Part 2: Change Was In The Air – Moving Forward In Uncertain Times

It’s remarkable that the whole world is going through this same crisis together. And yet, I realize that the challenges this crisis brings look a little different for each of us.

I hope your family is doing well and you are finding some peace in these troubled times.

In my last post I shared the journey of my business growing from tent sales to having a shop space at Sweet Clover Barn. But toward the end of 2019, as I thought about my goals for the new year, I decided in order to keep moving forward I needed to close my brick and mortar store.

I gave the barn my two month notice this January and planned to clear out after the March sale. (That still hasn’t completely happened yet.) It makes me a little sad to think about packing everything up as I have worked hard to create a shop that reflects my design aesthetic and I love having a place where I can connect with customers.

So what motivates me to leave something that I still enjoy?

There are several things that have pushed me in this direction – one being that I have never been able to figure out a proper studio space in my home. The furniture I inevitably end up painting in the kitchen and the upholstery projects sprawled out on the living room floor tend to get in the way of family life. It’s also been a challenge to find space to photograph finished projects, especially as I have been redecorating rooms in my home and can’t constantly be shuffling furniture around.

The table set above had to be photographed in my family room so I moved our couches out of the way to get the shot. But, now we have a large sectional in this room and a television hanging above the fireplace and I don’t have the freedom to move things around anymore just for a good photo.

One possible solution is to look for a new house which could offer me the space to have an in-home studio. My husband and I have tossed around this idea for quite awhile. We both have a desire to move, not just for the additional space but to shorten his long commute and to meet the changing needs of our family.

There are many unfinished projects we need to tackle before selling. I have been working room by room to make some improvements over the past year, but it hasn’t been easy to juggle home projects with the monthly barn sales.

Next on the home improvement list is a master bedroom and bath remodel, as well as picking new flooring for the upstairs. It’s not a long list, but we are trying to do a portion of the work ourselves to cut costs. I’ll be updating the blog more frequently so you can follow along with these projects.

But home improvements aren’t the only motivating factor in this step forward, I also plan to continue and hopefully grow my online presence. I made some updates to the blog at the end of 2019, but was always too short on time to write posts. I would like to grow as a writer and photographer. I’d like to share ways that I’m making my home a place of retreat for my family and a welcoming space for guests (when we can have them again!). I’d also enjoy sharing some more personal reflections and inspiration for the soul which I’m thinking about calling “Sunday Reflections”.) My hope is that Antica Market will be a source of inspiration and encouragement for my readers.

My shop will continue to offer curated antiques and unique home decor pieces through my online Etsy store as well. Eventually I may transition that to this website, but for the moment the shop will remain on the Etsy platform. I added these pretty pieces to the shop today. Eventually, when the world is all as it should be again and I come across some great furniture finds I’m sure I will offer those online as well. You can get to the Etsy shop by clicking on the shop button on the home page of the website. Or by clicking the link below: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AnticaMarket

As I attempt to move forward with Antica Market in these uncertain times I hope you’ll come along for the journey.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Fondly,

Michelle