The reality of opening a shop... and getting it just right

It’s been a little while since I posted a blog post. I have to say, that’s not because there hasn’t been stuff going on, but rather that any ‘stuff’ has been fairly dull, and mostly involved me up a ladder painting ceiling tiles gold. Niche. And that doesn’t make particularly great reading!

We escaped on a week away to the Highlands of Scotland for our first holiday since October 2019. It was a much needed tonic, and I’ve come back raring to go and get painting again… but with the 5-days isolation that staying in a (recently added to the) amber zone requires. Honestly? It’s frustrating… but I’m actually having no excuse not to do those essential boring jobs that I really NEED to do before the shop opens, so I’m ploughing on, and all being well with by day 5 test, I’ll be whipping out the spray gun and getting the ceiling finished this weekend. I had already lined up someone to take care of deliveries whilst I isolated, so it’s business as usual with the kids and dog demanding breakfast/lunch/snacks/balls to be thrown more than usual.

I absolutely love my shop (still feels strange to write that!). I love that it’s early nineteenth century, I love that it’s got the original fireplace and cornicing. I love the space that it’s going to become. I love the chairs that I’ve bought for the seating area upstairs (told you there would be somewhere to rest and feed your babies/have a meeting!), I love the light fittings that arrive this week, I love the fittings that are arriving. I am hugely excited that Hanna from The Wildly Design and Sophie Darwin have decided to rent one of my rooms from me, and love that I’ll get to know these amazing women better. But I am realising, that with an old building comes the need to take things as they come. There are several landlord works that had to be completed before I can really get stuck in to the refurb (downstairs didn’t need anything doing which is why I’ve got started there). Unfortunately, with old buildings once you solve one problem, sometimes another comes up, so these have gone on a couple of weeks longer than planned. Well, if I want reliable running water anyway (and I really, really do!)

I still very much hope to be open in July, but am having to be a little calm about it possibly knocking into August… as soon as the ground floor is finished, I’ll be working there day to day, so you’ll be able to knock and say hi/buy things as I’ll be merchandising, checking in stock and pricing everything up as it comes in, but the official opening may be late July/early August. I’ve gone all Goldilocks and want it to be ‘just right’.

The shop front will be painted this week though, so you’ll start to get an idea of what it’ll look like. And as soon as the building work is done, I’ll be getting Hetty out, scrubbing the floor, and getting things looking all shoppy.

Alongside this though, the website orders continue to come in and new stock is arriving every day now. It’s all a little bit exciting… and I promise, it’ll be worth the wait.