Glass Studio Update

As you may remember, the Adams' family was rocked when the Glass Studio was leveled by a terrible fire last year. Since then, my father in law and Husband have decided to rebuild.

Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management required that the ashes be tested for lead before they could be hauled to a landfill. The tests came back over the limit, so they had to make arrangements to have the ashes hauled to Birmingham for disposal. In the mean time, Charles had some temporary buildings brought in so that they could continue working and replacing the inventory that was lost in the fire.

Over three months (and ridiculous amounts of red tape) later, the site was cleared and rebuilding could begin. For those of you that know Charles, patience is not his strong point, and he was rather anxious to see the progress start.

At long last plans were drawn, construction teams were lined up, and ground was breaking!

May 1, 2012

There is a new General Contractor on duty and she runs a tight ship!

A month later, we have a foundation, walls, and a roof!



June 2, 2012

The new Glass Studio will have a show room and candy shop upstairs with the storage, work space, and loading dock downstairs. While there may be less square footage in this new building, there is more available work space and will actually be more 'user friendly.'

Can't wait for you all to come check out the finished product! I'll keep you posted on the progress here, but you can also follow us on Facebook.

The Fire

Wednesday was a day that will be etched into our minds forever. Husband and I left for work at 6:30 thinking that it would be a typical routine kind of day. Then as I was getting ready for a 9am meeting, he called to say that the family's Glass Studio was on fire and we needed to head home as soon as possible. 

That morning, the stove pipe that goes up into the ceiling came off sending sparks into the building. My father-in-law and Linda, the candy chef, thought they had put it all out not realizing that some of the sparks had gotten into the attic and spread. Thankfully they were both able to make it out of the building without harm!!!

That was the longest drive back home ever. Nothing could have prepared us for what we would see once we arrived. The smoke was so intense that the highway in front of the studio was blocked and you couldn't even see across the street. We just sat in the car in the driveway for the longest time trying to process what was happening. We were in shock to watch over 50 years of family business burning right before our eyes. It is literally like losing a family member. There were 12 firetrucks that responded from 4 different fire stations. If this was 'under control' I couldn't even imgaine what it must have looked like during the hour it took us to drive home.

Several news stations were there to report the tragic event. Here is a link to one of the reports.

picture from here

The original store was built by Husband's grand dad and added onto over the years until it morphed into the Glass Studio that everyone loved so much. Husband and his brothers and sister were raised at the store. They all say that they could sell fireworks and peanuts before they learned to walk and that artshows were an everyday part of life.

After a few short hours all that was left was a shell of a building and even that was still on fire. All the fire trucks pulled out that afternoon but by that evening some of them had to come back for round two. The middle part of the store was so hot that it had caught back on fire. The tin roof that covered that part of the store was keeping the water from reaching the flames to put them out.

This was the view from Husband's parent's house which is right next door. We are so thankful that the fire fighters were able to keep their home safe from the fire!

Those guys stayed and worked till around 9:00 that night.

A DeWalt drill was pulled from the ashes. Even though it was severly melted, it still worked. Pretty impressive, DeWalt!

They were also able to rescue the old peanut roaster.

While this is a terrible thing to have happen, we are still counting our blessings. We are so thankful that no one was harmed during the fire. We appreciate all the fire fighters  and rescue workers that responded to the call and helped to keep the flames under control and the family home safe. We are overwhelmed by the response of family, friends, and others in the community and all of their support during this time. Before we left for the night, I heard one of the family friends say that God will use this to His glory and that this family is too creative to let a fire stop them. You know what? She's exactly right. Please keep our family in your prayers as we begin to move forward and decide where to go from here. Thank you.

Speaking of Doors...

I just remembered that I never posted pictures of the door unit between the living room and outdoor living area. Shame on me!

I still haven't figured out the best way to photograph stained glass so that you can see all the details of it, so I'll just share all the different angles that I did take.

We had gotten so used to not having glass there and being able to walk through the doors that, once the glass went up, we put up blue painter's tape to keep us from walking through the doors!

Next on the list is to actually get some furniture for the outdoor living room.

...but I'm afraid that's taking a back burner to the nursery for now. We'll get it done eventually :)



 I can't wait till the weather warms back up (next year) and we can close off the house and open up the outside doors to the pool! I have a feeling this will be quite the hang out spot...since it will be our only shade!

I do love our new doors and I know sweet Husband is thankful to have this crossed off his project list! Thanks, Love! You're the best!

Nursery Doors

Husband has been working super hard on the nursery doors...in order to meet a December 1st deadline given to him by one of his employees. Well, this weekend not only did he finish up, but he also got them installed!

 I'm so excited with how they turned out! I know I brag on him all the time, but I am so thankful to be married to such a talented man! I'm sure this little baby will appreciate all the hard work his/her Daddy has done to make the nursery perfect for him/her!

The Stained Glass Windows

My husband is simply amazing! How he can work all day, come home, THEN go to the studio to work on the next stained glass project!?!?! I'm tired just thinking about it! I feel certain that if I had to anything creative after working all day, it would not be very high quality at all! Needless to say...he amazes me!

 Now, normally I leave him to his designs and I wait for the big reveal. This time, however, I actually graced the studio with my presence...but just to do a little polishing! 

After he draws the pattern and cuts and grinds the glass, it is time for each piece to be foiled. The middle stage looks like this: 





The next step is to solder (thanks sister in law for the correct spelling) the pieces together.

(Please note, he can make a huge window in one week and it took me 3 hours to make this little hummingbird!)

(Photo circa 2007...before we were engaged!)

And here is his finished product that was installed on Sunday!! 

I can't wait to see what it looks like from the front yard with the lights on behind it!!!

I hope you all have a happy weekend!

Morning Surprise

Husband has been burning the midnight oil this past week while working to finish the first of many stained glass projects that he has for the house. Here is the template and pattern that he drew for the window in the living room.

Husband was off yesterday so that he could install the finished project while the scaffolding is still in the house. I was itching to get home to see it!!! However, it was dark when I got home from work, so I had to get up super early to see it this morning!!! TaaaaaDaaaa!

Totally worth waking up early! Please note that this was the first time for me to see this window as I was not privy to the design process...I did have a hand in picking out the glass, I just didn't know where it would all go! I love it!!!!

 (...not to mention, thank you trees in neighbor's back yard for still hanging on to your yellow leaves till now! You look great through my new window!!!)

This is far beyond what I ever imagined it would look like! I am so thankful for my talented husband!!! I can't wait to show you what else he has in store!

I also happened to make a quick peek around the rest of the house before we had to head to work. Yes, you did spy some color on the walls in the living room!

Tile work has begun on the shower walls...

...and the floor!

And the ISLAND is here! More on that later...

I love this man who climbs ladders to install security devices in a suit at 6:30 in the morning!!!!

How much, you might ask? Well, in the words of G, "100-100-199!"

In fact, I think I shall take some time off to spend with him! Hope you all have a safe and wonderful end of 2010! See you next year!

Fa la la la laaaaa

The second weekend of December was approaching and we realized that we had not decorated a thing for Christmas!!! There were no stockings hung by the chimney with care...no candy canes...not even a tree! This is unheard of in our house, as we typically decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving.  So, Saturday morning we set out to find the perfect tree. Unfortunately we were at Lowe's searching in a sea of 6-7 foot trees. I do love a Griswold Christmas tree, but had convinced myself that a 6-7 footer (which happened to be 50% off that day) would be just as beautiful.

Then G pointed out a much larger tree propped on the fence off to the side. Sorry, G...We had to explain that the trees sitting by themselves with no tags on them mean that someone is coming to pick them up later. But she wouldn't accept that answer and decided to go ask Mr. Christmas Tree Guy the status of 'her' tree. Mr. Tree Guy explained to her and Diva that this tree was a 9 foot tree, but the top of it had broken out. It was not worthy to stand with the other trees anymore and would most likely be thrown away.

The sisters sprinted back with the status of the tree. We couldn't let this tree be thrown away. They thought it was beautiful. We happily took the culled tree off their hands, and with some minor trimming around the top...voila!

Personally, I love the outside view of our house at Christmas. The lights actually do twinkle in the stained glass of the front door. I braved the frigid temperatures Saturday night to show you what I mean.

Husband and I made a "prenuptial agreement" that we would always have a real Christmas tree (my stipulation) and that I would always put on the lights (husband's least favorite part of Christmas).  Let me just tell you, my family completely left the house! Yes, they ditched me and I had to single handedly put on 12 strands of lights. Of course they magically made it back in time for the ornaments.

We don't have a particular theme to our tree....just a variety of ornaments that we've all collected over the years. Lady Liberty came from our trip to New York in 2007.

I happen to be a fan of owls, so you'll see a few that I've collected donning the branches. This vibrant fellow was this year's addition.

No tree is complete without a homemade treasure. The girls have made sure that our tree is complete with some of their finest work from over the ages.

Husband takes homemade to a different level. Kinda not fair since he's a professional, right? This was our wedding cake topper that he made and then transformed into a stunning Christmas keepsake.

Our house is still on the market, so we toned down all the decor this year and kept the mantel pretty classic with just the stocking. (Perhaps someone will have 'New Home' on their Christmas list this year!)

Now that the house smells like Christmas, perhaps I can get geared up to begin my Christmas shopping.

(Yes, I did say begin. Don't judge...It was just 80 degrees a week ago...)

The Deal and Open House

Quite some time ago my Husband's sister's stained glass door happened to break. One would think that having connections with a family that makes stained glass would help get you to the top of the repair list, however, a little phrase about the cobbler's children having no shoes comes to mind... I made a deal with Sister in Law that Husband could do her door before getting started on the doors and windows in our new house. Well, he did one better! Instead of a simple fix, he made a whole new piece to go in her door! This was taken inside the glass studio so it is a little bit dark, but I think it was worth her wait!

The Friday-Sunday after Thanksgiving is the Glass Studio's annual Open House event. I didn't take my camera, but below are some pictures from my phone.



Football player that can be customized with your team's colors.



Green Christmas Stocking

Red Christmas Stocking

Snow Women and a Train full of Christmas Presents

Some of my Father in Law's signature items are his angels. These angels come in all sizes and some are even named after friends and family. I only managed to take a couple of pictures with my phone that actually turned out.

Eva Angel

Hudson Angel
--I think this one makes a great gift for new parents!

I promise to be better prepared next time and bring my camera.