Paint and a Pane of Glass Anyone?

This is the view from my little window bench paradise. I can gaze at my favourite mountain - yup, that one behind the buildings is my favourite. It ain't spectacular but from its summit I can look back down at Bellevue, Frank, Blairmore, Hillcrest, Turtle Mountain, The Slide, The Prairies, see eagles soaring overhead, explore old mine-workings and I can ride my bike all the way down from the top. That is one inspiring lump of earth!

Below my beloved mountain is my beloved town of Bellevue. How can the owners of all those beautiful little commercial buildings just leave them the way they are. Bellevue's little downtown is about 20 gallons of paint, one pane of glass, and a few hours of focused effort away from being something amazing. We already have the ice-cream shop who know how to keep a building's charm intact and I'm sure would love to fuel the effort. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SOMEBODY! Everyone complains that the municipality does this or doesn't do that. Bellevue could be the inspiration of the Pass and all through the efforts and passion of the residents/building owners. Does anyone want to start a "Beautify Bellevue" fund/association/group/club?

I received the following email a few days ago and have heard a great deal of promising feedback about what we're doing. The momentum is starting. Change is near.

Greetings,It is so refreshing to find someone with a dream that is willing to work on building something here in Bellevue, and in the Pass.We need more people like you. We bumped into Paul last weekend in Stone's Throw - has there seems to be a lot of curiousity about what is going on in downtown. Also it is great to see someone that can appreciate the heritage factor. That appeal is what makes places like Ft. Macleod stand out. A Qwikee Mart does not have much heritage value to it. We moved here because of several of the reasons you stated on your brainstorming.It is nice to see someone with some faith and optimism!
I wish you every success!

1 Day Weekend

Another weekend "Passed". The regular routine; drive down Saturday night, stay up late to try and absorb all the little things that have changed then try to sleep with all the excitement. This weeks visual change was the window bench. Robert and Paul, I think, questioned this silly idea of setting the one large window in the middle suite out enough to create a little spot to sit inside. My mind's eye could see it and knew it was a must. Now that it is done Robert and Paul seem to realize what we were after and the little chunk of extra space means so much when dealing with such a small suite.

Our motive on all 3 suites is quality of space not quantity. The world has enough large box houses covered in pastel stucco with measurements suited more to schools than families. Our idea of quality space is providing visual interest, warmth through natural colour, ergonomics and catering to those subconcious senses that know when a place is inviting. We are struggling more and more with motivating ourselves to leave on Sunday nights - I think we have, if nothing else, designed a place that makes us feel relaxed and inspired. 1 down - 2 more suites to go.

a great ride and more excitement about the building

The long weekend just passed. For me a long weekend means 2 days off in a row. I can't believe I have been somewhat a prisoner to my business for 7 years now - I own the keys to my own prison cell was something I heard from a retail shop owner years ago.

Anyways. I choose not to whine about my business. I own a bicycle shop that is doing really well - making a living while surrounded by one of my biggest passions is pretty awesome.

Saturday finished off a pretty dismal sales week in the shop in a pretty good way - as in we did almost enough on Saturday to make up for a slow week. It also meant the trip down was delayed and we only arrived in Bellevue at about 10:30PM Saturday night. Andrea and I stood in the parking lot just stunned gazing at the ever evolving shape of our building. After 2 years of driving up to the same beat-down, leaking, begging-for-mercy building it is surreal to see something slightly different, something more attractive every week.

During the week I had a little chat with Robert (one of our super-reno dudes) and we decided the boardwalk at the rear of the building was so nice that we'd go the full length. Andrea and I had been looking at all these ideas for finishing the crappy, utilityesque concrete and it wasn't until the chat with Robert that continuing the boardwalk was the perfect idea.

We are now patiently awaiting the arrival of our roofing material and we also need to figure out what we want (and can afford) for siding all the new construction.

Sunday rolled around and we headed to Stone's Throw (who have a pretty rad new website by the way) http://www.stonesthrowcafe.ca/ . We met up with Mike (the other main man at Bike Bros. http://www.bikebros.ca/) and his wife Adrian and little dude Isaac for great grub. We met up at the Bellevue shack and Mike and I decided to tackle Great Riddance. We are manly men who like pushing our bikes for 2hrs plus for 30 minutes of great gravity-fueled fun. See the pics for yourself.

The weather on Monday was aweful. Neither Andrea or I cared because we had (still have too) lots to do with the building. Andrea put sealer on all the fir trim which made it even more beautiful while I got to pull out a hammer and start removing the miscellaneous nails and chunks of wood stuck to&in a couple of the beams in the front section of the building. A great visit. Leaving was hard. Getting harder every time.

new pictures

Facad, slowly coming along...
The boardwalk/deck makes the rear suite start to feel a little tastier. Funny how the mind sometimes can't compute how a small change in layout or appearances will change the overall impression. Stepping up onto the boardwalk then into the future rear suite fell like so different - $400 worth of wood making so much difference in overall feel.
Crowsnest Pass feels like it is at a similar metaphoric stage. I don't know where that magical $400 (metaphoric of course) needs to be spent but the Pass is so close to having that initial impression that knocks people's socks off. Like this building, the foundations exist, the changes have started and for the most part there are a few cosmetic changes on the way to totally transform things. These are exciting times for all of us who have always seen Crowsnest Pass through the rose-colored glasses - glasses half full with optimism.

Just an update on the building

What a change. Saturday night, after an absolute gong-show day at the shop (yup people are still buying bicycles) Andrea and I got rolling at about 7:00PM. The roads were quiet. There was no snow or ice. Our biggest challenge was handling the weeble-wobble van - being driven because we grabbed a log bed. I will take this opportunity to say the Chevy Astrovan is perhaps the most useful minivan - tons of room, yet it is also perhaps one of the biggest pieces of gas-gulping crap ever produced. (I'm secretly thinking I might be jinxing my relative good luck with the van that was once a money swallowing lemon, but has become a very valuable furniture/appliance carrier).

We made it home to Bellevue by 9:30. We had the great fortune of the radio dying a number of times which forced us to hear re-runs of the news, then some CBC stuff on AM.

Showing up in Bellevue has become our self induced surprise. We make a point of not talking too much to Robert and Paul, the awesome dudes doing the reno, because don't want to know what to expect. It is great having 2 guys to work with who totally "get" what we're after so they just kinda run with the project.

This is what we arrived to see (exterior pics) and how far we were able to get on final touches on the interior (not exterior pics).