So I was thinking about the way my Etsy shop has morphed in the past 6 months. For two years I sold antiques in my Thirty Six Design shop. It was just a hobby...every now and then I added something to the shop that I'd randomly bought and every now and then I'd check my shop to see if I'd sold anything. Not even close to the obsession that I now have...it was more of an after thought.
Then in July I made a bunting for our camper. I loved it...it was colorful...it was quaint...it was kitchy! I had fun making it. So purchased a bunch of fabric and our living room turned into a bunting factory over night. My husband learned what pinking shears were and pinked the edges of hundreds of flags while he watched the Red Sox. Fabric scraps were everywhere. Even the dogs were walking around with thread stuck to them. I couldn't stand the mess in the living room so I moved the production facility about twenty steps away...to the dining room.
Now, I'm the kind of person that doesn't like mess. I hate it. I like everything to be in it's place and I can't relax until it is! So you can imagine that the bunting factory mess was making me a little crazy. That's when I decided to move the production upstairs to the spare bedroom...the very, very small spare bedroom. The full sized bed turned into my cutting board. My husband built a small table that could rest on the bed so that I didn't wreck my back. The desk held my sewing machine. I added a small work table and eventually a card table. So, for the months of September and October that small room turned into Thirty Six Design.
During this time I was getting busier and busier in my shop. I was working two jobs...about 38 hours a week and selling buntings...hundreds of buntings. Okay, maybe not hundreds, but definitely over 100 buntings...I counted. At about the same time that I started outgrowing the spare bedroom/workroom space our daughter called from Texas and said that she was coming home for Christmas. I announced to my husband that I had to move out of the spare room so that she could have a place to sleep! We moved the entire production to the basement...which was the best decision I ever made....maybe not EVER, but it was a good decision. I spent the next two months working in the basement...barely looking up. I was so busy and the orders kept rolling in.
This is a photo of my new...larger than the spare bedroom.... space. Plenty of room and plenty of storage. Well, Christmas came and went and I could finally have a chance to reflect and take a long look around my work room. I decided since I spent so many hours down there that it should be a place that I love. So I started pinning craft rooms and getting ideas. I figured that I could get the room that I coveted for around $300. My big purchase was going to be a new work table. I also wanted another 8 foot table for my photo area and small ironing board. I couldn't stand the bright blue rug...that had to go and I wanted to hide the 1980's dresser on the back wall. I hated the way it looked, but it was nice and sturdy for stamping silverware. I wanted to corral all of my odds and ends...so I needed baskets or boxes to hide all my supplies. This is the outcome!
I absolutely LOVE my new studio space! The work table is made out of two 9 cube shelf units with a door layed across the top that I purchased at Lowes. I purchased a new dark gray rug and made a gray skirt out of a flat sheet from Walmart to hide the ugly dresser. I purchased many storage boxes to conceal my supplies. I just love the whole space. Between orders I go downstairs to just look at it. It's quite an improvement from the dining room table that I was using a few months earlier!
So now you know where your item is being made.....if you're so kind as to purchase from me!
