Welcome Project Update

Unfortunately my (Alli) computer died last week and I have been unable to do much, including posting to the blog. The good news is that I got a brand new hard drive and I had just done a back-up. So everything is back to normal! I wanted to put a few photos from the Welcome Project up for you to see. We handed out almost 1,000 "Welcome back to Selly Oak" gifts to students during the first week of the term. The gift included a jute bag, cup, and flyer with upcoming Canvas events. We all had a really great time and met lots of new students!

Canvas jute bag, Canvas cup, Canvas flyer

During the first two weeks of the new term, Canvas did free tea, coffee, and donuts in front of one of the entrances to campus. We have done free tea and coffee in the past in front of the old Canvas house, but this year we decided to branch out. So we set up shop at 8:00 am each morning and had a really fun time. In the photo below, you can see there is a lot of the construction behind us. That is a new road going through Selly Oak and won't be done for a while. Thankfully, it did not rain during our two weeks of free tea and coffee, but it was quite cold. We met lots of students on the way to lectures or the library to study!

Alli, Anton, and Caleb

Canvas did a variety of events during the first two weeks of the term. We hosted an Open Mic Night at a local student hang-out called Urban Village. We had our kick-off party at TC's which was a great success. We served chili and the Canvas band played three sets of amazing music. And lastly, we had a BBQ in Selly Park and played American Football. The BBQ was on one of the last nice days before it got really cold! 

Alli, Keziah, and Rob getting ready to serve dinner at the kick-off party at TC's.

The Canvas band practicing before the kick-off party started. 

Thank you to those of you who gave to the third Canvas Welcome Project! It was a great success and we really appreciate your generosity! The term is in full swing now. We have a lot of fun and exciting things planned for the next few weeks so stay tuned...

New Doors, New Lighting

Two projects that needed work at Canvas were new lighting and a new set of doors. The florescent lighting was quite ugly and didn't even provide much light. And the doors are huge and heavy and block out all natural light in the main room. Here are some before photos:

The old doors.

The old florescent lighting.

Recessed lighting was chosen for the two rooms downstairs, as they are the safest and least expensive option. They really help to brighten up the room. We also had to have some smoke detectors and emergency lighting installed. The metal doors were painted blue and new patio-style doors were installed just inside the metal doors. 

Pretty new lighting.

The new door frame.

New patio doors!

We had a paint day at Canvas where students and alumni came and helped us paint the house, including the metal doors. Photos from our Canvas paint day will be in the next post!

Upstairs at Canvas

The upstairs at our new Canvas house is just about complete. It lacks a door frame (and a door) and that's about it! The upstairs was once just a strangely shaped room with low ceilings, now it is our office and meeting space. Mike and Andrew built a wall in the center of the room to divide it in half. Now when you walk upstairs you are in the "office" and you can walk through to the meeting space.

Up the stairs...

After the wall was built, the next project was to install a bannister. We completed the project in about a day. And by we, I mean Mike built it and I assisted. :) It took a long time, but it turned out really well. It helps make the room feel more open.

We think it turned out really nice.

Then we just needed to paint and install the flooring. The paint was supposed to be a dark grey, but on our walls it ended up looking quite lavender. I don't mind! And the laminate flooring looks really nice. Here are some "after" photos!

A major thank you to all of you who have donated to the Canvas Welcome Project! These renovations would not be possible without your generosity...

Ceilings Installed

Ceilings were installed in both rooms on the first level on the new Canvas house. Slanted ceilings and really old beams make for a difficult installation, but they look great!

Our materials arrived by crane on a truck.

New beams were installed.

Then insulation.

Followed by vapor paper.

And the drywall.

Check out all that dust! And the new ceilings.