Last Spring we had to make decisions about the long term fate of The Grape Van Gogh, Idaho Falls. The rent prices and non-existent option for expansion in our current location meant that we either needed to bow out completely, or commit to a long term purchase. After an arduous little journey we purchased the old Inkly's Building downtown on Park and A street with the intention of renovating the upstairs for The Grape Van Gogh and obtaining financial support for the mortgage from renting the main floor. We're hoping it pays off in the long run.
The new-to-us building is 3 glorious floors of "suprises." The main floor is functional with a few old-building annoyances, The basement is a winding maze of history with old bank employee lockers, a Giant boiler, a staircase to nowhere, multiple unusable bathrooms, a large vault and probably 6 ghosts as a conservative estimate. The upstairs is equally dilapidated and hasn't been used since.....well we're guessing between the 1950's and 1960's since Inkly's arrived in '77 There is some Gawd-aweful walpaper, laminate, and lead based paint lending to this guess. The beautiful hardwood of the WHOLE top floor (save for ONE side of ONE utility door) is painted an avacado-mint green...except where they ran out of paint and started using another shade with more blue. There are several exam rooms from the old dental office. There is a lot of damage from years of neglect that we hope to turn around into functional space.
So, as a test of our skill, strength and multitasking abilities we are tackling this project bit by bit doing as much as we can by ourselves. It may be obvious to some that, as with any large DIY project, this is a test of our marriage as well! If that falls apart at least one of us will have a cool place to live haha.
We thought it would be fun if you could join us on this journey. (And because I think there will be a sense of "accountability" if we know that people are watching out progress!) I hope you can handle my rambling, diary-style and often opinionated accounts of daily happenings.
