Monday 27 February 2012

have you noticed it's beginning to get green outside?

So paint happened internally, and now the shop exterior is getting the same levels of attention. The paint colour was a good decision made, we wanted our colour to be bright (naturally) to live up to there bright yellow building alongside us, and well... distinct. This colour green has been the basis for our online stuff, notably this blog and the website, as well as the (yet undelivered) flyers which you will imminently find on your door step (if you live within the @thewell radius). The green itself came from the wallpaper we have (to do at least one wall of the shop), and is the background of this blog, on 'tile' unfortunately because it was this or 'stretch,' both of which I hate.

So after a bit of dithering, and bargaining, essentially we stuck with the colour and got it mixed to match the wallpaper. So love it or hate it (I love it) this is the @thewell green, basically the colour of Shrek.
This colour will be the colour of our fascia and paint the window and door frames on the outside.

The wood for the fascia was difficult to come by. Marine timber (so it doesn't bow when wet) is apparently not your average B&Q staple (other DIY/ Hardware stores are available!). It involved cassie driving like this...


Then undercoating, perhaps twice before green, then asking mum nicely to paint the name for us.
On saturday Cassie and Sarah began the outer green paintwork, clearly enjoying it immensely. Thanks to those who stopped and chatted on seeing our concept written up like that, it means a lot, keep 'em coming.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Painting begins

It has taken a while, but the painting has finally begun, I still don't think I'd consider us to be in the final stages yet, although the main space is looking really good, the other rooms are a little further back. Nonetheless this has to be a bit of a benchmark! Thank you Cassie and Sarah.
Also notice the spotlights in! Hooray.





Friday 10 February 2012

Down to the wire

With a little persuasion (in the form of a large pack of assorted chocolate biscuits) work began in earnest on Thursday. Again a lot of varied trades down @TheWell, resulting in, from what I can gather, a great deal of male banter. Cassie and I did a lot of runs to the dump, as an avoidance strategy!


Glass went into the shop front, thanks to James and carpenter Neil, thank you both. 


The newly built concrete plinth, got an adjacent wall build to prevent the side of the washing machine being right in your face when you leave the toilet. 



Our electrical team painstakingly measured and remeasured, and then hoped for the best, drilling up through the celling in order to receive the wires for the light fittings.


And these breeze block walls went up to provide a little more security for an otherwise pretty frightening ceiling. 
Good jobs, well done, all round, thanks team.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Walls on, paint off


Yesterday (Tuesday) our wonderful team of plasterers put the plaster on the render of the 'arch wall,' and it honestly just looks beautiful.  This takes a lot of skill, and boy, do these guys have it!



It makes much more sense of the little display alcove we have created. What we will display there is yet undecided, but we have collected so much it won't remain empty for long; coffee grinders, tea cups, or people apparently...

James actually seemed quite keen on the suggestion of painting him silver and having him as a permanent feature.

The other thing that happened yesterday, was the beginning of a removal of the windows, which need to be replaced. Attempts to remove them in one piece...well, weren't all that successful.
Then the men got to work attempting to strip of 3 layers of paint, and after they'd all gone home for the day, us girls (and Omar, all credit where it's due) attempted (and failed unfortunately) to prove that we could beat them.



Monday 6 February 2012

There's light at the end of the tunnel


We are getting there, and the more I visit, the more I see it. In a couple of weeks we'll be splashing paint on the walls, ceiling and floor and the transformation will be astonishing.

 Gas pipe laid under the floor,  and now covered again.
 Walls, not only rendered, but also plastered.
 Stone work pointed, and left exposed.
Concrete plinth in its mould, and almost ready to be sat on.

Many hands make a party.

Last week the numbers of people working a volunteering down @TheWell reached its greatest so far, with 13 people at one point. This meant that there was a great deal of different activities going on and meant everyone, remarkably successfully, weaving in and out with very few accidents. We had people mixing concrete, rendering, plastering, digging up the floor, pointing in the stone work and laying pipes all happening simultaneously, as well as a number of visitors and friends. But it must have been one of the most productive days, or progress, perhaps, the most apparent anyway.







It also gave us the excuse to crack out the pizzas and peppermint bark (whatever that is) and have a little community party. Thank you all for your help, it is much appreciated. 

Here's a bit of a tour... apologies for the dodgy camerawork!