It's official! Construction begins on the Blue Myrtle House next week!

Happy Thanksgiving! This time next year we won't be open today, but we will the day before and after. Exciting announcement coming Monday!

Exciting news! A big announcement will be made on Monday about the Blue Myrtle House.

Shelf Shape

I modified the shelves I'm making. They didn't look aero enough so I made a simple change to the length of each shelf. This not only gives them more of an airplane look, but it also increases shelf space. This is a rough finish. I still have to align the shelves, sand and stain the wood, and paint the metal (wings).

From November 2011

3rd Submission

Argh! 2nd Submission came back with red lines. This is a little disappointing but what can you do. The staff at the City of Glendale Planning Dept have been very helpful and patient with me. Hopefully we'll get this all corrected and construction started soon.

2nd Submission of Plans

All the red lines from the 1st plan submission have been corrected and turned in for further review. Hopefully the remaining reviews will go smooth and I'll get the permits to start building. If all goes well that should happen within the next 12 days. I would like to have construction started by the end of the month. Redden Construction will be the builders. The house should be done by the end of January and open for biz in February or early March. Below is what the house will look like. There are two structures. The building at the bottom is an 11' x 16', it will be located at the rear of the property in front of the parking area. This initially will be used for storage, but potentially as a retail kiosk or workshop. The building on the right is the main house. It has a front porch and balcony.

Building Vendor Shelves

I started on the main vendor shelves this past weekend. Actually I started making the parts to the shelves. Sticking with the "Vintage Aero meets Classic Rural" theme, the shelves will look like wings of an airplane. I'm using my CNC machine to cut out spar-shaped braces. I'm using material from the original house to make the shelves. I'm also using some old redwood my buddy gave me from from a deck he tore off his cabin up in Happy Jack. I'll post more on the shelves as I progress, but for now here's a video of the spar being cut out on my CNC machine. It's kind of cheesy, I put it to music:}

Siding All Sawed Up

I finally finished cutting up all the redwood clapboard siding I saved from the original house. I trimmed off the beat up edges and then ripped each board almost right down the center. I wanted a couple of widths so I offset my cut a little. I wound up with two widths; 1 1/2" and 2". Each board varies in length between 18" and 36". Once I had the boards ripped and trimmed I made one last cut with the boards turned on their side. By doing this I was able to cut off the beveled edge of the clapboard. One side of each board has a fresh cut finish while the other is weathered and old looking. Both sides look pretty cool when all laid out. My plan is to panel the vaulted ceiling of the new house with these redwood planks. Now my problem is deciding which side to show. I can't decide which side looks better; the new grainy look or the old weather-beaten look. I guess I have to ask myself - do I want the inside of a barn look or more of a refined cabin look? I'm going to have to call in a couple of experts to help me with this one.

Dog Days of Summer

Went to the Dog Days of Summer event last night. It started at 6pm but Lisa and I plus Piper didn't go until 7:30. It was still 105 degrees then but at least the sun was almost down. It appeared to be a pretty good turn out. There were dogs of all shapes and sizes. Channel 15 was there with a news crew. We stopped by Papa Ed's Ice Cream to get a frozen doggie treat, but the line was pretty long so we just walked around some more. It was nice to see so many people out with their dogs for this event. We walked around both the downtown and Catlin Court areas. Most of the people were in the Catlin Court area when we were there.

Concept Farmers Market

Now that the exterior of the house is pretty much done I've turned to concentrating on the interior. As you know the Blue Myrtle House is not going to be just any ordinary farmers market, it's going to be a concept farmers market. Restaurants do it, bars do it, heck even motorcycles do it.

Building Plans Submitted

Finally got the building plans submitted. Met with the draftsman down at the City, paid the fees and now we're just waiting for the red lines to come back. The initial review takes about 20 days, and then if anything needs to be amended just awhile longer. Hopefully this will go smooth and we can start construction relatively soon.

Bake From Home

The Bake and Confectionery Bill went into effect today. This is good news for those that want to make a little extra money on the side. The Blue Myrtle House will be an excellent venue for selling the homemade goodies! I should be just a matter of a few months before construction is started on the Blue Myrtle House!