Staining Stinks

Things have slowed down a bit here. The construction crew finished their portion and the floor guys quickly moved in. Never thought hard wood floors would be so time consuming. They have to lay and glue each one down, sand the entire surface at least a couple of times, which brought a very thick dust everywhere. Then they had to stain the wood in 4 separate layers. Once Friday, twice Saturday, and one last one on Sunday. That stain stinks. Good thing we aren't going in there till Monday. Needless to say the look beautiful so far; excited to see a finished floor. 

In the meantime, our staff has been busy cleaning tile and ovens and freezers and pretty much everything else you can clean in a restaurant. Being shut down allows us to get all things we need to get done easy since we don't have to worry about cooking food.

No one can say the John the owner doesn't work hard. This tile was stuck on pretty tight. Looks like a messy job!

Jose and Sergio were hard at work too They cleaned out three walk-in coolers. Scruba-dub-dub. 

Erik had the task of reorganizing the wine room. Gee, I hope one didn't accidentally uncork, therefore had to drink? Actually, he was relabeling the number system we had. About halfway through his label-maker broke!
Soon there will be a finished product out in the dining room. Monday the booths and tables will be delivered and then the room will really start coming together. Until then.....

Just as all the fun and excitement has begun in the inside of the restaurant, we can't forget that the outside isn't finished yet. Leave it to John's son Hunter to paint the whole exterior! Shouldn't be that hard, it's only been like 99 degrees for the past week..... :-)

There are officially 5 new windows. The 3 in the front of the building and two that look into the bar from the dining room. Soon the stained glass windows will be put in and it will look beautiful!

Gordy's project this week was the limestone rock wall. Once he got the hang of it, the project really moved along. He finished in just a few hours. This is one of my favorite parts. It looks so much better

 in person. Trust me!








Well, that's it for today. Stay tuned... the crew finishes the walls, floors, lights and a beautiful dining room emerges! Can't Wait!

A whole week has past and the crew has been in full force. Sunday night was our last night of dinner service. Once the last guest had left, we began to clear out the dining room. Those booths were a lot heavier than I thought. Good thing we had lots of help that night!

I had heard there was an old radiator around the edge of the dining room, which had been covered up by the wood wainscoating years ago. Well, guess there's only one way to see it now...

With anticipation and excitement for the next day of demolition, we left to get a good night sleep. Brad and his construction crew were coming at 4am to begin! I arrived around 8am and was surprised to see how much they had accomplished in such a short time. Windows are in!

It was fun to see all the old wallpaper from years past as well as the original hardwood floor. Unfortunately, not in good shape.(And yes, the red one on the right is velvet!)

 Brad had a little trouble with pulling up all that tile. Not any easy task...

Well....stay tuned. Next entry: Stone wall!