When you're told having your own business will take up all your time...
LISTEN & BELIEVE
While I've been successfully in business for myself for well over 25 years...
starting over with a new venture can be consuming + exciting!
Even more so when you're a small business
and you are the one who wears
ALL the hats...
designer + painter + buyer + bookkeeper + technical support
shop keeper + sometimes pick up & delivery (though I'm cutting that one out)
all while trying to keep the home fires burning
(sometimes not so successfully)
Right now I'm wanting to step it up, widen my audience
show my furniture pieces online...
that means I now put on the hat of photo stylist!
While this really does come second nature to me,
as my first career of 20 years (thankfully I'm older than I look)
as my first career of 20 years (thankfully I'm older than I look)
was Visual Presentation in retail and department stores
I Magnin, Buffums, Bullocks, May Company...
...it still takes some finagling and time to come up with
a space and backdrops to work with.
Luckily there are many furniture entrepreneurs like me out there
who have great ideas and are a daily inspiration.
I'm sharing a few here that I follow regularly,
love their work and presentations.
Click on their links and see what you think.
Miss Mustard Seed (above) has her creative fingers in everything...
I know she can't possibly be sleeping...but that's okay with me...
I enjoy seeing what she's up to and she does great tutorials.
I just discovered Barb at Knack Studios...love her work and set ups!
Her latest blog happens to be on photography & set ups here.
She also has a new book out on painting furniture you may want to check out...
Michele of Stiltskin Studios always has a great eye for transforming
vintage furniture pieces...and showing them off.
I really enjoy her bold color choices.
I most recently came across Royal Oak Cottage
accidentally while cruising around Etsy...
simply stated.
I also love Paul's shop set up...you know he does furniture,
without alot of the little stuff that just gets in the way.
SO...then there's me...CerroHome...luckily I'm a quick study!
I'm leaving behind quickly snapping shots on my carport
of before and after furniture pieces!
How am I doing it you ask?
I started with 3 sets of bi fold doors I picked up
on Craigslist for 20 bucks...
painted them with left over paint
stenciled with one of my many
Royal Design Studio stencils.
Not using drop cloths has been a happy accident over time
as I love my paint spattered & dripped cement floor.
Put the two together and taadaa...
backdrop!
Even my before photos are looking better...
before & after
The bi fold doors have a flip side too...
Old White
for a simpler background
I'm loving the after shots even more.
 |
| Before |
After
It's a back drop start...
that was the easy part, who knows what it'll lead to
or when I'll show up with my furniture online
(that's the challenging part)
!!!
But I'm getting there!
ENJOY
I absolutely love the last piece. Very creative idea to add stripes to the sides. Love, love! I totally hear you on the stresses of having your own business. I'm tired! Lol
ReplyDeleteThanks Kelly...stripes seem to sell well, though these are my first horizontal stripes...I'm so daring! :)
DeleteI'm also trying to subdue my colors a bit...I like this combination of ASCP colors.
Thanks for commenting...love to hear from a fellow painter!
Enjoy the day.
a new follower here..Denise, very creative backdrop an I just love the paint spattered floor! good luck in your future endeavors
ReplyDeleteDenise, forgot to add..beautiful last piece, perfect shade of grey and the stripes will surely appeal to the younger generation just now discovering what can be done with older pieces of furntiure
ReplyDeleteI wish there was a way to know who anonymous is...seems to impersonal to not be able to call you by name...though it's a blog.spot thing!
DeleteThank you so much for commenting...and your good luck wishes! I think your right, the horizontal stripe will appear to a younger customer...vertical stripes are pretty classic and traditional. I was going to paint over the floor and clean it up...until I started noticing how cool it looked...one more reason to be a messy painter!
Good to see you here Anonymous ! :)
Great Job Denise,
ReplyDeleteI too love the stripes on the Bombe chest.
Not sure how much you are sleeping these days.
You seem to be loving it all and it shows.
cheers!
When I do go to sleep...I KONK RIGHT OUT! Seems I wake up again in the morning, with a new creative thought to run with! I'm lucky I have that going for me...it's the technical thing I have to struggle with!
DeleteThank you for noticing and leaving such a nice comment...it makes my little bit of technical knowledge and effort worthwhile!
Enjoy!
I love the blogger's photos you posted! Always beautiful. I love your bifold door backdrop though!! Fabulous and a fantastic idea. Your pictures are great with them. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Artsy Chick...I got the door idea from photos from Royal Oak Cottage...simple to use & store.
DeleteAs well...I love your blog & ideas...just started following you...looking forward to see more.
Super job on these pieces Denise! Love them.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jill...a little bigger canvas than we're used to...al long as I'm still getting my hands into paint!
Delete