Anton installed our draft lines. 6 beer lines and 4 for wine.

We tiled the front of the food bar.

Our custom banquette was installed. Corey tested it out for us.

We assembled the shelving for the wine room. We picked up our license from the SLA last week, so this puppy is on its way to being full.

All of our friends who come to see us get put to work, especially those who are handy. Here, McCloskey attaches our table bases.

Oh, Philipp's in town? I hear he's good with a sander. Finishing our last table!

We bought a desk for the office at a church rummage sale. Noah walked it the 5 blocks to our bar using a hand truck. Here, Mike and Noah assess the best way to get it down the hatch.

Putting the mirrors on the back bar.

Leo joined us for cocktail training.

Corey enjoying the aftermath of cocktail training.

We hung our menu boards. We're waiting for our last batch of letters to arrive. At one point, we contemplated basing our menus on what letters we had.

We had our textured wallpaper installed and then we painted it.

Noah adding a metallic gold coat to the front bar. Wait until you see step 2.

We had a photo shoot yesterday. Stay tuned to learn what is was for!

Finishing up the kitchen soffit.

We matched the wall in front of the restroom to the kitchen soffit.

Kitchen refrigeration went in. All equipment is installed and working. Corey is in there cooking today. Wait til you see what we're doing with that 4 inch pipe on the counter.

Working on the back bar. Mirrored shelves in progress.

Putting together the office chairs. IT equipment all installed. Carpet arriving tomorrow. Hanging shelves and wine maps today.

Tables and benches are here. Check out that sconce!

Organizing the basement. Look! It's small wares! I'm particularly pleased with the lockers.

Epoxy on the kitchen and back bar floors was finished last week, which meant we could start bringing our equipment in.

Dual-temp, wine slide-out racks. Yeah, baby.

Here comes her big sister down the street. Our landlord was kind enough to let us house all of our equipment in his not-yet-rented commercial space next door during our build out.

Fiddling with the plug on the back bar fridge, under Corey's supervision.

Adjusting the legs on the fryer. This may be the piece of kitchen equipment and I am most excited about. I haven't used a commercial fryer since making taco shells during my salad girl days.

The basement is almost done. When I saw the FRP on the walls and the pot sink installed, it brought a tear to my eye. I'm not kidding.

The basement floor and stairs are now painted. We're continuing our cheery theme down there.

The beginnings of our second bathroom. Tiling to come.

Our two walk-in boxes have been installed.

We poured the floors behind both bars. They've since been covered with grippy, waterproof epoxy. We'll be starting to move equipment in today!

Con Ed installed our meter this week. Our landlord was thrilled by the holes in the sidewalk and on Lexington Ave.

Mike working on more of our lighting. With all of our extra time, we're going to start a lamp manufacturing business on the side. All of our lights will be hung by tomorrow.

I wanted to play Darth Vader, too. My wine room is now "pumpkin spice".

Our freshly painted basement stairs. We're keeping it chipper down there.

I am thrilled about our cocktail program. I'm getting some help from a very talented friend. Mike and I were hard at work taste testing in this photo.

I could open a restaurant out of my apartment right now. Those glass racks are taller than me. Excited to start moving all of this stuff to the bar this weekend.

The floor was in, but needed to be spot sanded.

The varnish we applied to the floor was pretty gnarly, hence Noah's Star Wars get-up.

What Thanksgiving would be complete without duct work? Here, our air conditioning duct is going in.

The kitchen equipment wasn't going to be ready (which also posed some unique challenges for the holiday), but the Ansul system was.

We thought some lights would be nice. We're making many of the fixtures ourselves. Here, Noah is cutting some pipe.

The light fixture making has been a family affair. Here's Corey, cutting more pipe while meeting the neighbors.

We also managed to finish one bathroom in time. Here's the happy group at the end of the night. Some folks had already left. At one point, we numbered over 30.

Even with just the framing for the two bars, it's starting to feel like a real place.

Sizing the drink rail for one of the front windows. It will be a great people watching spot.

Sheet rocking began in the basement on Saturday. We had to wait until we had run the phone, security camera and cat5 cables.

We purchased extra wood along with our flooring. Here, I'm staining what will become a bench. Working on the sidewalk is a good way to meet the neighbors.

Mike rented a UHaul to bring our flooring and stools home from Elmira. We unloaded it around 11 pm. It must have been quite a sight.

The team. Happy that 800+ square feet of reclaimed barn wood is off the truck.

We had the stools professionally sand blasted. Here, we are scrubbing and staining them.

We picked up some extra wood. This is being scrubbed in preparation to become the bar soffit.

...which looks like this.

We will also be cleaning up the hood area, with a kitchen soffit, framed here.

Noah assisting Michael with the kitchen bar framing.

The sub flooring went in over two evenings this week. Saving room for a mat at the front.

Our hatch, with 2 coats of rustoleum. One of the best looking in town, for sure.

Our friend Justin came to town to help us install the flooring. They'll wrap up today.