Wednesday, October 23, 2013

"Whole 9 Yards"--Starting and Running a Successful Slipcover Business

Have you been making slipcovers for yourself, friends, and family... and now you want to venture out and make it a business? I have been running my own slipcover business for the past 13 years...and in the process I have learned a few things…



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In this 23 page PDF instant download, I share info on the following....

-Legal Stuff (DBA, Tax ID, Business license)
-Tax info (what to keep track of)
-Accounting
-Payment info
-Words of Advice
-How to Network
-How to do Onsite Fittings
-Equipment and Tools
-Hiring Help and How Much I Pay
-Office Stuff (scheduling, calendar, wait list, etc)
-Pricing and Yardage
-Photography Tips
-How to Order supplies (zippers, piping, down cushions)
-List of Suppliers (zippers, piping, down cushions, fabric)

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My slipcover business has been a HUGE blessing to me and my family. I love being creative and found out I have a HUGE passion for decorating and fabrics. It is such a part of me! It's my talent...it's my thing. It's what gets me excited!

The extra $ has enabled us to become debt free including our home and cabin. I never would have envisioned 13 yrs ago, when I showed up to my first onsite fitting with my 3 month old baby in tow what my business would flourish into! At the time, I was just trying to do my part to make ends meet. I went from full-time work to part-time as an assistant manager at Bath and Body Works after I had my baby. Things were TIGHT!!! After slipcovering on the side for the 1st year of my baby's life, I took the leap of faith and quit my job and have never looked back!

I love being my own boss, and making my own schedule, and being in control of how many trips I want to take. Yes, it's a challenge to stay balanced at times and meet client deadlines, but I would never go back! The pay is WAY better and the satisfaction of turning an old piece into something beautiful is much more rewarding. I love what I do!

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Friday, October 11, 2013

Amanda's Master Bedroom

Here's another victim of Camille and I! We talked Amanda into letting us do her room. I am not really sure she exactly said, "Yes"...

BEDROOM---BEFORE---small room with LOTS of large matching furniture! Headboard, footboard, trunk, 2 end tables, dresser, and mirror! Nice stuff, but wasn't working for us!


BEDROOM--BEFORE--mirror and dresser in front of her window. Not much light coming in.


BEDROOM---AFTER!!!! -- This took us 1 week! From idea to install! It helped that we decided to not paint the white walls. 1 day to shop, 1 day for projects and install, half day to make pillows and curtains.


 AFTER!!! I was actually JEALOUS!

We moved the bed under the window---I know this can be considered a faux pas--but I loved it there! We reused her two white curtains and draped them on her box springs for a bedskirt. It worked and it was free!



I sewed all the pillows from my fabric stash and scraps.




The curtain fabric (turquoise chenille herringbone), I picked up at Savers (thrift store) over the summer. It cost $1/yd and I had 18yds that I hadn't found a use for yet---so I didn't mind donating 6yds to the project.


Part of the idea behind this headboard was to accommodate the only vent in the room! This way air can flow freely.


We left the dresser alone and tied it in with hanging her husbands heirloom mirror from his grandma that we found in the basement. The picture on the wall also made the color work. We don't like to be too matchy matchy anyhow!


Me and Amanda enjoying her new room! Laughing that we were able to pull this all off with only $120!

$40 for  headboard wood and primer, $20 for lamps and accessories, $30 for curtain rod and lamp shades from Ross, and $17 for silver circle mirror thing from Gordmans.

ALL THE WORK

Camille and I grabbed some fabrics from my stash and got a vision....and headed over the same night that she let us see the room for the first time.

 Camille scored a free rug from her sister in law--her girls had spilled orange nail polish on it. So she was going to get rid of it. We figured part of it would be under the bed anyhow...and we'd try to get out what wasn't.

A day or two after that--we headed to the thrift store with Amanda in tow! Here she is with her new lamps! She had never been to the thrift store before---I think she was nervous! After we got home, she found the original $49.99 price tags on the lamps that we paid $5 each for! She was starting to become a believer...maybe thrift stores aren't that gross!


 We found some great accessories and only spent $20 including the two lamps!

One day Camille and I were finishing up our run and we were brainstorming a way to ditch that HUGE headboard and footboard. We saw an old pallet in the weeds and Camille jokingly said, "We can use that for Amanda's headboard!"----hmmm my brain started working and a plan formulated....which of course Camille made better---she had a bunch of perfect sized pallet things in her garage. This was the frame work for our new headboard!


After much contemplation on Amanda's part--we finally talked Amanda into letting us paint her end tables gray. That honey wood WASN'T working with our vision.

Much Better!

Heber came and helped us with our "MAN WORK" on the headboard.

 I stained and painted all our 1x6x6 ft boards. My vision was horizontal stripes alternating dark wood and white. These boards are only about $4 each from Home Depot. We bought 7 boards for this queen headboard. 5 boards for the front, 1 for the top, and we cut 1 in half to cap the sides.


 Here it is in progress!


 My sister had given me this canvas awhile back and I wasn't using it, Camille decided to use pallet boards and framed it and stained it Dark Walnut. Yes---Amanda thought we were funny--- She wasn't sure what to think!

Here is the back of the headboard--we had to notch out where it would hit the window sill.


AMANDA'S TESTIMONIAL

  • While Shelley and Camille were redoing Brooke's bedroom I had made a comment that I always wanted to redo my bedroom. Well shelley and Camille were all over it. I like to call them Shamille. When Camille came and looked at my room I was skeptical, then Shelley came a bit later and she quietly walked through my house to see if we had anything that we could use. After she left I was a little more skeptical. Before I knew it Shamille and April were here with fabrics and moving the bedroom around. The good thing is I have seen there work and fully trusted what they were doing even though I might have asked a lot of questions like "how's that going to work?" Or "really?" they would smile and say "just trust us". I was worried about painting my end tables only because I have a hard time with change and I thought everything was supposed to be matchy, matchy. Well let me say they turned out FABULOUS! I mean I thought we were done when we added the curtains, rug, duvet and pillows. That was all amazing to me. I had the privilege of shopping with them and maybe I wasn't so sure of some things but then I had never been to the thrift store either so who am I to say these girls don't know what they're doing?! We got some things done in my room and then they decided I needed to ditch the headboard. Since my husband didn't take it down, shelley came for something and while she was here she took it down and we moved it out. She told me they were building our headboard and oh my gosh, it's AMAZING! I absolutely love what they did and I keep telling them they need to do a reality tv show on it. My Husband is happy with the results and I look at things in my house a little different now wondering what I could change in every room so it's not so matchy, matchy. It's inspiring, the ideas these girls come up with! Also, the most fun I have ever had putting a room together (or watching) that I get to look at every day!






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