I've had some people ask to see "before and after" photos, so thought I would put together a post.  It's been fun to look back through the many photos taken over that crazy, 10 week period!  Double click on the photos to see captions with each photo, describing what you are looking at.  It all looks way better in person, so be sure to come have a look!!

This tour will begin in the foyer, and move through the clinic in a big "loop".  You can see in this shot of the floor plan, the loop moves from public spaces at the front to private/staff spaces at the back.  It's a great layout; we feel like we're on a running track - not a bad thing now that we don't have stairs to climb every day!!!

This first set of photos is our front entryway/foyer.  The additional door to the right of ours is the new entrance to the remaining 900sqft of rental space available.

This next group of photos are the front reception area: this area got subdivided into the reception area, and a back file area.  You can make sense of the progress by looking at the concrete pattern against the ceramic tiles.

The waiting room area...

As you pass through the reception area, you enter into a second small waiting area.  The three Dentist treatment rooms are situated off this space, allowing parents and caregivers  to be close by!

Dentist treatment room #2: This room was originally very large so was subdivided into a smaller room.  This allowed an extension of the hallway to allow for additional central storage cabinetry to be placed at the end of the hall.

The long hallway has all our patient treatment rooms on the left.  These were originally offices (the space was previously an accounting office), so this meant that we didn't have to change the sizes of the rooms.  However, that is about the only thing that didn't need to change!!!  The floors had to be "trenched" which involved cutting through all the existing in-floor heat, and laying conduits for the electrical and plumbing required for the dental chairs.  It was no small feat! 

The area to the right up the hallway was originally an open space, but was transformed into our darkroom, bathroom, and central sterilization area.

These photos are taken from both ends of the hallway (the captions will describe the viewpoint).

Hygienist's rooms; this is a composite of the two hygiene rooms.  One of these rooms contained all of the "manifolds" for the in-floor heat which we were able to contain into the wall which created more functional room for the cabinetry.

We have a lovely barrier-free bathroom.  It's one of the nicest rooms in the whole project!

My office!!  At our old location, the "office" was a very small shared space between the two dentists, and was also where the book-keeper worked, and the supplies were ordered by staff.  It was a congested, busy spot! Now the dentists each have a private office, and the book-keeper and ordering is done in a separate location.  Room to breathe for all of us!!!

Back storage/entrance: At our old office most of our supplies were stored in the basement.  It meant that staff had to schlep these (often heavy) supplies up two flights of stairs to get it to where it was used!  Now we have all our storage in floor-to-ceiling open storage so we can see our inventory at a glance.  May sound boring, but it is one of our favourite features of our new space!

Staff room and kitchen; continuing down the hallway to the left of the end of the storage is our staff room.  Our lab is also off this area.  It is cozy and a fun place to kick off our shoes and have a laugh!

The final stop in the "loop" is the file room.  This room allows us to have our ugly filing cabinets out of view and provides a work space for ordering, the book-keeper etc.

And there you have it!  You've had the tour! Be sure to come by and see us in person sometime.  Cheers!

We worked all weekend to get things ready to see patients at 9 am Monday, March 20th.  I closed the door behind me at 11:58pm Sunday night with a BIG smile on my face!  It was snowing hard, and I closed the door basking in the fact that at this new location I am NOT responsible for shoveling the walks:  I could go home, go to bed, and not worry about getting the walkways cleared for our morning patients!  What an amazing feeling!

We are THRILLED with our new space.  It is fresh and spacious and allows us to work so much more efficiently now that we no longer have stairs to contend with.  All our supplies are on the same floor that we are, rather than 2 floors below in the basement!  That being said, we may put on a few pounds now that we don't have to do the stairs 50 times a day!!  We've had lots of great feedback.  Patients are enjoying the abundant parking for sure!

If you have an upcoming appointment, remember to head to our new location.  We are across from the Home Hardware in Wolfville; on the "other side of the tracks"!!  We are still waiting for our outside sign to be ready, but there is a sign with a number on the front lawn.

Be sure to join us for our Open House on Wed. April 12 from 6:30-8:30pm.  We will be featuring snacks and drinks from local food/drink companies - all of whom are patients!  Bring a friend and see the new digs!!!  As always, we are always accepting new patients and appreciate your referrals.  See you soon!

We closed the office at 2pm on Friday, March 20.  The packing tape came out and we didn't stop until 11pm that night.  But we got the whole office packed!!  Yes, there was admittedly some (lots?) Annapolis Cider and pizza consumed but it all provided much needed energy!!!

The next day the electricians, plumber, dental technicians and cabinetry folks came to disconnect everything that would be moved over with us.  This was a busy day but went like a choreographed dance with everyone doing their respective tasks.  I spent the day packing up my private office...how do we accumulate so much "STUFF"???

The movers arrived on Monday (we managed to move a day earlier than originally planned to get ahead of a storm forecast for Tuesday!).  They made light work of things - had the whole house packed and moved in 4 hours!  The next two days were spent with reconnecting everything that needed to be reconnected!  That's a lot of things in a dental clinic.  It was a week of lots of dust, dirt, and very little sleep.  My husband and son wisely took a basketball trip to Toronto for March Break.  Worked out well considering I was only home for about 4 hours a night!

The team rejoined the efforts on Thursday and Friday and they worked like Energizer bunnies to get the place up to snuff for patients on Monday, March 20th!! 

So we had our first piece of equipment go "M.I.A." this week.  The large "pass- throughs" that will fit into the large openings (seen in Weeks 4 & 5 photos) were sent out 10 days ago.  When they didn't arrive (in the midst of all the storms) we assumed they were waylaid by the bad weather.  However, when they didn't arrive at the beginning of this week we started searching.  It was a bit of a mystery, and of course no one can tell me where they ended up, but Purolator assures me that they will arrive first thing Monday morning. 

It's a bit of a hiccup as this has held up the installation of these units.  After the installation, they will require trim, followed by crack filling.  All the rest of the crack fill is complete so thank goodness we've located them!  Things should move along quickly once they arrive tomorrow!

So far (touch wood) the weather has held and there are no storms in the forecast for the next week.  This week should see the floors and the painting begin.  Big changes to come....We are on the 3-week countdown.  Still feels like there is lots to do but the contractor is still optimistic that we are on track!

The photos below show the location of the new front entrance to our reception area.  Until it is painted we'll keep the glass on the door covered - so it doesn't look as nice as it will once the glass is exposed.  However, it is fun to finally see the reception area start to be defined! 

The first picture is taken from the shared foyer of the building.  Ours is the door to the left (glass covered until the painting is complete); the door to the right leads into the other area that is for rent (if you are in the market for 900 sq.ft. of rental space, we'd be GREAT neighbours!).  The second picture is walking into our reception area; the door opening in the background will be a sliding pocket door which leads into our file room. 

I'm combining these last two weeks for two reasons...
1) We spent the better part of the last week, buried in the 120+ cms of snow we got in 3 consecutive storms, over 5 days.
2) Much of the (very significant) work done in these last two weeks is "behind the walls" so doesn't really look like much in photos.

These recent storms were a reminder that it is STILL winter in Nova Scotia, and that we had it easy until now!  We lost some days at the work site as the province basically shut down, but the contractors are working through this weekend to make up for lost time.  We are at the crack-filling stage which will prep things for painting. 

Click on the following photos to show  1) back storage hallway with the earlier holes all patched up! 2) the front reception area; front desk and storage still to come! 3) the waiting area currently being used as "nerve central" by the contractors; still temporarily has the old carpet in place; 4) the beautifully organized electrical panel; 5) the insulation and blocking in our new darkroom; 6) the stellar SafeHome Electrical team - father/daughter team Wayne and Gina Isnor!

Well, we've turned the page to February on the calendar; Shubenacadie Sam (our Nova Scotian Groundhog) says it will be an early Spring; and we have actual walls!  It's been a great week!

I will be holding that little rodent to his word.  A move mid-March could be a real challenge if we have the kind of March we had in 2015!  I am trying not to think about it too much - the movers assure me they've moved more stuff, further distances, and in all kinds of weather!  Again, it's about trusting the professionals!

This week was all about gyprock...lots and lots of gyprock!  As a result I am able to start to visualize (and therefore feel a bit more calm about) the size of the rooms.  However, as things start to get closed in, I admit to a bit of anxiety around the finality of it all.  What if I didn't think of everything?  I woke in the middle of the night this week wondering if I had chosen the proper locations for all the electrical plugs!  If I still have most of my sanity at the end of this, it will be a miracle!

The pictures below show:
1)the opposite view of the hall from last week (studs), now with walls in place! 2) our future staff room (we'll likely upgrade the table!) 3) lots and lots of electrical work happening
4) Dr. Moore's future personal office 5) working our way through the pile of gyprock and 6) trim around the x'ray cut out.

This was a busy week, with studs going up to define rooms that were once only in my imagination!  It begins to be a challenge to imagine the space filled in with actual walls:  Is the room too big?  Too small?   I've spent quite a bit of time measuring off the empty spaces, waxing between panic and excitement!

In the end, I know I need to trust the plans.  What will be will be!  And if it means we are all sitting on one another's laps in a few months time...well, it will be cosy!  Good thing we all get along!

The pictures below show:
1) the "cut-out" that will eventually house the x'ray units that are shared between rooms
2) the new wall that turns a large useless room into a hall and a treatment room; 3) when one door closes, another door opens! 4) lots and lots of gyprock in my someday-office
5) the wall that will eventually be home to our floor-to-ceiling shelving for storage and 6) the new walls that now define the spaces of our central sterilization room, barrier-free bathroom, and darkroom.

It was a busy week at the site!  Almost all the in-floor heating has been reconnected so that concrete can be re-poured.  A few minor changes have been made to doorways and hallways, all of which must be re-checked with the building code.  It makes for lots of emails back and forth but we don't want any surprises when it comes to inspection time!

While I'm excited for the fun design phase (flooring, and paint) I do find this stage fascinating!  Like with so many things in life, the behind-the-scenes often gets overlooked for the fancy, obvious "things" we can point to.  However, it never ceases to amaze me how much coordination, foresight, and thought must go into getting this foundation phase right.  I have admiration for all the trades who work so hard to coordinate the true grounding of my project!

Below you are looking at 1) the "reception area", taken from the "waiting room" 2) one of the dental rooms, awaiting its concrete pour; 3) looking down the hallway with the dental rooms on the right, and the area that will become central sterilization, bathroom, and X'ray room on the left.

I arrived back from a chilly week in Florida (really, Florida???) to find that all the electrical and plumbing conduits had been laid into the trenches, and plumbing stacks inset into the walls where the cabinetry would eventually go.  A few minor changes and we should be ready to pour concrete back in those trenches by the end of the week!

We had our first bi-weekly meeting of all the "players" in this project.  What a great team of people, led by Roscoe Construction, our general contractor!  They've been wonderful to work with so far.

Below are the shots of 1) the severed in-floor heat pipes at the  manifold, 2) the conduits that will run under the dental chairs, and 3) the view from inside the "staff-room-to-be"!