Need Help Getting Started

[Twilightmama]

Hello all,

For a while now I've wanted to begin my home-based cottage 'trash to treasure' type business. My plan is to sell at our area flea market every few months to begin with and then online in between. I've been collecting items for quite a while now and have plenty to work with.

My problem, however, is coming up with a cohesive color theme for my items (so far I have dressers, a dining set, chairs, shelves, a few found art pieces, and various containers that would be great for plants or floral arrangements.) I know this might sound funny, but I would like to organize my items into two to four different color themes and perhaps change them up every few months. I know that some clients prefer soft pastels, others may like bolder colors like reds and greens, while others gravitate towards just white or off-white.

I just don't know where to get started and how to organize my thoughts and ideas. I feel paralyzed, lol. Any advice to get me started?

[Cottage Flourishings]

The style of the furniture may give an indication of possible colors. If you can send me some pics, I give you some ideas.

[Serendipity]

Hi There

I like the idea of having color themes. One website I visit quite often is
http://www.colorschemer.com/schemes/index.php This site has been used primarily for people creating color schemes for their websites but many of the color palettes can be used for other purposes.

I suggest just browsing around or try the ALL CATEGORIES section where keywords or tags have been used to describe the color schemes.

You might want to try something like the elements Earth Wind Fire Water as an inspriation.... or you could follow Picasso and have a blue period... :)

What ever you decide, Have fun

Take care

Hugh

[zuzus_garden]

I just don't know where to get started and how to organize my thoughts and ideas. I feel paralyzed, lol. Any advice to get me started?

To get started, trust your ideas and go with them! Your insight and fresh ideas are what will make your business stand out.

Hugh had a good idea as to coming up with a theme-name for each color group. And as to deciding what colors to paint what pieces, again, I'd trust your instincts. You may find you have a customer that chooses a bright red chair and a pastel robins egg blue dresser to use in the same room. :)

User tracking software can show you what products people "click on" or visit most, which will give you an idea of what is most popular. Between the personal conversations you have with your flea market customers, and the tracking software, you can tweak your ideas as you go.

You will do great!

Zuzu

[Cottage Flourishings]

Just some more ideas...your first selections will basically be testing the waters...as Zuzu mentioned, tracking softwear will give you a better indication as to what people are most drawn to......the dining set, probably the most expensive, I would do a neutral color to appeal to a broader market. You could always offer to paint another color for a charge. If you have several dressers, why not try several colors that appeal to several types of cottage style. Chairs can be fun, whimsical pieces, so why not let your creativity run wild!

[Twilightmama]

Lots of great ideas, you all! Thank you! I had also thought about naming the colors themes to make it easier for customers to tell me what they like.

Lol, my problem is having *too* many ideas but if I can narrow them down to begin with, I think I'll be ok. There are just so many possibilities with this type business, which is what draws me to it and excites me!
Gerrie, when I'm able, I'll pull some of my pieces from upstairs and photograph them and you can give me some ideas. Thanks!

[Jilliebean]

How exciting for you! You must be one busy gal with the kids, hubs, the house and now a business to contend with? How do you do it? I have no doubt that whatever you put together will look fabulous. You just have that touch.

If it were me, as a consumer, I'd probably get lots of inspiration from your painted pieces but the frugal me would likely buy something neutral like a white or black. I remember reading another post by a store owner on this board some time ago that indicated white and black were the two best-selling colours for painted furniture pieces.

[greenoak]

we face the same problem....so we segregate the dark colors in one area and the light in another....we do great with buffets and they sell well in dark or light.......most pieces seem to work in either section....except maybe the super plain pieces we maybe wouldnt do in white...
. then in the light for instance;;;;all the backgrounds are white , our cottage display cupboards mostly, but right now one cupboard is full of yellow and blue and another is full of pinks, antother is like zza zza, lots of crystal and glass.......


in the dark we have reds in one area, and warm browns and mustards in another area of the same dark section.....all this is in our rehabbed or cottage furniture painted dark , mostly blacks but some reds and some deep greens...


we also have carribean colors which revolves around our lake section....plus signs..

so i really believe in segregation not a mish mash.... and it can work even in a small area...if one big display piece is all on one theme...
..the customers seem to like it....if it hits their color scheme they can see lots of items in one spot....and it all kind of goes together...

your plan sounds good for a mom..it gives you good at home time for now...

......maybe you could divide your booth in half....
good luck....if you try something and dont like it you can just start over...been there.....ann
www.greenoakantiques.com

[Jilliebean]

Any more progress on this, Kim? Just wondering how it's going.

[Elizabeths Embellishments]

From my experience, people really relate to changes seasonally. If your wanting to try several different color pallettes, why not focus on a different one each season. For instance, what about starting the year off in the spring with pastels? Then, in the summer, whites and off whites. Darker neutrals and earth tones seem popular in the autumn, and then blacks and reds and bold colors in the winter. This way you can have fun working with several color pallettes, but you won't have to work so hard to try to make them work together in one both. And, if you change so much each show, your customers will always be anxious to come and see what you're doing next.

I'm not the best expert because I don't paint furniture, I just sell furniture that others have painted out of my store. But, I've really observed that what colors sell best depend on what time of year it is.

[Twilightmama]

Oops! I didn't realize there have been more comments...thank you so much for your advice about colors. That really gives me something to think about.

Jilliebean, to answer your question, no - I haven't done anything *yet*. But it is very fresh on my mind and I so badly want to make this work. I'm still collecting pieces here and there and even have a couple of ideas for sweet little accessories.

I guess one of my problems now is feeling completely overwhelmed. I feel like I felt when my children were babies...I'd always have an intense desire to work on a project but I would never *start* anything because I knew I'd soon be interrupted to feed or change or care for a baby. My kids are almost 6, 7, and 12 now, lol, and I still feel so reluctant to start anything crafty - especially with the house and all the remodeling that needs to be done. There just always seems to be something else that needs my attention (at the moment, my house is utterly disorganized again - every closet needs to be completely culled!)

So my question to all of you who are able to care for a home and family and cottage business, how do you balance everything? This fall my youngest child goes to school, and I feel like I need to be starting *now* to prepare for what I'd like to do with my free time (which is, making and selling crafts, painting furniture, and cottage type items). I feel like hubs has been hearing me talk about this business and watched put money here and there into it for so long that now he doesn't really believe I'll actually carry through with it. Just last week, I spent a chunk of change on some supplies to create some protocols, and I've been working on them - but still, I feel like I'm being pulled in several directions already.

I know if there is a will, there is a way. My interest in doing this started over a year ago when we had a yard sale. I hated to see some of the pieces I had go as they were, because they had so much more potential. So I shabby-ed them up first and got so much more money out of them than I would have if I had not fixed them up. And that was at a yard sale where people don't like to spend much anyway. So I know that I do have the ability, some know-how, and the desire to make this work. All I need now is time and energy!

Please share with me your tips and advice...thank you so much!

[gigiG]

Not sure, start with a base of white-and work from there! Best to you...
gigiG