Renovating Grace + Gather: Part 1 (Our New Storefront)!!
If you haven’t heard our exciting news already, we will be opening a storefront in Downtown Houghton, Michigan called Grace + Gather on April 3, 2020! We’ve teamed up with some of our dear friends, who are the owners of Covington & Co Clothing, to provide amazing quality clothing and home goods, host events, and promote community and creativity.⠀
Our mission behind creating Grace + Gather is to inspire others to grow and flourish through cultivating a beautiful wardrobe and a cozy home.
Where did the idea for G+G come from?
In October 2019, all four of us attended a women’s entrepreneurship retreat in Chicago together. We had an amazing time and felt very inspired by the event. So naturally, on our trip back home we were all sharing dreams and desires we had for our brands.
Someone had brought up the dream to one day open a storefront in Houghton, two of us quickly agreed that we share that desire and it has been a goal of ours as well. While this was happening, Kayla was on the phone and only half heard the conversation.
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Once she got off the phone, she said, “Wait, are we all opening a shop together?”
That question started it all! We all sat silently and thought, “wow! That’s actually a good idea”
We spent the rest of the road trip planning how we would accomplish this dream together, and now here we are!!
Now here we are!! Less than three weeks away from our opening date!
finding the storefront
Before we settled into our current storefront, we actually had our eyes set on another beautiful spot downtown. We thought it was perfection! Convinced that nothing would be as good as that space, we were kind of heartbroken when we figured it just wasn’t going to work out. ⠀
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Just a couple of weeks later, we kind of just stumbled upon our current spot, not sure if it would work either due to it being about half the size of the other one, but thought it wouldn’t hurt to check it out anyway! And you guys..looking back, it is crazy how big of a blessing it is that the first space didn’t work out. This location ended up being everything we needed and the answer to our prayers! Plus, the building owners are so wonderful to rent from and work with, and are so supportive of us starting this new business and following our dreams. They were all for us renovating and creating the space to be exactly what we were envisioning!
How much renovating did the space need?
Well, actually, quite a bit!! We are fortunate enough to all have husbands who were willing and capable to do all of the renovation work for us!
So we have all been working our butts off the past month and a half! Designing and renovating has been so much fun and we can’t wait to show the progress with you guys. SO here is the first half of the renovation process.
Here is what the space looked like in the beginning:
The space was a complete diamond in the ruff! You guys, the detail and features this building was hiding are insane! Two specific things are the gorgeous original tin ceilings that were hidden by drop ceilings and also the large arched window that were boarded up for years! We are so happy to uncover these features and let them shine like they were made to.
A lot of things have changed in the space, walls were taken down, drywall put up, changing rooms and checkout counter installed, literally all surfaces painted, electrical work and light fixtures added, and so.much.more! Here are a few more photos from the build out portion of the space renovations.
This is part one of a three-part series of the renovation process of G+G! So look forward to a full office reno blog, and also the final outcome of our storefront space with all the fun design details! Who’s excited?! We sure are! Leave any questions you have below in the comments!