I’m Opening a Shoppe!
***Egregiously Long Post Alert***
I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to build hype for this all week, and I’m super excited to announce that the online Enchanted Home Shoppe is now open for business! It has always been a dream of mine to open a small store. Nothing too big, but with lots of curated goods and obviously situated in a gorgeous old home-turned-shopfront. While I’m years away from seeing that dream realized, I figured why not start small. I already had the website, and was actually paying a monthly fee to Squarespace that supported shop features. Somehow it didn’t hit me until a couple of weeks ago that this is something I could really do.
I think I’ve been pretty honest about having a tough time as of late, struggling to come to terms with my work reaching a near halt in the face of the economic crisis. When you’ve put everything on the line for your business, it really does feel like it’s life or death. I’m pretty sure I was actually going through the stages of grief. My therapist told me this was pretty dramatic… but hello, I am a Scorpio. Everything I do is dramatic.
Anyway, I had finally come to terms with the situation after months of feeling really, really bad. I reached acceptance.
It’s funny how when we’re going through a lull, we don’t seem to notice just how badly it affects us. My brain, which is usually churning out ideas on the reg, was utterly silent. The more I tried to figure things out, the more frustrated I became as I was met with absolutely nothing. Accessing my creativity felt like sand slipping through my fingers. I just couldn’t grasp it.
As soon as I threw in the towel and accepted things as they were, I began to feel like myself again. After a week of downtime (it takes our brains and hormones a minute to self regulate after burnout, trauma, and the like), I was brimming with not only new ideas, but positivity. The P word. Not the toxic kind, where we trick ourselves into believing everything’s cool - actual, real belief in myself and my future.
All of this to say: we all go through shit. No one is immune to it. I’m well on my way to living my dream life and I STILL GET DEPRESSED. Luckily for most of us, after that downswing is something new. Something bright.
Me living my best life at the historical Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus… right before an actual ghost scared the shit out of me.
It’s no secret that I have a pretty large obsession with the academia aesthetics. This time last year I actually created an Instagram account and became a dark academia micro-influencer. Sure, it was kind of a phase… I definitely never imagined myself doing anything like that. But I felt pulled to it. I got to spend 3 months adventuring and taking photos of beautiful places, while learning a TON of valuable skills, like how to grow and engage an audience as well as how to edit my photos (still working on both of them).
I really did it to stay busy and creative while I was working part time at Starbucks and trying to get Enchanted Home off the ground. To be honest, I loved it. Maybe even more than I love being a designer. And I’ve missed it every day since I stopped. So when I began conceptualizing what my shop would look like, I knew that it in some way would have a connection to this aesthetic.
And it all just kind of clicked. I would sell antiques. Not only would I get to go antique shopping frequently, but I’d get to participate in making the design world just a little more sustainable by selling secondhand goods. I speak with people often who love antiquing, and end up buying things that don’t really work in their homes the way they imagined. I’m hoping this hand-picked collection of items will offer great choices for anyone interested in creating a vintage home. Right now, I’m focusing on sourcing pieces for vintage farmhouse, European farmhouse, Wabi-Sabi, or primitive style homes. These are my roots and sourcing for them comes naturally.
Above are some of the typical wares you’ll find in the shop right now. I’m starting small, so I won’t be adding new pieces really until the existing ones start to sell. I’ll send updates via the Newsletter (sign up at the end of this post!) whenever I stock new things. The Newsletter will also feature any special offers and sales, as well as design tips and more that I won’t be sharing anywhere else.
I’m also super excited to share that I will be selling hand-poured candles! I’m in the testing phase right now, but I can say that I’ll be offering a few special ones that are poured directly into heat resistant antiques, like the soup crock pictured below. It will include instructions on how to empty the container of wax when you’re done using it, so you get a candle and a piece of decor all in one.
This is a tester. I’ve just about got it down… except for those drip marks!
One last thing that you’ll now be able to purchase through the Shoppe is design consultations. I’m currently offering 1 or 2 hour Zoom sessions, where we can talk about absolutely anything in regards to your existing home, renovation, or new build. There is also an option to purchase a full design for one room, which would include everything from an initial meeting to a list of furniture and accessories picked specifically for your space. You can even buy these as a gift for someone else! The one hour consultation is my regular hourly rate, however, I’ve discounted the two hour consultation and the full room design. Honestly, it’s just so much easier for me than taking on new clients the traditional way. I felt like it was right to offer a deal on them.
I want to wrap up by thanking all of you from the bottom of my heart. Most of you who read this blog have been here from the very beginning, and I already can’t believe how far it’s come. I’m so excited for what the future holds.
All my love,
Nicki
