noun
- the act of restoring; renewal, revival, or reestablishment.
- the state or fact of being restored.
When you want to do it right, you do it yourself. That’s what my Mother used to say and I’ve had many opportunities of late to test the theory.
Over the course of 15 months, I had the amazing experience of re-imagining and renovating 2 separate spaces for Skep Space. Both were old homes with various levels of Victorian decoration in serious need of purging. The first house was covered in victorian-revival wallpaper and adorned with red carpet. We were given the keys during summer, which gave me time to work during time off from school and transform the house. It was an exciting prospect, this thing we were creating from scratch, both the organization itself and the dwelling that housed it. It was exciting and motivating to make a place for this new thing we were building.
We had less lead time with the second house, its interior painted entirely in beige, frilly lace curtains on the windows and forest green carpet. The plan was the same as its predecessor: strip the former decor and cover every surface in a fresh coat of white paint. We like the idea of reducing it to a plain white canvas upon which we can create anything we imagine. Those close to it lovingly refer to the new space as “Skep 2.0”. We took possession of the keys in late October, with the intention of having the new gallery open on November 1. I had help painting from fellow board members, thank goodness because a big job lay ahead, with removing dusty curtains, cleaning surfaces long-neglected by old men, removing carpet and painting every inch of the place a fresh, crisp white.
Here are some “Before Pictures”:
With the addition of white paint, the place immediately transformed and the architectural details popped. We trudged ahead, working everyday towards our goal of opening on 11/1. Finishing most of the walls, we then ripped up the carpet as the next step. At the “OG Skep”, as we affectionately call our original residence, we pulled up carpet, removed staples and tack strip, swept up and called it a day. Sure the floors beneath were far from perfect, but we liked their patina and evidence of a life well-lived. Plus, we’re an artist space after all, not interested in pristine surfaces; we’re interested in creative possibilities. I naively assumed that the state of the carpet and floors would be similar here, but unfortunately they were far worse. We pulled up the carpet to find this:
The floors were covered in sticky, broken-down carpet padding, suspected to be decades old. It was a huge job, ultimately delaying our opening by a month. This layer of goo had to be removed very carefully by hand in order to protect the floor. It was an ordeal and required countless hours of back-breaking work.
Not sure if it was real or imagined, but I had the sense that I was alone for this part of the clean-up, requiring that I amuse myself on hands and knees. My mind wandered quite a bit, which can be interesting with my vivid imagination. Scrubbing the layers of goo away, I talked to myself a lot. Coaching myself forward, I repeated silently that most people wouldn’t commit to this type of project. Most people would give up. Sure it wasn’t fair or planned to do all this but there was no other way to get to the finish line unless I moved forward. Simple enough concept, I realize but I needed to keep saying it to keep from giving up. And honestly, I wanted to give up a lot. Goodness knows I didn’t want to do the work, on top of my full-time teaching job. The entire process left me with a new mantra that applies to most situations in life: we have to do the work in order to move forward. Work comes in all forms and morphs depending on the situation that lies before us. Sometimes the work is physically grueling. Sometimes cerebral, and almost always there are a myriad of emotions intertwined throughout.
Some “After’ pictures:
If we didn’t dig in and do the work ourselves, we wouldn’t have transformed the space in such a short amount of time. But that’s what you’ve got to do to make a dream come true. Sometimes we’ve got to chase the dream with hard work. Once again, over the past two weekends we attempted a new paint job in the space. This time as I worked, I was inspired to write this blog post. Now up to 45 artists, we ran out of wall space in the main part of the gallery and moved down the hall into the kitchen. I’m just tickled with the creative way we’re using this space and can’t wait to see where we take it.
I don’t have a “before’ picture, but imagine this space with a Photoshop “dinge” filter–covered in the beigy-est beige imaginable. Now the walls are freshly white, and the cabinets a tasteful blue. Just like Mom said, if you want it done right it’s best to do it yourself. I’ll take it a step farther: when chasing a dream, get in the driver’s seat. That way you can work hard and make it look anyway you wish.