It starts with an empty church. Ryan was given the task of selling the pews and after I talked with Father John of St. John's Apostlic Church, he was happy to put something in the bulletin about the pews and former members were very excited to have a piece of their history. The church was originally built in the 1880's and there were many stories of generations of family born and married in the church. The church served the community until 2011. So - pews were sold and altars that remained were sold also - we have a blank slate.
So - talk about a blank space - it's there. About 2500 square feet - the limitations are the stain glass windows and the podeum. I wanted two bedrooms and a huge loft, so - we'll start in the loft. Here is a photo taken from the podeum looking back toward the entrance of the church and up above is the choir loft.
The loft was maybe 12 feet, but had levels, see below. So the easiest way to handle this was to remove the loft completely and then built back in the loft space I wanted. I decided that the loft was
going to be my studio space. About 1300 square foot of studio space, the biggest one I have ever had, but it's me and a dog, so what the heck!!! Enter the new studio.........................
Now it's sort of a funny photo - but let me explain. The church lights are hanging down - but they will be moved, I'm keeping them and I will explain that later. Then you have stain glass windows that peck through the floor - I happen to think it's sort of cool - but some might think it strange. The ceilings in the church are 26 feet high and the loft has 15 foot ceilings, so downstairs is 11 foot. The hole in the flooring is the elevator. Yes - it has an elevator. I was just going to stub one in for installation later - but Carole said - you need the elevator so you should just put it in now. Then she added that I needed a bathroom upstairs also - so a bathroom has been added to the back of the elevator area. The painted in window on the back wall goes out to the bell tower. There is no bell out there but I do have machine that sounds just like bells ring - technology!!!!
Here is a photo taken from the podeum looking back at the loft space. There will be a iron railing running across the studio space, but you probably won't see it much because it will be covered with quilts on display.
So - downstairs, as you enter through the front door you will come into a gallery hallway.
It's a wide hallway used for display and about half way down there is a door on both sides of the hallway, the one on the left goes to the masterbed room and bath and the one on the right goes to the guestroom and bath and two storage closets. It's hard to really understand all this at this point but it will be come clearer when the sheetrock goes up.
This photo is where the hallway opens into the great room. At this point the kitchen will be on the right side and there will be bookcases on the left side. Even though it's an open space, I needed bedroom space and I had to worry about the placement of the stainglass windows, so there are two stain glass windows in each bedroom, then in the great room there are two stain glass windows on each side and a fireplace in the middle, but you will see this later. So that is where we are. Right now HVAC, plumbing, septic and electric are going in, all the trades. This next trip will bring photos of the fireplace and maybe the side patio. You may of noticed that there is some blue carpeting on the floor. It covers up fir wood flooring, original to the church and is in wonderful shape, so Pete and the crew has removed the wood in the bathrooms and lowered the floor for tile, but we will refinish the wood flooring throughout the rest of the church. Sit tight and I'll get back to you!
