After The Lighting Changes

Well, I figured out how to take a reasonable picture of the bar to show the difference in the lighting I mentioned in the previous posting.

Before



After

 The pictures are taken with nearly the same camera settings.  The only difference is the shutter speed for the "after" was 0.8 seconds vs. 0.6 seconds for the "before".  And, to be fair, the "Before" picture was taken with all the lights on at full brightness.  It's somewhat misleading on how bright it was.  But it was still pretty damn bright.

We'll Leave A (Lot of) Light On For Ya

I'll just put this out there up front and then I'll talk about our reasoning behind both what we started with and what we've very recently done (last night, in fact).

In response to customer comments, we've made the bar darker; it's now at least half as bright as it used to be.

One of the first complaints we had about the bar was variations on "It's so bright in here!"  At the time, we didn't quite know what to do about it.

I know it seems like a simple problem to fix--turn off some lights.  We tried turning off some lights around the beginning of August.  Unfortunately, all that did (in our opinion) was made parts of the bar really bright while others stayed really dark and it just looked weird.  In fact, one time we tried turning off some of the lights, a customer said something like, "They must be turning off the lights to save money"; a completely different reaction than we thought we'd get (especially since most of the lights are LEDs).  The lights went back on as we considered other options.  (In hind sight, we probably might have tried leaving those lights off to see if opinion changed.)

Over the next several weeks we made adjustments to the lighting in the bar.  We removed the rope light from under the bar over the diamond plate, added a valance over the rope light on the wall behind the bear flag, lowered the light level from the track lights over the bar, and turned off two of our brightest signs.

Here's what we were thinking in our lighting; both originally and with the newest changes in roughly chronological order of when we made the changes.

We were (and are) very happy with the way the diamond plate looks on the bar and kinda wanted to both highlight it ("Ooh, shiny!") and add some indirect lighting to the bar.  So, we put up the rope light under the bar on the customer side.  It's bright white LED lighting so it doesn't cost a lot to run.  I was very pleased with the way it looked and I *really* wanted this rope light to work out but it added too much ambient light and now it's gone.  I cried a little.

(Actually, this rope light has just moved to the other side of the bar--the bartender side--I think it works out a lot better back there than on the customer side.  Besides, it lights up the bartender's crotch nicely.)

We also turned off the beer sign near the front window.  It's a nice enough sign with a color-changing effect but the damn thing was like staring into the sun and couldn't be made any less bright.  It's now turned off.

Last week--and this is something that we'd been thinking about for a while but just finally got around to it--Karl added a valance on the wall opposite the bar which, basically, blocks the rope light there from glaring you in the eyes. (Now, about the only way you can see the rope light is if you stand underneath it and look up.)  It's now what we think is the right amount of light on that wall.

We've also reduced the light coming from the track lights over the bar itself.  (They're on a dimmer; if they're still too bright when you come in, let the bartender know; turning them down may have just slipped his mind.)

And the most recent change last night was the turning off of the Bud Light sign on the west wall.  This was the first sign our distributor brought to us and we've loved the sign from the beginning.  It's the right colors, the right size, it's LED, it's dimmable.  In other words, everything we wanted.  But, after turning off the sign for Halloween last month and the Bears' black out party two weeks ago we realized that leaving this sign off makes the bar look--well--more like a bar and less like the world's tiniest indoor football stadium.

We're a little embarrassed that it took us this long to make these changes but they've been made now.  If you've stayed away from us because you our lighting had blinded you, give us another shot.  If it's *still* not quite to your liking, there are still more changes we can make so let us know that it's still not quite right.

If you come in during daylight hours, there's a good chance you may catch us with our front curtain open and you may not see all these changes.  But, that should only happen in the less-than-scorching and less-than-freezing weather of Fall and Spring.  (We close it by the time dusk comes around.)

(On a related note, we really, really do want to hear what our customers think of the bar.  If something's not quite right, we can't fix it for you unless we know what it is.  So, please, let us know.  We have our online suggestion box on our website where you can give us your anonymous suggestion or complaint if you think we'll not like you any more if you say something.)

Happy Birthday!

Hey!  We've been open for four weeks now and some of you have been asking, "Where's the blog!?"  (That's why I posted the earlier really, really short blog post.)

Well, we've been obviously busy getting the bar up and running smoothly and we're pretty close to achieving that.  In fact, today is the first time I've actually had two days in a row I haven't had to be at the bar to do something.  And, frankly, I don't quite know what to do with myself....

We've been asked how business is and it's going as expected.  Yes, really.  My pull-a-number-out-of-my-ass sales projections from four months ago have been met or vastly exceeded every week since we opened.

There is still much to do, too.  First and foremost, getting a sign out front so people know we're open.  We still get people coming in saying, "I didn't know you had opened yet."  We think a sign out front will help a great deal with that.  After that is probably getting music out on the patio.  It's just too quiet out there.  We don't want loud music outside but we need *some* background music out there.  Then we got to trim the tree up a little; it'll eventually lean on the power supply wires again and that makes us nervous (as well it should).  And then we gotta get our walk-in cooler working right; I don't think it *ever* turns off.  And then we gotta get a cover over the outside "hallway".  And then we gotta get the front window better insulated.  And then....  And then..... And then....  It's never gonna stop.

We're still working on getting decorations up in the bar.  We've got to find places for the mirrors and other assorted stuff.  Seems everybody loves the diamond plate aluminium on the bar, too.  And that makes me happy.

Coming Along

Things are coming along nicely.  There have been a few additional surprise delays that have the potential to throw off our carefully constructed schedule.  Mainly delays that could cause our inspections to take a day or two longer than expected.  We're trying to get it right the first time now rather than doing what we think will pass and correct it later if asked.

The light fixutres are up and the A/C registers are in and the walls are mostly painted.  It really is starting to look like a bar!  And our LED pool table light looks quite nice!

The insurance adjuster has been out for the vandalism and I believe we're only waiting for a final determination which I expect to be favorable.

This weekend, we have friends coming by to help paint the rest of the place.

Next week, there's more clean up work to do and orders to place and inspectors to call and a bunch of small touches to finish up the job.  And I think you'll find all the diamond plate you see on our sites will begin to make a little more sense.  (It looks pretty darn cool if ya ask me!)

(And, ya know what?  I kinda envy you guys (and gals) who will walk into the bar and get the impact of all these changes all at once.  I've (obviously) been living with it for months and months so I've seen it change over time.  We really think what we've done with the place will impress you.  At least we hope it does.)

Amazing People

We know some truly amazing people.

We're less than two weeks away from our planned opening (and still on track) and more and more friends are popping out of the woodwork to help us!

There's a guy we know who is going beyond the call of duty to help us change the look of the bar itself to something that's going to be really, really cool.  (We think.)  And it'll make the background of our website make a little more sense, too.

There're others who are helping just do "whatever we need".  Yesterday, our ceiling got painted by one such of these.  Our fence has been strengthened. A toilet was fixed (it was broken by one of two of our contractors but everybody denies it was them.  Patches have been made for stucco.  There are many, many examples; these are just a couple that I can think of right now.

Frankly, we could not even think about meeting our June 20 deadline without these people.

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Now, back to work.  The electrical and A/C guys are at the bar today finishing their work and should be done by early afternoon.  Our refrigeration guy is coming tomorrow and he'll be done with his stuff tomorrow.  Then, we think we're ready for our final building inspection on Friday.

(We did have a vandalism "issue" again this past Thursday night/Friday morning and again Monday night/Tuesday morning.  Some donkey--and by donkey, I mean jackass--broke into the back yard and destroyed the old walk-in refrigeration roof unit as it was waiting to be put onto the roof.  It should be covered by insurance (adjuster arriving this morning to check into it) but it has caused a bit of a delay; and that delay shouldn't be too bad.)

What's Behind Curtain Number 1?

Turns out, more curtains...

The soda shop style bar stools at the bar are quaint but difficult to work on and are slowly deteriorating.  I've called them a "Law Suit Waiting to Happen".  (I don't drink that much and even I've had, shall we say, "trouble" with the bar stools.)  So, they have to go.

First step: Get rid of them!

Second step is...  Uh, I guess there is no second step.

We started getting rid of them on Monday.  First, we had to remove the carpet and reveal some of the structure to see what the heck was going on under there.  And it turns out it'll be fairly easy to remove.  Under the carpet is some delightful vinyl flooring.  I'm sure it matched beautifully with the pink and turquoise the building used to be painted.

My!  What lovely vinyl floor covering!

We have some nice ideas for what to do with the area down there below the bar on the customer side and, for the most part, you'll have to wait to know what that is until later.

From this point in removing the bar stools, we decided it'd be easiest with electricity. There's some wood that'll need to be removed and that'll be easiest with a circular saw.  Electricity should be available in about a week.  Until then, here are some pictures to entertain yourself with.

Don't touch that!  You don't know where it's been!

Bryan getting ripped.

Fiberglass Filled Fortifications

The City of Fresno requested (Ok, required) us to install insulation in the fire-damaged wall.  We wanted to do it anyway to help reduce utility costs so it's not a big issue.  First off, we had to rip off the old interior drywall.

Karl's been climbing the walls lately.

Both Karl and I are bemused by the rather strange pattern of studs and related bits.  But, as I mentioned earlier, the "framing" does lend credence to the belief that the bar used to be some kind of housing.  Regardless, here is the wall newly fortified with fiberglass.

Yes, the cutting of the insulation gave Karl Blisters.

The New Ceiling

If you've been following this delightful process of opening a bar, you'll know that way back in December we posted some really bad renderings of the new ceiling.  Much concern was expressed by many people about the ceiling.  And, finally, we can see how well my crappy renderings match up with reality.

Behold!  THE NEW CEILING!!!!  MARVEL in its loftiness! REJOICE in its completeness!

Well, it doesn't really do justice to the sheer impact of having the higher ceiling.  I tell ya, I absolutely love and am thrilled with the way it looks.

Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do on the ceiling itself.  For starters, it needs to be a ceiling and not open trusses like that.  (Which was our original idea; we like the look of the open trusses.  We kinda wanted a "light construction" theme for the bar.  Like it wasn't quite finished.  Like you were walking into a construction site.  But that was going to be expensive for various reasons.)

So, there ya go.  Now on to the next bit of stress.  The interior construction work.  (When do I get a vacation, anyway?)

Lovely Sky Light

Now that the roof structure has been replaced and the building is once again as secure as it used to be, I think we can start showing what it was like with no roof on.

This is a lovely panorama of the "interior" from the front door.  (Notice the grafitti on the mirror from the guy who doesn't know how to spell the things he hates so much.)  This image was captured one week ago today.

(I'm starting to really like the panorama mode on the smartphone...)

Tomorrow's post deals with the sheer pain and suffering of not having a roof on the bar in the middle of rain storms and assorted, well, BS.  It will go a long way to explaining why last week really, really sucked so badly.

Wide Open Space

(Ok, not so wide and open, I guess.)

Got the stuff we don't want in the bar during construction out of the bar.  Demolition of the roof can begin whenever they're ready to start.  (Whenever that turns out to be....)

Here's a blurry panorama of the bar ready for work.  Wave hello to Karl at the window.

The Lights are On....

...but nobody's home.  At least in the bar, anyway.

Over the weekend, decided on what we're gonna have for lighting in the bar.  It took a trip to Fresno to the hardware store but we got it figured.  And we'll be well below the Title 24 requirements for wattage used for lighting.  Picked out some nice LED lights along with some immensely flattering fluorescent lights.  Got a few new track lights, too.

Overall, the shopping wasn't nearly as awful as I thought it might be.  It's not that I dislike shopping it's that I didn't relish the figuring of wattages and locations and a bunch of other stuff.  But it's done.  And our electric bill will thank us, I'm sure.

So, we've sent the list to the engineer guy who should have them implemented sometime today (if not yesterday; we'll have to check on that) and then it's back to City Hall where the second-to-last Magical Hoop™ can be cleared.

(Hmmm...  If all goes well, construction may commence the week of March 28.  Cross your fingers and hope I didn't just put myself too far out on the limb there...)

Time to go Shopping!

I'm not as thrilled about this as the exclamation point in the post title might lead you to believe.

The solution to the electrical plans, uh, issue I mentioned yesterday is for Karl and I to go shopping for specific light fixtures that will fit in with the Title 24 requirements.  For us, that apparently means we can't have more than 1,115 watts being used for lighting for the entire bar.

Our engineer guy originally specified 35w low voltage halogens for some of the fixtures.  But, when he tried to find the fixures online, he, too, found that 35w low voltage halogen light fixtures of that type don't exist.  So, we go shopping.  Yay.

We have to come up with a lighting plan that will not use more than 1,115 watts for the entire bar.  Shouldn't be too dififcult but will probably involve some calculus-type calculations.  (Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch but should work out alright.)

In every construction project, there is probably something that should have been done much differently than it was done.  (It was that way for us when we got our house; though, I now forget what that was.)  The electrical plans and design are probably that aspect for this project.  But, no worries.  It'll all work out in the end.

Status Update

Earlier this week, I quietly put up a new page on our web site sort of giving a rough-to-detailed outline of where we are in the process.  It gives a quick look into the current state of affairs as well as what needs to happen before we open and what has already happened.

It's the Building Status page.  Give it a look-see.

(There has been a lot that has already been completed.  Since I made that list at the end of February, I'm certain I forgot things that had to be done but have been completed.  The "Not Yet Begun" parts should be fairly complete, though.)

Color Test, Part 2

It seems my hints have been not obvious enough.  Maybe a few different shapes would help.

Can you figure out where we took these colors from?  And where you may have seen them before?

Color Test

Karl thought it would be interesting to see who could come up with the answer to this question.

These are among the chosen colors for The Phoenix.  Can you identify what they all have in common?

Bears!

Stephen Colbert better watch out!

In going through some of the stuff at the bar last week, we found this.  Hurray!  (Looking at it now, I think he's holding the flag backwards.  Oops.)

Look Ma! No Water!

One of the biggest surprises yesterday was the lack of water pooled in the bar.  Here's a picture.

You can see a tiny bit of water on the floor there but earlier it had been much larger.  Both of us had been expecting some large pool of standing water from the 8" of rain Fresno had received recently.  But, as you can see, it didn't stick around.

There has been some damage to the interior walls from water but not nearly as bad as we had feared.

Road Trip!

After the rains we've had lately, I think it's time to take some action on the giant hole in the roof of the bar.  (Yeah, I probably should have come to this conclusion much earlier.)  Later today, Karl and I are heading down to the bar to see what can be done about the, uh, sky light.

We have ideas about what to do and we certainly don't plan to be able to keep out all of the rainwater.  Keeping the vast majority of it out will probably be a great benefit.

We're also checking out new doors to put in.  No, they won't be nothin' fancy.  But at least they'll be better than what's currently keeping people and critters out.  (The City has required both doors be replaced.  Even if they weren't requiring new doors, I think I'd do it anyway.)

The clean-up of the stage will continue as well.

There's probably a few more things we're gonna be doin', too.  I've just forgotten what they are. Now, where's my coffee?

Rain Rain, Go Away!

...And don't come back on any other day or at least until the roof is complete.

Ok, ok.  So that doesn't rhyme too well or even match the song.  But the sentiment is there.

Believe it or not, the rain has not caused too much havoc on the the bar despite the large hole in the roof.  Thanks mostly go to the concrete floor and the location of the hole in the roof.  We'll have some minor repair work to do to the drywall because of the rain damage.  While a little annoying it's not too bad.

Ceiling Renderings

Well, I fired up the ol' 3D software and made these awesome 3D renderings of before and after on the ceiling!

Here is one Before and After:

And here's another.

Ok, so maybe they aren't so awesome (obviously 3D software (even from Google) isn't my forté); but I think they give a better idea of what you're going to see once the bar opens.

(In the event it wasn't obvious, the top image in each pair is the *before*.)