Re-furbishing and Re-purposing

Good Morning,

It's 5:00 AM and I'm awake. I've been up since about 3:30 with things going through my mind.

Did you ever have a million really fun ideas that you want to try, but not enough time? That's what I'm going through. Spring is coming and I would like to make up some really cute things for the shop. I have a lot of the materials at hand, I have a space to do it but for the life of me, I can't find on the Internet a place that sells "Extra hours in a day".

Our shop is keeping us really busy. We are finding that people are truly enjoying our furniture. We have finally gotten into our groove. We're open on Thursday through Sunday, the other days we are literally.. re-furbishing and re-purposing.

We start on Sunday night when the shop closes, moving things around and filling in the spots left from the sold pieces. We assess what we need to do to fill the voids and complete each section. I love it when a customer says, "I can't believe that occasional shops re-arrange their shop every month", I laugh, we do it every week.

On our off days, Nancy goes to auctions, thrift shops and other little outlets. She enjoys the hunt. I on the other hand, like the hunt but love the transformation part. It's really fulfilling to take a once lovely antique or vintage piece and bring it back to a condition that make people want to treasure it again. When I look at some of the pieces that Nan finds, I can see their past. I realize that sounds a little over the edge. What I mean is some of these worn and damaged pieces were fabulous when new. I can imagine how proud the original owner must have been when they placed it in their homes. A vintage buffet that has chipping veneer, gouges on the top and the drawers don't close correctly, at one time was probably the highlight of the dining room. So many of the things we work on remind us of our Grandmother or Nana. They had the lovely dining room sets, the fantastic hutches and more.

As a child it was just Grandma furniture, you didn't give it much thought. Now, that's another story. I can truly appreciate the styles and workmanship that went into each individual piece. Funny how much you change your opinion of things as you age.

Yesterday, we went and picked out fabrics. I have a great collection of chairs to makeover and the seats need to be re-upholstered. I'm slowly learning how to re-do seats. Nothing fancy, just cover plain cushions. A little paint and new fabric and a worn out chair comes alive again. It's fun to do, and I just got some really fun fabrics.. large floral prints and a few contemporary. We'll see, I start on them today.

I guess that's all for today. Hope you all have a creative week.

Patti