I am soooooo glad I didn’t waste the money and purchase a carpet remnant for this Women’s show booth. It would have been for waste. I would have trashed it. How dumb that would have been.
Instead, I had my handy dandy stenciled brown craft paper floor covering aka carpet. It was easy – hit your local dollar store up for rolls of craft paper. Secure it to floor with clear tape. Then take a stencil of your choice (I used an allover grid stencil from Andreae Designs) lay it in place, and stencil brush your color on – I used simple tints with water added. Voila!
In my finishing business I always have buckets of water near by. Used brushes and rags get tossed into it, until I can clean up. Today, demo’ing all day at the Women’s show, I didn’t realize how limiting it would be working away from a ‘home’ or ‘studio’. There was no close by laundry tub. Brushes got dirty fast, went into a bucket, but then the bucket got yukky fast. And the bucket was a smaller bucket…. so alot of drippies in and out…. my poor paper bag floor aaaahem, carpet. Now what?
Tomorrow, day 2, will just start with a little messier, broken in , carpet. Its like an artist with trashed hands – I guess thats a good thing, right? Better trashed and messy, than virgin new, because that would mean no action.
My regrets today? I wasn’t able to get around to enjoy all the action. My mom was there by 830am (she called me from parking lot and I was still a good 45 minutes away) She had an awesome parking spot, right next to the entrance - she parked and hogged 2 spots so that I’d have one when I got there! (I was arriving with a heavy box of product that needed to be lugged in). You gotta love moms.
10:00AM the show opens – we are both sitting there, booth is all set and ready… and at 10:01 mom starts wondering where all the people are, and why they haven’t stopped for more info. You had to be there but it was cute! Once we got situated, I told her to pull out her kitchen stool – she has 4 that she needs done – she had painted them and stained them but it is not holding up – parts of them look awful so she wanted to redo them using materials that will bond well and stay in place. Once we started demo’ing we didn’t stop… and folks started to stop to take note. And that began what was a looooooong, whirlwind of a day.
Mom demo'ing (intensely) her stools
I wrote on the carpet, "Come In And Touch!"
Mom working so I can explain to interested attendees...
Loved these two women - one on left is an Interior Designer..
It was a good feeling, talking and explaining the products to interested passerbys – empowering them… so much of the same story - no one wants to dump the big spending into changing out cabinets, or even the expense of refacing them. The ability to see the finished product, touch it, see it in action – was enough to get them excited to venture out and try it themselves. Doing it yourself saves yourself alot of money….
Copper leafing a picture frame...
There were at least four people that told me about their DIY finishing experiences using Lowes/Home Depot type products….and how difficult it was…and that I was making it look easy. It just IS easy, I explained. Working with basic, over the counter finishing products makes it NOT easy. Even I, as a professional finisher, would not use just any old product. You need good quality products. Durable. Ease of use. User friendly. Caromal Colours is all of that , and more.
I vow tomorrow I am walking around with my camera to check out other cool vendors so I can tell you about them. I met the hippest lady from Dayton (she is ordering CC when she gets home) , and a representative for the pink tools and very cool waist tool belt (pink suede). If I deliver, you’ll see photos here tomorrow!
