Rockin’ around the Knox Hotel
Well, it has been a hot minute since our last blog update, and we have so many fun things to share! One of the biggest updates, which doesn’t necessarily pertain to the hotel renovation, is that the large space in front of the building has been rented! Woohoo! Dane and I are so excited to have Limitless Body Sculpting (a women’s fitness program) using that space. They plan to start classes on January 4, and we hope they will be packed! While we are so excited to have that space rented, we did have to fill the archway on the first floor between it and Wild Honey Boutique. Fortunately, we were able to construct it in a way that looks nice and is not permanent! If the time comes that it needs to be taken down, we can remove it, while keeping the archway intact! Yay!
Drywall is going up!
As for the hotel side of things, more drywall is going up every day in the rooms. It feels so surreal and like we are actually making progress because we can SEE the changes happening. As drywalling moves forward on that last room, Dane and I still have to finalize both the room colors and bathroom colors, but we do have a good sense of the direction we want to go. I think an off-white wall with a sharp white trim will look SO nice and help accent the antique pieces and also make the space feel less dark and dated. Our goal is to make the rooms feel classy and stylish, not old. Once we have those colors finalized, we can buy that paint and have it ready to go!
Repairing the Plaster Walls
Dane and a friend have started work on the walls of the first stairwell. They had to secure any loose areas of plaster with screws and mesh tape, and then started applying the multiple coats of drywall mud. After each coat of drywall mud, it has to dry, then is sanded, and then another coat is applied. So far, part of the walls has two coats and it is looking SO good! Restoring the plaster walls has definitely been my favorite part of this renovation – you can actually see the results as you are working and it makes the walls look so new and fresh. These walls probably haven’t looked this good in over 60 years, which is crazy!
Adjusting the Phase One Timeline
As for plumbing, unfortunately, everything always takes longer than we hope, but that’s okay! We’ve said from the beginning that we want to do things right, not just hurry and do the bare minimum. Dane and I have learned to trust the process and not stress over what is out of our control. We have worked so hard to get to the point we are at right now, so while we may not be open by Christmas, we will definitely have guests early in the new year! Right now, we’re hoping to start tiling the bathrooms by January 1st! Woohoo! We have a tiler lined up to do the installation and can’t wait to see the bathrooms start transforming!
More and More Mechnical!
And now for the BIG update…
HEATING IS BEING INSTALLED THIS WEEK! Yay! We are so excited to check this off the list! And everyone working in the building is excited to thaw out, haha. With the ductwork in place, our to-do list will become much smaller very quickly. The rest of our Phase 1 plans can finish up, including sprinklers, insulation, ceiling drywall, etc. Then it’s on to the fun details! Painting, wallpapering, hanging chandeliers, refinishing the floors, and more! That may sound like a lot, but for us it feels like a breeze. Our list is FAR LESS than what it has been! We are so excited and can’t wait to share more of the progress!
Stay tuned for more updates as we enter the final stretch of the first phase of this amazing, challenging, and life-changing project!
