Saturday, July 24, 2010

the shelving

while we have been completing the remodel and preparation work in cleveland, my father has been very busy working at his home in canton, about one hour south of us. he has been cutting, prepping and painting the wood to make our shelves.

he has been waiting for our call to say it's time. the plan was to load them up on friday. then the weather forecast predicted temperatures in the high 90's, so we decided to make the trip late thursday evening after the sun went down. my oldest son drove one car, and i followed in the van.

it took both of our vehicles and a return trip with one car on friday evening, to get all the wood to cleveland. as i drove through a torrential downpour and 60 mile an hour winds last night, i was thankful to have the extra weight in the car.

this morning we loaded the bases into the store. i originally gave my measurements based on the floor plan i sketched on grid paper.

the real test is seeing them in the actual space. so far so good.

when i had my first walk through of the store in the spring, there were wedding dresses covering each wall. it was somewhat difficult to get a true picture of the space. yet i immediately knew i did not want shelves permanently fixed to the walls. i wanted to be able to move displays around.

that's when i enlisted the help of my father. by trade, he is not a carpenter. he spent his entire career in the grocery business. but he loves to build things. and he has a keen mental aptitude for figuring things out like measurements. he was just the man for the job.

so i ordered up (2) 3 rows x 48", (2) 3 rows x 36", (2) 2 rows x 36" and (1) 2 rows x 48" they all seem to fit in the designated spots just perfectly.

now that the wood is in cleveland, the final steps will take place on site. there is still lots of sanding, assembly and painting to do. i had originally thought we might do it out in the parking lot, yet with the heat we realized it might be best to move the process into the basement. fortunately, my husband leases the basement space for record storage. just last week the oldest son cleaned out 195 bankers boxes for shredding, so there is plenty of space to work.

No comments: