in the store ---i freaked out

I didn't go to the store for a month. Business was dead-slow, I was drained, etc. and anyway I went back weekend before last and freaked out. The store looked cluttered and a little junky. A spring fever display I loved in March when I was anticipating spring (ha ha to that--spring was a good 6 weeks away) looked like garbage.

The white multi-tiered display shelf (in the back of picture--click on any picture to enlarge) looked dirty (there were stains from the previous owner's plants that I hadn't been able to scrub off) and disorganized.

It was the first time I'd ever gone in the store and not been happy. And after the slooow winter season (can you say $300 sales in March--even for a store open only on weekends that's pathetic) I was questioning my sanity. Oh sure, make a 500-mile round-trip drive for this, Jen.


So I started cleaning. I put a bunch of things in the storage closet and others out front for a yard sale. I painted the dirty white shelf green (have you noticed that I love green) and arranged an assortment of new and vintage vases on it.

This weekend I added old blue Ball glass jars to the bottom shelf, alternating with milk glass. (Forgot to take pictures.) On the top shelf next to the vintage blue bird planter I put a Ball glass jar filled with crab apple blossoms and viburnum that I brought from my garden in Massachusetts. I put white freesias in one of the green vases. (The vases with the little birds on them are from Red Hot Pottery.)

a few more pictures taken after my de-cluttering frenzy:

So now the store feels like me again, and I'm happy to be there.

And how do you like this horse? Isn't it marvelous? One of my customers bought it in Virginia years ago. Now he's decluttering his house (must be that time of year) and I bought the horse to sell in the store. I hope he's around for a while!

Oh and a friend told me about the blog Between Naps on the Porch, and how great is that name? (I love naps and porches as well as green) and today they are doing links to before and after posts in case you need some inspiration.

Jen

p.s. Saturday was a great day in the store. I think winter is finally over!