John Beedon

When James and I started this 612 project, we both knew that we would meet new and wonderful people because of all of the different experiences we would be having. There's something about reaching outside of your comfort zone that leads you to new groups of people with different expertise. This has definitely happened, and I'm really grateful because with each new acquaintance and friend that is made, a refreshed sense of possibility and potential enters into our dreams. The irony, however, is that we are also reconnecting with people from our past. The best example of this is our friend and framer for the building, John Beedon. I met him at OU a looooooong time ago...I won't mention the year. Ha!

John During the First Week of Interior Renovations

John has been working in residential and commercial renovations since the 80s and really knows what he's doing. When James and I first bought the building, I saw John driving around Paseo so we stopped and talked for a while. I found out that he had actually wanted to buy our building too. After some playful trash talk, we started talking about the programs that would take place there. He and his wife have been a great encouragement to me, supporting everything that we have proposed.

So when John proposed the idea of being involved in the renovations, I told James immediately! I wanted James to have the experience of interviewing multiple people and trusting his instincts in selecting those we would work with, so it wasn't a fast process. Nothing is with this project, but nothing substitutes for learning how to do things by doing them yourself. It's in that process that you learn to trust yourself in your choices and that's a good thing. Eventually, after a few talks with John at Picasso's, James agreed with me that John would be the perfect person to work with on framing and interior renovations.

The thing that sealed the deal with him was that he was the only person we talked to that agreed we should keep the original flooring. We really wanted to reuse as much of the original material as possible. And it payed off. When we were pulling up the floors, we found that most of the wood was in pretty good condition; the original grooves (I don't know the technical term) for connecting each plank together were solid and the original stain didn't go very deep so we'll have plenty of room for sanding it down and re-staining. 

John and his crew have also committed to recycling as much of what we're not using as possible.  This makes me really happy!!!! I don't want to contribute to a landfill any more than we have to. John specializes through his own company, beehold reinvention, in green and energy efficient systems and tax credit assistance, so he was naturally interested in reusing as much as possible too. Angel, Alfredo and Lou are all great guys and I can see why John trusts them. Plus they are speeeeeedy! We're very fortunate to work with them.

Angel hauled off all of the old pipes and conduit to be recycled
after they were taken out of the building.

Yesterday was a momentous day, and not just because we had our first 612 board meeting (I'll write about that tomorrow.) The main reason it was so special was the fact that John and his wife, Kristin, had a baby!!! Welcome Ayrton Ellison Shamas Beedon. We're so happy for your whole family and know that blessings will surround you.