Well, we kicked it into high gear and everything was ready to reopen the store on Friday, March 16th. I was so happy that we only had to be closed for a few days. We got the place cleaned up and put up some balloons!

We received so many flowers, cards, nice notes and visitors that day. It was so special.

Check out our facebook page for some images of the store that day. I can’t fully describe how wonderful we felt as people stopped by all day to see our new home!

I feel that way everyday when we walk into the space. The history, the fun and care and blood, sweat and tears put into making our new location a destination for our customers fills me with such pride and happiness. I hope you will stop in if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet or come again soon if you’ve already been in. We look forward to many years in our new home!

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. When you move two blocks, you still have to move everything you own. My husband and I once moved from 6th Street to 4th Street in the Village and it was the worst move ever because we would take a load at a time since it was “on the way” to wherever we were going. I tried to learn the lesson from that move and we mostly stuck to the plan of having Carter’s move us.

They came around 8:30 on Tuesday. We had packed all day Sunday and most of the day on Monday.

 

It took about 5 hours to get everything loaded, drive the two blocks down the street and get everything unloaded.

I had a few staging areas set up to pull from as we started getting the larger pieces in place. Here is a glimpse of the small table staging area aka the paint room…

We got the place put together in a hurry and had most of the paint and supplies ready to go by Tuesday evening.

Up next: Opening day

I’ve tried to find a picture of the kitchen area as it was when we moved in, but this is the best one I can find…

Here’s what it looks like now…

We painted the cabinets in Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Eulalie’s Sky and gave the walls a coat of Sherwin Williams White Flour. Lana broke out her sewing machine again and made a panel for the door and we found this awesome Mason Jar Light on Etsy.

I love, love, love how it turned out!

Up next: the two block move

 

 

We knew we needed some storage that would be easy to get to, aka not the basement. So we tore up the leopard carpet, put down some laminate and made a small little storage area. 

I had decided we should cover the opening to this space, approximately 5 feet wide, with a barn door. We just have enough clearance to the left so it was a GO. 

Now, we just needed to locate a 10′ barn door kit. We ended up with this one from Amazon. Only $100 and ships right away, yes!!

So, my awesome husband built the barn door. It is massive. 8 feet tall by 5 feet wide. We discussed a few designs including an X across the front. I like this one because I think it looks a little like a Z (you know, for Zionsville)!

We stained the pine door in Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in Curio. We thinned the paint to a wash (approximately 3:1) and finished with our custom mix of Antiquing and Furniture Waxes.

And here she is in action…

Up next: the kitchen

You’ve undoubtedly heard us talk about the barn. We love the barn. But the barn is a little bit of a drive from the store which meant I was spending way more time in the car than I should be. When looking for a space, we wanted something that would make the barn a twice a month need instead of a twice per week need. We are happy to report that our new location cuts down on trips to the barn quite a bit!

But we had a ton of furniture and accessories stored there and needed to get them to 205 S Main. I wanted to do as much as possible before we closed our original location so we wouldn’t have much down time and could stay open. So, we had a pre-move move…

And, we had furniture wrapped in plastic…

And, we had letters (oh my, do we have letters!)…

Up next: the barn door

You guys know I love a piece of furniture with a history and I am excited to share this one with you!!

We buy furniture from auctions, estate sales and on our yearly jaunt down 127 on the world’s longest yard sale, to name just a few. We also, from time to time, buy from locals and customers! We have purchased several pieces of furniture over the years from Steve Russo, of Russo Communications. 

Steve texted me to let me know he no longer needed this buffet:

He said this one was free because someone had given it to him years ago. Steve had is office in a building belonging to Mr Robert Bender, Sr. located at 55 E Oak St.  Mr. Bender, who Steve describes as “one of Zionsville’s great characters” insisted Steve take this piece from storage and use it in his office. Two guys showed up the next day with the buffet and Steve used it for many, many years! When I asked Steve a few follow up questions, he couldn’t remember if it was free or just very reasonable.

Now, we have this beautiful piece of furniture and I’m thinking about what to do with it. I decide to paint it in our newest Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint color, Aviary, because I wanted us to have a big piece ready for the new color debut. NOTE: we just placed our order and it will be available in store and online the week of 04.09.

Then, we find out that we are moving our store to Bender Square. As in the same Bender family who originally owned the buffet. Come on! I can’t make this stuff up. We decide to keep the buffet and move the Bender buffet to Bender Square.

We are using this piece to store our paint supplies and serve treats to our customers. I hope to continue the tradition, in a few years, of sharing this amazing piece of furniture with the next generation and sharing the history that comes with it.

Up next: the pre-move move 

I hope you are enjoying this deep dive into how we brought together our new space at 205 S Main Street in Zionsville!

One of the most commented upon new features is our paintbrush chandelier. Yep, we made a chandelier from an old lampshade and paintbrushes that have seen better days! We painted the handles in MMSMP typewriter, kitchen scale and farmhouse white and used an ikea light kit and bulb that I LOVE!!

I think everyone should have one!!

I also think everyone should make these pennants. Again, thank goodness for Lana and her sewing superpowers because she made over 300 of these pennants from drop cloths. And, she ironed them. Because she’s that good!

We painted them in all of the Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint colors.

We strung them and then put them up all over the paint room…

And outside, because 300 was a few too many!!

And in our new kids area…

Up Next: the Bender buffet

I knew as soon as we took the tour when we were in discussions to rent our new space that I wanted the front room to be a creative space to hold our workshops. It was a great setup – one side was larger with room for shelves and tables and the other side could hold extra storage and more seating for some other seminars I knew we wanted to have.

My husband, Jim, built a few tables and we painted them in Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Grain Sack and Shutter Gray

Here is a glimpse of one of my favorite parts of the paint room, the frame wall as well as a picture of one of the tables. We painted an empty frame in each of the MMSMP colors. Finished with our beeswax, I think they give a great glimpse of the colors of the paint line and add some interest to the room.

Here’s a cute video of it coming together…

Up Next: pennants and the paintbrush chandelier

 

Hello! So many people have asked about how we created all the fun things in the new store so I thought I would put together a little blog series about how it all came together. I hope you enjoy!

We took possession of the space on February 1st and hit the ground running. Lots of measuring walls and deciding what would go where.

It was a big job but the painters were already scheduled so we spent much of the time cleaning, prepping and planning. If you ever have a project of this magnitude, I hope you know Lana! She has moved so many times and immediately went into drawing and note-taking mode.

So we began, armed with dimensions and ideas and 409. 

Up next: the paint room