Redecorating and rearranging the shop.

Happy New Year!  I know it's a bit late but I've not had a chance to write anything for a while.

I decided to close the shop for the first two weeks of the year as it was such a quiet time last year.  I needed some 'me' time and really wanted to refresh the shop.  Taking pictures/ glass/ ceramics on and off the walls repeatedly had left a lot of little scratches and marks that niggled me.  I was surprised just how many scruffy little bits had apperared over the 18 months or so that the shop has been open.

The wall behind my chair had become marked as I wheeled up and down behind the counter/ my tiny studio space and last summer I tried to cover these marks up with paint.  Despite using exactly the same tin of paint as I'd originally used, the result was a horrible patchy effect on the wall which bugged me every time I saw it.

So, I reckoned it was all or nothing - take everything down and move all the furniture into the middle of the room and paint the entire shop.  I actually didn't do the front wall in the end as it looked fine and made life a lot easier!!

You know how something seems like a good idea when you start...?

Taking everything down didn't actually take too long.  Painting the walls only took a couple of hours with the help of a Paint Pod (wonderful invention), but putting all the lovely things back again was a different matter!!

I decided that there was no point putting everything back in the same places so took the opportunity to rearrange the shop.  This took many, many hours, but it was really enjoyable so I didn't mind a bit.

My non- shop time in the last two weeks has been put to very good use - I particularly enjoyed visiting other small, interesting shops and chatting to the owners. 

So now I feel very refreshed and raring to go again... until next weekend when I'll have to close again as we're off to a trade fair in Glasgow.  Unfortunately, at this time of year it's just not viable to employ someone to run the shop if I can't be there.