New Canvas House Video

Here is a tour of the new Canvas house after renovations. Check it out!

Autumn Weekend Away

Canvas went on our second retreat ever this Fall to the English countryside in Shropshire. November 12- 14 we loaded up into cars and drove to Cloverley Hall, built in 1868 for a Liverpool Banker and now converted into a Christian Conference Centre. It was a beautiful location with grass and sheep as far as the eye could see!

The theme of the weekend was sharing our stories. Some of the staff members shared parts of their life with the group, and students shared parts of their lives with each other. It was a beautiful weekend! As usual on retreats, everyone stayed up ridiculously late playing games. Nertz and Bang were the popular games of the weekend. As you would imagine, Mike and I are loving the new game culture at Canvas. :)
The weekend away was so important for the new Canvas community. We had lots of "regulars" now that can't get enough of Canvas, mostly due to the retreat. We didn't get much sleep, but we wouldn't have missed it for anything!

 I didn't take any photos, so here are a few from one of our exchange students.

Group photo, minus a few still sleeping.

The obligatory "crazy" photo.

Our rental car and silliness. 

Mike and I in front of Cloverley Hall.

Weekend Trip to Bath

Mike and I rented a tiny car and went to Stonehenge and Bath for a Saturday and Sunday trip. It was so wonderful to be out of the city and see more of England! We went to Stonehenge first and saw the famous pile of rocks in the middle of nowhere! Then we headed back up to Bath. We got to go on a walking tour of the city and learned about all the important landmarks. We went the Roman Baths and museum, too. We had a really good time exploring such an old and interesting city!

It was quite rainy and windy when we got to Stonehenge.

But it started to clear up!

The B&B we stayed at in Bath.

Bath Abbey

The Royal Crescent

The Circus

Pulteney Bridge

The Roman Baths

Painting Canvas

We have had more than a few painting days at the new Canvas house. To show you how our painting progressed, here are some photos:

We began by painting all of the ceilings white.

And the walls were painted yellow, orange, and red.

The doors were painted bright blue. (This is a Canvas alumni, Rob.)

We added our logos. (Jenn and exchange student, Christine.)

And they turned out really great!

Then we mopped for hours cleaning the floor.

And painted it a chocolate-y brown color.

Oh and the stairs, too. (Team member, Andrew.)

Mike did a lot of painting!

We have lots of work still to go, but the majority of the painting is done. The second room downstairs is still being worked on at the moment. More "after" photos to come soon!

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.

The 3rd Annual Canvas Welcome Project

What is The Canvas Welcome Project? The Canvas Welcome Project is our way of launching the ministry each year.  It is designed to tell university students in Selly Oak about Canvas and invite them into our ministry.  Every fall for the past two years Canvas has gone door to door and given a gift to student houses in the neighborhood around the Canvas House.  It allows us to welcome them to a new school year and let them know who Canvas is and that we are here for them.  The past two years have been huge successes, and we are looking forward to how this years project will benefit our ministry.  This year students will receive a re-usable grocery bag with a Canvas logo on it and a Canvas plastic cup.  We also pass out free tea and coffee to students as they make their way to classes at the start of the school year.

As many of you know, we had to move out of our previous campus house and into a new location.  That makes the 2010 Canvas Welcome Project even more important this year as we relaunch our ministry in a new location.  Another part of the project is renovating and decorating a new campus house to be a warm and inviting environment for students to experience God’s love.  Our new location has great potential but first involves some work: us putting in a new ceiling, creating an office and small group space, installing glass doors at the entrance, sealing the floor, installing new lighting, and of course the Canvas decorating touch that makes it so homey.  We will be spending the coming weeks tearing down old walls and building new ones, hanging drywall, running electrical work, and painting it warm colors all to create a place of refuge for students to call home.

This year is the biggest Welcome Project yet, and we need your help in order to make the student gifts and campus house renovations possible.  Will you consider giving to the Canvas Welcome Project? Our goal is to raise $15,000.  $10,000 of this will go towards renovating and decorating the new house, and the remaining $5,000 will go towards the gifts that will be given to university students. It will also go towards events to kick off the new year like our Kick-off Party, an open mic at a local student hangout, and a cookout and football tournament in the park.

A gift of $5 buys a Canvas bag and cup for a student and a gift of $25 buys a bucket of paint for our new house.  Your gifts towards the start of another great year at Canvas are greatly appreciated! 

Gifts can be mailed to:

CMF International

PO Box 501020

Indianapolis, IN 46250

with “Canvas Welcome Project” in the memo line. 

You can also give online here.          

The Pope Visits Birmingham

Pope Benedict XVI made a four day trip to the UK visiting Glasgow, London, and ending his visit today in Birmingham. It was very big news around here. It was a rainy and cold day, but that didn't stop thousands of people who wanted to catch a glimpse of the Popemobile. Extra police and medical personnel were bused in, roads were closed, and it was a huge ordeal! The Pope celebrated Mass and the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Cofton Park. We did not make the trip down to the city to try and see the Pope, but it was an exciting event for Birmingham! You can check out the BCC re-cap of his visit to Birmingham here.

Video of the new Canvas House

One of our team members put together this video of the new Canvas House on the first work day. If you would like to get a better picture of what the house is actually like, check out this video:

A Wall Removed, A Wall Installed

The renovations at the new Canvas house are moving right along. The electrician and plumber have started work this week, and Mike and Andrew have made lots of progress upstairs. Here are a few photos of the work done so far:

The downstairs room with the wall, ceiling, and carpet removed.

The front garden no longer looks like a jungle!

Andrew and Mike at work upstairs on the new wall.

In the new doorway upstairs.

New Canvas House Photos

Many of you have been asking for photos of the new Canvas house, so here you go! These photos were all taken before any work was done. We have been working on the house for a few days now and it is coming along really well. We are all really excited about the possibilities that this space holds.

Mike has been working hard to get everything planned for Phase 1 building renovations. The upstairs room will be divided in two, one half for our office, one half for a meeting space. The downstairs large room will be opened up and turned into the main room at Canvas. There is a second room downstairs that will mostly be storage for now. We are hoping to install a kitchen and cafe-type area in the future in that room.

We will continue to post photos as we progress through our renovations. One month until the students return and the Fall term begins!

The team in front of the new Canvas

From the building, looking out to the road

The downstairs

The downstairs - that wall has been removed

The wall that was removed

The other half of the large downstairs room

We are hoping this space will be a kitchen/cafe

Much work to be done...

The leaky roof is getting fixed this week

Welcome to the new Canvas!