You might remember this room. It’s the space where we held a cowboy Christmas party in 2014…
As well as a graduation party in 2015. It’s a glorious, open space filled with light, and until a few months ago, we had planned to leave it open, without assigning it any particular purpose.
Oh my goodness. Look at what it looked like when we started!
I need to look at this photo daily to remind us of how far we’ve come.
As the deli and mercantile store project has evolved downstairs, we have realized that this upstairs space is going to need to have more of a defined purpose—as well as more space for cooking events and other fun activities. So we’re transforming this upstairs space into a big bakery and demo space, which has pumped even more excitement into things!
While I hated to frame out (or block off) any of this room, we are still leaving a good part of the room open for visitors, and the good (and goodness and butter and sugar) that will come out of this space will make it all worth it. Plus, we’re leaving it pretty open and keeping the bakery activities largely visible, which will keep that part of the room from feeling closed off.
I’ll tell you something else: The bakery/demo space/cooking classroom was 100% Marlboro Man’s idea. You know, sometimes when Marlboro Man says, “Hey. I have an idea.” I have a fleeting thought that I want to run pull the covers over my head. Because more often than not, his ideas are good ones—but they result in more work for everybody! Ha. But as I said, this definitely feels like it’s a good direction—the whole mercantile concept feels complete now.
Believe it or not, I need to pick out the marble for the bakery countertops so that we can proceed with some of the other aspects of the design, so I looked at them Friday.
This is the kind of decision that makes me nervous. Here were my options!
I loved this one instantly. It’s white and clean, but not plain and stark.
Alas, this slab (and its matching counterparts) was already spoken for.
This is the same kind of marble, but it’s not the same lot, so it’s a little swirlier than the first. Plus, they only had a honed (unpolished) piece, so it’s hard to tell how it really looks.
I like it, though.
I also liked this one because it had a pattern without being too dramatic or crazy. It’s a lot more gray, and to me, gray is from the devil. No, seriously; I have nightmares about living in a gray world. But I think it would look pretty with wood-toned (or brightly colored) cabinets.
This is gorgeous, but I worry that it’s too strong and, again, dramatic for our small town mercantile store.
Oh, and here’s a pretty piece of marble…but I don’t think there’s enough pattern to break up all the white.
Another grey-ish one I stared at for awhile. Another really pretty one…but I don’t think it’s right for the merc.
Except I’m forgetting one thing: I don’t know anything!
No seriously. I don’t.
And that’s okay! (Please feel free to weigh in on anything bakery-related. What colors do you like? What surfaces? WHAT TREATS?)
I may not be an expert in marble slabs, but I do know about is this. Steak Bites and Eggs, baby! We’ll be serving this (in a more stepped-up form) downstairs in the deli.
(Recipe testing starts in full force next week. Please pray for my love handles.)
And speaking of praying…this is Todd doing his homeschool presentation on Daniel. His sister gave him a man-bun right before the performance because his wig was tickling his cheeks and preventing him from concentrating.
It’s nice to have sisters when these life challenges arise!