Creative Aspects: August 2013

Quality v. Quantity

Since opening my own shop, Memorial Weekend of this year, I have had several requests for custom pieces. Custom jobs are my fave for 2 reasons; #1: I (usually) don't have to decide on the color and #2: the piece is already sold so I don't have to worry about how long the piece will sit in my shop before it sells. That being said, I wanted to share a few things I have learned about doing furniture make-overs.

The first week the shop was open, I was so worried about the lack of "bigger" pieces I had available and the shop seemed somewhat empty.

So I rushed home every day and worked on 2 to 5 pieces at a time, trying to get them done and in the shop to be sold. In the rush, I didn't think about painting the bottom of some of the pieces or even worry about what the inside of the drawers looked like. I mean, come on, who ever pays attention to that?!?! My customers, that's who! I had pieces sitting there for weeks and couldn't figure out why they wouldn't sell. So I decided to look at everything in a different perspective... From a customers point of view! Duh!! Why the heck didn't I think of that to begin with???

I started looking for pieces that I personally would want in my home and really putting more effort and time into them. Man!!! Those pieces started flying out the door!!! Whew!

So this is how I figured out that the amount of pieces I had available was nowhere near as important as the quality of the pieces I work on!

I started painting all of the drawers, inside and out, and even adding fabric or pretty matching paper to the bottoms of the inside of the drawers.

Also, if it is a table or a piece that the customer may have to turn up side down to haul home, the bottom side is painted first! That moment when you can't look the customer in the eyes anymore because of the uncomfortable feeling you get when they load up a piece and the bottom of it shows that it has seen better days!!! Been there, done that, NOT GOING BACK!!

Lets be honest... Most older pieces never get dusted underneath and can be pretty funky on the bottom. Not to mention all of the dang spiders that love to hide out under there!! Eeewwweee!

While working on a piece, I think to myself "would I put this in my home to look at every day?" And "will my customer love it so much that they refer everyone they know to ME?" WORD OF MOUTH is HHHHUUUUGGGGEEE in this lil bitty town! So I take my time and make sure that each piece is done with pretty much the patience of Job! And trust me, patience is not one of those virtues that came to me easily!! But hang in there, you can do it!

The conclusion to all of my babble is don't worry about rushing to get 5 pieces done to sell quick. Worry about how beautiful you can make one piece at a time. When you put the effort into it, it shows your passion for what you do and you will have return customers who send ALL of their friends to you!

So here is the shop now... FULL OF FABULOUS GOODIES!!!!

This is the latest custom piece for a client's daughter. The drawers are lined with the same fabric as the stool (I had a blonde moment and forgot to take a pic)

HAPPY JUNKIN!!!!!

I hope that y'all are enjoying my blog and I hope you will stop by and see me at the shop soon! You can check out all of the great JUNK and pretties on Facebook at www.SACscreativeaspects.com and don't forget to follow me on Pinterest! (I know ALL of you ladies are on Pinterest... It's the devil! LOL)