Checking-in / New adventures

Hello, It's been a while since we checked in with everyone. I hope you are all doing well. Our Arts District location turned out great. We love having the extra space to stretch out and work on the production, we were able to host a couple art shows in the new space, and now we are starting a new service for our customers.

Clients have asked in the past if we could recommend an art printer. Someone to print their photographs, canvases, or art prints. We were always reluctant to recommend a company that is not up to our standard of customer service. Anyone that works with us knows that customer service is our highest priority. It was upsetting to hear printers we were recommending were not up to our level of customer service. We do a fair amount of printing on our own and it is never a pleasant experience. After one too many sub-par trips to the printer, we decided to purchase a couple large art print machines. We now have the capability to print large-scale photos, canvas, art prints, etc. Hundreds of paper options, endless possibilities.

We are not a large commercial printing operation...yet.  This is more of a service to our customers. We are doing a lot of small jobs. A few photos here, a dozen art prints there. But all of it leads to a better experience for you, the customer. And it saves you from going to multiple locations. Print and frame in one place. Thanks and chat again soon. Joe

The First Art show in Downtown

We have our first art show this Sunday afternoon, Matthew Wood is displaying his creative and and brilliant Biomorphagrams.

This will mark the opening of our gallery space, Matthew has been a customer of ours for a long time and we are really excited to share this with him.

The event starts on Sunday the 6th at 5pm and will run until 9pm

If you cannot make it this Sunday no fear, we will have Matthews art displayed for 3 weeks so come and check it out.

A little Tangent

Today I have something a little different for you.

I haven't been able to post for a while because we have been extremely busy with some major projects and not only has that taken time away from being able to update here, but since we do most of our renovations ourselves there also really isn't much happening in the Downtown LA construction arena.

As a consolation prize I thought I'd show you one of the many custom framing projects we have been working on, this is the single largest piece we have done and it took considerable time and effort to get it finished.

Every little thing that had to be done on this frame was a project in itself, it required 5 people to move it anywhere and of course it's heavy and relatively fragile.

The frame moulding used is Italian, it has a custom welded aluminum frame with wood strengtheners to give it rigidity, FYI It's 14.5 feet by 5.4 feet which means that it's larger than moulding comes (we had to make attractive joiners) and there are a lot of structural issues to address whilst making sure it doesn't weight the earth!

I love doing Custom picture framing projects like this but its really stressful and I'm extremely pleased to be finished.

The photos here are 90% completed, we did a few little bits to tidy it up after this, painted the feet, cleaned it off and touched up anything else that needed it. I wanted to put it back up for more pictures but it's a huge project and we just didn't have time.

Thank you for reading, I promise I'll get you some construction updates soon.

Finished Flooring

I just have a quick update on the finished floor in the front of the Down town Los Angeles Picture framing space, were still working one getting all the samples in and hung and soon I will have some nice pictures of the showroom all finished but it's not there yet.

For now I can just show you what 30 year old concrete floors that haven't been maintained which are then ground polished and waxed look like, I'm really happy with the result, we have a nice looking floor but we have not lost the character of the building, that has been a priority for me since the beginning of the project and it's working well, I hope we will have a really nice presentable space but maintain the reality of a well used warehouse space.

Flooring

Its been a busy time at Sherman Mcnulty over the last month which is why I haven't been able to keep the blog updated.

We have continued our work in down town with the floor being the subject of our attention (pictures are enclosed) but on top of that March was our highest sales month since the company began all those years ago.

March was incredible, a huge amount of Custom Framing came through our doors and I'm really proud of the way our staff handled it, for the most part everything was on time and the quality as ever remains as close to perfect as is possible.

We are continuing to try to figure everything out here and we hope to be able to have our grand opening party this month but who knows what will happen.

The floor in our new downtown LA framing space was OK but after years of abuse it was defiantly in need of a little love, we ground the top layer of concrete off and now were working on polishing it to hopefully a nice shine, its a horrible dirty time consuming job but I think it will be worth it.

The next project is staircases!!!!

Finally, thank you to all of our customers for making last month so great.

Making Space

It's time for a quick update on progress in Downtown LA, we have made some strides forward but at this point its mostly just Stephanie and myself doing the work so things are moving slowly.

This week we have started building some new walls for samples, as part of our ongoing efforts to be the best Custom Picture Framer in Los Angeles we have always tried to make sure that our selection is the largest in town, that way customers can get exactly the right frame for their artwork.

Our Downtown LA space is large but whats unusual with frame stores is that its not really floor space that matters, the only thing that matters to us is wall space, to that end we have built some shiny new picture frame sample holders, or in layman's terms, walls.

I expect to be able to hold around 5000 more frame samples on the new walls.

In other news our new girl in the West Hollywood custom frame store, Megan, is coming along nicely. She is picking up everything quickly and I believe will be an asset for years to come, on that note next weekend will be the first time we will ever be open on a Sunday, Megan has afforded us this opportunity and we're really excited to be able to service customers all week.

One our production personnel, Maya, has also been learning the Custom Framing Sales trade and will be running the Downtown frame store on the weekends, I hope that by next week she is ready to take on Sundays also.

If everything goes to plan next weekend will mark not only the first time one of our stores has opened its doors on a Sunday but two will be open and available to help customers, its exciting times for us and we hope you will join us during our new hours.

Thank you for reading

Kim McNulty

Moving forward

The last few weeks have been a trying time for all at Sherman Mcnulty, the Downtown LA warehouse remodel is the largest single task we've ever undertaken.

Renovating this space has taken more time money and effort that we could ever have imagined but there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.

This week we are wrapping up the gallery space, it will be open for show and functions very shortly, we have also gotten a few of our rooms very close to completion and were finally back making headway on our warehouse space, the retail front is functional as it is and although it is no where near where I'd like it to be we have to pause on it to get some of the other areas completed, its a lot of space here and we're shooting for a really high standard across the board which will take time.

On a super positive note, The Downtown space has been really busy with walk in traffic, it has certainly confirmed our suspicions that Downtown Los Angeles has been in desperate need of a framer for a while, we are seeing new faces each day and they are all really excited to have us. I have opened a few business spaces in my time and I have never received a reception like this one so fingers crossed we will quickly become the go-to place for DTLA and the surrounding areas.

Organization

When we started Sherman Mcnulty Framing all those years ago one of our dreams was to have a super organized company.....We worked at it, somewhat, and for the most part we did well but for the first time we have a space that is conducive to the result.

We are determined to make our new space the most organized yet, we want to be able to provide the best product and service that money can buy and to do that we absolutely need a great foundation.

I will add some pictures of the progress here and show you the enormous amount of disorganization that we have to endure to achieve our ultimate goal and I will post the little ray of sunshine that brightens my day and lets me know that we might actually get there.

The room in question is the store room, it is one of the smallest rooms in the building and yet there is a great satisfaction in knowing that at least one small facet of this enormous undertaking is finished, and so I leave you just a little happier and just a little more relieved!!!!!!!!

Progress in the Downtown Los Angeles Picture Framing space

This is just a little update for you, I'm enjoying keeping track of the progress here and want to make sure to keep everyone in the loop.

We have almost finished hanging the samples but were thinking of adding more walls shortly, we want to have more frames here than any other place in LA but that's going to require a lot of square footage, we have about 7000 picture frame samples up right now but I really want to get to 15000, I don't think any other framing store in LA has that many!!

I will get some photos of our work up asap. In the mean time, if your ever in down town swing by and say hello

What a Day framing in Downtown LA

Today was an eventful day at our new picture framing warehouse and showroom in Downtown LA, we finally got our first sign up outside, it was a lot of work because this thing is huge but it was all worth it in the end. 

We had a little time for hanging samples and a bit more organizing but there is a great deal left to do.

The sign was put outside at around 3:30pm today and we had our first visitor as a result at around 5:30. It reminded me of opening our West Hollywood framing location all those years ago, at the time we were on an extreme shoe string budget, we had no idea how to accomplish what we need to but we persevered. 

I have a good friend who has a wood shop cut out the letters for our WEHO sign, we stuck them to a backing board and mounted it to the front of our new Picture Framing store. Up until this point we had no idea if we were going to make money or lose everything but the day we hung that sign on the front of the shop a man walked in, he was our first customer and he brought us a simple repair job worth $20 but with that visit came our first notion that we might actually make it.

When you take on a responsibility of a new business or store especially one like Downtown there is always a fear involved, we have worked hard over the years to bring the people of Los Angeles the service and quality that we think all picture framing should have but despite this a project of Downtown's magnitude could sink us, When that first customer came through our door there was a subtle but very definite sigh of relief. After 6 weeks of work and tens of thousands of dollars maybe this could still work, we are not out of the woods yet we will need a lot of support from the local community to get where we need to be but now we feel like we are one step closer..........

Update on our Down Town Picture framing location

We found the location of our dreams, its in the arts district and has a ton of potential its going to need a lot of work but were up for it.

We have decided that we want to make an Art emporium in the new space, its totally conducive to it and we have plenty of room.

We will have a custom framing center, a collection of art spaces for rent to local artists, a printing department and a gallery. We want this place to develop into a one stop shop for everything art related, clearly the picture framing will always be the corner stone of our business but its going to be great to be able to help people with everything they could ever need.

I don't think there is anywhere in town where you can print, frame and show your artwork and we are finally going to be able to provide that as we've always really wanted.

Down town

Almost exactly one year ago we were invited to move one of our Picture Framing locations to Down Town by a friend who had identified a market but needed help with a few aspects of the business.

We had the opportunity to share a space with a seasoned Downtowner and figured what the heck lets give it a try.

Since I have been in the US I have lived on the west side and in the valley, I have to tell you that to me Downtown LA might as well have been a different country.

Los Angeles is such a Sprawling county that it is no surprise to find people who have lived here their whole life and have rarely, or even never, visited many areas, I was no exception.

Downtown LA is very different from the places I have had the privilege to live and Frame in, on the outside its busy, dirty and riddled with issues but a light scratch at the surface reveals a city bristling with culture activity and energy.

Without the luxury of a low cost and the support of others we would never have had the courage to explore this wonderful place but we did, and how glad we are we could.

Fast forward one year and both us and seasoned Downtowner have outgrown our situation and now its time for us to move, we have a location that is currently under construction and I can't wait for you to see it..........To be continued

Sherman Mcnulty's New Blog

I'm not much for this kind of thing but I thought it was about time to find a way to help our customers and followers keep abreast of whats happening with us.

Being a little more traditional and not particularly tech savvy I really had no Idea how to make this happen, I contemplated monthly emails but I know they can be annoying and unwanted so after talking with people whom have far better knowledge than I a blog is the route that has been decided upon.

You might have to put up with an inept blogger for a while but I will try my best and with a little luck and practice there might actually be something worth reading here, so without further ado I will attempt to keep you as updated and entertained as I can muster.

Thank you loyal customers and thank you loyal readers