Merry Wednesday all.
We are officially on the Christmas train here in Canada [we celebrate Thanksgiving in October in the middle of fall here. I didn't realize how many of my American followers may not know this as wholesale reps I deal with in the USA keep sending me get the shelves stocked for the Thanksgiving and Black Friday rush emails.]
Nope we are ho ho ho-ing all the way into December at this point.
We got the store setup for the holidays just after Halloween as I just really can't fathom doing it before as fall is such a short lived season here in retail. We celebrated our Christmas open house this past weekend to wonderful success. I am also very happy to report that through all this craziness i did not go into labour so bonus points there and I know Jill and I were both breathing huge sighs of relief. Now we gift wrap and idea decorate everyone's homes until December 24th, as we all get ready to fling open our doors to family, friends and coworkers over the season.
With each changing of the season, as always I try to give an idea of what the store at least started the season like. I took these photos the day after setup was complete so more has arrived and many pieces have left but it gives a little idea and sparkle of what Trevor, Jill and I created. I even had to rope my lovely mother into helping unpack an order one day so we could get it all finished in time.
So for today we will do a little tour of the back of the shop and I will be back tomorrow with the front.
while the store isn't small, it isn't large either so having more than 3 trees can become slightly problematic on the space front. i found this great white stick tree to use as a display and it's keeping all the mice in line while not looking too "thick".
ah the back wall. this wall becomes my favourite part of the shop and then the most hated every season. we start with an incredible [to me] display, have 2 or 3 backup plans as things get sold and removed and then by the end of the season my vignette-ing layer monster just wants to rip the whole thing apart.
right now we went with a slightly french vintage winter wonderland. deer, trees, polar bears, ironstone, enamel and even some feathers. i still like to keep some everyday items in the shop over the holidays and even though these feather prints tie into the look they certainly don't scream winter once the season is over.
the ever changing pillow palooza
the vintage corner.
i collected and hoarded a lot of vintage ornaments over the year along with tree stands, santas and other bits that could all go together for the die hard retro lovers out there. between the tartan blankets and stella in her tree skirt i think it may be one of my favourite corners of the shop.
something about vintage ornaments that really just adds that extra bit of sparkle to any space no matter your colour scheme.
and i would like to take a moment to show some recognition for that skirt. i did not make it, jill did not make it. my outdoorsy dirt bike riding husband made that skirt to perfection. he spent about an hour building that thing and tucking everywhere to make it look perfect and i think he nailed it. i feel more fortunate everyday that we are building this business together. he is interested, he cares, he shows up [mostly right now i think to make sure i don't lift anything i'm not supposed to] and there just aren't enough words to convey how grateful i am to share this part of our life together. we've been working on this life for 16 years and are celebrating our 11 year anniversary in a few weeks and i'm just not sure how it could get better, but it always does.
*sappy part over :)*
the whole vintage concept may have come alive when i discovered those large vintage looking santas you can see on the top of this shelf. they hang and/or stand at about 4 feet. i got one for myself to stand next to our tree in the basement.
this year's counter theme much the same as last year only instead of bears i went full tilt with the deer. we tried naming them all but got lost in our silliness and could only come up with names starting with h or f for some reason.
votive for centrepieces anyone?
Well enjoy your day all.
Meg
