Will work for coffee

A few weeks ago, I wandered into Brews and Bytes, a little coffeehouse that opened this summer about half a block off Route 66 in Sapulpa, and spent a quiet morning grading papers and planning lessons. If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend it. The owners are friendly, the coffee is good, and the ambience is just right: soft lighting, comfortable furniture, historic building, free Wi-Fi, local artists’ work on the walls, and live music on Friday and Saturday nights.

The restroom hadn’t yet received the same cafe-chic treatment as the rest of the building, so I asked the barista/co-owner what she had planned for that space.

“I’m not sure yet,” she said.

That’s what I was hoping she’d say. I started painting this afternoon.

Here are a few before-and-after shots to give you an idea of where we started and where we’re heading:

We started with clutter, previous tenants' bad decisions, and a necessity-driven tendency toward function over form.

Coupla quarts of Valspar and about three hours later, things were starting to look a little neater.

No matter how clean a room is, exposed spackle, sheetrock mud, water putty, etc. will make it look nasty.

The faux-textured paint job -- inspired by scrapbooking papers -- hid the uneven wall surface nicely. I haven't started working on that wall to the right, obv.

See the line and the paper residue? That awful satin-moire-floral-whatever wallpaper border was everywhere. Ghastly.

The owners loved the rag painting.

Here's the lower part of that wall. I'm really thinking about stripping the paint around the window to expose the bricks.

Here's the beginning of the cool part. This will eventually be a huge collection of oversized "postcards" featuring scenes from along Route 66 in Oklahoma.

I considered bright colors but decided a pseudo-sepia look was better suited to a coffeehouse in an old Plains Commercial building. It looks milky in spots because I sealed it with a Mod Podge knockoff that hadn't completely dried yet.

I’m really pleased with the way it’s turning out so far. If my estimate is right, this project should keep me out of trouble until baseball season starts and I can return to my rightful spot on the berm at OneOK Field….

Emily