While I was away in Toronto, Steve and my mom continued working at the studio. The ceiling had been painted and the walls were up, mom was working on molding, and Steve was working on getting me an electrician. I had gotten a few estimates that were a bit of a shocker (no pun intended) to say the least. Seriously, all that I needed was some basic wiring, which didn’t sound like it could cost all that much to do. I knew that I needed to buy my panel box, which was just under $1,000.00. In addition to that, I was putting in 10 ceiling fans with light kits and a few outlets on the walls; nothing elaborate. The first estimate came in at $10,000, to which my response was “Are you out of your fucking mind?” That was about $6,000 higher than I was expecting. I was hoping to do the entire studio renovation for $10,000, so there was no way that I was going to blow my entire budget on a dozen or so lights and a handful of electrical sockets. It was time to ask for favors.
“Honey……… don’t any of your clients know an electrician who does side jobs?”
Chico was such a person, who was sent to us by one of Steve’s clients, Victor. Victor could get us anything that we wanted when it came to contractors or materials. He owned rental properties and he knew how to get things done for as little money as possible. Chico could do the job for just over $4,000. Of course, the building inspector made him redo a few things; but I didn’t care. Chico was cheap, he showed up when he said he would, and he didn’t have a crack habit (that’s another story).
Victor turned into a great resource. He got me a great deal on paint, that I could have sworn he said came out of the back of a tractor trailer. Who cares…… it was free. He also gave me the number for Don the Door Guy, and yes, that is what people really called him. All that Victor said was “You need doors? Don the door guy can get you doors” I made Steve call and I swear that he had to say “Victor sent me” before Don the Door Guy would tell him where to find him.
Steve and I met Don the Door Guy in a back alley outside of an old building that, when we walked in, was filled with EVERY type of door that you could imagine. There were front doors, back doors, insulated or non-insulated. There were right hand doors and left hand doors. No knobs….those were extra. I was looking for a set of french doors and two solid doors, which after some digging, I was able to find. The cost for all four doors?…..$70.00…….cash……of course. It worked for me.
Once the doors were up, I still needed to paint and clean.The floor would go down last. Steve would push me around on two stories worth of scaffolding so that I could clean the ceiling beams. I also had a solid wall of glass block that had so much dirt on it that the glass was black. There was a brick wall that had about 50 years worth of paint on it, that the decorator thought would look great if I stripped it down to the natural brick. It sounded easy, and the kit that I bought to do it had pictures that made it look so simple. First I needed to put on protective eye wear, a mask and gloves as I read through pages of instructions warning about the risks of chemical burns, brain damage or death. Once I was throughly briefed on the risks I painted this thick, toxic paste onto the brick which seemed to take on a life of it’s own upon contact. Next, I covered the wall with sheets of paper and left it sit overnight. I was fully prepared to return the next morning to discover a hole eaten through the brick, but no such luck. Instead of the paint sticking to the paper the way that it showed in the picture, the paint turned into a thick gooey mess that needed to be scrubbed off with a wire brush, and a couple of gallons of Simply Green. Fun? It was a pain in the ass; but the wall looked so cool when it was done.
The only thing left to do were the floors, which involved renting a commercial sander, which again, looked a lot easier than it was. I was cleaning sawdust out of my ears and underwear for days, but when I was finished…….the floors looked pretty good.
The smell of shellac was still evident, but Physical Methods was open for business.
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