Snow - Really?!

Okay, so I have seen a lot of weird weather but snow today before it is December was one for the top five! It was also sort of exciting - makes those early Christmas tunes seem a bit more timely.

If you didn't make it down for Small Business Saturday, we are sorry we missed you!. But we are busy now gearing up for the Downtown Business Alliance (Suwanee business merchants) mixer Thursday night. We will be seeing lots of friendly faces from our local businesses at The Nest. On Friday night, the streets will be closed to pedestrian only traffic as the annual lighting of the Caboose takes place. It is looking to be a frosty one, so we will have the heat cranked up for everyone who needs to thaw out between musical performances by The Sounds of Suwanee and the local elementary school chorus performances.

If you haven't picked up a fresh green wreath for you door or over your mantle we have a few left, but they won't last long. We also have one of our elves packaging up fresh mistletoe available for Friday night.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family and took time to remember our many blessings. I hope we get to see you during the holiday season!

Lila

Countdown to the holidays!

Today it is windy and cool and the sound of leaves scurrying across the pavement outside the shop reminds us that Indian Summer is coming to a close and the holidays are on us for sure! We had what we call our "soft opening" yesterday. Not lots of fanfare yet as we will save that for later when we are more fully stocked. We had several visitors and made our first few sales!

There are lots of neighbors who live nearby and they love to stop in and visit and fill us in on all the details of the history of Old Town Suwanee. Once you come down to Main Street it is just like being in a very small town with all of the wonderful ambience of the past. People are so friendly and there is always someone getting their photo made on the train tracks and the caboose.

We are all looking forward to the festivities in Suwanee! Bring the kids to the Caboose Lighting. It is on December 2 and is an annual event and for many local families - a traditional way of bringing in Christmas with friends and neighbors. So bundle up and head down early - they shut Main Street down to walking only traffic around 6. Santa will be here too! See you when you come into The Nest to get warmed up!

Evolution.

I have been using this building for my office and a meeting place along with our design selections since last winter. It is such a cute location and a charming building, I keep getting visitors who want to know what we are! :) Me too! One day, out of the blue (I kid you not) I just made the decision to take it to the next level and quickly!!! If we were going to have retail, I wanted to open during the Christmas season.

I know what you are thinking... "how much preparation did you have to do?", "how much stock did you purchase in advance?" etc... Oh well, truth be - we didn't do any of that. We just made a decision and put our faith into it. My dear friend Nancy Wallace, owner of Wallace Gardens, had wanted to be a part of something like this - so she has been "drafted" to assist us in getting this puppy off the ground. Nancy does our containers at the front doors as well as the garden at the porch and has some nice decorative items for the home and garden inside for you to purchase when you visit us.

Many of my friends and clients received an invitation to become a consignor and they all have WONDERFUL furnishings to sell. In my role as a builder/designer - I have the unfortunate curse of frequently changing, moving or redesigning my personal spaces and it is time for that now. So I have been bringing one thing after another to the shop on the weekends.

We are now tagging things, bringing in more stock, pulling out the holiday decor and preparing for our opening. All at the same time we have to find software for inventory and sales, credit card receiving and various boring business details that are necessary evils (my DH is handling that part)! We had already done the work to the building with monies from my building company - Henderson & Adams, so the amount of money now was all relative to the business of the retail establishment. Approximately $500.00 so far... and The Nest on Main is born!

The allure of old.

When I was driving through Main St. Suwanee over a year ago and ventured into Old Town (the historic district) - I never dreamed that I would find something that spoke to me like the old general store. I wasn't looking for any additional "arms" of my business, in fact I was quite full trying to keep up with the amount of work that we are fortunate enough to gather during the year.

However, the building was empty, a former antique business had been there for many years. Over 100 years it had stood as part of a small group of buildings that have seen many generations pass through. A large FOR RENT sign was the only adornment. I tried to peek through the windows, but some were covered in wood with peeling paint to provide privacy from inquisitive eyes. The one lone window was covered from the inside with sawdust. I was intrigued.

I start driving by on a regular basis, envisioning how it could be, what it could be and trying to decide if this was the right move. It was a frequent topic of discussion with my partner in the building business. After several "signs" that we considered fortuitous, we approached the landlord and began negotiations to lease the space. Such as it was - there was going to be much work to bring it up to the charming potential radiating from the exterior. But hey, isn't this my specialty?!

Over a period of time we landscaped the front, scrubbed, painted, plumbed, painted some more, hung lights, painted some more and finished the old storage section into a wonderful "administrative" area separated from the showroom. We had the space - now what to do with it?

It begins here...

With much prompting and encouragement - I am starting a blog. Now I am no spring chicken, but I am not geriatric either! But this is a big deal. Getting into the world of "posting" and publishing and logging is catamount to my first Iphone. But I have lots to blog... maybe I should call my post "blogslots". :)

I am starting a new retail venture, The Nest on Main in Suwanee GA, that fits hand in hand with my Design/Build firm. The Nest on Main is my very first foray into retail sales and here I shall share with you the fears and the progress, the good and the bad and the pursuit of the life long dream. Hopefully I will encourage some of you to pursue life as an entrepreneur... who knows?! IF you don't - you only have yourself to blame because I am living proof of no experience just grit, determination, creativity and a fire burning within. Oh and by the way - very little money to start it all (but that is another post come!)

Let the feathering begin.