The fun parts...

I'll be honest with you, writing a business plan, doing budgeting and figuring out taxes is not a whole lot of fun. It is a dead boring but very necessary part of starting a business.  Where it does get fun though is when you start sourcing stock and looking at shop fittings.  Because everything in my store is vintage inspired and orientated I know that I don't want any sleek new furniture.  Rather I have been hitting all the old junk/ second hand shops around my area looking for the perfect vintage pieces.  Often this requires doing a lot of sanding, fixing and repainting... but that is what I LOVE!  Here is what I have found in the past week (please excuse the washing hanging in the way, it's winter here so it's the only place it will dry!)

I know for sure that I want to have a couch of some sort in the shop.  Initially I had actually imagined a soft vinyl 50s number but then the other day I was at the Salvation army and this poor darling was sitting there all alone in the corner.  It is actually a day bed made of beautiful Rimu wood and cost a mere $30, so I thought to myself why not!  The 60's floral mattress came with it but I think that will be replaced!  I am going to sand this baby back and re-oil it, then I plan to sew a lovely light coloured mattress for the base and some brightly coloured cushions made from vintage fabrics.

  My next find is this beautiful high shelving unit. I actually already have a slightly smaller version of this that I have lugged around with me for years and is one of my favourite pieces of furniture.  Yesterday afternoon I popped down to a shop I had heard about but never actually gone to before called Junk and Disorderly (great name right!).  This place was insane!  If you could imagine a huge warehouse literally filled to the ceiling with everything from retro furniture to mannequins, to kitchenware, to gadgets so prehistoric that I don't even know what they are used for.  I was rummaging around for a while when I came across this beauty, I kind of knew I wasn't going to be leaving without it!  You can't tell from the picture but it has a pretty shocking paint job so once again I plan to sand it back and give it a fresh lick of paint.  The guy who owned the shop was kind enough to give me the details of  a lady who runs a place selling 2nd hand/ used/ retro shop fittings.  How perfect!

 I have all sorts of other furniture pieces that are starting to line the walls.  I absolutely love to do up old furniture (you can check out some of my renovation adventures here) so I tend to collect it all the time.  I will probably end up selling most of it in the shop eventually... because as you can see it is already taking over the house!
Anyway so there you have it, the fun things!  I am still looking for a vacant shop space at the moment.  Fingers crossed something suitable comes along soon.  By the way thank you so so much for all your lovely comments.  They really inspire me to keep pursuing my dreams.
xx