Store Make Over

It's been a wild ride. When the Vigeland's moved into the location at 254 Commercial St NE they started with a fresh coat of sunny yellow paint. They had the ceiling painted a dark green and the trim red. When I came on board I was lucky enough to have the same opportunity to choose new paint. 

One of my favorite things were the beautiful doors that are original to the 1889 Italianate building. The Eldridge Block once had 23 bays and extended south from Chemeketa Street to the end of the block at Court Street. The north part of the building was removed to create the Chemeketa Parkade. But the south bit remained. And the large doors originally opened to the alleyway and they are stunningly gorgeous. So I really wanted them to pop. 

Thankfully the landlord agreed to pay for the painting when I signed the lease so I got the easy job of picking the colors. I wanted a peacock blue for the windows and doors and everything else a warm white, even the ceilings. The painters used Sherwin Williams paint and I chose Blue Nile and Greek Villa. 

The picking of the colors was the easy part. The hard part was moving the store to get ready for paint but the whole staff and my family pitched in to help. It was great getting offers from friends but painting and moving during a pandemic is even more challenging. 

So we masked up, rolled up our sleeves, and got to work. In one evening and half a day we had moved the whole store to the back and middle, leaving room for the lift to barely squeak through the newly appointed aisles. We were exhausted and tired from heavy lifting. 

The painters quickly got painting. Shortly after that and it was our time to move again. This time we moved everything from the back of the store into the main part so they could paint the classroom and office space. With a little less pep and aching muscles, we still hustled and moved everything in a matter of hours. The paint crew helped us which helped them finish the job quicker. 

And this is what the sneak peek looked like when the painters were still painting...

Don't those doors and windows look lovely? (I think so too!)

We then moved things into their correct locations and added some cafe lights. The lights came crashing down and broke some stuff so we put them up again. I also designed some fun banners for folks to easily locate what they are looking for and to add a little color and stop the cavernous echo. 

And finally the after photo. This sight brings me so much joy. The fun rainbow colors add warmth and those gorgeous windows and door are now easily seen. The store feels larger and fresher too. I am so happy with the result. Come stop by and let us know what you think!