Monday, May 13, 2013

The Race is On!



Jacob muscles the chandelier up the ladder to wire it
Summer seemed to sprint right on past Spring with a streak of hot, dry days in the 80s- all before Mother's Day!  It was the sudden onset of warm weather that we suddenly realized how soon the Summer Solstice would be here.  As you might already know, the Summer Solstice weekend is our scheduled grand opening.  On Saturday, June 22nd we will finally be open to the public.  With that in mind, we have been frantically racing to get things done at the winery.

Morgan puzzles it together
Jacob has been installing exterior light fixtures that really look spectacular at night.  After all that hard work wiring the place, he finally gets to add the "icing on the cake," as everyone gathers to (drumroll, please) ooh and ahh.  Our evenings sipping wine will feel magical amidst the soft glow of these fixtures (further enhanced by more drinking of wine).

A perfectionist at work
Our friend Matt has been doing an outstanding job on all the tile work in the winery.  Matt is an all around great guy that we have known for years.  He runs his own business, Artisan Stone & Tile out of the greater Seattle area.  He has done the the tile work for my parent's house in Everett as well as all the tile for Morgan and I when we recently remodeled our home.  If you need a good tile guy, Matt is the guy to know.







My father was pleased to see the appliances finally arrive. He worked on finishing more trim and prepping the cabinets for the countertops (to be installed next weekend!).
The large (and beautiful!) doors to our barrel room go up

My big job was to create a large mural (about 9' high by 18' wide) above the bar in the tasting room.  Last year when my parents had traveled to Italy, they were inspired by all the realistic murals of the Italian countryside that they had seen.  They were hoping that I could do something similar for them here.

Jacob's original photograph
I knew immediately that I wanted to depict the feeling of the countryside in Plain.  It truly is a beautiful area in Washington, and I wanted to paint a mural that would do it justice.  I took my inspiration from the original photograph that my brother Jacob had taken a few falls back.  The big oak tree was looking colorful and majestic, and the street signs seemed so iconic.  I am really pleased with the end result, and I think I captured the true essence of Plain.

I think my parents were happy with the money they invested in sending their daughter all the way to California to study art.  Who knew that an art degree would ever amount to anything?  (Thanks for believing in me, Mom & Dad).

One tired but happy bunch
                           you can also visit us at our website www.plaincellars.com