The BCO Renovation: Indoors

So yesterday I shared all the renovations to the outside of Bryson City Outdoors. I think what we are most proud of is how much recycling and environmentally-friendly thought went into it:

Salvaged windows
Salvaged doors
Reclaimed barn wood walls
Recycled/reclaimed wood furniture
Recycled paper bag floors
Recycled lighting
Recycled A/C system and energy efficient gas furnace
Locally sourced low-impact hemlock siding
And all the t-shirts are recycled from plastic bottles.

And what happened to the old stuff:

The new roof was built over the old to reduce waste
The old drop ceiling tiles were upcycled to our church to repair damaged tiles
The old brick was saved for a future project so it won’t end up in the landfill
The old windows were sold to someone for use in a greenhouse
All the large hemlock scraps were saved for art projects

The past few weeks have also been spent working simultaneously on the indoors. I love stopping by each day to see what’s new. The building used to be two separate retail spaces, and the floors were even different levels.  One of the doors to the outside was like a miniature door because of a step-down. That door is now gone. Here is the inside when demolition first started:

(photo courtesy of Bryson City Outdoors in Instagram)

The demolition found all kinds of stuff behind the walls including a few windows that had been covered by drywall. And once all the ceiling tiles were removed they revealed beautiful soaring rafters:

Oh, I should show you a REAL before photo of the interior: (click here to see the exterior before)

The office is in one corner of the building and the door you see from the retail space was found at Habitat ReStore in Asheville. The interior window was left in place and painted with chalkboard paint:

 (photo courtesy of Dwayne Parton on Instagram)

 A few interior walls were covered with reclaimed barn wood, and the sides were drywalled to make electrical easier. Here is Ben painting one of the walls where drywall went up:

In person I think the wall color looks just like the color of Ben’s dog Lager. Below Lager and Max are meeting for the first time. Now they are old pals.

Ben also painted this amazing mural map on the wall depicting the Great Smoky Mountains’ North Carolina side. Complete with all the main trails and distances. So when people visit they can see how close Deep Creek is to downtown Bryson City…just a few miles…and three gorgeous water falls within a short walk.

The concrete floor was such a mess that the guys decided to put down a paper bag floor. The floor is made of Elmer’s glue, paper and polyurethane. It looks like high end concrete. And if it gets messed up all you have to do is add another layer to that spot. I’ll upload a tutorial in the next day or so.

The conference table in the office was made from a 1950’s era window that we just had replaced in our living room on Hospital Hill. The legs of the table were reclaimed from fence posts Brett found at his mother’s house in Mississippi. All of the carpet was salvaged from a “model train” room in our friend’s house that was being torn down.  It was in perfect condition.

Here is Brett making the base for the table from the reclaimed fencing:

A table made from reclaimed wood for a display:

How awesome are these chairs? These were given to us by our friends Nick and Suzie to fix up. They just needed a little sanding and a layer of clear coat:

Here they are in the building. The side table was made from a slice of one of the trees we cut down in our yard. I’ve been collecting outdoor books when I come across them at the used book store, doesn’t every outfitter need an outdoor-themed reference nook?

The building used to be a jewelry store and a pawn shop among other things over the years.  There was a huge built-in concrete vault.  A few sections were cut out to make windows and now it’s the check-out area. I think my favorite part of the whole renovation is how the guys worked with the existing finishes of the walls and left as much as they could original.

The retail store is slowing coming together. The other day Boo came home wearing this awesome hat with the new logo on it:

Today Boo and I stopped by and saw this yummy pile of folded t-shirts getting ready to be put out on the floor.  Each BCO shirt is 100% recycled.  Each one is made from 8 plastic bottles.

One of the designs, “the Smokies” tee, is by my artist friend Stephanie Corfee. And I love the Leave No Trace shirt:

The grand opening of the store is scheduled for the end of next week.  I’m so excited for everyone involved. All the t-shirts designs will be offered online too as they are added. You can see the current ones here.   I’ll post more photos soon as the store inside is set up!