Love of Family & Home Store….The Beginning

Hey Y’all!

How the heck are ya?!

I know it has been FOREVER since I have written a blog post (other than the weekly linky party of course.)

I’ve been a little busy lately! And if you follow along on Facebook and/or Instagram, then you know why! 🙂

About a month and half ago, I made the announcement that “Love of Family & Home” is not only a blog, but now a retail store as well!

That’s right! We are opening our very own brick & mortar store!!

I’M.SO.STINKIN.EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The idea of having my own store in our downtown area has been a dream of mine for a very long time.  My mom & I have talked  for several years now about how amazing it would be to have our own little shop in downtown Murphysboro…..a place where we could make & sell cute stuff. It’s a passion that we both share, and until now, I really didn’t have the financial means to make it happen. Not only that, but I also had this voice in the back of my head whispering things like…..

“You aren’t smart enough….”

“You aren’t talented enough….”

“What if you completely FAIL?!”

And you know what?!

I got really SICK & TIRED of listening to that voice!! Life is TOO DARN SHORT to worry about failing!

And besides, I’ll never know if I am going to fail UNLESS I take that first step forward & TRY first, right?!

So, on August 20, 2014, I decided to take that first step & signed my lease!

And ever since then…….this girl has been working her TAIL OFF! 

Luckily, the building I rented needed ZERO work done to it! The interior walls had just be freshly painted & all new wood flooring had just been installed! This was a huge BLESSING!! 

Apologizing now….all of the photos I have of the store are from my iPhone….the blogger in me is completely ashamed!

I know I should have had my big DSLR camera out, documenting all of the progress. But, let’s be honest. The iPhone is so much more convenient.  And besides, these are the “before” photos….they aren’t supposed to be that pretty! 🙂

I promise I will get my big girl camera out & take pictures of the inside when we get ready to open!

Here is a look at the front of the building. Words CANNOT express how excited I am about having those big windows to decorate! The boys & I took this picture one night while we were visiting the store. This was just a couple days after I signed the lease….so exciting!!!

And here is a look at the inside of the building as you come in through the front door. This was taken just a week or two after I signed the lease. You can see I had already started collecting some display pieces for the store. I’d started to do a little painting as well! 🙂

The only work that needed to be done to the building itself was on the exterior….and my wonderful landlord was already on top of that! Within a week of signing my lease, the exterior had been completely repainted!

So much better, right?!  I’m always amazed at what a little paint can do!

So….the only work that was left for me to do was to find display tables for the store & look for some really cute merchandise! 🙂

Finding the display tables was not too hard at all!  I hit a few yard sales, a few resale shops, a couple flea markets and our local Goodwill. I had a handful of tables in no time!

This particular picture is from a yard sale haul I got with my mom. We went to one yard sale and scored a dining room table, four chairs, a headboard/footboard, and two small side tables for all for $27.00!! All of the items have been repurposed in one way or another for the store. We did something really fun with the headboard/footboard! I can’t wait to share that with you in a separate post down the road! 🙂

Here are a few of the tables I snagged…..

The only problem with the tables was the fact that I had to refinish all of them. Needless to say, there was a whole lot of sanding, priming, & painting that went down for a couple of weeks! But, let me tell you, they look beautiful now! 🙂

In addition to buying some display pieces, I also had my dad build a few things for me as well. Like this AMAZING store counter….

How fantastic does that look?!

I still have some work left to do on it, but I am THRILLED with how it turned out!

He also built this fabulous pallet bench for me! Perfect for hanging wall decor on & I can display pillows on the bench! 🙂

I mean, I used to think that I got all of my creativity from my mom…..but DANG, my dad is pretty talented too, right?!

In the last few weeks, we have been receiving TONS of gorgeous merchandise to fill the store with. Every time a new shipment arrives to the house, I am like a kid on Chistmas morning! The other day the UPS truck pulled up in front of the house & Parker yelled….. “MOOOOOM! Your favorite person is here!”

(hangs head in shame.)

LOL! You know its bad when your child thinks that the UPS man is your “favorite person.”

My mom & I have been busy putting table displays together and decorating our store windows. I’ve shared a few sneak peeks here & there on social media. If you’ve been following along, you may have already seen some of these.

I’ve been busy making a few wreaths…..

We got a big shipment of these super cute, chalkboard prints compliments via Dear Lillie! I absolutely LOVE these!!

And we’ve had SO MUCH FUN decorating our window displays for the fall season….

This past Sunday afternoon we even got our window graphics installed! The graphics were done by A+Signs and I couldn’t be happier with the results! They did an AMAZING job!

So, that’s what I’ve been up to this past month & a half! 🙂

It’s been crazy….

It’s been hectic…..

BUT, I’ve LOVED every minute of it!!

We are opening next week, on Thursday, October 16th at 10:00am!! If you are in the Southern Illinois area, I would LOVE it if you’d stop by to see us!!

I’ll be sharing some more sneak peeks of the inside of the store early next week & giving you a first look at the all the awesome brands that we are carrying! I think you are going to LOVE them!

Stay tuned for some giveaways on our social media outlets! If you aren’t following, be sure to START!! 🙂

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hope your Wednesday is blessed!