One year ago TODAY we opened up the Sunflower Gift Shop & Gallery.
TODAY seems a fitting occasion to post photos I’ve been saving from “Phase 1” of our big Grocery Store Beautification Project last spring.
Who would have thought we could turn the old Travelers Rest “Winn Dixie” into the uplifting place that Sunflower evolved into over the course of many months. We could not have done it without the help of all our friends and family!
Lell Building, May 2013. Countless residents of Travelers Rest have told us that our space used to be the Winn-Dixie when they were growing up at least 50 years ago.
May 2013
The entire building was a little lonely-looking in 2013. But for all the years I had passed by, there was still something about this building that was intriguing to me. Who would have ever thought I would have moved in and filled up the enormous space with my own retail store?
Before we got to work, the space had green walls and a black floor...
Changing the walls to "Restful White" to compliment the NEW "Parkakeet Green" floor.
I hope we never ever have a reason to buy this much paint again.
My new scaffolding. (What sane person does something that requires buying scaffolding?)
First, there were a lot of holes that needed to be patched.
This is a very large space.
True friends. Helping us patch holes and sand the floor.
Before we could paint we had to sand the floor. (By hand.)
2700+ sf is a lot to sand by hand.
A rather dull green gets brightened up.
Watch the room expand.
Getting bigger...
getting bigger...
getting bigger...
much, much bigger!
The bookcase in my painting studio
My father-in-law spent MANY, MANY hours painting.
My mother-in-law also spent MANY hours painting.
Our son spent many hours painting too. Or waiting for us to finish painting.
Tim painting...
Marie painting...
Ken finishing up the painting.
The floors are next.
Time to wash them.
This was a LOT of floor to wash.
What a wonderful husband I have. Washing the entire floor without a complaint.
We washed it with some cleaner that required gloves.
The black floors need to go. It looks like an Oreo cookie in here.
Our green floor paint! 13 gallons of expensive paint to keep the place healthy. TOTALLY worth the extra cost.
ALL ORGANIC. Made in Spartanburg, SC too!
Thank goodness that I loved the color.
Ahhh... the black is disappearing.
The floor is coming to life!
Board by board we made our way across the floor to the center of the floor.
I started on the left.
Tim started on the right.
We eventually met in the middle.
It is getting greener!
Tim is finishing up. Andy came the third night and helped Tim with the THIRD coat.
Door paint! (for the inside of the front door.)
The white is too boring.
The same paint that I used on my door at Home Color!
Yes, blue is much better.
The yellow door lasted 24 hours. A very bad idea. I should have listened to the advice I got from Sherwin Williams.
My door at Home Color before I moved into Sunflower.
June, 2014. Getting ready to move in to the right side!
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May 2014: Our big DIY endeavor began
It had never been our intent to paint the walls and floors ourselves, but we couldn’t get any professional painters to return our calls. The organic floor paint needed 10 days to dry before we could put any furniture down, and we were running out of time with the lease at my store called “Home Color” ending on May 31st.
So we toughed it out and painted the entire place ourselves — with the help of some friends, and especially our amazingly helpful parents.
Looking back on the photos, it still makes me feel exhausted to think of all the hours we poured into first just changing the color of the floors and wall. But it was worth it, to make the space come to life.
DYI has been the normal course of our marriage for the past 20+ years anyway, so this seemed the more fitting (AND cost-effective) way to roll.
How lucky I am to be married to somebody who not only enjoys working hard to take something old and make it new, but is also quite skilled at it. Tim is irreplaceable!
Sunflower is located at 110. Main Street, Travelers Rest, SC 29690
One year ago today, on July 10, 2014 — this old grocery store came back to life!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sunflower!
You HAVE helped to make many lives more beautiful during this past year.
