A Birth of Another Sort is Still a Birth

Some readers may have followed my travails as I sought to acquire a new space for Art Cloth Studios last year. You can read some of the history in the posts below this one. Long story short, last May I began a search for a space because the church where Art Cloth Studios has been housed for ten years is slated to close sometime in the near future.

June: Found a great building but after three months it was clear the seller was a nut case when I couldn't pin him down on terms and he started showing me stripper pictures in his car. Yikes. Deal down the drain.

September: Found a great rock house right in the neighborhood. Foreclosure, so the price was right. Room for a wet studio. Lots of potential and general agreement that the space would work. The expense of grading the back yard haunted me at night, but hey. I needed this to work.

October 15: Why wouldn't the lights turn on for the inspection? A visit from City Public Service confirmed all copper had been stripped from the house by vandals - condensers, wiring - everything. Contacted the bank/owner and hoped for the best. Maybe this was a blessing. After all, it could lead to a new a/c unit and a total rewire at the bank's expense.

November 1: Ha ha. Still waiting.

November 10: Realtor advised pulling the plug on the deal. Down the drain it went.

November 11: Good friend Jean emailed me a new listing which happened to coincide with the same post from my realtor, Sylvia. I drove over to the house. Called Sylvia. Asked whether it was crazy to put an offer on a house when I'd never been inside. She said yes, and told me to stay put. When she arrived ten minutes later we checked out the interior and wrote a contract that afternoon. It was immediately accepted! Yippee!

The whole deal came down to the wire because of all the little headaches buying an old house entails. Finally set a date to close: December 31, 2011 at noon. Ironically enough, the same date and time I married my daughter's father in 1982. Zenna changed my life completely. I can only assume this project will do the same.

I'll keep this blog updated as the renovation unfolds. Leveling is accomplished. We discovered a 10,000 gallon brick cistern under the house. It's an old farmhouse in the middle of the city. Very cool. I kidded the worker guys about my indoor swimming pool! They didn't realize I meant it. I'd love to dip a ladder down into that cistern when it hits 104 degrees here in August and swim around. Maybe blind cave fish?