Life in a consignment furniture shop - Tip #1

old upholstery, good bones ... what to do.

I like stuff.  Especially old stuff.  But when it comes to old upholstered stuff ... well, lets just say that sometimes it is good to exercise a bit of caution.  All of this is a segway to introduce my latest and longest lasting furniture obsession ... vintage couches and chairs with fresh new upholstery and stuffing.

We take a piece with good solid bones and freshen it up.  We add new foam,stuffing and springs to make it more comfortable, we cover it with new upholstery to make it stylish and we polish out the scratches to make it shine. 

Here are a few shots of our pieces before and after their makeover.

Clean, Green and Made in the USA!

Our Better than new furniture line.   A collaboration between Echo Home Furnishings and Great Falls Upholstery.

Back in the saddle again!

Testing, testing .... one, two, three ...

Is anybody out there?

I know, I’ve been blog free for about a year now, but as I look around I have some pretty cool stuff to show so welcome back to my life in a consignment furniture shop!

For starters, here are some clever hand made in Montana items passing through my store.

                                                     
                                                    Colorful Beaded Bracelets by Little Song

                   
                                                 Hand Made Tea Towels by Claire's Cottage

                                                Some Clever, Whimsical Mosaics by Lois Warner

... and finally ... by Weathered Works

Letters ... that spell    L O V E!

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

Oh Fork!

Oh Fork ! 

Oops ... excuse me.  I’m just obsessing over my new obsession ... vintage silverware.  It started with a complete set in a fetching box that jumped into my cart when I was shopping in Helena.  Thus began the hunt!  

My thinking is to start collecting single pieces of different patterns, then mix and match them up to the point where they can all co-exist on a table.  Easier said than done.   It appears there IS a science to creating multi-pattern sets that complement each other.  I am narrowing the field to florals and needlepoints to see if they can mind their table manners, then I will add new patterns one by one.  

Anyway ... if you have any strays that sprouted in your silverware drawer ... consider adding to my cause!

Lets hope for a warm and natural Summer Solstice - and a delicious Strawberry Moon.

Boxes for all occasions!

Is it just me ... or does everyone think boxes are fun?  Not just fun ... necessary.   

I mean ...  boxes, canisters, trunks ... what could be a more perfect member of the furniture family when it comes to style and functionality.  Here are five ways to put these simple pieces to work.

Use big boxes AS furniture.  Coffee tables, end tables, benches and chairs. 

In the bathroom - open top crates and tins are perfect for storing and organizing bottles.

Hang vintage glass front medicine cabinets (essentially they are boxes too) on the wall and display pretty things inside. 

One lady bought a box for a seven year old boy who was making a transition to come live with them.   He needed a special place to put his treasures.  She welcomed him with a box!

And as for me .... when my son moved into his own apartment, I carefully selected a favorite box from my shop.   I placed a little heart rock inside and  inconspicuously planted the box on a shelf in his apartment.   Now I feel like there is a little piece of me hiding in the corner watching over him, while he feels that he has a cool place to hide his, ummm ... well ... let’s just leave it at that.   We all win!

Today ... buy a box!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Fresh New Year ... Fresh New Ideas!

Welcome to our fresh, new year!

I love this time of year .... 

Out with the old, stale, un-met goals, in with the new opportunities! 

  

Out with the old crispy, crunchy christmas trees and cookies, in with the hope of a new found love of vegetables!

In with new colors, inspirations and of course ... new ideas!  I’ve got a few enterprising new ideas of my own that I’m going to be experimenting with this year.  

For starters, during the month of January, I am going to abbreviate my hours.   I’ll be open the usual 10:00 - 5:00 but my days will be Thursday through Saturday.  It takes time to find interesting stuff for all my discriminating shoppers, so I am going hunting!!   Four days a week ... nothing but furniture hunting.  No good times will be had by all (or any) this is work ... I promise!

Also, I’m working on a new concept to bring into my shop which will take some good solid thinking time, so stay tuned, and when I get all the bugs worked out, be ready to be dazzled!

Until then, create a little room in your life for the hope and joy our new year promises to bring! 

By the way ... I just brought in four truck loads of lovable new - old stuff to help you ring in your 2013.  Here is a shot of my shop as all the new pieces are being welcomed and acclimated to their new environment!

~ ~ ~  ! ! !  S   *  O  *   L *    D  ! ! !  ~ ~ ~ ~

For two and a half years, I've been waiting for those four little letters to appear in front of my house.   Three realtors, 104 house cleanings, and 912.5 days of living in the shadow of a possible showing later ... in rode Curtis Semenza from Prudential Montana on his white horse.  He single handedly save me from real estate hell.   Curtis didn't really ride a white horse, but he might as well have.

At this point, I thought I had the super ugliest, most undesirable, un-sellable two bedroom home in the world.  My house, I’m sure, was feeling the same frustration.  Curtis must have sensed this to be the case so he started by administering the tough love treatment to mend our house/owner relationship.  I protested, but Curtis ordered that every corner of my home be touched, cleaned, reconditioned, spiffed, fluffed and shined.  When I thought it was good enough, he inspected ... and we did it again.   Just a little bit more polish was added until finally, Curtis was convinced that my house was the shiniest penny in state.  I believed it too!  It was beautiful, and I loved my house again.

I moved out (just so it stayed all nice and spiffy), and Curtis worked his magic.   Well, once again, it wasn’t really magic, but rather it was Curtis’s professional, attentive and committed approach to his job that actually sold my house.  Curtis believes that Real Estate is still a business best done face to face and his results are proof.   Within three weeks, I had two offers - both above asking price.   He found my house a real owner.

Don’t worry,  this is a GREAT thing for Echo Home Furnishings and I’m not going anywhere ... ever ..

but  lets just leave this Friday note to say --- in this age of  foreclosures, investors, renters, short sales, virtual tours and all the harshities of home sales -- we still need real people to sell our homes, buy our homes, cherish our homes and build our neighborhoods.    I am so, so happy that I took the time to find and work with Curtis and that he found my house a new owner who will live in it, love it and care for it just as much as I have.

AND ... It goes without saying, the same principles apply to furniture, but of course!!

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!

And here we go ... rolling into another St. Patty’s Day.  A bright green spot in the otherwise zillion day, gray month of March.

My heritage is a blend of many things - not Irish.  Regardless, I will probably drink a green beer and tip a cup to Tommy the Leprechaun.  Remember him?

In the early 80’s when I was in college I had a job working the box office for summer theater in Caras Park.  Sometimes,  a guy wearing green tights, a dirty green smock, pointy shoes and a makeshift top hat would dance through our turf.  When I saw him coming, I would duck and hide.  I figured that anyone wearing that kind of getup was probably up to no good.   Besides, a smart, sporty, sophisticated college girl like me really had no business messing around with leprechauns.

Well,  as it turns out ... no good was not a part of Tommy’s agenda.  Oh what I would give to have just one more encounter with him.   It seems that Tommy the Leprechaun was the guy with all the wishes and his deal was to grant a wish and a song to anyone who might need it on any particular day.   

Today --- I ran across his Facebook page .... 

http://www.facebook.com/AKA.Tommy.The.Leprechaun

Scroll down a bit and you will find his business card.   There you go .... my gift to you this St. Pattys day .... an authentic wish from an authentic Leprechaun.  Please only take one and enjoy the magic of one of Missoula's long lost characters.  

Happy St. Patty’s weekend everyone!

Jennifer and Duncan - Echo echo - Home Furnishings Worth Repeating

Also --- 10% off all the green stuff in my shop on March 17th.