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We’ve shown a couple of pictures on Facebook of the two dumpsters worth of stuff we took out of the basement. As we write this a third dumpster is being loaded with the last of the junk. The untold story is that in addition to the forty-two cubic yards of trash we removed from the basement, […]
Carl McLaughlin, the official historian of Lafayette Flats, with owners Shawn and Amy. Editor’s Note: Amy’s dad, Carl McLaughlin, is the official historian of Lafayette Flats. While Carl has a Master’s Degree in Counseling, his Bachelor’s Degree is in History from West Virginia Institute of Technology. He recently retired from a career in the Juvenile Probation Department […]
The most amazing thing happened; a truly extraordinary act of benevolence that will benefit many people. We were approached by a friend who is an artist, an art professor and collector of local West Virginia art. He told us that he has far too much art in his collection to display in his home and he is […]
Since so many folks have been asking us about the layout of the flats, we thought it would be good to write a little about it and provide a graphic illustration that shows the basic plan. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is a picture of the second-floor plan: As we’ve written before, we […]
When we developed the business plan for Lafayette Flats, in and amongst all of the financial and marketing information, we included this philosophical element: “West Virginians are a hospitable people who are fiercely proud of their history and culture. Lafayette Flats will communicate these traits through its business practices: Extremely hospitable and eager to provide […]
Each and every time we walk up the stairs to the upper floors of Lafayatte Flats we are struck by the beauty of the doors and the trim that surrounds them. The beautiful old wood that has been (mostly) lovingly cared for gives off a rich warmth that you just can’t duplicate with products available […]
The Beckley Register-Herald ran a nice story about Lafayette Flats in Sunday’s paper. In the article, reporter C.V. Moore perfectly captured this week’s major task in one phrase: “Clearing out decades of basement flotsam.” On Monday, it took five people all day to remove most of the flotsam to a giant dumpster parked in front of […]
Our first weekend working on the building that will soon become Lafayette Flats was spent poking and prodding to discover what lies beneath the beautifully preserved interior walls, and to discover the spaces into which the new plumbing, electrical and HVAC facilities will have to be fit. Not many surprises yet, except that we continue to […]
We got our building permit so now it’s time to get the party started! This week we hope to sign up our first subcontractors and get some of the long lead time material ordered. Once we have some starting date commitments from subcontractors then we’ll be able to concentrate on some of the “sweat equity” jobs that […]
It seems like a lot longer, but two months and eight days after we made an offer on the building, it is finally ours. We closed this morning and after treating our lawyer to a “thank you” lunch at Chetty’s, we spent the rest of the day measuring and having our first opportunity to get close […]
