Petit Amoir - My New Adventure!

I thought I better do a bit of a post about what I've been working on for the last 6 months. Finally on 8th September Petit Armoir was born! She has been a labor of love and I'm more than pleased with the result. 

Whilst there's still a long way to go in both renovations, website development and stock, she's looking so good and it's been flat out since opening. 

Here's what she looks like....

Street view

Front window

Signage (which I love!)

Inside

Front counter which is yet to have the logo added. Note awesome chandelier!

Kids play area complete with perspex barrier in front of TV so no breakages!

Linen from BABU & 'and the little dog laughed'

Babies

Boys & Girls sizes 2-14yrs

There's still lots to do like wallpaper the back wall, more stock to buy, advertising to organize etc. But so far so good. I'm so proud of what I've put together and I've had lots of great feedback. It makes all the long nights after working all day in the old shop worthwhile!

What do you think? 

Disruption to Routine is My Enemy

Today was slightly better than yesterday. I feel like I got a few things achieved finally. I still don't know how to use my new accounting system but I did get all but one of my winter 2013 orders completed.

The last order was for Fabrik, a label I love. Exquisite designs and gorgeous fabrics. It ticks all my boxes.....

"Fabrik marries that neat little girl with nanna’s handicrafts, warmth and care, a splash of colour, a dash of inspiration and wraps them all together in a unique and environmentally friendly package."

 

 

I'm thinking I might need some of their summer range too so tomorrow's job is to contact them/my agent and see if I can get some last minute stock. It's just too beautiful!

 

Just as I was about to walk out the door I got a call from one of my newest suppliers, Lullaby Linen. Helen, one of the owners, was absolutely lovely and so helpful.

 

How often do you see really great boys linen? I haven't seen a range as sophisticated and suitable for babies through to teens ever! I absolutely think this is an exceptional rage of linen and I'm so excited to be stocking it.

 

 

So finally I got out of there and loaded my car with some boxes of coat hangers to make some space in my overflowing storage room. I picked up Emily who had apparently been allowed to sleep from 1pm to 4:15pm!!! Any Mum of a 2 year old knows this is a disaster. Her bedtime was less than 3 hours away and there was no way I was going to get her off to sleep at that time now.

 

At 7:30pm we did the usual bedtime routine of bottle and story while she cuddled her hippo and laid quietly in bed. No sooner had I shut the door when I hear "Mummy!".....and so began my night of bedtime negotiating and re-settling. In the end I gave in and sat beside her holding her hand and patting her off to sleep. It was 9:30pm when I left her room. She was up at 5am this morning and she was beyond over-tired tonight.

 

It's times like this that I really struggle with loving having my own business and wanting to stay with my little girl. Routine is so important to her at the moment. When Daddy doesn't pick her up on the nights he's supposed to she's beside herself asking for him all night. When she doesn't sleep properly during the day or if I'm away working for a night she takes a couple of days to settle back into the routine. 3am wandering into Mummy's bed is not unusual for Emily.

 

But we'll work with it and struggle through for now. Just a couple more weeks and things can settle down and I can spend more time with her. At least that's the idea......

 

 



 

 



The Thin Line of Sanity

So apparently swapping from my current accounting and inventory system to my new one wasn't going to be so easy.......

One of the many hiccups this week as I go on the countdown to the opening of Petit Armoir.

Today I received the script for the radio ads I've booked and it was laughable. i really think I should be given a discount for all the times I've written the scripts for them. I'm not big noting myself here, a five year old could have done a better job. Cheesy and loud is not the way I want my boutique represented.

I have been doing a back and forth with my printer for three weeks now just trying to get a quote for business cards and stickers. How hard can it be? Apparently very hard because I get the same quote over and over again and my repeated calls to talk to the general manager who's sending me the quotes results in more incorrect quotes and emails. Today I finally snapped and emailed him that I would be using someone else. Actually it went more like "your gross incompetence" and "lack of customer service give me no choice but to take my business elsewhere" and that was me being reserved! I won't name them but lets just say there's no longer a 'darkhorse' in the running for my business!!

One of my major labels still hasn't advised if they can supply me by grand opening on September 8th. I've been chasing them for quite some time and I've had excuse after excuse. I email and call and no-one gets back to me. So I'm two weeks away from opening and I'm trying to decide if one, I tell them where to go, and two, who can I replace them with at such short notice since you would normally order 6 months in advance.

Telstra still haven't sorted my phone and broadband change over (surprise, surprise!) and my bank is giving me grief about the new merchant terminal I'm getting installed.

It's all happening at once and threatening to drive me insane!

The one thing that puts a smile on my face every single day is my little girl. I pick her up from childcare after a rotten day and as soon as she see's me she runs into my arms with an excited "Mummy!" and holds on tight until we get to the car. The whole way home she non-stop chatters about her day and who her friends are and what they did. She is totally oblivious to my worries and while I listen to her they temporarily fade away.

Emily is my blessing every day. She keeps me sane and keeps me moving forward. She makes me laugh and gives me the biggest, warmest cuddles.

Thank God I have this weekend off. I plan to make the most of our time together because the next couple of weeks are going to be so busy.