True Confessions of a Design-Shy Shopkeeper

Here in the thick of the January lull, Jae and I have begun to work on designing version 2.0 of our shop, which will feature new display cases, jewelry cases, and a proper table or case for the front window. It is a difficult process for me, because, well, I really don't like designing things. That's right. As allegedly creative as I am, and despite my Dad being a designer and builder, I myself hate designing. I can write for hours on end, I can tweak the heck out of a window display, and I can appreciate the rockers off a chair, but ask me what I envision along this wall for these multiple purposes and my mind is a frozen blank. Everything becomes vague descriptions and unintelligible hand gestures, and I lose all connection. It's a frightful handicap to have when one owns a shop, since display is so integral. But there it is. True confession.

So needless to say, this phase of things at the shop is not my cup of tea. I'm cranky and unfocused. Resistant to talking ideas through. And I get tense at the merest suggestion of going over the options again. In fact, as I write my shoulders and upper back are so tense it's giving me a headache. The whole thing makes me want to throw up my hands and rob a bank so we can hire a professional to figure it out. I went through this when we were setting the shop up, too. Pick out wall colors? No problem. But thank goodness Jae has a mind for things like how deep to make the bevel in the shelf because I was at a total loss.

I'm sure there is some kind of psychological explanation for all this, but I'd like to think it's just a quirky character trait. In any event, we will eventually have to settle on something and order it from my Dad, but I'm afraid it's going to be an uphill battle for me. I mean, there are just so many questions to answer. How Shaker-inspired will it be? Will we do shelves or modular boxes? Will we keep the door table and integrate it into the display case or replace it with another surface? How long? How high? How deep? Aaaugh!!!

I would like to choose to let it be easy, but it seems like the more I try to go with the flow the more that flow drives me into a ditch. I think it's just a matter of my mind, but can I put mind over matter? Will Jae and I strangle each other before the drawings are done? Will we ever manage to get to version 2.0? Stay tuned to find out...

Drawing by Jae. Obviously, we've got a long way to go...