Highlights from The Duxbury Show
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another, with no loss of enthusiasm.”
– Winston Churchill
Hello, my friends, so sorry I didn’t get a post up on Monday. I was just soooooo tired from this weekend and from caring for my two sick little guys. sigh.
This weekend was the Duxbury Antique Show and I’d been sharing makeovers with you all last week. I’d been hard at work on all these pieces for quite a while.
I had dreamed of writing how successful the show had been! Well, we had a great time, but brought many pieces back to the house with me.
There are a few reasons for low sales. Maybe it was the weather. It actually was snowing and windy on the first day. It might be that people have just had so much damage to their homes from storms here in New England, but whatever the reason the show wasn’t as amazing as I’d hoped it would be. In that way it wasn’t successful.
But then again in some ways it was. Here’s what was successful about the show:
I learned a lot! Luke built fantastic wall for us and everyone (all the other dealers included) thought it was quite amazing. Picture Luke grinning ear to ear as he put the wall up and then dismantled it on Sunday. One dealer said he should market these to other dealers! It was really nice to have walls to control the look and feel of our booth.
It was our goal to have a beautiful booth. Dan (owner of Gentleman & Daugther) and I wanted a a booth that would meld our styles together and give a feeling like you were entering a space that symbolized our styles.
This was a success! Warm antique woods, rustic orientals, antique paintings and books mixed in with boxwood wreaths, upcycled furniture and the feeling of spring. We had so much fun putting this together on Friday night.
We wanted our booth to feel warm and inviting. A place where people would linger and chat with us. This was a success! Getting to meet people who read the blog daily and love my style and reading about my family was so amazing. Thank you all who were able to come and see us over the weekend. This blog is truly my journal and my creative space. I feel so blessed that you enjoy my tutorials and my stories.
Watching you touch and meet: “Lila” and “Fern” (yet to be revealed on the blog) and “Gemma” and “Dani” all meant so much. You lit up when you saw them and that meant so much to me. For this furniture I spend time refinishing is so much more than just slapping some paint on. It is making something that was broken or sad or unwanted into something a little bit more. Shining it up like new and giving it a second chance. I’m kind of filling up writing this.
Many of the people who came to the show were looking for real antiques NOT painted furniture and that is okay. We sold a lot of smalls – books, wreaths, smaller antiques and everyone couldn’t resist picking up this sweet goose:
Matthew Mead’s Upcycled Style was also a HUGE hit!
These brass and crystal 1840s candlesticks looked amazing sitting on Dani as did the antique platter:
It was interesting for me to see what finishes people were drawn to. Many loved this sweet little telephone table which I still need to share on the blog:
As well as this driftwood dresser (also sharing soon on the blog):
Here’s a few more looks at the booth –
Trench art from France:
A HUGE thank you to my husband who built the most amazing wall for us (tutorial on the blog soon) but who also helped me move all the furniture and watch the boys. Another big thank you to my parents who are always so supportive watching the boys and keeping me inspired. Thank you to all of you who read the blog each day. For those of you who lived close enough to visit the show, you made my day!
Luke and I will be doing another show this June in Massachusetts and I can’t wait to share more about that one very soon! If there were any pieces you saw last week (that caught your eye) or anything in this post let me know.
It is important for me to share the good and sometimes the not so good on this blog. I like keeping things positive but sometimes things aren’t as successful as you hope. Not a complete failure but not a complete success. Life is perfectly imperfect. This was just a lesson on finding the right market for us. But we did have a lot of fun!
What a great outlook, Danielle. The weather was so crummy Saturday, I bet that did keep a lot of people away. Love that quote you started the post with and your glass half full philosophy!
Beautiful booth! Managing expectations is always difficult. Sales are not always the best measure of success: you had a fantastic booth, you met many people and have great new blog readers and potential shoppers, clients may go home to think and measure, opportunity to network with other vendors, great example for you kids of hard work and commitment ~ congratulations on a job well done!
I wish we lived closer. I LOVE the driftwood chest of drawers and we are looking for one about that size. You have a lot of yummy items!
I am sorry that your show was not as successful as you had hoped. I was planning on attending however other things got in the way. I am glad you’re having another show in June, I would love to be there. Your pieces are great!!
Danielle, thanks for sharing. And your show was surely a success, perhaps just not in the most obvious of ways. I agree with everything Beverly had to say and you may not even realize now all the lessons you learned from this experience. But they will become evident over time, especially as you prepare for your next show. And you executed all of this all the while caring for young children, an incredibly difficult thing to do! When you are ready to share, I will be eager to hear about your plans for your next show. I have a feeling… Read more »
Wish we could have visited the show, hopefully the next one. Your booth looks beautiful. I admire your positive outlook and that you were able to learn from it. Great attitude always leads to success in business and life. Take care, Danielle. Hope the boys are better.
BTW – working on my second piece of furniture, a dresser that will be a changing table too for our first grandchild. Can’t wait to share this with you.
I have so many questions… First, what color stain did you use on that blue dresser your took to the show? I’m working on a kitchen island now and plan to paint the bottom an antique white with a stained top. – I want to be sure the one I choose isn’t too ’70’s brown. I like the one you used or can you recommend one you’ve used in the past. Next, I’ve wanted to do a show but can’t imagine how I would get so many large furniture pieces there without renting a very large truck – which would… Read more »
Your booth looks terrific and I hear your disappointment about the show. Last year, I decided that I would enter some juried craft shows. My reasoning was that I could paint some smaller upcycled items like wooden trays, chalk boards, wooden hangers etc and include a few small pieces of furniture. I thought that I would sell the smaller items and at least bring people to my FB page and maybe get some new customers. None of it worked out for me-even the small items didn’t sell. It’s very humiliating to see everyone around you selling some nice things and… Read more »
Dani, you booth looks amazing. It is warm and inviting and has so much interests and characters. It was a bad weekend…weather wise. I feel like people like to spend more money when the weather is nicer….probably because sunshine makes us happier people. I bet you will do so much better in June. I do know what you mean about antique vs painted furniture. You do amazing job with reloving and refinishing furniture. This is just a little bump…great things are ahead of you.
Hi!!! It was awesome seeing you (and Dan) again on Saturday!!! I’m so sorry it wasn’t as successful as you hoped, I know you spent soooo much time painting and prepping for this:( I guess each one is a leap of faith and its inspiring that you are looking at the bright side of things. Your booth was BEAUTIFUL! Definitely the best staged/styled one of the show:) That driftwood dresser is so pretty, something about the shape and color and those knobs! I want to thank Luke too…for the wall and for being such a great support, I know this… Read more »
Hello Danielle,
To my eyes the show was the picture of success! You should be very proud of your efforts as your booth looked amazing. I hope to see you again this year at the Haven event! Best of luck at the June show….
Your booth space looked gorgeous Danielle 🙂 I am sorry it wasn’t as successful as you had hoped. That’s how this business goes . . . sometimes I can’t keep my things in stock and sometimes my inventory sits and sits and sits. Be encouraged and try again, you have beautiful taste and style!