And so more time passes and more work is done. Lots more work is done, actually! There have been great changes made in the shop from the bar/counter, to the kitchen area, to the bathrooms, vents, furniture, and floors. The place is looking amazing and we never could have done it all ourselves.
Thanks to hard work of Charlie and Don Root the counter is finished and looks beautiful! The barn wood, donated by Bob Root, is the ideal finish for this install. It ties together so many of the organic elements of the shop and makes the space cozy.
The bathrooms have been finished with paint, lights, fixtures, doors, trim, and running water. Yes, our toilets flush!!
All of the ductwork is hung and vented. This means we have heat and air… in other words we won’t freeze or roast. So yay for that!
Probably our most prized achievement was the floor. It has been our longest running project and greatest transformation. Just to remind everyone, tit started covered in carpet. 
We tore all that carpet up (thank you Austin and Hillary) and were left with a glue covered concrete floor that needed some grinding.
We couldn’t stop there so Austin suggested something crazy… cover the WHOLE floor in paper bags! He was half serious and half kidding. I did some research and told him we were about to go crazy and try this sweet idea! No, you didn’t misread that and I didn’t mistype it… we LITERALLY covered the floor in paper bags. The process was as follows: collect paper bags, rip & crumple paper, lay flat, dip in glue/water mix, cover floor, let dry, cover in MANY layers of polyurethane. Best decision we ever made. The floors look stunning! They also add to the organic vibe of the shop and are beautiful to look at. There is also a big thank you to be given to Nate Clark, Todd Fenton, Keegan Ferris, Sarah Craddock, Hillary Morgan, Donna Root, Andy Root, Andrew Manion, and Margaret Murphy who all come out to help put the paper on the floor. What a job and what a great blessing to have so much help!
Once we finished the floor (which took about a week) we were able to finish a lot of the really fun stuff – move in furniture and install our equipment! We’ve got almost all our furniture in and set. We just have a few more chairs and another table to install.
Speaking of making things, my amazingly talented and gracious father, Tom Root, helped us with our booth seating. The First United Methodist Church here in GR sold us some pews and with the help of my uncle, Jeff Gooder, we brought them to the shop. My dad then cut them in half and capped the ends creating awesome booth seating. He also went farther and had tables made for them and installed said tables. A huge thanks to him for all his help with those! They are beautiful and would not have been possible without his time, tools, knowledge, and donations!
Our equipment is installed and ready to go! It all looks great and we’ve been working hard to make sure we know how it all works. Thanks to Zach Aument for coming to GR to train us and our staff. Thank you also to our roaster Kelley for getting us our much needed espresso for training. Thank you to Jared from Bloom Coffee Roasters for coming to the shop to train us on pour over coffee and understanding your coffee beans. We are excited to be serving such great products!
We’ve got a decent size list of small jobs to finish up and inspections to pass and meetings to have. After all that… we might just be ready to open. I can’t believe I just typed that. Pinch me!
Please continue in your prayers for us. This final push to the end is tedious and challenging. Pray that we won’t lose focus or steam. Thank you for all the support you’ve given us thus far and all you continue to give. We cannot thank you enough!
Happy Holiday all and may we post again soon with an opening date!
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