711 Indiana Ave- Southernly Inspired Headquarters
A perfectly imperfect building
This story is about the journey for the love of all things old that came before us. The money pit, roadblocks, and realities of working with your spouse. In the end, the diamond in the rough revealed to be a beauty through blood, sweat, and tears. As we embarked on this journey, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We dove feet first with a passion to bring back some history and do our part in helping to renovate downtown.
This is what I saw and I just knew this old building was meant for me. The facade of some of the old buildings was being restored in our little town to help revive downtown. The building to the left and ours was redone, however, what you don’t see to the right was a condemned building boarded up with a collapsed roof and overgrown trees in front of it. Talk about an eyesore, but we went full speed ahead, or should I say I did, dragging my husband with me.
Just a recap, my husband and I had been remodeling homes for years, however, it was mainly for ourselves at that point. From our first townhome on the lake to a turn of the century-old Victorian home on the Florida-Georgia line. How hard could this be? Well, we will get back to that question.
Cant, you just see the potential and possibilities, I told my husband. Even though the front of the building had already been previously restored, my husband was not as thrilled as I was about to purchase yet another money pit. I must say for good reason.
A little history. This storefront was downtown with hardly any foot traffic at that point, and like many downtowns in America, they had been run down and abandoned to malls and big box stores uptown. All that was left was old buildings with remarkable architectural details and dusty empty display windows where thriving businesses once were.
You think the obvious reality would stop me from making a huge mistake, right. No way we’re doing this. Even though my husband did not agree with me, he did what he always does. He supported my dream and helped my visions come to life.
Let’s take a look at what was inside before renovations.
The inside of the building wasn’t bad at all, however, I had a vision and couldn’t wait to transform this space into something more my style, while trying to bring back some of that original history.
My husband and I worked on transforming this building every second we had between both working full-time jobs and raising three busy kids. Honestly, it took us two years to complete our renovations and I thought we would never get finished. In the end, I couldn’t be any more excited about how it turned out and proud that we accomplished this together.
Would you like to see our renovations? To see the metal ceiling tiles restoration click here.
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