So maybe I was a bit ambitious thinking we could get the studio opened by last weekend — but we’ve definitely made a lot of progress. We finally started painting, and we should be finished in the next couple days. All that’s left is build a divider wall (I was gonna try myself, but that’s probably not a good idea) and to steam clean the carpet. Oh yeah, and we have to get several large prints to adorn the walls. I don’t want to make another deadline, but things are coming along and we’ll have it up and running in no time. Stay tuned…

Greg and I got back to work on the studio this weekend — we’re hoping to have it ready to open by next weekend. Our first order of business was to remove all the 8-foot boards that were used by the previous tenant to hang merchandise. We then cleaned up the walls as best we could with a scraper and little sheetrock compound. The last thing to do before painting  is to remove this hideous border that runs along the top of the walls (which is what you see Greg doing here).

We’ve nailed down a name for the place — Photobox Studios — which I think has a nice ring to it (and pretty modern, at least for this area). There’s definitely a lot of work that still needs to be done and details to be worked out, but everything’s starting to take shape. I’ll have more updates this week as things progress. Thanks for looking!

A piece of history was lost last night when the 1880′s house where Watkins & Sons Funeral Services operated on North Hill Street in Griffin was destroyed by fire. The cause of the fire was unknown.

No one was inside the business, and there were no bodies inside, said Griffin Fire Rescue Chief Tommy Jones. A fireman was injured when he fell down the stairs while fighting the fire, Jones said.

“The home is almost as old as (Griffin) itself,” Jones said. “You hate to see this happen, but you do the best you can.”