West exterior of Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage workshop complete, October 2017.

Shop Upgrade … Again

We’ve been busy beavers the past couple of months at Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage, but not with furniture restoration. Instead, we have been expanding our shop space so that Erik can work on more than one piece at a time.

Within our turquoise and white pole shed, we had one kinda smallish heated and finished room for the entire refinishing process, from cleaning and stripping through to the spray finishing. It meant that the dust and dirt from early in the process was difficult to keep from contaminating the later part of the process, even though Erik somehow managed. The rest of the space in the pole shed was basically cold storage.

We knew we needed to make the workshop space bigger, but we had to decide how much bigger. We also had to make sure we could make it weather tight and keep it heated. The cold of Minnesota winters invades pole sheds with concrete floors, making them feel even colder than it is outside.

We hired a contractor in the summer of 2017 to help us frame in the space where the giant garage door was, which included installing a window (salvaged by Erik for free!) and door. Once we decided on the size of the new shop, we then had to frame the space inside, including creating a ceiling for the shop within the pole shed. This happened last fall (2018) Basically, we created a box within a box right next to the existing shop.

Garage door on the west side of our pole shed workshop, Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage, June 2015.
Garage door on the west side of our pole shed workshop, Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage, June 2015.

 

Exterior framing on Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage's workshop, October 2017.
Exterior framing on Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage’s workshop, October 2017.

 

West exterior of Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage workshop complete, October 2017.
West exterior of Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage workshop complete, October 2017.

 

After the framing was complete, we had to use spray foam and other sealants to keep the elements out, insulate, install vapor barrier, hang sheetrock, prime and paint. What has taken a sentence to say actually took us 2-3 months to do.

Insulation and vapor barrier hung in new shop space at Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage, November 2018.
Insulation and vapor barrier hung in new shop space at Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage, November 2018.

 

Hanging sheetrock at the Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage workshop, December 2018. The sheetrock lift was an absolute necessity. We would not have survived this job without it.
Hanging sheetrock at the Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage workshop, December 2018. The sheetrock lift was an absolute necessity. We would not have survived this job without it.

 

Then we had to call the gas company to have the gas meter reinstalled. The pole shed had an old gas furnace, but it was so long ago that the gas company had no record of gas installation on the property. We had the external fittings still on the exterior of the building to show that, yes, indeed, gas had once run to the building.

The gas meter reinstalled, December 2018.
The gas meter reinstalled, December 2018.

Following this, we had an electrician come do the wiring we needed for the furnace and outlets. And, finally, we had the furnace installed.

The new furnace and some of the wiring installed in Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage's workshop, January 2019.
The new furnace and some of the wiring installed in Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage’s workshop, January 2019.

These operations by outside contractors took up the past month or so in terms of scheduling. Because it is now January in Minnesota, we’ve been managing this work in the cold, using a trusty kerosene heater to make the temperature in the new workshop tolerable (pleasant, even!).

Our trusty kerosene heater that got us through the build-out, November 2018.
Our trusty kerosene heater that got us through the build-out, November 2018. If you are going to use a kerosene heater indoors, be sure to open a window so the fresh air can clear any carbon monoxide that builds up.

Because the entire shop has been in disarray, with us shifting furniture and equipment around in order to do the shop build-out, we have not been able to do much furniture refinishing. We are happy to report that we’re back to furniture, with Erik finishing restoration of a Lane Rhythm dresser today. We’ll discuss that in our next post.

Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage on Chairish

Pair of Laurel Mushroom Lamps, 2015.
Pair of Laurel Mushroom Lamps, 2015.

At Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage we are continually looking for new avenues through which to offer our vintage mid-century and modern items. While we’ve been using Etsy for some time to offer small items, we did not have an online method for sales that we could manage that dealt with the shipping of large items, like our furniture. And then we stumbled upon Chairish.

Chairish started a number of years ago as a way individuals could move higher-end used furniture without running it through Craigslist. Chairish curates the items its sells, so a certainly quality level has to be met. Over the years, Chairish has shifted focus and brought on professional dealers in housewares and furniture along with individuals.

The great thing about Chairish is that it helps arrange shipping of large items for sellers. Buyers pay for white-glove service, which means that the shippers come in and wrap the item being purchased and transport it carefully to its delivery location. For a small business like ours, this is a huge help, so we’ve signed on with Chairish, in addition to our other sales avenues.

Check out the items we currently have available on Chairish.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us directly at warner (dot) erikg (at) gmail (dot) com.

*****

Update (December 13, 2015) – After giving Chairish a whirl, we have found it isn’t the venue for us, so if you click the Chairish link, you’re not likely to find anything there. Please do check our Etsy Shop, stop in at MidModMen+friends in St. Paul, MN, or contact us directly.

Mid-Century Vibe Becomes Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage

Fans of Mid-Century Vibe, we’ve got news. We’re changing our name from Mid-Century Vibe to Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage.

How did we get to this point?

At the end of November 2014, we lost our workshop space. We took the occasion to re-examine our business, the mid-century market, and Erik’s penchant for picking. We realized that we wanted to expand beyond mid-century modern items. Our business name was not going to allow us to do that, so we decided to rebrand.

After much thought, we decided to use Erik’s name for the business, allowing him the ability to pick whatever is interesting while out on the road. We are still HUGE fans of mid-century and modern furniture and decorative items, so they will always remain a big part of what we offer.

However, Erik describes his aesthetic as “modern with a punk rock attitude,” meaning if you want to throw an early 1900s ornate table into a room filled with modern furniture, go for it! If you want to use a fabulous hospital gurney as a chaise lounge, do it! Don’t let some outside “authority” tell you what you can and can’t do with your personal space in the interest of “pure” modernism. Our design philosophy is that if you want to mix modernism with Victorian, or industrial with Deco, or any other sort of mash-up, you should do so.

If you’re looking for a blended style, Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage can help you. If you’re looking for a specific piece, let us know. We’ll try to find it.

—–

A big part of our rebranding has been switching over account names, including this website, Gmail, and Twitter.

Our web address is now: erikgwarner.com

Gmail: warner.erikg@gmail.com

Twitter: @ErikGWarner

Items from Erik G. Warner Decorative Salvage are available for sale through our website Shop. (See the sidebar menu.) When you’re ready to purchase, you’ll be taken to our Square Marketplace page to complete the sale. (You can also shop directly from our Square Marketplace page if you prefer.)

Our Mid-Century Vibe Etsy page will remain live for a couple more months and then will be shut down. Feel free to check items out there in the meantime.

The last big social media account we have to switch over is Facebook, which we’ll be doing soon. Turns out we have to request a name change from Facebook, but we didn’t want to give everyone a big shock by changing it without an announcement.

As we go through this transition, we’ll be acquiring new and fascinating inventory to add to our online shop. We’ll keep you posted as new items become available.

Thanks for your support.