Delayed Opening Until October 2013

I'd like to thank all who have applied as a vendor for the Blue Myrtle House Farmers Market. Unfortunately we have not reached the minimum number of vendors needed to have a strong opening in October. I have made the difficult decision to lease the property for one year. The timing for this is two-fold; I would like to give a new Leasee ample opportunity to setup prior to Glendale Glitters. Secondly, this time next year when the lease is up I want ample time to setup the Farmers Market prior to Glendale Glitters. I will keep your applications on record and contact you down the road to see if you are still interested in vending at the Blue Myrtle House.

Parties interesting in leasing this property:
http://www.loopnet.com/lid/17818500

It's A Sign - Kinda

I've been working really hard on the monument sign for the Blue Myrtle House. I didn't have my camera with me or I'd have a picture posted here. I'm still not done with it, but give me another day or two. I find my camera and post a pic of it. It's my own creation (kinda) so you'll have to tell me what you think. You can see the start of it in the June Gallery. It's not plain white anymore. Stay tuned.

Blessing In Disguise

Just a minor setback at the Blue Myrtle House. The water heater leaked and ruined a large area of the pergo flooring. I had to tear it all out. I'm going to have the floor acid stained. It's low maintenance and will hold up to the beating I hope it has to take from customers! I'm still shooting for an October opening. There is so much to do before then.

Moving In

I got the Certificate of Occupancy last Friday. Todd, Alec, Jake, and Tyler helped me move some stuff into the house over the weekend. Almost everything that was in storage is now inside the house. There is still a lot to do to meet the October opening. I am going to try and start putting together the sales counter this weekend. I'm already starting to layout the shelving. Below is the main shelves that will be located in the center of the 1st floor retail area.

Once assembled they are suppose to resemble wings of an airplane. The arrangement of the winged shelves is that of a 4 bladed propeller that was commonly used on early airline aircraft.

Two Busy Months

I'm really getting behind on this blog - sorry. I completely missed May and June. It's been two busy months for sure. So much has happened I'll just give the highlights. To begin with we won't be opening until late September or early October. Worse case late October. The goal is to be open for the start of Glendale Glitters.

I'm crossing my fingers that literally today I get the Certificate of Occupancy. Which means I can move in! This is when the fun starts. My garage is full of stuff that needs to go in the BMH. Stuff like shelves, refrigeration, decor, blah blah blah.

Enough about that. The house was completed on the outside in May. With the exception of the floors the inside was pretty much done too. All that was left was to make sure everything worked for the final inspections. The inspections happened in June and into July. No big issues to report, just a couple of small items like landscaping and securing the AC unit with an anti-theft cage. The company that put in the AC is literally installing the cage today. Hopefully this very moment. It is the last item on the checklist that has to be inspected.

The other item was the landscaping. I had a tree planted and some pavers laid on the side and in front of the two buildings. I'm happy with how both turned out. I'm doing the irrigation and grass. I'm trying out an idea I had with the irrigation. I came up with a way to keep the watering completely below the grass. The video below shows the test stage. I wanted to make sure all the bubblers were bubbling before I buried them. I actually don't bury the bubblers just the tubing, the bubblers stay above the dirt. To see how Todd and I put this all together click on the July 2012 Photo Album on right.

It's Blue Again!

Wow, I cannot believe I went a whole month without writing something. I'll begin by saying it's been a pretty stressful month. I won't bore you with the details, but things have settled down and we are back on track. Like most projects like this it always comes down to the financials. This is already being done on a shoestring budget, but March was looking like it was down to a few strands of fabric with not much left over.

To make up for some of the cost over runs I took over some of the jobs originally covered by the builder. Redden Construction has done a wonderful job on this house and has gone the extra mile a couple of times. Scott who was the lead on this has really done a fantastic job. I cannot express my appreciation for all that work he and his crew have done.

Unfortunately the opening has been pushed back because of the additional work I will be doing. Spring is not a possibility but Summer is. We may do a soft opening in the Summer but since this area is so dead that time of year we may wait until Fall for the Grand Opening.

From April 2012

Up On The Roof 2

The last Up On The Roof is from November 2009 when I was tearing the roof off the old house. Wow, I cannot believe how long I've been at this. It's getting real close now. I am so impressed with the job Scott and the Redden crew are doing on this new construction. Scott is paying particularly close attention to the Craftsman style detail, and from what I'm hearing from passers by and neighbors they are all loving it. I think when these guys are done it will be a great inspiration to what can be done in this small historic area of Glendale!

February 2012


November 2009

Out On The Farm

Construction is going pretty fast. To see the progress just click on the top photo album along the right side of the page.

I met with Monica and Farmer Frank at Crooked Sky Farms on Friday. Monica gave me a tour of the farm and talked with me about getting produce and how to manage it in the store. I talked with Frank a little bit about the Blue Myrtle House too. It was good to meet both of them and I look forward to working with them in a few months when I'm ready to start stocking the shelves.

We're Vertical!

The lumber was delivered this morning and work on the main structure began right away.

House Foundation Down

The Redden Construction team worked late into the night on this one. The cement showed up about 11:30am and twelve hours later the guys went home. This Wednesday the front porch, out-building and rear walkway will be poured.

Final Prep Before The Pour

Scott, Robert and the rest of the crew are working hard to get the forms ready for the concrete trucks that'll be showing up in the morning.

Footings Going In

The property is really starting to take shape with the footings be poured today. Won't be long before the slab is down. The weather has been really nice, hanging in the low 70's!