Going green seems to be a popular choice these days, unless of course it involves the shade of paint inside a building where people have to eat food or spend their free time. Carlson Community Club found that out the hard way following a redecorating attempt several years ago. And after one too many meetings amidst grass-coloured panelling and tired curtains, members of Rotary Club of Powell River, a long-time user of the upstairs hall, decided to take matters into their own hands.
“I brought it to the Carlson club to talk about it and it got mulled around for a year or so,” explained Dan Light, who was Rotary’s director of community projects at the time. “And then Jay Yule, the president of the Carlson club, came and did a presentation. He said, ‘Look, we’ve got some money in our bank account if you guys want to start doing some work.’”
After seeking the advice of an interior decorator, club manager Brenda Knox picked the new paint colours and a small army of Rotarians set to work in the hall. “We started by just wanting to paint the place and put up some soundproof walls and then Darren Marquis said he would do the floor,” said Light. “With help from Relay [Rentals] and Valley Lumber for materials, we got everything at cost or really reasonable prices, and he volunteered tons of his own labour. That turned out to be a monster job. It went on for a week.
“We were using 16 grit [sandpaper] and we’d take five passes to break through the finish to hit the wood,” Light recalled. “We got it down to bare maple and then refinished it.” Light said the group believes it is a hardwood maple from eastern Canada.
Installed by a single worker in the 1940s or 50s, Knox said she estimates the floor would cost over $50,000 to lay down today. For her, it’s the crown jewel that ties the renovations together. “I think doing all the work we did and not getting the floors done, [the hall] still would have looked tired,” she said.
The once-understated bar area on the building’s south wall has now become a feature, adorned with natural stone and a custom wooden bar top. “We did the brick and Dr. [Doug] Jubb came along and he brought this slab that he had at home,” she explained.
Another noticeable addition is a large soundproof wall that partitions the kitchen from the main hall. “Charlie Gatt and a couple other Rotarians built that,” said Knox. “It used to be open and you used to hear all the noise from the kitchen so we closed it and put doors up. I was ecstatic.”
A second wall was also put up in front of an existing wheelchair-accessible washroom which used to open directly into the room.
As for paint, “we tried to make everything kind of neutral,” explained Knox, who ended up going with a cream colour for the walls, stormy grey for the chair rail and bottom panelling, white for the trim, and black for the ceiling. “This is a hall that you rent and you’ve got to do neutral colours,” she added. “Something that if you’re having a wedding any colour will go with it. Green doesn’t really do that.”
All in all, it took Rotarians about three weeks in March to complete the major work, and the club remained open throughout. Since then, several Carlson Community Club members have continued to chip away at the finishing touches. “I told Brenda, ‘we’ll be a couple days, just cover up the cupboards and stuff,’” chuckled Light. “Yeah, well, three weeks later. Of course, one thing led to another.”
Knox was more than happy to wait for the results, proudly showing off the progress along the way to anyone who was willing to brave the dust storm upstairs. “I kept saying ‘go and see what we’re doing,’” she said. “I’ve been here for 20 years, so in the back of your mind there’s always things and you never get the opportunity to do them because you don’t have any control. But we have an awesome executive, and if the money’s there [we can] go for it. And we’ve been doing that.”
