11 . 25 . 19

Green Roof Culture House – We’ve Landed!

Posted in Blog, Green Roof Culture House, Paducah

Rayela Art > Blog > Blog > Green Roof Culture House – We’ve Landed!

It’s been almost a year since I posted on this blog, and for good reason…  Huge changes and a whirlwind of activity. It’s been exhausting, overwhelming, but I have finally landed in my dream house, right in the neighborhood I wanted to be in.  Here’s what has happened:

I moved three times in the last year. First from Abdul’s house on Madison, where I had been for 13 years. Jan Brandstetter owned a house on 32nd Street that was zoned commercial and residential and she was going to do owner financing. I wanted to have a small boutique there for Artizan Made and members started to send me products on consignment. But, it was the wrong zoning and the City did not allow me to have a shop there. As it wasn’t going to work, I told Jan to put it back on the market and it sold. I had to find a temporary place where I could keep looking, a major challenge as it is very hard to find a place to rent here that allow pets. Deb and Meryl had a house in my old neighborhood and I went there, putting most of my stuff in storage. My friend, Diane Gerlach, agreed to be an angel investor and came down from Kenosha, Wisconsin, to house hunt. Our realtor, Mandy Hibner, was exceptionally patient and down to earth. When we finally found the dream house, she said, “Ah…  NOW I understand why the others didn’t work. I can see it!” (Highly recommend her!) I HATE moving and am so relieved to be in this perfect house. God willing, I will be here until I have to leave in a box.

Artizan Made’s Shop: I had all of this product that members had sent along with displays that I had had in storage in my old garage, so I thought I could work on getting the shop going while looking for a house. It was hard to find a good space that had reasonable rent here in Paducah. I feel like the City is really anti-business. It really should not be so hard to find something. Well, I landed at 1700 Kentucky Ave and am loving the space although there is very little foot traffic there. It’s one of the main streets in Paducah with a lot of car traffic, but people are not stopping…  Hopefully, it will get better as I focus on marketing and events.  The landlord is wonderful and I am grateful to be there.

 

The photo above was early on. It keeps getting better and better. Info:

1700 Kentucky Ave

Hours: Thursday and Friday 1-6pm and Saturday 1-5pm, plus by appointment.

More photos on our Facebook page.

 

Websites and Carpal Tunnel: In the middle of all of this, back in April or so, my server destroyed both the TAFA and Artizan Made sites. There was a glitch and I asked them to help me fix it and the guy who tried erased the backups (which I had been paying for) and when he uploaded the new files, they were corrupted and irretrievable. I was shocked. Then numb. Then devastated. (Ironically, the server techs are based in Ukraine.  Ha!) TAFA was almost 10 years of work and I cannot rebuild it. Artizan Made I will rebuild, but a the same time, my left hand became pretty much useless. I had been feeling numbness starting to take over even three years ago and when I broke my right wrist, was advised to have surgery. But, with everything that was going on, I just couldn’t take the time. The hand was still working to do lifting and basic tasks, but by the time I was in the middle of these moves, typing was becoming increasingly more difficult. I had surgery one month ago and already, it is improving. It still feels like I’ve been sitting on it and it went to sleep, but the fingers are finding the keys more easily and the doctor said that the nerves will regenerate at about 1mm per day. I have been studying options for TAFA and think I know the direction I want to take. I also want to build a site for Green Roof. I have become allergic to spending hours on end on the computer, but it just has to be done.  Ugh.  The financial loss of losing these sites has been immense for me.

 

Green Roof, the dream house! I had a wish list and finally found a house that had almost everything I envisioned. It was built in 1884 as a duplex, a Foursquare sensibility, which was a movement against the Victorian houses and a predecessor to the Craftsman. There are four bedrooms upstairs and two bathrooms. One bedroom is now a laundry room and the other three are airbnb rooms. See them here.  The house has an international theme with the three rooms named “The Americas”, “Asia” and “Africa”.  The Americas and Asia are available for rent while Africa is still in the works.  The house had obvious updates in the 50’s, when the two bathrooms encased the Victorian claw foot tubs in tile and tile flooring was laid down upstairs. (Can’t wait to rip that up and have wood!)  It’s a large lot, almost an acre. If you want to see it on Google, go here.

 

 

 

For the last 10 years, it was owned by Inland Marine, a company that works with the River Industry. I like that there is that history here as we are just a couple of blocks from the Ohio River. In fact, the house definitely went through two major floods in the beginning of the 1900’s. This photo is from the 1937 flood, just a few blocks away:

 

 

I found a hand drawn map of Paducah in 1889 and believe that the house is on it.

 

Close-up of 4th and Adams:

It seems a bit off as the other structures shown would not fit, but the house is in the middle of the block and it looks like the two stories with the chimney. I was pleased to have the floor plans of the house from the listing.  I live in the back, areas described as private offices, kitchen and bathrooms. Yes, there are two bathrooms there and I have no closet…  Eventually, I hope that we can change that back area to include storage for me. My office is large and bright, but still a mess. I have not had time to organize it, but the rest of the house looks great. The open office room is a dining room, available to guests and for gatherings.

 

 

Upstairs and basements:

 

Yes, there are two basements! As it was built as a duplex, each side had its own access. The basement is low and not very useful for anything but having the water heater and heat/air units. Still, it was on my wish list as a place to escape to in case of a tornado.

 

There were two sets of stairs that led to the upstairs but one has been closed off to make way for heat and air ducts. 14 steep steps, but sturdy and usable.  I have been in some old houses with stairways that made me giddy…

 

Some Photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listed on Airbnb here.

 

Listed on Airbnb here.

 

Africa is on its way and should be done soon. There is wood flooring under the tile in the upstairs. I plan on painting the walls in an artistic style and hopefully we can pull up the tile in the next few months. It will make a huge difference in how the rooms look. But, we have had to deal with heat and air, electric and plumbing issues, all fronted by Diane who is overextending in her generosity. If the rooms can start generating income, that will help a great deal. So far, we have had three couples stay and all have seemed thoroughly pleased. I thrifted for most of the furniture, friends have donated linens and decor items and the only things we bought new were the mattresses, coverings, tv’s and things we couldn’t find second hand.

I could not have done all of this alone.  Shelby Wayne Carden has been much of the muscle. Coupled with a sunshine spirit, he has been a gem!

 

I have lots of ideas and will write about some of them in the next post. Meanwhile, I have set up a page for Green Roof on Facebook. If you are there, give us a like!  I will add more photos there and start sharing info that I find on creative neighborhood development, sustainability, and diversity.  I will share some of what I find on Sundays, from 2-4PM at the house (except for Holiday Weekends).  I will continue to use this blog for updates until I get the site built, which might still take a while. You can sign up for new blog posts in the sidebar.

If you would like to contribute to these efforts, the garage is going to become an art piece, covered with the Give a Hand artwork. Go here for more info.

There is still so much to do, but after a crazy year, I can finally work on program development. If you would like to get involved, please connect with me. The website will have an international focus, so anyone who wants to get on board will be able to contribute their ideas and talent. This house and this mission is our response to our environmental crisis. I feel that we have less than 15 years to make a change significant enough to halt climate change. We aim to make our corner of the world safe for birds, butterflies, bees and bats. If they thrive, so will we. Our solutions will include providing people with housing solutions, with employment and with community building. And, we will have fun along the way!

More in the next post!  Stay tuned!