Moving The Elephant

More developments in the main floor switcheroo.

Last week, I told you a little about what Marian plans to do with the front lobby {here}.  This week, Pete is starting to move fixtures and furniture to make the move happen by July.

As you may recall, Pete will be moving from the lobby, back in to Karen's old room.  Pete is the one responsible for some really cool salvage and industrial items at the shop.  You can peek at a few of his finds {here}.  A lot of his items are on the larger size - big tables, case goods, mirrors, etc., so moving pieces a few rooms down is a multi-day job.

{Pete's large glass front bookcase}

The layout of this 100+ year old building isn't on anyone's side.  Picture fitting a 10 foot long by 4 foot wide industrial table with cast iron legs through a turn-of-the-century-sized door frame ---- it doesn't happen.  The large items will actually have to go out through a side door and be walked along the road and around the entire building, then back up the stairs, and in to the front of the shop.

Marian is at Haven this week, so in order for the switch to go down by July, one of the biggest pieces has to move this week.  I'm calling him The Elephant, and he's the worst offender.  The Elephant is Karen's hardware counter, which Marian bought and will be using in the front room.

This old hardware store counter is perfect, but on the scale of fun things to move, this piece is a negative 10.  It took four grown men, a pair of oversize French doors off their hinges, and plenty of skinned knuckles and sore backs to get it to where it is now.  It's waist high and I think at least 9' to 10' long and 3' deep.

Industrial metal bins + 3" thick hardwood top + 1" clearance around its current location = several hundred pound counter that isn't going anywhere quietly!

It was tough to find a picture of this counter, and this one below doesn't really do it justice.   It has a commanding size, tons of storage, and a wonderful patina on the wood and metal.  Customers have tried to buy this piece through the years, but it fit so perfectly and looked so good {and was too heavy to move again}, that there was no way Karen would sell it.

The offending counter

We all know that sometimes beauty is worth all the pain, and this piece is going to be spectacular in the lobby displaying Marian's paints & brushes {when it finally gets there of course!}

Wish the guys luck this week moving this monster.  Someone is going to owe them all Epsom salts & a beer!