This month our National Stationery Show (NSS) prep falls into all three categories! Read on for a look behind the scenes.
THE GOOD. We bring our own hard walls to NSS. So far we've built or patched up all of the walls. We have also measured and cut our shelving and pre-drilled holes in the walls for easy hanging during setup. Eric and I truly love working together, and this kind of project is a fun change of pace.
Pre-drilling shelving
We have to work in our garage because it's been pretty rainy here. When it's cold we set up space heaters and wear winter jackets. It's pretty glamorous, obviously.
Measuring and cutting shelves and display pieces
There are so many pieces to this big puzzle. We work from the 2-D booth layout using a scaled ruler to measure and place everything correctly. As we place shelves on the wall I label them and make notes everywhere—sometimes directly on the shelves!
My notes on the shelf that will hold our new jotter!
Wes, age 4, helps by handing us tools and by providing comic relief
The back wall is 20' long but we can only set up 12' at a time in the garage!
Clayton's 3-D model has really helped us visualize the booth, which is awesome! If you haven't yet, go check out his great post about designing the booth layout!
It's also been wonderful knowing that my team can hold down the fort at the office while I'm working on the booth. It makes this process so much easier. Go, team!
THE BAD. There's still so much left to do. Every night Eric heads out the garage for an hour to work on the booth. We're currently preparing to paint everything—the walls, the shelves, the furniture (that we have yet to build!). Wish us so much luck.
THE UGLY. The pile of tissues on my desk right now is pretty ugly! Season allergies are attacking with a vengeance right now.