Shop Series: vintage neon sign, chandelier, linen chalk paint and floors

 This is a lot of work, but its also a lot of fun getting this shop pulled together. 

Thank you so much for your emails and comments and interest

 in general as I share the process of opening a small store front.

So I thought I would ask you all what you think 

of this vintage neon OPEN sign. 

 It hangs in the front window, and was installed when

 there was a florist in this space years ago...

 Two big roses in red flank a green OPEN sign.  

The wood blinds will be gone so imagine that they are not there....

 Woohoo~look inside my shop at night~

you can see all the fun stuff in there!!

 (...and the chaos)

I won't be having night hours, and I think it detracts from the window display planning. 

 I want to have beautiful draperies pulled to the side and this sign might

 not look so hot~your thoughts?

Ok, moving on...another long day yesterday on Patriots Day which is a holiday special to us in Masschusetts honoring all the Patriots that fought for our country over the years....

we went to the funeral of my sister's father-in-law, Mike the Milkman,

 who himself was a Patriot and he had a fitting service on that very day...

afterwards hubby and his son Scott (10 years) and I came home

 and got in our painting clothes!! More painting awaited us, and Scott was

 soooo excited to paint! You know how you really don't want your little kids to 

actually paint anything in your house, like a wall?? Well in this case I was 

priming the second half of the shop floors and figured that there was no risk in 

having an enthusiastic 10 year old helper...plus he has seen his

big (step) brother Colin working on the shop when he looks at my blog, 

and he wants to be part of it too! His mom prefers him not to be shown 

on the blog, so that is why you don't see his face here...

but he is the sweetest little red headed boy and he turned out 

to be quite a good worker and painter to boot!

We needed to wash the floors first with a TSP solution 

and Scott was excited to use the floor washing machine. 

I mopped after him...we did sections at a time.

This side of the shop the floors are in rough shape~

but if I was a 110 years old, I would look pretty bad too.

We started priming at opposite ends and met in the middle~

It is amazing how much changing the floor color 

from dark brown to white makes

in the overall feel for the space~it feels bigger and brighter.

 While the primer dried I tested out a color for the beadboard 

and I am going with it~

it is French Canvas ( a BM color formula I make up at Lowes)

and it is going to look soft and lovely with the lavender walls.

 And then I indulged myself by painting this oak bookcase..

 Really great details on it all around, which means when painted it will look terrific.

This piece has some alligatoring of paint which is fabulous...I remember hating it 

when I was 20 years old~now it is an asset on older pieces 

for added texture and that patina style look we love.

So while I painted the cabinet with Annie Sloan french linen chalk paint, 

Scott got to work on the second coat of primer for the floors. 

He was in his element, putting Tim McGraw on his Pandora play list and

was singing and painting away!! It was very cute!

They were bare to the bone wood, and they sopped up 

the first coat of primer like a drifter in the desert getting to a water cooler.

 Oh and look at this pretty baby~Italian gilt chandy in the nicest shape~

I bought it for my front window display 

(not the window with the OPEN sign)

And another pretty vintage chandy will be in the shop offering soon~
look at the fleur-de-lis details!! 
LOVE

 As has happened the last 3 nights in a row, after working long 

and hard we left the shop and walked across the street to

 a wonderful old Railroad station restaurant!

 I have been living on steak tips and salad with blue cheese dressing~

totally lo-carb and I can say I have lost 10 pounds already!! Woohoo~

If you come visit, plan to have lunch over there~the best steak tips ever!

And then back to my shop at 7:45pm...

I have one more task I want to do

before we call it a day.

Hubby took a hammer and removed all the hunks of glass 

still stuck in the window frame.

I was afraid to touch it~and I want to finish that window off with the 

vintage wallpaper and paint and some old french lace too I think~

a few glass shelves and I will have a nice display cabinet that is unique.

Good night 50 Summer Street~

see you in the morning!