The Finished Product

The Finished Product

After two days of stripping (mostly Chris) and two more days of grinding (almost all Chris), here is the finished product, a pure concrete floor ready for staining (after a few days of sweeping and mopping-you wouldn't believe the dust).

The Grinder

Tight on cash? Start stripping...

We've known from the beginning that the budget would be tight, but we certainly didn't expect to have to resort to stripping so soon.   Being the perfectionist that he is, Chris did his research first.  After watching some instructional videos he gathered the guts to head off to the local stripper store. After shopping around he decided to go with the heavy duty steel, after all you can't expect the bests results with a cheap approach.  Amped up on caffene and sheathed in black nylon, from 11:30 am to 7:30 pm   Chris stripped away - right in our plate glass window.  Even though it was a dark and stormy day, plenty of people came by to watch the show. He may not have made any tips, but Chris certainly made an impression! Lots of neighbors raved about how delighted they are to have us joining the neighborhood.  Looks like Chris was an instant success.

By 1:30 Jill came by to try her hand at the stripping thing.   From the pictures you can see that she clearly chose the wrong outfit.  What WAS she thinking? Jill's first two attempts almost resulted in serious bodily injury.  At one point she lost control and almost went slamming into the front window.  But eventually she was stripping like a seasoned pro.  Steve didn't make it down to strip, but that's OK because that's how he used to make a living. 

After 8-hours of stripping the job is only about half done.  Its a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it.  Next week we gotta start GRINDING!

The pole

The Ninja (don't try this at home)

What WAS she thinking

The Twirl

Still got lots of grinding to do

Can you hear me now?

See the little white ADA lift in the left corner? We are required to have a dedicated phone line  installed inside the lift so if someone were to become "trapped" in the lift they could call for help.  As you can clearly see, if the lift were to become inoperable during business hours a simple "hey, I'm stuck" would alert everyone in the place.   However,  if a handicapped person were to break in after hours we certainly wouldn't want them to be trapped until the police arrive, so we're o.k. with the added monthly expense.  One gleaming example of government bureaucracy at it's best.  

Going Once, Going Twice...

What started out as a casual, "let's check out a restaurant auction" turned into an unexpected, though necessary, shopping spree.  It was like when you go to Target with toothpaste and toilet paper on your list only to walk out hundreds of dollars later.  At the preview yesterday we decided to bid on some nice hardwood chairs, and depending on how things went, maybe a sink. We got to the auction early and sat nervously trying to listen and learn so when our turn came to bid we wouldn't embarrass ourselves.  Finally after about an hour and a half the chairs came up for bid.  Before we could even lift our "paddle" the price was twice the amount we had set as our limit. So the chairs came and went. Bummer!  We quickly assured each other that while the chairs were nice, they really weren't worth the bid price. We shook off the feeling of defeat, bolstered ourselves and waited for the sink's lot number to be called.  With some research and common sense we had calculated that a three compartment sink, at auction, couldn't be worth more than $150, the one we bid on went for $400.  Really?  We watched as everything from flatware to walk-ins was auctioned off (does anyone really USE a table mounted potato chip slicer?) Then we got the fever.  We circled back down every aisle to see what we might have missed.  After all we didn't get the chairs, so there must be other things to buy. Six hours later we are now the proud owners of: one stainless steel 6-foot work table; a brand new, open-front deli refrigerator/merchandiser; two 3-sink under bar units; one 3-compartment dish sink; and a wall-mounted hand sink.  That may not seem glamorous but we got some good deals and we are proud of it! The whole experience was frustrating yet satisfying, exhilarating yet exhausting, a great learning experience and generally tons of fun. Now all we have to do is rent a truck, load everything up and take it down to the space in the morning.  There is still LOTS more to buy.  This could turn into an addiction (soon that potato chip slicer may seem like just what we need).