Over the Christmas and New Year break I took the opportunity to have a big shop rearrange. I had grown tired and uninspired by the layout. I see it everyday, and I was ready and looking forward to a big change.

At 4.01pm on the 22nd December as I closed the shop for a 2.5 week break, I started dismantling the shop. I pulled bolts from the shelves, packed up kits, took samples off the walls and moved as much as I could into the classroom.

The tape measure came out as I tried to plan the new layout.

I really wanted to utilise the floor area better to accommodate the new fabric that was due to arrive in the first few months of 2020. I also wanted to move the long church pew, which had been in the same position since it was purchased in 2007, and also the pigeon hole hutch that also hadn't been moved for a long long time.

This also meant that I HAD to go to Ikea to buy some new furniture.......not once but twice! The first trip was on Boxing Day, and then I realised that I needed another 4 'tv' cabinets to complete the layout......so off we went again.....lol! Without the shelving the cabinets are the perfect height for fabric bolts! Russell is a whizz at flat pack, so I put him to work.....he says that he finds it relaxing!

Another area that was in desperate need of a tidy up was my storage space under the stairs. This has been incredibly useful over the years, but has been a total mess for probably the last 4 years. I told Russell that if I ever went missing, to look under the stairs as I have probably had an avalanche of stuff fall on top of me and I was trapped underneath. This is the before shot.....after I had removed a few things though. (It also goes around the corner to the right).

On our first trip to Ikea we purchased 2 bookcases for $39 each and put them in to help with organising my stock of kits etc. Oh my goodness......why did it take me 12 years to do this! Jodie is now game enough to go in there......lol!

There were only a couple of bookcases that I wasn't able to move, but on a whole I am very happy with the changes to the shop.

I have had lots of lovely positive feedback from customers so far.....even if they have had trouble finding things.....lol!
Linda :)