My New Booth - out with the old!

No More Black Booth!

Spending a long cold dismal day at the Art on the Mall in Kalamazoo last month, with few shoppers venturing out in the rain, provided me with lots of time to think about re-designing my booth.  I've had the same ole' black booth for 5 years now and have made changes here and there but the black remained.  Well, I can't take it anymore, out it goes!

I've been wanting to get smaller tables that were more manageable for me to use and didn’t take up as much room as the heavy ones I had.  I was also concerned that I might loose a lot of display room if I went to smaller tables.  I decided I just needed to start from top to bottom and do a complete booth makeover; new tables, new layout and new table covers. Oh my!

So a shopping trip was in order; darn it all, hehe!!  Sam's Club had smaller tables with telescoping legs that I loved so I got 3 of them; now I needed lots of fabric to cover them, what was that gonna cost????    Off to Shipshewana I went and checked with my friend Gigi who sells fabric there, hoping I’d find something reasonable for making the new table covers; boy did she have a deal for me.  I wasn’t sure of the color at first but at $3.00 a yard I couldn’t pass it up and bought the whole bolt.   Then I was off to South Bend for new props where I found some great stacking boxes and some more fabric at Hancock Fabrics.  The color scheme was coming together and I was loving the plan forming in my head.

Armed with all my new supplies and fabric, all on sale by the way, I headed home and  quickly cleared our deck of the table and chairs and set up my art booth.   I opened the new little tables and worked on a layout until I had what I wanted. 

 Then out came the sewing machine and I cut and sewed new table covers and also made a special cover for my storage bins too.  Oh my, it was all coming together. 

Even our cat Grateful and dog Kay got in on the action while I worked away!

Of coarse, it was one hot sweltering day out there as I worked and sewed but I was determined and so motivated to see my new plan come to fruition. Would be as good as I thought?

The neighbors were wondering what I was up to and little by little they all had to come over inspect as the day went by. The transformation was coming around nicely and I got lots of compliments from the everyone that stopped by. One lady thought we were setting up for a party!



                    The table covers and drape were done and now it was time to get out all the new props out and begin arranging a new layout.  The stacking boxes are wonderful.  They allow me to use what I want and store the rest if not needed.  My stands and busts look great on them and also add height so customers can see things better.
Even though I eliminated a lot of my old display stands, which I don't like anyhow, and a few of my old props, I actually have more jewelry display room than before, another bonus.


Now I only need only 3 storage bins instead of 4!

I love my new work table that I made for behind the booth! (See bottom photo)  It's not a table at all but I found that if I stacked the 3 storage bins on top of each other that I use to haul my stuff in they were the same height as my display tables.  Is that great or what?  Off to the sewing machine I went to make a cover for it. 





Can't believe I got all that done in one week!

I've done two shows with my new booth design and I couldn't be happier with the layout or the workability of it all.  I even like the color! I'm not done yet and still have several things I want to do, but the big part is done -  the layout and color scheme!

One of the biggest problems at outdoor shows is the wind!   Lessons I learned hard at the Kalamazoo show this year when so many of my displays took a ride down the street. My next plan of action is to magnetizing my tables and display stands so things stay put!  Hopefully with a little help from my hubby and dear friend, Scott Duck, I will get that done next week and have it ready by my next show at the end of the month.  I'll post more pictures later when I get the new stands done - for now come visit and see my new display at one of my upcoming shows!