The late winter/early spring is a challenging time of year for most small business owners, especially MICRO-business owners like so many of us are in downtown Shelbyville.  We walk the fine line between creative thinking and desperation as the heat bills rise and our income drops.

On the up-side, this time of year finds me re-thinking and re-visioning what I’m doing over here in my wee shop.  I do a lot of planning, rearranging, and mulling over what the next big change/idea/improvement is going to be.  It may take me 3 months to implement, but the deep dark teatime of the soul that is February in Kentucky sure does give one time to consider.

And finding new ways to do more with less is part of that process. 

As many of you already know, I just moved my home.  I’m now much closer to the shop (a huge YAY) and we’re also outfitting a home for ourselves AND my father so we’ve had a lot more space to fill and a few needs we didn’t have in the old house. (Side note: I’d like to give a small shout-out to both The Ruby Rooster, Making Ends Meet, and The Gardner House who helped us with beautiful pieces for the house at fantastic prices).

Hunting for the “right” furniture led us to The Auction Barn, a weekly auction in Eminence.  We walked in hoping for a dresser, a few chairs, maybe a hall table or even a settee.  Strolling the perimeter of the auction room, however, I saw IT. 

I didn’t really need IT but I knew, immediately, that I had to have IT.  

IT: the vintage bulk seed rack sitting on the far side of the room.  My shop NEEDED this rack.

So we waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  We watched tiny things go for high prices and large pieces of furniture go for a song.  We watched people leave and new people come in.  We watched the auction help lift HUGE pieces up for people to see, sometimes seemingly defying the laws of physics as they did so. 

Finally, my rack was on the block.

I would like to say it was an exciting bidding war, but the truth was that only one other person had any interest and not TOO much interest, at that.  I was able to take my HAD TO HAVE seed rack home to the shop for, well, not a SONG, but pretty darn close to it.  

The HAD TO HAVE IT

And you know what?  It really has made a difference.  People come into the shop and comment on it, the rack has received a lot of compliments and changed the space.  It isn’t a big thing but this rack has been the catalyst for movement in the shop: re-arranging, re-thinking, re-visioning. 

As the days get longer and warmer and we aren’t quite as needful as we are in February, I hope to look at my rack and remember that winter will come again and it’s important to always be thinking of the unexpected, creative ways we can do more with less.