Antique Mall Space

And so my 2018 began … “Yes, we do have a space available, would you like to come in tomorrow and have a look?”

Wow – my simple enquiry was beginning to look like a reality. I had been tossing over the idea of having my own little shop or at least a rented space in an antique centre for some time, but the timing had never been right. It either seemed like too much hassle to make it all happen, or I had other things I was focussing on in my business.

Well 2018 rolled around and after some thinking and bouncing basic business ideas around with some family, I decided I’d make some more enquiries.

When things begin to align …

I don’t know about you, but I love it when a plan comes together! Especially one that seems to be divinely orchestrated. You see, a part of the back story is that right before Christmas, a boutique where I had some of my furniture on consignment, suddenly closed down and asked me to come and pick up all my things. Eek! You mean, NOW – the week leading up to Christmas?

Yes, now. So Marty & I made the trek in his work van and lugged home all the furniture & decor items and stacked it in my workshop! Ugh!

The other major deal about this whole saga was that we are trying to get our house ready for sale in the near future, and even with the furniture items I did have at the consignment place, I had a whole lot more furniture strategically placed throughout my home, waiting to be sold, either via ebay or my Facebook Marketplace ads. Not a great look when you’re trying to sell your house, right? Take this random dresser in my entryway for example:

The crazy thing is, believe it or not, I was not even thinking about the above two dilemmas when I enquired about the booth space at the Antique Mall – I was simply thinking, “I wonder if this is something I should pursue this year” … duh!

So of course, Marty & I went and checked out the available space, and everything just felt “right”!

Problem #1 solved: – I’ll have a place for all my painted furniture to go.

Problem #2 solved: – I can “declutter” my house ready for sale.

I’m a little excited about finally having my own little “shop” to sell my wares and am looking forward to showcasing some of the beautiful paint colours of the two brands I carry (Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint & Fusion Mineral Paint) on the painted furniture pieces that will be displayed in my booth. For those wondering if I’ll be selling these paint lines from my booth, yes, I have been given permission to sell furniture paint from here, however, I’ll be starting out slowly, and won’t be adding them immediately. I’ll let you know when I do, though. But by all means, if you’re a regular customer and it would be more convenient for you to pick up paint from Camp Hill, I’d be glad to meet you there with your order. Please message me to make this arrangement (sharon@i-restorestuff.com).

Measuring up

I have an awesome husband – just sayin’ – and he’s super keen to help me make my space all pretty! We have some fun plans for the partition walls between my booth and the adjacent ones, as I am able to do what I like to decorate these. So stay tuned for more about that.

Meanwhile I have been busy measuring out an area in my workshop space that equals the same as the shop space, and seeing how much furniture I can squeeze into my booth. Painters tape comes in handy for times like this.

All the fun details:

For those who are local to Brisbane area, I’ll be upstairs in the Camp Hill Antique Centre & Tarte Café, so make sure you stop by and if I happen to be there in my booth, please come and say hello! If you remember the Woolloongabba Antique Centre in Brisbane, well this is the same business, new location at 545 Old Cleveland Rd, Camp Hill.

They have a cute 50s diner style cafe at the entry, so it’s a great place to meet up for a coffee and cake and browse through the 70 or more dealers that all have a space in this amazing centre.

I’ll be setting up shop next Tuesday (23rd Jan, 2018), and I look forward to sharing more about this new venture with you on the blog this year, as well as on my social channels – if you’re on Instagram I’ll be posting stories, for sure – along with our Facebook page & Facebook group.

Meanwhile here’s a little taste of what to expect at the lovely Camp Hill Antique Centre:

Meanwhile on the home front …

As I said, we’ve been busy doing a few reno’s to get our home ready for sale (another 2018 goal). After 2 of our now adult boys left home in the last 18 months, it’s time to downsize!

One of the major projects we completed before Christmas was having a new fence built on the corner frontage of our 1/2 acre block. It was a huge job and the fencer who built it was a trooper, working in our Queensland summer heat!

And then, if you’ve been following me on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll have seen the posts of our big day of spray painting the entire fence inside and out! It was a perfect day for painting – no wind, no humidity and some nice cloud coverage, and no rain. Here’s a little video I posted on Facebook:

So that’s a huge kick start to our 2018 – what are your DIY plans for 2018? Leave your comments below – are you painting more furniture? Doing any house reno’s? Let me know what’s happening in your neck of the woods!

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Till next time,

Sharon.