All along I wanted white but have promised the owner of the building that I will revisit that decision once the brick is exposed.

This week I will be planning the floor layout which includes electrical layout, new washroom, new office space, new raised platform, planning wiring for security, audio/visual, telephone and internet. Followed closely by choosing flooring, electrical fixtures and plumbing fixtures.

We have decided to move the entry door to the side of the building on Queen St and close off the old corner door to use as a showroom window. If you know the building you can appreciate why we are choosing to relocate the door from the corner.