Atelier - starting to look like a gallery

Isn't it amazing what a splash of white paint can do? Slowly, slowly starting to look like a gallery in the making. A few more coats of white paint and job done!

See that ceiling and how shiny and clean it looks - took me 4 days. Yup 4 days to clean it up. Had to clean all the grid work and then take down AND paint each individual tile. Was worth the effort though as it looks one hundred times better.

We did have a minor casualty on the day - my gorgeous (and very helpful) daughter managed to take a small puncture. A bit of blood and lots of OMG's and a big patch-up job later and here we go ....

On a much sadder note, I had to postpone my trip to Bristol last week as the vet found a lump on my cat's neck and scheduled her in for an emergency op the next day. Results back today and poor scrummy Squeaky has the 'c' word. Booked in for another op Friday and the kitty oncologist is looking into other treatments as they suspect it has spread into her lymphatic system. Big sobs, she's a gorgeous, happy cat and I love her to pieces.

Here's how her sister Bubble (aka Fat Cat) took the news ....

She sneaked into the dog's bed and refused to budge!

A Clean Sheet

Remember that horrid glass unit? Boy was it ugly. It was also flippin' well nailed to the floor and then build up from there. An absolute nightmare to get rid of. Took a whole afternoon.

But now here's all that's left ...

And now (after several more tip runs) the space is now clear. I've cleaned up since this photo was taken but at least you can see that it's not a bad space at all. I can now really visualise a gallery here. Lovely big windows and 450 sq ft of space to play around with. It feels like I have a blank canvas now and can start the process of making it look lovely.

Hammersville - before and after

Blimey - this knocking down walls business was much harder work than I thought and, of course, took three times longer too. But hip hip hooray, I huffed and I puffed and I knocked those walls down.

Had some help from the very lovely Marie and my gorgeous girl Ellie on the Sunday. Two extraordinarily young sparkies were sorting out the electrics and helped during the week whenever it got to a tricky bit that needed more muscle than I possess.

The offending partition walls .... it's a silly flimsy room built into the unit ...

Taken down the plasterboard and that horrid, itchy fibre glass stuff on the inside ...

And then - after several tip runs - there was lots of space - oh and a really ugly glass counter. Off to dismantle that today and clean up so that I can start planning the decoration. Needs the ceiling and floors sorting too. I feel like I've made a good start now ...

Ta Da....

Well folks, it's official. Today I exchanged contracts with the landlord of this commercial premises and in 4 weeks and 4 days Atelier will fling open it's doors to reveal oodles of gorgeous contemporary crafts. All the work has been hand-picked by moi so that I could ensure a good mix across a range of disciplines, styles and budgets. The work is unbelievably amazing and I have been blown away by the reception I've had from the artists that I have approached, all of whom are extremely talented.

I have about 32ft of window space - there's another 5ft to the right. It's about 450 sq ft in total. The outside will be painted white and the local sign-writer has done a little mock-up of my logo on the fascia.

The fabulous Ziggi (who did my posters for the Handmade Here craft fair last year) has been working hard on logos and literature as well as a quick and dirtyweb site. Simple but professional. Long term I will be looking at the on-line presence but for starters I'll be keeping things simple so that I can focus on the bricks and mortar.

Tomorrow I'm heading off to the Craft Show at Bovey Tracey to meet some artists, pick up some work and generally have a noss around.

Sunday I'm heading to Tuly Street with some scuzzy clothes, a flask of coffee and a big hammer and I'm gonna knock me some walls down ....

Wish me luck
T x