Our NEW Location at Geležinio Vilko g. 3-1308

It's been a while since my last post and a LOT has been happening.

The biggest news yet....we're MOVING! We're actually moving just around the corner to a new home on Geležinio Vilko g. 3-1308 at Mark's Garage, formerly Cookie's Clothing - and previous to that House of Aria. We're so thrilled about the move and can't wait! 

I'm not sure if many know but our new location was built with a whole lot of love. I painted every wall, stained every piece of wood and designed the wall fixtures, It took a small army of friends to help install fixtures and add some finishing touches. 

With the build out of this location, I wanted to keep a similar vibe but add in some additional elements to bring the store to another level. I wanted to focus on recycling as many materials as I possibly could. It was important to me to keep my contributions to the landfills at a minimum, re-use or re-purpose as much as I could, support non-profit organizations such as Re-Use Hawaii, Goodwill, Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity, and stay on budget too! ;)

I went on an island-wide hunt and spent hours refurbishing and making each piece Valia. A lot of our current fixtures are heading over to the new location also. Of course, there are items that I just could not find and I ended up having to purchase at good ole' Home Depot (nothing against Home Depot - I actually love it there because I feel I constantly encounter employees who are truly passionate about their crafts).

Here are some BEFORE pics of the shop.

Here's a little sneak peak at what's been happening behind the scenes:

Thrifting hauls: I challenge you to find all these little pieces in the store! They've been painted, repurposed and now have a totally different look! 

"Re-upholsetered" chairs: These old chairs were a steal at Goodwill at $20 a piece. I fake upholstered them with some old curtain fabric I found at Savers! A little stapling and some hot glue gunning and they had a totally different look! Sounds easy but the pair took me 10 hours to finish!

Shiplap-ing the walls: This project was time consuming and difficult and involved a lot of helping hands (friends who offered their free labor). This was the process. 1) Look for wood pieces at Re-Use Hawaii...unsuccessful. 2) Maybe use laminate flooring?...too much sanding. PASS! 3) Beg the guy at Home Depot not to kill you for asking him to cut 8'x4' plywood boards into 8" x 2' pieces. 4) Stain the wood with FOUR different stains. 5) Drill, anchor, screw, repeat. 6) A final coat of Polyurethane.  

Window Display: This display was a score! It was a Pinterest idea that got tweaked a bit. It was originally supposed to be a pallet wall. My trip to Re-use Hawaii left me a little sad that I couldn't palettes. Plus, I read an article that said the palette wood sometimes has bacteria on it from being used to deliver food (something about meat juices soaking in - YUCK!) I did score this FREE wood at Re-use Hawaii. The pieces were already cut to size and painted so it was perfect! A lot of sanding an some wood nails and TADA!

Come visit to see the AFTER!! We will be open in our new location from October 5th, 2018 and will be celebrating our Grand Opening that day including a pop-up from Knits and Knots by AME! Shop her hand-knit clothing, clutches and amigurumi! SO KAWAII!