Changing rooms, Grand Designs, George Clarke eat your heart out! We have taken this piece of our village history and given it a new lease of life.
Owning a shop has always been a pipe dream of mine. The dress agency business wasn't originally for sale, but one morning last April and a cheeky facebook message, led to a whole new adventure! Fast forward to July 31st, through lots of stress, mortgage applications, lost funding opportunities, solicitors meetings, we finally exchanged on the building and business at number 29 High Street.
This is when the fun began! 7 weeks followed of Simon working every day to strip the building back to its former glory. The timing just happened to fall over the school summer holidays so we had a few extra free pairs of hands helping out! We (the royal we!), took the walls back to the stone work, took the ceiling back to the eves and discovered a fabulous fireplace! Tradesmen helped on evenings and weekends to rush the project through so we could open and start paying the mortgage!
I had a clear image of how I wanted the shop to look and with the help of the fabulous creative Stacey we came up with the most gorgeous colour scheme and branding. The paint was colour matched and the skirting boards were painted pink!
The changing room was made from unwanted doors from our neighbours garage and the pictures on the walls were from local independent businesses who I'm a huge fan of! Our friends supplied the electric fire, which I should be on commission for as it gets much admiration!
Right at the last minute everything came together, just in time for the long suffering husband to go back to work! The date was set for the opening of Number 29, clothing agency and curated gift shop. On the 25th September we opened the door and had a brilliant first Saturday as shop owners! We received opening cakes from the our neighbours at the Dalesman Cafe, cards and flowers from friends and family.
Now the real hard work begins as I take the reputation and customers from an existing business, in its newly renovated home, from strength to strength.
Wish me luck!