Progress Report - The Blue Lantern Coffee House

You're probably wondering what I've been up to besides picnicking with the fam and playing at my new house up the river... Oh I haven't mentioned the new house yet, have I? I'll get to that next. So here's what's up with the coffee house I'm trying my darndest to get open. You'll see by the pictures, I've been working hard.... Or actually, I've been hiring too many people to work hard for me. You'd think I'm a slacker, but honestly, just coordinating all of this (plus moving out of town to a new house at the same time) is realllllly time consuming. Trust me. 

Have I shown you the old couch I bought off Craigslist a couple months ago? Well, here it is in it's dingy glory, partly tore down so we could refinish the wood. It had been finished in a fabulous faux "antique look" of the 70's where it was a medium stain, but then spattered in black paint. I'm sure everyone was fooled into thinking those black spatters were "age spots".

I was able to find a local lady who was retired from upholstery work, but still did it in her garage! So I got a screaming deal on getting this beauty re-covered. I LOVE the fuchsia colored fabric I found. And as a bonus, it's commercial fabric that's lined with plastic so it won't absorb drink spills and it's totally washable with soap and water. Awesome!

 

Here are the antique 1920's light fixtures I found on Etsy, then had rewired. They are the perfect style for my art nouveau styling.

 

This is an old buffet out of the McCall Lodge, if I have my story right. It's my boyfriend's but he's graciously letting me borrow it for my coffee house to set sugar and creamers on for coffee. What a good man.

Bar construction progress. I'm wrapping it in coffee bags for now, with a cheap laminate top. I'll be switching it out with Italian Cararra white marble as soon as I can afford to. Then it will match the marble wainscoting that's in the entryway staircase and on one wall inside the coffee house too! Fancy pants.

This corner will have the big pink couch and a few comfy chairs for a sitting area right next to the giant curved glass window. Apparently this window is insured for $500,000 as it'll be near to impossible to replace. I think I heard there's only one glass shop in the world that can make a curved glass window it's size. I better be careful with the ladder around it.... Yikes.

And what I should be doing right now instead of posting  blogs? Painting the business sign that will hang outside. I ran drastically short on money (Isn't that always how it goes?) and even though I wanted sheet copper to face my sign with, it was far out of my budget, so I've improvised. I had gold leaf left over from my senior show in college (I was an art major and really liked to over achieve). So since there was plenty, I gold leafed the plywood the sign was made out of. It seems pretty funny to be gold leafing such cheap wood, but I think the texture of the wood makes it pretty, in an unexpected way. And maybe I'll like it even better than the sheet copper when I'm done.

 

And here's what the place looked like as I was walking out the door tonight. The espresso machine is plumbed in and ready to pull shots, and the drip coffee maker is standing at the ready to drip away as soon as I am ready.... maybe I'll be ready to start selling to the masses next week??? I just have some last minute details to take care of.... About a thousand details, but it's coming together fast!