Big Book of Stuff

As our presence on Buttonwood has grown over the past few months, we've had quite a few comments along the lines of "wow, you all really need a sign" or "this was hard to find...I couldn't see the banner from the road." And without question, those are completely legit comments.  At different intervals in the PJP planning process, we considered signage and even had a local company do some drawings and price quotes...but it was never a thing that we both felt like was top priority.  (I don't know why neither of us put the emphasis on exterior signage.  We plan to add it to the great big book of "Stuff We Wish We Would Have Known Before We Started A Business".) Enter Adam McMillen of McMillen Industries.  Adam is a local artist (craftsman? ironworking genius?) who helped us with our beloved whiskey barrel chandelier lights in the front of our space.  He shares our love of the raw industrial vibe and so when he said he had some ideas for signage, we were all ears.  He basically proposed creating our logo out of metal (complete with LED backlighting for the night).  His drawings were a complete departure from the drawings we received from another company and WE LOVED IT.  So at the cost of $3700, we swallowed hard and commissioned a massive piece of PJP art to hang outside our space.

For a good part of the summer, Adam worked on creating his design.  I have no clue whatsoever how someone takes a sheet of metal and then makes our logo.  In fact, my brain can't even comprehend how to begin such a task.  And luckily for me, all we had to do was keep selling pies to pay in increments toward our $3700.  All the while, I noticed that new businesses in the Rock Bridge area were going in and almost all started with a sign before any other construction started.  And maybe that means nothing or maybe it means that while money doesn't buy you happiness, it does buy you commercial signage to bring you customers before your doors are even open.

Yesterday I was elated to arrive and find the person that Adam hired for the actual install to be parked immediately in front of PJP Buttonwood.  (As an aside, aren't you compelled by our broken down banner on the right in this picture?  Apparently Sharp Mechanical couldn't have come any sooner.)

What you can't see in this picture is that there is only one guy there to install a massive sign AND it was approximately three billion degrees outside yesterday.

This guy - sadly, I don't even know his name - spent like SEVEN hours yesterday working on installing this sign.  And so if this pie thing doesn't work out, apparently I'm not well suited to being a sign installer because "It's hot" and "I don't want to climb that ladder" probably aren't acceptable responses to someone wanting an install.

First he worked on digging around in the electrical portion behind where the sign was to be installed.  (And in case you are wondering, "digging around" is a legit electrical term).  Here is the back of the sign with the wiring so that the sign will light up during the night hours.

And then he readied the front of the building for the sign's new home.

And if you are dying of anticipation to see exactly what he was preparing to hang, well then, here you go...I present our sign, in its full $3700 glory...

We LOVE it.  We feel like it fits the vibe of our space and gives a first impression to PJP that is exactly what we wanted.  This iPhone picture makes the sign look a bit more yellow than the real life version.  In real life, it matches our logo perfectly.  And finally, for the shot you've been waiting to see...

I love that in this picture, you see broken down banner on the bottom right and then the new sign at the top.  It is just a little reminder that sometimes Jeanne and I start with little planning or forethought, but then it turns out perfectly.  In this case, we love it.