“A woman’s dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.” — Sophia Lauren.
“Fashion is not necessarily about labels. It’s not about brands. It’s about something else that comes from within you.” — Ralph Lauren
When Ralph and Sophia describe a woman’s dress, I immediately have a vision of what their words might look like. Color, design and how the style might look like on a woman’s body. A pop of color utilizing our accessories often makes us all take a second look to the stunning look.
If your driving down Highway 9 by Superior, Iowa these days you might have noticed the old church housing Blue Star Collections recently received an updated look. The building perched along the highway slipped on a new paint job updating her “dress”. The newly painted structure standing proud and encouraging traffic to take a second look.
Thirteen years ago we bought the old Methodist Church in Superior, Iowa to house our Blue Star Collections business. Recusing, recycling and repurposing has been in my blood for many years. The church was no exception, oh my was it in need of a new dress and some tender loving care. The building was tired and lifeless screaming for help! Most of the paint had chipped off the 100+ year old structure and it was calling out for an updated “new dress” look.
A new roof was first on the agenda to repair and seal up the holes for this makeover. Getting the bones back in place, the new dress would come later. After weeks of stabilizing the old gal, she started to breathe again. The windows began to pop out, the steeple stood tall and strong, cars were honking on the busy highway watching the transformation. It was an exciting time! The church and the community in Superior, Iowa loved all the attention!
Together working with a few hard working people we succeeded bringing back the life into this beauty. That was 13 years ago, once again she was in need of another drink of paint. So the search began for a good painter at a reasonable rate.
We searched high and low for someone to come help us put a coat of paint on the church. Bingo, like they say, timing and patience is all it takes. After searching and waiting two years with Covid playing devil’s advocate we scored The Re-Movers! Their name fits them appropriately because they are definitely are “movers and shakers”.
Now, their card says Junk Removal but let me tell you there is no tackle too big for this hard working couple. Going outside their box was becoming on both Jonathan and Katie, the owners of The Re-Movers. They rock and rolled through the projects like rock stars! We immediately took a likening to these two hard workers. Standing back and watching the transformation, we loved seeing the church come back to life.
Chipping away a few layers of paint wasn’t easy and to be honest a bit messy. Purchasing several gallons of paint, a few tubes of caulking to tighten up the wrinkles, a handful of replacement boards, throwing in time and commitment the Re-Movers were ready to go!
In our time dealing with shortage of supplies, finding the amount of paint we needed wasn’t an easy task. The paint shortage added another layer to our drama of getting this church painted.
The paint department at Bomgaar’s were fabulous to work with. The team helped us pick a paint that had a nice longevity and didn’t break our bank. Special order was the only option, so we quickly got the order going before paint prices continued to hike up.
We stayed in the same color family as before with a slight change to lighting the base. Cozy Cottage on the trim and Oat Straw for the main body of the structure. Using the same colors helped save on time and few dollars.
Up went the scaffolding, followed by Jonathan quickly ascending like an artist climbing the trapeze without any fear. Such fun to watch him move up to the tower, we could almost hear the bell ring as he reached the top.
Jonathan had a birds eye view from the top of the tower. Not being scared of heights for this young man, he seemed to be enjoying his view.
Katie keep the show going on the ground and had her work cut out as well. While Jon was doing his magic on the scaffolding, Katie was doing her magic painting the trim. Cozy Cottage was the choice of color for the trim. The church came back to life with all the attention in the detailed painting.
Wall by wall, the Re-Movers moved rather quickly around the exterior wasting no time. Taking advantage of additional scrapping and chalking as they turned each corner.
Finally the day came that Blue Star Collections, formerly the Methodist church in Superior, Iowa stood proud once again. The new clean up job was turning heads with her new dress looking so pretty. The long and hot days paid off giving this historic gal an updated look.
We weren’t quite finished yet. The outdoor, small cottage was also in competition for a little splash of paint. Brian and I took this task on thinking we could handle this project since it was closer to the ground. Climbing heights no longer are appealing to either of us.
The the double french front door overhang needing updating as well. We nabbed two recycled corbels from a tear down house in Estherville years ago along with one recycled bead board window cover from a Spirit Lake cottage to use for the awning adding some ambiance to our cottage.
After painting the cottage, we decided it was time to retire the red on the french doors. We chose a neutral, more savvy look as not to compete with the church. Adding a couple of repurposed 1950’s set of skis to the front door replacing the wreaths added interest and a new look. Completing this project ~ we were all done with the painting projects!
Next on the agenda was repairing a bit of the foundation that was also showing some age. Over the years it too got tired in a few spots. Firming up the weak spots with a few batches of cement made it fit like a tight girdle giving the church structure to stand tall and proud again.
Once again, the Re-Movers came to our rescue with repair and we couldn’t have been happier with the results.
It’s been a busy few weeks just getting things back in order. Like we all know, hard work, a little sweat and staying committed to the projects gives us a sense of self satisfaction. She’s standing tall and proud with the new updates of paint and materials.
Now that painting and repairing is all finished, it’s time to purge the inside of the church. Over the last few months we also have collected a few more goodies. It’s now time for a Blue Star Collections sale!
I usually pick a theme for my sales, this one just might be called Paint and Purge. Now it’s time for me to get busy inside and start gathering up the goods for the show to come! Fall is just around the corner, watch for a future sale coming up with one of a kind deals!
As always, thanks for tagging along with us, we enjoy sharing our projects and fun.
I leave you with this beautiful song with a song from 1971 by Bread “If” 🎶. If a picture paints a 1000 words ……. It’s amazing what a little elbow grease 😉 and paint will do!