#renovation hell

[nowhereman313]

The Nowhere’s Store Saga

Alrighty folks, it’s Storytime. I, along with my business partner, a couple of employees, and a handful of very dedicated volunteers, am building (quite literally) a Friendly Local Game Store and geeky community center in Springfield, Missouri! And hoo boy, it has been a journey. I’ll be merciful to the scrollers and put most of it under the cut, but click through to see the adventures we’ve been on for the last six months of dealing with a decrepit old building full of mysteries! 

But first, a little begging for money. We’re so close to being open, but we’re also doing it as working class folks who don’t get on well with banks, so we’re dependent entirely on personal loans and crowdfunding. If you’d like to help us buy ceiling tiles along on our journey, please check out our GoFundMe! 

First, a little background. I grew up in the gaming community in my hometown, getting my first job in the industry when I was 16, working as a Dungeon Master for a game and comic shop called Dragon’s Lair, which became my home store and the center of both my social and professional life. When Dragon’s Lair closed down in 2010, I bounced from shop to shop for a little while, looking to replace the sense of community that Dragon’s Lair had embodied. Nothing ever quite set right for me. Either the place felt too much like a store, where I felt uncomfortable spending time there without constantly buying stuff, or it didn’t have enough space, or it didn’t cater to the markets I cared about, or I just plain didn’t like the people behind the counter. So eventually, I got enough, and decided that I was gonna start my own store! With blackjack! And hookers! Actually, probably not those last couple things, because the license fees are outrageous. 

So Nowhere’s Store of Forgotten Lore was conceived. It took a few years to get to the point of being able to actually pull the trigger, but the circumstances that came with the pandemic forced our hand, and we started building Nowhere’s Store into something real. 

After a couple months of sitting around a table at a pizza joint and hashing out details, a metric fuckload of paperwork, and a lucky break involving a rock in someone’s shoe, we finally had a place. It’s huge, and the price is fantastic, but... Well, we had our work cut out for us. What we found when we got there was this:

Our building had been a carpet wholesale place since the 1960s, and had seen a lot of use and abuse over the decades. We found all sorts of unpleasantness in our ceiling and our walls... and our floors... and any other available (or unavailable) nook and/or cranny. Some highlights include:

Shoddy construction on carpet shelving that would have held literal tons of product. This particular bit, helpfully labeled by whoever Shawn was, fell. the fuck. off. while someone was working on that shelf.

See this wall? No you don’t, because that’s not a wall, it’s a Wall-Like Object. It is merely the suggestion of a wall, because a real wall wouldn’t be held in place solely by two screws and a single piece of goddamn corner molding.

Alex’s tool chest here was hiding a broken and open window, which solved the where the fuck is all this humidity coming from??? question we had for the first couple months. Why there was a chest-high window in a former-bathroom-turned-closet, the world may never know.

This is our office, which as you can see, was tastefully paneled in 1980s wood paneling and brown shag carpet stapled to pegboard. Because sure. The shag was removed immediately, but the paneling remains...

For those of you unfamiliar with the Holy Trifecta of Jury-Rigging, that is baling twine. Which was the only thing holding up a length of electrical conduit that was suspended from the ceiling. That’s definitely safe and up to code.

Thankfully, most of the above has gone bye-bye, and we were able to start actual construction.

Once the sham-walls were out of the way, this is what the front of the shop looked like. All you see before the beginnings of the new wall is strictly retail space. About 2,500 square feet of space for games, comics, and collectibles. But that’s only about a third of our space.

This is our reading lounge. Until we get the rest of the shop completed, it’ll be our primary gaming space, but the end-goal is a space where people can just come in and hang out, read some comics, or just spend some time with other members of the community. It’ll be themed after a 19th century explorer’s club, and that big brown panel in the back is in the middle of becoming a false window, where we can display landscape scenes to move the lounge from the African savannah to the windswept deserts of Mars, and anywhere else we can imagine.

Speaking of gaming space...

This is Sparta gaming space. Roughly the same amount of space as the front of the shop, this is going to be our tournament space. Enough room to host a full-scale Magic tournament, with a couple board gaming groups or tabletop RPG parties as well, without breaking a sweat. We’re even putting in a back counter so that those participating in a tournament don’t have to schlep all the way to the front counter to buy some chips.

But Nowhere, you ask, I’m self-conscious around crowds, and Magic players are loud. I wouldn’t want to run my D&D campaign in the middle of so many people. I hate your shop and I hate you!

Well, aside from being oddly aggressive, my dear strawman, you’re also... 

Wrong! 

With our social media mala for scale, what you see before you is one of our three private game rooms! Through a secret door (yes, really), is a second section of the store, which will be dedicated entirely to private gaming spaces, all available to our community for free! Not available in Alaska or Hawaii. Void where prohibited.

There’s two concrete walls and an air gap between this section of the shop and the rest of the place, so it’ll be noise-free and, due to the struggles we dealt with trying to run games during lockdown, will be set up for streaming, so that any member of your groups that can’t make it to the shop can remote in via Discord or other apps and participate just like everybody else.

Now, up to this point, everything’s kinda looked like... well, shit. It’s looked like shit. Bare concrete, shockingly unsafe walls, and janky construction throughout. But we’ve been busy these last few months, and now it looks like this:

We’re installing the slatwall right now, so apologies for that being in the way, but look! Walls! Carpet! People! I’m actually in this picture, there in the hat, writing this very post. 

That whole wall there, that runs the length of the retail space, is going to be dedicated to comics. Our manager, Stu, is a fixture in our local gaming and comics community, and has been The Comic Guy for 30+ years. We’re really excited to see what he does with it, as he’s been given free reign to do with it what he pleases. 

Our manga section is my business partner’s baby, and he has great plans for it, starting with the massive X-frame display you can see behind me there.

The back wall will be dedicated to tabletop RPGs on one side, and board games on the other. We plan on carrying things that are hard to find elsewhere, including niche miniatures and tabletop games made by people other than Hasbro. 

Our counter, which will be where the slatwall is now (the counters themselves are in the back right now), will be split between card games and collectibles.

And speaking of niche, hard-to-find products, one of the things I’m most excited about is our local creator display. We have a floor display that’ll be a showcase for local artists, authors, and other creators. We want to show our customers that they don’t need to order things from half a world away to get affordable, handmade crafts, and we want to show our community that we’re willing to put our money (and our floor space) where our mouth is, and regularly stock local creations.

We’re opening in stages, but the front will be ready for stock within the week, and we should be open very soon. However, like I mentioned back at the beginning, we’re running low on funds, and we’re looking to the community for help in the final stretch. Whether you’re local gamers, friends of the staff, or just people who want to see a community-centric place like ours exist in the world, please consider donating to our GoFundMe. We’re also amenable to loans, so if that’s more your speed, feel free to email us at nowheresstore@gmail.com

Whelp, that’s it for now! Thanks for spending your time on this post, and happy gaming.

[fantastiqueparfait]

we have 2/3 of the flooring installed

and I'm so happy i could cry

[ebbyhell]

And today i give you guys Renové second chats with what i choose to say, he worries about us in an pretty morbid but unique way (i found it cute), we also got an plot chat about Asmodeous previuos realantionship with an person who was not Solomon (unholyc reference) so i will tag him cause i think it is important plot cotent, and we end with and visit to his collection room gonna be honest *puts the lab get up* please show me your angel collection Renové dear.

[mintbees]

im going through my once every few months binge of buzzfeed unsolved and other paranormal youtubers while im knitting and i hate how often "loud human footsteps" are put down as undeniable proof of something walking around because you wanna know what also sounds like a fully grown man stomping around in a space where a human shouldnt even be and is active late at night?

we had one of these in an old ass windmill we were staying in in france one time and when i tell you this little thing sounds like a giant man in combat boots on your roof i mean it. At some point it dragged in a mouse that started to rot (gross) and had maggots growing in it (grosser) and because it was in the cieling it started Raining Maggots Inside (The Grossest). If we hadn't known it was a ferret i wouldve thought we were stuck in some conjuring shit in the french countryside. If you say your remote old building has rotting smells and footsteps its not infested by demons youve got something worse: a fucking creature

[mandsleanan]

Hearing all the contractor horror stories in our (relatively) small social circle, I don't know what we're going to do when our guy finally retires.

[intermundia]

Are horses allowed on your farm? 👀

i had a horse for a few months when i was a kid but you don't even want to know the redneck solution we had for keeping him before my mom put her foot down lmao we don't have a barn set up for that, they're all full of tractors and combines

[wernerherzogs]

hi kasia! I know you’re very busy with the apartment remodeling (I hope that’s going well!! Or not awful at least) but I was wondering if you had any recommendations for places to visit in Poland? I’m visiting one of my friends in Krakow but I’ll have a few extra days to myself so I wanted to see if you had any recs :) thank you!

hi anon! i hope this isn't too late 🏃🏻‍♂️🙈 i apologise for not having had the time to respond earlier!!! unfortch i AM very busy these days ):

but ANYWAY. if it's just a few days, i'd recommend sticking to Kraków or taking a train ride to either the mountains (Zakopane, for example, which is super touristsy, but probably also the easiest to navigate as a foreigner) or Warsaw. keep in mind though (bc idk when you'll be here) that October 31 and November the 1st and then November the 11th are public holidays in Poland (the first two religious, and the latter is Independence Day, def avoid Warsaw around then) and the trains and roads will be super crowded.

i'm only going to stick to Kraków i apologise but i'm sure your friend is gonna help out a lot with recs as well! and Warsaw most certainly has a great web presence for touristsy spots, but if you need me to at list some bigger museums or etc. at least, let me know. LASTLY, i'm about to copy paste recs i gave to another mutual a few months back, so - Steph, if you're seeing this, i hope you don't mind! 🩷

first things first, jakdojade.pl (either the app version, or just www.jakdojade.pl opened via the browser app) is a super handy website that shows you how to get from point A to point B, which buses/tram lines to take, etc. there are some major road renovations taking place right now around the Most Dębnicki area (near the Wawel castle), so please keep that in mind! not sure about the tram lines around the Main Train Station as well. 🤔 i think there were plans to renovate the Lubicz line, but i don't remember when. :(

Kraków is great for sightseeing, because it's quite densely built, so you can see a lot of landmarks just by walking around on foot in the Old City area! the Old City is situated like 7 mins from the main train station. in the Main Square area, the Mariacki church with an altar of a famous polish artist Wit Stwosz is definitely worth seeing, as well as Sukiennice (the building right in the center of the Square) with its underground museum.

near the Main Square, there's a gallery of modern art called Bunkier Sztuki, address: Rynek Główny (Main Square) 20, 31-008 Kraków. i haven't been there in a few years so i'm actually not sure what the current exhibits in there are and if they're worth seeing, but hopefully they are!

there's Muzeum Książąt Czartoryskich on św. Jana street 19, 31-017 Kraków which used to host Da Vinci's The Lady with an Ermine, but i think it's currently on loan for some museum in Warsaw? it was actually transferred to the National Museum of/in Kraków earlier this year, but google is being confusing, so i'm not sure if it's currently there or in warsaw 🤔 the National Museum is another place you might potentially want to visit: Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, al. 3 Maja 1 street.

there's obviously the Wawel Castle, the historic residence of Polish kings, as Kraków used to be Poland's capital before Warsaw. i haven't been inside in years, but it's probably still worth it! and even if you don't wanna/decide to go inside, you might want to just stroll around the castle grounds. Wawel is right in the city centre as well, so it's another one of those Kraków's staples you can go to by foot!

around the Main Square, there are several "famous" streets with quirky cafes and shops you can visit. and even if you don't go inside, you can just stroll down those streets to get a feel of the city. for example the Floriańska street, Grodzka street, saint Jan or saint Tomasz streets, the Bracka street. no matter which one of these you decide to take from the Main Square, you'll be getting that Kraków experience :)

then there's the historic Jewish district of Kraków called Kazimierz. on one hand, packed with difficult history, on the other, it's become the most hip part of the city! again, loads of famous cafes, pubs, and shops are situated there, some festivals take place there, and so on. you can just stroll around the district, and then visit the Mocak gallery of contemporary art, for example! https://en.mocak.pl/ , address 4 Lipowa St 30-702 Kraków.

just like with Bunkier Sztuki, i haven't seen the current exhibits there, so idk if they're any good, but i personally like Mocak, and you might like it as well! it's at the edge of the Kazimierz district, and the Kazimierz district is right next to the Old City district. you can go from Old City to Kazimierz on foot or take a few quick tram stops.

https://duze-podroze.pl/krakow-kazimierz/

this site is in Polish, but you can take a look at the bolded names and pics - it's a handy guide re: what to look for when you're strolling around in Kazimierz. there are jewish cemeteries, synagogues, the Boże Ciało church, the Wolnica square with Muzeum Etnograficzne (etnographic museum) on it... (https://etnomuzeum.eu/ , the site has an english version that i can't link to directly for some reason). loads of places to see even if you want to just look at them from an outside, you know?

some other places potentially worth checking out: Jagiellonian University's botanical gardens, address Mikołaja Kopernika 27, 31-501 Kraków.

then there are three locations of the Museum of photography in Kraków BUT i'm gonna come clean and admit i still haven't visited any ajdjd 🏃🏻‍♂️ so idk if they're any good, and also they don't seem to have english versions of their websites? unless my phone is failing me. but street addresses are: Rakowicka 22A, Józefitów 16, Królowej Jadwigi 220.

tl;dr sticking to Kraków is a great idea for a short stay, because you can concentrate on only two districts (Old City/Main Square + Kazimierz), and there'll be PLENTY to see, and you can reach those places by foot or via short tram rides! if you're thinking about taking some trips in the Małopolskie voivodeship where Kraków is situated, there's the historic Wieliczka saltmine which is pretty famous: https://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/ but you'd need winter clothes for that underground trip. you can reach Wieliczka by regular city buses, which is great.

then there's obviously Oświęcim known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, but that one would be heavy, and it'd take probably at least a half of your day: https://www.auschwitz.org/en/visiting/ as it's further from Kraków than Wieliczka.

please remember that the opening hours tend to be 9 am - 6 pm in most places, sometimes even shorter one day a week (sunday or monday or tuesday, typically), or some of them might be closed one day a week. so always remember to check them beforehand! it's also always worth checking if any place has any dedicated day where they offer a free pass or a discount too, you should find that info on their websites.

some places to eat in you might want to check out, although again, i'm sure your friend will be helping out with these as well: Zapiekanki in okrąglak (legendary, mandatory spot!), Nolio, Hamsa, Akita Ramen, Boccanera ristorante pizzeria, trattoria la campania, ima sushi, Sushi Royal, Viale Verde, Restaurant Martello, Sushi 77, Restauracja Bianka, Chinkalnia Restauracja Gruzinska, Hospudka u Nas

aaand that's all from me, sorry i didn't have the time for more! 🩷 HOPE U ENJOY YOUR STAY!!!!!!!!

[mik-mania]

speaking of masks. yall who have masked trolls... how did u come up with the mask designs?

every time i try to make one, it just feels off to me.

also i wrote a novel in the tags about it, but if anyones got some good research sources too, im all ears 👂

[moldwood]

maybe my calling is to make small fancy cakes

[the-kipsabian]

its missing kip hours

[ebbyhell]

Ronove and Andrealphus are best friends nobody gonna tell me otherwise, also for somebody who is humored to be montreous this very organized (morbity yes but angels doing worse, this feathers are very clean also)

[gctchell]

Live reaction Niffty looking at the remnants of the Hotel, thinking her room - which was her entire house from when she was alive condensed into a room thanks to Alastor's magic (as part of their deal) - was destroyed.

[missingexaltation]

Yet another steddie ficlet:

Steve and Eddie move into their first home, but it's a real fixer upper. They were originally looking at apartments, but this house is such a good deal, even considering the updates it needs. The yard out back is huge, if overgrown, but the interior needs scrapping from the bare bones.

The main area they get done first is their bedroom, but it takes forever on their tiny joint income, and it frustrates the hell out of Steve. It becomes a hideaway from the state of the rest of the house, and Steve finds himself venturing out of those four walls only if he needs to.

The other issue is time. Eddie's working two jobs (well, full time hours at Thatcher's and another part time at his annoyingly unpaid tattoo internship), and Steve's working part time whilst juggling his community college studies.

They have most weekends together, but they both quickly realise how catty and bitchy they both get when things don't go as planned, and instead decide to spend at least half their time snuggled up in bed watching movies. If the home improvements take longer, that's fine, as long as their relationship is intact at the end.

Steve knows he's the problem. He's a rich boy unused to living in anything but mild luxury. Visiting the old Munson trailer had been fine, as he'd been able to go home to the comfort of his parents' place. But there was no escape now they'd essentially disowned him, and he's now trapped in a kind of living that he's never really had to experience before.

Eddie, on the other hand, was fine. A little gloomy and frozen at times, but he was a natural born survivor. He'd spent a week or so living on the streets as a kid, he'd confessed one night. He'd run away from his dad, terrified out of his mind but Wayne had tracked him down, found him and brought him to his own home instead.

And any home, no matter how creaky and in desperate need of repair, was better than that.

Eventually though, Steve had had enough. He gets to the end of his first year and decides to go out of state to visit Robin for a couple of weeks, to help her settle in her new apartment. Eddie's invited too, but he declines as he has to work. There's a gentle glint in his eyes that suggests that he knows Steve's at breaking point, and needs to vent it out, without him there to bear the brunt of it.

So off Steve goes. And he does vent at Robin, who's sympathetic and comforting in all the right places. Eddie was right, he needed to get away from the situation and get some perspective.

Two weeks turns into three, which turns into four, and Steve starts to miss Eddie terribly. The phone calls home were fine to start with, but they're just not enough anymore, and Steve's far more miserable being away from Eddie than he is at living in 'that house'. So he packs his things up and returns home, refreshed and ready to get to work, if a little late.

He pulls into the driveway early in the morning, and immediately notices that the door's been replaced, and the outside of the house has been repainted. It looks good. His key doesn't work, but Eddie's home so it doesn't matter. He's taken the day off so they could spend it together, which is sweet, and also helpful as they've had nothing but (awkwardly quiet) phone sex for about a month.

Eddie opens the door a few seconds later and practically flings himself into Steve's arms, half tackle, half cuddle. Any lingering concern about coming home evaporates instantly, and Steve internally scolds himself for taking so long. He adores Robin, he really does, but his heart is here with Eddie.

Before he can get into a spiral of self annoyance, Eddie's spinning him around and covering his eyes, walking him through the door. Once inside, he tells Steve not to look and moves his hands away, stepping further into the house.

It's only when Eddie says 'ok baby', that Steve opens his eyes to find the biggest fucking transformation he's ever seen.

He's standing in the dining room, but he doesn't recognize it without all of that nasty, peeling, puke-coloured wallpaper. It's been removed and replaced with freshly painted walls and what looks like brand new sockets and an actual, real, functioning table and matching chairs.

The kitchen behind it is similarly beautifully restored. What before had been a shitty, vaguely standing sink, piles of dismantled cupboards and stripped back walls, was now tiled to perfection, with brand new storage space and glorious, gleaming countertops. It looked brighter, bigger and infinitely cleaner, somewhere Steve could actually see himself cooking.

The living room to his left is now open plan, like he'd wanted, with an archway where the old door had been. The musty, deteriorating old cupboards had been completely removed, and instead their shared music collection now sat proudly on brand new shelves, out in the open. And, like the other rooms, it had been painted lighter, which suited Steve down to the ground.

Their photographs were hung up too, dotted around various walls and staring at Steve as he stood in the centre of the room. The kids, Wayne and Eddie, Steve and Robin, Eddie's band and nerd club, and loads of Steve and Eddie and the rest of their friends and family. It's their life, and it's been here waiting for him to come home.

Steve becomes aware that he's gaping, silent in shock, while Eddie's bouncing with anticipation behind him. The floors are all done too, he notices. The gorgeous, hardwood floors they'd cooed over (well over their budget) were here, covered by the rugs Steve had pointed out months ago.

He turns to look at his boyfriend, who is looking way more fidgety and nervous by the second.

"You did all this?" He asks, and Eddie nods eagerly, before tilting his head and correcting himself with a shrug.

"Yeah, well not all of it." he says, excitedly jabbering at a hundred miles an hour, "I asked Wayne to give me a hand, and he knows a builder who knows all sorts of guys, and they all pitched in. They taught me a lot, so I have kinda done a lot, but they did loads too, they really helped get the awkward, technical things done that I didn't have a clue about. Even Dustin came by, not that he was any fucking practical use, but..."

And Steve's kissing him silent.

"You did this for me?" He asks, still shellshocked. "I know I've been awful babe, but -"

"Nah, in all honestly I've had a blast." Eddie admits, "the old guys have been showing me all sorts of practical stuff. Shit, I cut, built and fitted the countertops by myself, and I actually enjoyed doing it. I missed you like hell though."

"You liked doing this." Steve repeats, dazed, "Four weeks, and you've got so much done. Is there anything left to do?"

"Yeah, there's the guest bedroom, the yard and furnishing the living room." Eddie admits, "We can't afford to get the couches yet, hell most of this stuff is actually donated from Wayne's guys, just painted and updated. They're paragons of charity, baby, and we're their lucky recipients."

There's a familiar video camera on the side, and Eddie gestures at it before picking up the photo album beside it. 'I know I said Henderson was useless, but he's been documenting it for us." he says, "I even got the rest of the gremlins in on the painting, figured they couldn't fuck that up."

He hands the album over, and Steve opens it to find dozens of photographs and polaroids inside, showing various people (some Steve knows, some he doesn't) helping and teaching Eddie how to fix up the house. Each photograph is partnered with a sentence underneath in Eddie's best handwriting, detailing what's going on and who's involved.

"Wayne and Danny did most of the floors when I was at work." Eddie says, finding himself rambling as he taps a couple of the early pictures. "But I helped when I got back. I did the kitchen tiling all by myself though," he adds, grinning as Steve turns the page to reveal a beaming Eddie posing next to the splashback. "Tony says I'm a natural!"

Steve reads the sentence underneath and snorts.

Stevie's awkward-as-fuck tiles, masterfully installed by his abandoned boyfriend, Summer 1987.

Steve flicks through more pages, seeing evidence of (a supervised) Eddie using power tools, assembling furniture, and covered in both paint and sawdust at various times. (And an entire double page spread dedicated to him making coffee, because Henderson was indeed a little shit.)

Steve slams the album shut and tosses it back onto the counter. Eddie jumps slightly at the sudden noise, once again looking nervous as Steve puts his hands on his hips, meaning business.

"Babe," Steve starts, seriously, "if you don't get that ass of yours upstairs right now, I don't know what I'm gonna do." He paused (mostly for dramatic effect, because Eddie has actually increased his penchant for drama).

"This is the most incredible thing anyone's ever done for me, and I'm not gonna let you go until I've thanked you properly."

Eddie grins back at him, and holds his hand out. "I've even put the good sheets on the bed for you." He says, waggling his eyebrows, and finds himself being dragged towards the (sanded, buffed and recarpeted) stairs.

Yes, Steve thinks, as they stumble eagerly to bed at ten in the morning, it was definitely a good idea for Eddie to take the day off.

They were going to need it.

[d--t]

Most people shouldn't do their own home repairs. But I am god's specialist little boy and I can do whatever I want

[hope-in-their-eyes]

maybe my third post ever on here maybe (maybe)

 I just found out today that people I know have sent me messages on this hellsite. I didn’t know that was a thing. If anyone is still on here I really do apologize for that, no one told me that was a button I could press. I clicked it on accident. I am just as old as I was at 15 finding out about tumblr, and that age is 7 kajillion years old. 

[famefound]

Thank you for your patience. I had a mini anxiety attack tonight because of things just. Not being right at home at all and it’s stressing me out big time. I know I’m already slow as molasses, but I think I’m going to be even slower for the time being until things just... get back to semi-normal.