From There to Here.

For the life of me, I can’t seem to find a picture of the downstairs space when we bought the building, two whole years ago.  It had old blue carpeting, dirty white walls, and a peeling kitchen-type wallpaper border.  The front window had a wall built in front of it, mainly to keep the cold and heat contained, rather than seeping right out (or in).  This was a photo taken in February of this year, after we were finished with the upstairs renovations:

Pretty much just a huge mess.  The carpet was pulled up a bit already, old ceiling tiles thrown away, and some half walls torn down that were in the center of the wall to create office space.  The tiny bathroom was in the corner, ready to be torn out and rebuilt into a mop closet.  Here is a picture of the space a couple months later, after new ceiling tiles were installed and the new closet and bathroom built in:

A pretty big difference already.  Pulling down the wall that blocked the window was pretty huge, allowing light to stream in.  Once the new windows were installed, air stopped streaming in as well.  By June the kitchen was really taking shape, with flooring in and equipment being put in place:

After the main components of the space had been renovated and upgraded and put into place, we were able to turn out attention to the details.  Pictures on the walls, tables and chairs, finding just the right accents to make it A Dash of Delicious:

Because we have been in the midst of this project for so long, it is easy for me to forget how far we’ve come, to remember what we started with.  It has been hard to realize that by finishing this stage of the process, we’re at the beginning of a whole new one, running a bakeshop that we have put so much of ourselves into, are excited about, and proud to share with our community of Stevens Point.