Beautification of The Brook

It’s crazy to think that we are already one month into 2021! What?! With the renovation in full effect and our soft opening date looming, this past month has bee a blur of guest tours, Lowe’s trips, Wayfair browsing and contractor conversations….and it’s been awesome.

Now that we finally have a second, a quick one albeit, we want to share an update on the good, the bad and the beautiful of this transformation process. Whether a bride-to-be or just an amazing supporter of The Brook, we appreciate you joining us on this journey!

For those of you that follow along on social media, you’ve probably seen a sneak peak, but we wanted to fill you in on all the details! We’ll start space by space:

The Beauty Sweet!

We knew right away this space was perfect for our bridal suite, affectionally known as the “beauty sweet”! Light, bright and open, we had a vision of the gals getting ready with a dedicated vanity wall, bar for the mimosas and sitting area to relax. We had more than a few obstacles to hurdle to help this space reach its potential:

• Lacking HVAC system – big no-no for the bridal party getting ready in the dead of summer 😰
• Outdated and community style bathrooms – priority numero uno 🚽
• Tattered carpet floor – spilled mimosas and make up don’t fare well here 🥂
• No vanity, bar and/or sitting area – look good, feel good, wedding good 💁‍♀️

As you can see, there were no shortage of fun ‘surprises’ found along the way. A few of our fun surprises included extensive leaking/water damage, suspect electrical work, uneven floors and a mysteriously high chair rail with paneling below it. 🤢

With a little bit of creativity, elbow grease and persistence, we are well on our way to putting the beauty in beauty sweet! To date, this is where we are in the process:

• Brand new HVAC system with improved duct work and digital controls – INSTALLED
• Old multi-person bathrooms – DEMOED, Brand new unisex, individual bathrooms – READY, with tile laying, vanity/toilet, lighting, mirror installation coming this week
• Carpet flooring – GONE, new blonde wood laminate floor coming in next couple of weeks
• Vanity – DESIGNED, bar – BEING BUILT, Sitting area – FURNITURE BOUGHT

The Sycamore Social Hall

The Sycamore Social Hall is for the boys! Ok not really, it’s actually for anyone looking to kick back, enjoy a few games and and spend some quality time with friends & family. The basement of The Sycamore Shack was screaming “modern industrial bar”, and we answered that call. Just as there was with the Beauty Sweet, The Social Hall presented it’s own brand of challenges and ‘fun’:

• A musty scent that permeated the air – we wanted a bar feel, but not that kind of bar 😖
• An old tile floor – looking for more modern and less community hall 🕺🏻
• Lacking space – NOT so much room for activities 🎯
• No formal bar – hard to be a bar without a bar 🍻

We knew we had a moisture issue, but we he has no idea wet we were getting ourselves into. With a few walls gone here and some drywall gone there, we uncovered some significant foundational issues. We never expected this to be a problem, we guess no one ever does! Since removing the dry wall, removing all the affected wood, floor and walls, that smell is basically gone!

The Social Hall makeover currently includes:

• All mold covered materials – GONE = Musty smell – GONE
• Plain concrete floor – READY for a little sanding, buffing and polishing
• Unnecessary walls that took up space – DEMOED (much more room for activities)
• Wet bar – BUILT, and waiting for its custom concrete counter top!

So much more to come

The Beauty Sweet and Social Hall have been our primary focus over the last month, but there’s so much exciting transformation happening all over the property. Stay tuned, as we begin to shift our beautification focus to our indoor Gathering Hall, The Pavilion bathrooms and our guest accommodations!

Get more details on our spaces and rental rates here!

Follow along with us at our Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube accounts!

Your adventure awaits…