I thought it was time to give you a little history behind our new event space, The Fairhaven, as well as some photos from beginning to end of the construction process. This is all part of a three phase project with Bush Construction! Phase one - the build out of the new event space - is now complete!
In true Collins fashion, we hosted a Disco Party as a "test-run" to kick things off in the new space.
This all started late in 2017 when we learned that our neighbor to the west, Rick Jennisch Photography, had moved to CoWorkQC (maintaining his Downtown Davenport status). We quickly took possession of the space without really knowing what we would do - we just knew we would find a way to use the adjacent square footage. There were a lot of lofty ideas, but we took the pragmatic approach and came up with the three phase plan that we're in the midst of today.
We put in some work before the professionals took over the job!
Once we selected our contractor, Bush Construction, it was full steam ahead. We started meeting with their team to develop a schedule that would allow us to stay open and fully-functional during the majority of the construction. As we designed the new event space, the biggest consideration was what worked and what didn't in our current party room with almost five years of events under our belt. We gathered inspiration (that's what secret Pinterest boards are for), selected finishes, and decided on many, many more complex details that go into a project like this. We all had our own opinions on everything - from the lighting, counter tops, flooring, paint colors, trim, etc. - and had to do a lot of compromising to land on the final product.
We didn't get a ton of photos through the renovations but made sure to capture each phase of the project with a quick shot of me in the middle of the space to give a reference point.
I love this side-by-side comparison of the conceptual bar drawing compared to the final product:
Now, we're in the depths of phase two - re-configuring a portion of the old party room to make way for a new dish room. This means that the old party room is officially out of commission for the time being. Once the whole project is complete, we'll determine how we will use that space (plenty of ideas are swirling around!). Then, onto the third and final phase - expanding our kitchen. After almost five years, we’d like a little more room to let our fantastic kitchen crew get creative and do their thing! This means the release of our fall/winter menu will be a little later than normal, but it’s coming nonetheless. . If you’re interested in details for booking The Fairhaven, email fran @ meandbilly.com.