I'm in....sorta

Don't think I've forgotten about you. It's just that I've been really busy working with Joel each night grouting the floor, and scurrying around every day completing the details for the shop. Yesterday, Friday, October 17 was move in day. Yippee! I took a couple of quick pics during the hustle to share with you.

Now, I plan on taking the next 2 weeks to do all the detail work, like....hmmmmm, signage, hanging things on the walls, getting a phone, unpacking bins, bins, and more bins. Oh, yeah, and sewing as much product as possible before I open. I've set a tentative opening date of Tuesday, November 4, which gives me just one short week of working the kinks out before the big Antique Alley sale on Sunday, November 9! Crazy, isn't it? But, I'm having so much fun. I can't remember when I've been so dog-tired, and yet so happy! Hope you come to see me when I am finally up on my feet and have everything in place. I'll keep the cappuccino machine ready for your arrival.

Creatively yours,

Debbie/Mom

A hint of things to come

It just occured to me to let you see a glimpse of some items I've been sewing for the shop. I've had a ball coming up with fun, quirky chef's aprons, pillows, pillowcases and purses. Hopefully, when I'm settled in the new space, a lot more will come rolling out of the sewing machine.

more pics

I think these pics say it all. Joel and Jarrad were pretty beat by quitting time Saturday night. Aw, man, I just remembered we still have to grout all those lines! Wanna help?

Oh, my aching......

Well, it's Monday morning, and I can't wait to share the weekend's progress with you. Joel and I started laying tile at the shop Saturday morning after laying out our lines to keep us on the straight and narrow. Man, 20 X 20" tiles are heavy! And, carrying a 5 gallon pail of thinset is pretty weighty, too. We definitely used muscles over the last 2 days that haven't been used in quite a while. And now, we are moving a little bit slower this morning.

Jarrad came over after work Saturday night and gave us some much needed new energy, young muscle strength, and encouragement. We cranked! The nice local policeman even stopped by on his rounds to see how we were doing....alright, that's not entirely true. It seems the people living behind the shop took some offense to a tile saw buzzing at 9:45PM, hmmmmmm.....imagine that? So, no problem, we moved it inside the shop instead and kept on going till 11:30.

Joel and I were back at it Sunday morning and didn't leave until we finished the entire store, all 4000 lbs of tile, at 6:30PM. All I wanted to do was paint the floor, but Joel really thought it should be tiled. Well, it's tiled now; we may never walk again, but it's tiled! Ha!

Think I'll go soak my entire body till I'm a prune,

Deb

Tons 'O Tile

What a day Thursday was! The plumber came to the shop and hooked up the water supply to both sinks and installed the toilet. When he first arrived, I talked to him about one of those mini instant-hot hot water heaters since there is no hot water anywhere in the building. He said that it would require electricity down inside the cabinet but, yes, he could hook one up for me.

Well, I went to work at the old shop, and thought about it, but decided it would get done later, much later. At lunch when I went to see how he was doing, the plumber told me the electrician just left for a moment and would be back. They had discussed the hot water heater, and the electrician was willing to do the work involved today! I quickly called Joel, my CFO, who ok'd the purchase and I was off to Home Depot....pronto.

At the end of the day, I had hot water, a flushing toilet, and a new electical receptical outside above the front window of the shop for Christmas lights. God is so good. All of this has been part of the buildout paid for by the owners, and we just had to supply some of the components, but they supplied the pros to install them. Woo-hoo!

Well, the rest is up to us, so, since Thursday is Joel's early day, we went to the paint store together. I was just going to paint the floor and do a faux finish on it and be done. After talking to the experts, we weren't satisfied with the information we got, so we left without buying any paint at all. On our way home, Joel suggested we swing by Ton's of Tile on 66th Street. He has been telling me he wants to tile the whole store, and I keep thinking it's going to be back breaking work.

Of course, we found tile in stock, on sale, in my colors, in 20X20" sized tiles, and bought it. Now, we had to get it home, hmmmmmmm, don't think it'll fit in the trunk of the Audi. We zip off to the house, hook the trailer up to the Jeep, and blaze back to 66th Street....at 5PM....in Pinellas traffic. Ok, so, blaze is not a completely accurate term, we crawled. And, just made it back there 10 minutes before closing time. Twenty minutes later, they had given up trying to get the fork lift to load the pallet of tile onto the trailer and they were manually loading the boxes, one by one.

We carted 2000 lbs of tile to the shop and Jeremy met us there and unloaded it all, and tonight, we go back for the other 2000 lbs. Like I said, this is going to be back breaking work. Anyone wanna have a tile laying party this weekend?!? Oh, and the poor little trailer's tires looked like they were going to pop. Pray it makes it tonight. Joel says that if the trailer makes it through this weekend, it has officially paid for itself. Ha!

Enjoy the pics,

Debbie

We're getting closer

Oh, my goodness. I can hardly stand it. The work crew is making such great progress on the buildout for P.F.T. Last night the crew boss told me that he expects they will be done Wednesday night with their end of the work, then I've got to get started on my list of improvements. The ceiling/trusses were all painted white yesterday and look so much better than the jumbled mess it was just 10 short days ago. I'm trying to keep the atmosphere casual, Florida Keys style, and a little funky. You know I have to be a little rebellious! Or, is that just sassy? Hmmmmm.....

The address for the shop is going to be 596 Indian Rocks Road N., Unit A-1,
Belleair Bluffs, Florida 33770. Currently, I'm using my cell phone
@727-348-4013, if you need to reach me. Hope you enjoy the new pics.

Pink Florida Threads hits the big time

Well, the buildout on the new shop for PFT started last Monday. In just one short week the construction crew cleaned out the debris, took up the existing nasty floor, constructed new walls around the bathroom, hooked up plumbing, drywalled the entire room, put in electrical outlets, put in a brand new air conditioning system, tiled the bathroom floor, installed 2 new doors and 2 new windows and many other little details too numerous to mention.

I signed the lease last Wednesday night, and hired the carpenter to work Saturday and he installed crown molding around the perimeter of the room. The electricians put in electrical boxes above the crown molding so that I can hook up rope lights for gentle up-lighting. Tomorrow, Monday, the rafters and walls will be painted. I should be able to start painting the floor by the end of the week and move in after the paint has cured!

The pics hardly begin to show how much work the space really needed, but, at least you get the idea. Can't wait to show you the finished space.

Love,

Debbie