Top It Off: Before & Afters

The much awaited before & after pictures.

Top It Off: Recap

Just in case you missed something:

The Announcement

The Beginning

Bringing Down the Wall

The Toppings Counter

Opening Soon Sign

The Counters

Small & Not-So-Small Projects

The Floor

FroYo Machine Wall

Finishing Touches

The First Customer

Top It Off: The First Customer

I am proud to say we are finally OPEN! It has taken us a long time to get there but we made it.. with only minimal blood, sweat, and tears!

Tyler's grandfather, Ray wanted to be the first customer. When the time came... he is the first one in line!

He picked out his flavors.

You can tell from the looks on their faces they are trying to figure out how to run the cash register.

He gave them a silver dollar with an hour glass with this piece of advice - "Time is money."

He paid the rest of his tab in $2 bills.

Ray said the frozen yogurt was great!

Bring yourself, your friends, and your family and get some foryo!

Top It Off: Finishing Touches

Lots of things have been going on around Top It Off lately. Here is a quick recap!

Our shipment of furniture came in. There was lots of unloading to do.

Our official sign was installed.. here is the first part of it.

Our cool toppings bar was also in the shipment of furniture. So Zach was chosen to be the one to hook it up.

Tyler washed the windows in preparation for our window decals.

Our art work has been hung up.

This edition of the art was done by yours truly. Photography letters from around Chattanooga spelling out FROYO.

Our dispensers came in as well.

Our metal sign is a great edition. However, and absolute beast to hang, into brick no less. So we did have a little help with this one.

Terry, Zach's mom, helped to start filling the dispensers with our toppings.

Complete & ready to top off someone's froyo!

Cereal, nuts, candy, fruit, cakes, etc.. over 50 toppings to choose from!

Those top hat signs are also my creation. They are chalk boards so we can switch out the flavors easily.

We also have some great patio seating.. the perfect spot to enjoy some froyo!

And believe it or not - Up Next: Our First Customer!

Top It Off: The FroYo Machine Wall

One of my favorite features of Top It Off is the glass tile on wall where the foryo machines will be. When we were first planning the wall Tyler and Zach had talked about hiring someone to put up the tile. Being the avid HGTV watcher that I am, suggested there was no need to hire someone we could do it ourselves. I mean how hard could be it right? (Famous last words)

Zach's family was nice enough to come help us with the last stretch of construction on the store. They started on the tile. In one night they got about half way through.

All the Smith men there to help!

The wall was finished all that was left was the grout.

Apparently grout isn't as easy as they make it look on TV. They finished about half the wall and quit...and hired someone to finish. We were in a crunch for time because we were trying to open and this was just the easiest solution.

But now, the wall is finished and it looks great! We have the machines installed.

Zach and Tyler cheer to the first batch of froyo!

Next Up: The Floor

Top It Off: The floor

With the Top It Off space came the original tile from when it was a car dealership. And, as I talked about before, the things you can't change, embrace them. Because this tile was so old, it was nearly impossible to remove and if you did there was nothing but gravel under it. So, we kept it and actually love the way it turned out.

We had to work really hard to get all the construction dust off of it. Tyler mopped it 4 times! Then we put a clear sealant on it to help make it look a little younger.

The back of the store was carpet. After we took up the carpet we found that they really enjoyed the glue they used under the carpet. After working for weeks on getting all the glue up, it was time to acid stain the concrete. We had been planning to do this all along. We had seen it in some other food places and loved the effect.

The floor had to be wet for the acid to stick. I would mop a section, Tyler would apply the acid, and Zach would then scrub it in circles to make a nice effect for the finish.

Please note it is well after dark while we were doing this. We had to wait for the construction people to leave so no one would walk on the floor.

The floor then was to dry over night.

As it turned out, it didn't look as good as we had hoped. It could have been a number of things but we had to do something about it fast.

The decision was to paint it.. or a proxy for the official term. Zach would paint and I would sprinkle the paint chips behind him. (I reference my love for decorating cupcakes for this task!) I might be a little... ok ... a lot bias but I think the sprinkles look amazing.

We started on this at 9:00 PM and got done about 2:00 AM

The new floor looks absolutely great!

Next Up: The details!

Top It Off: Small & Not-So-Small Projects

Finally after only being a month behind schedule - the dividing wall has made progress! They started demolition and should start building the wall soon!

They took out the HVAC that was down the center of the ceiling. (Which you can tell by the big hole in the wall at the top.) They also took out two rows of tile that are original with the building.

They also took out all the ceiling back here.

Just a small amount of the actually mess that was/is left.

Our separate HVAC was installed recently. Thankfully the exposed/metal look went well with our decor. However, the vents they put in were white. It is a good thing they make silver spray paint!

Which brings me to the lift. The demo guys had this lift for the demo which came in handy for the painting of these said vents. Zach wasn't hesitant AT ALL to get up there. More power to him.

And, why not have another excuse to use the lift again? This time to remove an exit sign. We will be recycling it and putting it in a new location because these front doors will be changing once the dividing wall is up.

With very little time left to get the small stuff left on the list. We spend all day Saturday picking up the last minute needed items.

This was our load from Sam's.

We were a little nervous about how we were going to make it all the way downtown with all this stuff. Let's just say we used A LOT of rope.

There is literally dust everywhere and only more to come. We have tried our hardest to clean as we go but there is only so much you can do. In our trips to pick up stuff we got this handy duster. Tyler wanted to try it out.

Ah, the door to no where. I am sure this will be a ever constant question as to where it goes. But, when you can't change something, embrace it. This door literally leads no where. We aren't even sure what it used to go to. It is locked and we don't own the key so we can't even open it. For a lack of a better way to cover it up. We are embracing it; we painted it "melted lava."

Next Up: The Wall Progression

Top It Off: The Counters

This post is long over due. Blame it on the fact that we are trying to open by June 10. Yes, I know what you are thinking... How is that possible? That my friends is a whole different post so stay tuned.

Back to the counters....

You saw that the toppings counter was coming along nicely.

Once the frame was built, we moved it to its final destination. And, let me tell you, it was HEAVY. In order to prevent moving it again we just kept building on to it in its final location.

We added the ply wood on the outsides. And a vent on the end for the cool bar that will contain the fruits.

After the toppings counter was finished we started on the register counter. Same basic structure but different shape. I think even Zach and Tyler were impressed with their new found skills.

Just to show you we like to have fun while we work, Zach and Tyler "trying out" the new counter with play money and sound effects such as "Cha-Ching!"

After only a few complications with the delivery of the counters we were quick to get them together.

Poor Tyler was the chosen one to attach them! Don't let the smile fool you. He called this his coffin several times during the process. Not to mention we were working on this at approximately midnight on a Friday night.

Counter tops - complete!

The front of the counters were to be covered in metal. I'll be the first to tell you that cutting metal isn't the easiest or one the more fun things I have ever done. SO glad that over.

We measured out the height of each piece.

Marked it with a chalk line and crossed our fingers it was straight when we got done cutting. And, believe it or not they were!

(Please note that the register counter is still missing it's counter top. The delivery people broke off a corner trying to get it in the door...but we eventually got a replacement!)

Another added feature to the counters were red rope lights.

I can't help but love how they turned out.

Counters - complete!

Next Up: All the small and not so small projects!