My lovely mother reminded me yesterday that we never did a final video of the finished office. Here it is — complete with holiday decorations.
Thank you all so much for your interest and feedback during our construction process. We loved being able to share it. Happiest holidays to you and yours.
Today was a bitter sweet day for us. We had our final inspection. We obtained a certificate of occupancy. Our general contractors, Carl Nelson Construction, hung the remaining trim, cleaned up their equipment, and left 419 Main Street. Their work is done.
They began construction on July 16th. They finished construction on October 25th. Lots happened during those 101 days. Brian and his team made our office what it always should have been. The highest compliment we can give his work is it looks like we didn’t do anything because everything was done with tremendous attention to detail.
The best lawyers like the best contractors make difficult tasks look natural and easy. There were many difficult tasks in our unit.
We are going to miss Brian and his team. They became part of our team. We appreciate all of their hard work.
Now that they are gone, if you are looking for a contractor, you may want to give them a call. You can stop by our place and see their work. We’ve captured some of their work on Pinterest.
As we move forward we will forever be grateful for the great care, diligence, and persistence displayed by Brian and his team. We’ll also miss them.
Tonight we drank the first very red wine over our very white downstairs carpet. My mom, who also chooses to tempt the fates with her own very white carpet, has this line about only serving guests oysters, mashed potatoes, and white wine. She’s only kind of kidding. (There isn’t cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving.)
Earlier this evening our sweet friends popped sweetly by with a lovely bottle of red. After today’s painting (round 875), doorknob installing, and tv mounting, by tonight work had settled down into the basement — aka, land of the white carpet. Our efforts involved Ikea (again), and so the wine was especially appreciated. And it was appropriate that the very first wine quaffed on the very white carpet would be very red. After all, we may as well be bold — even when it comes to the bitty bits.
Here is the latest:
Last night Kristen removed the remaining tile in the downstairs bathroom. Ryan assembled our desk chairs. I painted.
Kristen and I have been painting for days now. So that we are not in the contractors’ way, we put on our painting outfits (they are very attractive), go down into the space, and paint away on the weekends and after the contractors leave at night. (At this point I am convinced we have installed enough wainscoting to circle the sun.)
Although as Ryan pointed out there are struggles associated with balancing building out an office, starting a law firm and prioritizing one’s family, we are mindful of what a tremendous opportunity this is. We are proud to be able to put our bodies as well as our brains into these initial months of FreedMcKeen. We know that everything we amateurs can do in between the contractors’ serious skilled work gets us closer to the goal line of opening our physical office.
Kristen and I live above our office. We run down with our coffee in the morning to answer questions. Although at times during this phase it can be a bit much to have such easy access to the office, it is also extremely efficient for moving things forward.
(Lately we also take down a green smoothie for Brian Nelson, our awesome general contractor, who last Saturday won the Hogsback Half Marathon in an hour and fourteen minutes. His winnings included a pink pig cookie and a piece of chocolate-covered bacon. Brian is a vegetarian, so let us know if you want in on the chocolate bacon raffle.)
We three are really, really lucky to be opening this law firm.
But if you come too close, I am likely to paint you China White.
Here we are, last night:
We now have doors to join our floors.
(In this video Ryan, Kristen and my Dad all make brief appearances. Oh, and please ignore the multi-colored stripes — the video is fine.)
It has been a blur around FreedMcKeen due to the rush to try to get everything possible done before the floors get refinished. Here is a video of the latest — actual light fixtures!
Or, paint the office Balboa Mist.
We spend yesterday painting the first floor of the office. We have a first coat up on all of the walls, and later, after the floors are sanded and re-stained this coming week, will wash the dust off of them and do a (very, very careful) final coat.
It has been almost two weeks since our last construction update. We taped the progress of the destruction of walls; we taped the Sunday Kristen and I both frosted and un-frosted the small conference room glass. But since then, much of the work that has been done by our contractor and his crew in the office is “invisible.” Loads of electrical work needed to take place before the ceiling could be sheet-rocked, the walls could be dry-walled, and the wainscoting put up. Plumbing had to be done before work could begin in the bathrooms and on the wet bar.
But yesterday, yesterday when we went into the office Kristen yelled, “CON-struction!” After a couple of weeks of no visible progress (other then a window pane being replaced with one with a too-dark tint) there was progress you could actually see!
Voilà! A shower! An actual shower!
So, why a shower in a law firm? Ryan is a runner. He runs in both in the day and at night (with a headlamp). He runs outside all year round. We had two choices to accommodate Ryan’s habit — either get him a gym membership solely for the use of the gym’s locker room, or install a shower in the office. We opted for a shower in the office.
Let us know if you’re in Hartford and want to shower after your run.
We had a crack in the glass in one of our front windows on Main Street. We ordered a replacement through a glass company probably a month ago, and just got a call that it was in and they were ready to install it.
The installation was yesterday. When Kristen and I went down to look at the finished product, this is what we saw:
Sigh. The new glass may not have a crack, but it also does not match. Apparently the manufacturer no longer makes glass in the light gray tint that we have in the rest of our windows. (It would have been useful to have known that at an earlier point.)
The search for alternatives begins!
There is now a border in the hardwood around the staircase. There is now an outlet in the floor underneath where the conference table will be.
It is happening.
