HOME DECOR……and more
The shop progressed and I added many new types of merchandise. The garden was rolling along and due to inquiries, I decided to start buying more furniture and home decor items. Our handmade pillows became a great seller, with fabrics from a cool artist/designer named Amy Butler. This designer was well known by my age group of customers so it was a “win.” I moved a sewing machine in beside my checkout counter and made pillow covers while my customers browsed. Without even realizing it, as the shops keeper, I was slowly transitioning to custom design work and home decor became a new avenue of revenue for my business. The pillows I made led to my sharing color and design ideas with my shoppers. I began earnestly searching out vintage lamps, upholstered chairs, settees, art, vintage tables, cabinets, wicker pieces, end tables, desks, bookcases, silver, and tableware, and in the biz, I acquired what we call, vintage smalls. Auction Houses were my primary source, and I really discovered I very much enjoyed “the hunt.” The homes in our community were not large and so procuring pieces of furniture that would fit, but look attractive without overcrowding, were a great challenge. 1940-1950 and mid-century modern became very popular with my clientele. I had a ton of fun advising and helping customers create a vision, for how they wanted their homes to look. And I began some home decor consulting.
And right in the middle of this slight transition and change in business from a total focus on the garden, I received a male visitor one Saturday morning who had a box of items he wanted to show me. My guess was he was what we call a “picker” in our business. These are folks who have a passion for finding, collecting and procuring.
Merchants like me purchase from these sources. But I had very specific reasons for wanting to select only my particular taste in what I would call “finds.” He browsed only a few moments and approached my counter with his box. My recollection was that with about fifteen people in the shop on a Saturday morning, I would need to invite him back on Monday when I had more time to see what he had in the “box.” He accepted my invite to return. But he did pull out a couple items and they were actually quite nice much to my surprise. He left without looking around, I recall.
I knew I had seen him before. I thought that he lived in my community. Anyway on Monday he did return. And then I realized that I had seen him at the pancake breakfast and spaghetti suppers at my church. I am not certain I ever served him food, but nevertheless it was a familiar face. I cannot remember if I even knew his name. But he proceeded to unwrap the items he wished to show me, and as I recall I bought two or three. He had very good taste.
I believe that he came back the next day. And I think he wanted to help me do some things to enhance the garden. I vaguely recall asking him if he might be interested in helping me in finishing up the painting of a garden bench. He accepted and I went back in the shop to attend to my customers. In a little while, maybe about an hour, he went home. But before leaving he asked me if he could have some soil from my huge planter full of dirt under my garden planting bench. He was friendly, had a cute accent and seemed like he enjoyed maybe making a new acquaintance. I do believe a couple days then passed.
On Friday that same week he came with another box. Again I bought some things. I believe I was getting ready to close up shop. I invited him to sit in a large chair in my office to chat with me, once I closed and locked the front door of the store. By then we had established that we had known of each other from seeing each other at the church events. I could see he was a little nervous, and it looked to me like maybe he was not feeling his best. I inquired, since I’m a fairly intuitive sort. He said he had retired very recently and that maybe it was a bit too early, because he just didn’t feel like he had enough to do. In hind sight, I think that perhaps he just had not really adjusted to being home so much, after over 30 years of working daily at his Capital Hill occupation. It’s a pretty common adjustment following a very busy career in our nations capital.
We enjoyed a visit about our common interest in vintage items and I think we shared little tiny glasses of wine. Then he went home with a “bucket of dirt” and made a funny joke with me, about the fact that after painting my bench in the garden, he was literally being “paid dirt.” We giggled.
It turns out that he continued to stop by and helped me hang pictures, paint garden furniture, water the garden and deadhead the pants, he helped with sweeping the sidewalks and volunteered some general care inside and outside the store. We had a nice new friendship. He’d stop by on Sundays after his church service, and sit out by my garden reading his newspaper. I liked his presence. And we made a deal that although my store did not accept consignments, I was going to let him bring items to the store on an ongoing basis, and I’d offer to pay him a split of 60/40. Never heard of anywhere else, as the common split was 50/50. But I knew he needed a gig to help get him over the hump of his recent retirement. It ended up being a “win” for us both because he did know a lot about what might sell in a shop environment. In essence I had a partner in crime to help me out some, and he could make a little income in the process. We seemed to enjoy the fun.
His name was Jack and I liked the name “Jack.”