Mount Olive Foundation steps up to the plate (and the coffee cup)!

What's a new kitchen without at least a couple new appliances? The "super user" group that discussed the needs of the little kitchen decided a while back that the existing major appliances are fine for now. But they really wanted an automatic plumbed in coffeemaker (no more filling that giant pot from the faucet) and a dishwasher which would sanitize dishes and keep us all healthier! We did not build those items into the budget, but we are hopeful that we can raise donations to cover the cost. We are very grateful to the Mount Olive Foundation for their generous donation of $2600 toward these new appliances. We'll be counting on the rest of you to help us make up the rest! The commercial coffee maker will cost about $1300 - yes, it's a very good coffeemaker. The dishwasher is also a commercial grade unit, capable of washing a load of dishes every ten minutes or so, and will probably cost about $3000. So we'll be looking for an additional $2000 or so to purchase these items. They will make life easier on Sunday morning for our casual coffee hour suppliers, but even more so for our dedicated group of large reception providers. If you want to see the details of the new coffeemaker, go to the website below. I'll post the correct info for the new dishwasher later.

http://www.pamasco.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=395

And the walls come tumblin' down....

You can click on any of these pictures and see an enlarged version.
Standing at the entrance of the coat room and looking into the little kitchen. The wall came down this week, and barely visible through the plastic barrier is the front of the stove and the existing door into the East Assembly Room. There will be a wall built at the end of the coat racks which will provide a doorway into an enlarged little kitchen. There'll be space for a dishwasher, a much-needed improvement, both for efficiency and hygiene. We're "borrowing" about four feet of the coat room for the additional space.

Looking through a now glass-less window into the Chapel Lounge. The cut out area in the woodwork indicates where one additional door into the CL will be. There will be a corresponding door on the opposite side of the existing door, resulting in easier egress into the CL for large receptions and events. No more reception lines snaking back into the Narthex!

The existing wainscotting in the CL will be retained. Ceiling tiles are now gone, leaving the "polka-dot" pattern of mastik glue across the ceiling.

Standing with my back to the storage closet in the old office - looking toward the former pastor's office. The plumbing at the rear left is what's left of the former pastor's bathroom. Important goal for the coming week is removal of the wall to the left, which will open up the new hospitality space to the former hallway and visibly connect it to the Chapel Lounge. The wall pictured at the far rear of this photo will eventually house new library shelves. Comfortable seating, some good books, a welcome center - living our hospitality!

The new view from the entrance into the former women's restroom, with the former men's room now visible through the demolished wall. The plumbing served both the former women's and men's bathrooms. The plumbing will be removed and the space will become a work room/meeting space for the office complex. The new bathrooms will be larger, more accessible and more attractive.

Destruc....er, construction update, week 3.

A quick look around on Sunday morning revealed a few changes since the pictures below were taken. The old wall partitions in the soon-to-be expanded hospitality space (the old offices) have been removed. The only indication of an old structure there is the small square of ceramic tile flooring that used to be in the pastor's bathroom. The space that will be the new secretary's space is likewise taking shape with the removal of closets and a small bathroom in the old cantor's office. More old skylights have been opened in the Chapel Lounge. Meanwhile Sexton Matthew had an object lesson about the importance of hard hats when his head (which was fortunately covered in a hard hat) came into contact with a piece of hanging conduit. All is well. And we're impressed with how clean the contractors are keeping the building, despite massive amounts of dust and debris.
Upcoming decisions for the building committee this week include water fountain selection, location of the new plumbed-in coffeemaker and a new glasswasher for the little kitchen, radiator cover design for the offices and whether to keep or get rid of the folding altar in the east assembly room. Details, details.

Interior walls of the office are mostly gone - this shot is taken from the former pastor's office toward the safe.


This is the reverse view of the new hospitality space, taken with my back to the safe, looking toward the former pastor's office. The office closets and the pastor's bathroom walls are still standing, but won't be for long!


The old bathrooms have been gutted - YAY!



The space that will eventually house the new bathrooms. Wall between the Cantor's office and the library has been removed to allow for expanded space for larger bathrooms.


The wall of the little kitchen that will be moved to enlarge the space and add an access door through the coat room. Cabinets have been removed.

First week of destru..., er construction

We're off and running - or rather the construction workers are. The false ceilings in the
hallways have been removed, old insulation is off, openings have been cut to make room for the new entry doors to the chapel lounge, and in general, it looks like a construction zone. What used to be light fixtures in the Chapel Lounge have been removed to reveal the skylight structures within them. The eventual new office spaces are now filled with old insulation, false ceiling tiles and piles of construction debris.
This morning we held our first coffee hours downstairs in the undercroft dining room, and put out no-longer-needed items for give away or free will offering. Lots of things disappeared, and what remains will be out next week before being given away to a local charity. Pr. Hollie reports that the week went smoothly for the staff. There was a funeral at the church on Tuesday and Watson-Forsberg folks did a good job of maintaining quiet and making space available for a family gathering. In addition, Gail Nielsen and her crew of helpers emptied out the little kitchen off the chapel lounge, and David Molvik and Mark Pipkorn continue their work of wiring and rewiring, moving and organizing.

More photos from moving day, January 10, 2010

One last thing had to be done at the warehouse - John's car needed a charge!

The intrepid warehouse crew: Mark and Linda Pipkorn, John Gidmark, Allen Dundek, David Molvik, Walt Hinck and Lora Dundek behind the camera.

Our furniture safely stored

The new home of the furniture at Endicott and Branford in St. Paul

The Sorensons and Dan Adams master a bulletin board

Moving Out Day 10 January 2919

Well, you can't say that folks from Mount Olive don't respond to a call to help. True, we had a core group of movers today, but basically everyone in the coffee hour after 2nd worship hauled something somewhere. Thanks so much! We rented a truck, loaded it up mainly with the furniture from the Chapel Lounge plus random other large things and they now all rest safely at a warehouse location in St. Paul. The pictures attached here don't do justice to the number of people who helped out.
We found a quite a few interesting items as we were going through closets. One item (we're not quite sure what it is!) was wrapped in newspapers dated February, 1977. We'll put some of those things out next week - baskets, placemats, table cloths, wall plaques, etc. - and you are welcome to take them home with you.
The construction people begin moving in tomorrow, and we should soon see tangible progress on our project.

Oops! Incorrect date!

The date of the office space move listed in the first post below is incorrect - it will be on Thursday, January 7.

I want to acknowledge the hard work of the building committee members. They have been so great to work with:
David Molvik, co-chair
Mark Pipkorn
Linda Hafmeister
Brenda Bartz
Lynn Dobson
Dennis Bidwell
Kathy Thurston, ex-officio
Pr. Heisley (prior to June 2009
Pr. Holt-Woehl (since July 2009)

There have been others who have helped along the way - most recently Brian Jacobs, Carol Austermann and Naomi Peterson who are helping us evaluate our needs for new furniture for our new spaces.

And so we begin - again!

After a long delay, we're on target to begin the new construction of the Parish House on Monday, January 11. The building committee decided to wait until after the Liturgical Conference, but this means that we will have only one day between the conference and the start of construction (or "destruction" which is what it will look like first, I'm sure!). Here's the plan:
The offices will be moved on Thursday, January 6, leaving behind only those things needed for running the Liturgical Conference. After the second worship service on January 10, we'll bar all the doors and you'll only be able to leave if you carry something out to a waiting moving van. (Just kidding!). But we are asking anyone who's available to share in a quick lunch provided by the building committee, change into some work clothes and help us move furniture mostly from the chapel lounge and the east assembly room. Some of it will go elsewhere in the church, but much of it will go into a rented moving van to be taken to a temporary storage facility on Raymond Avenue in St. Paul. So it you can follow the van to that location to help unload, it would be much appreciated. Please call the church office - 827-5919 - if you can help out. It will be so exciting to move on to this phase of the plan. I look forward to sharing updates and photos on this site.