A Tale of Two Stores

When I opened Silver Barn 7 years ago I certainly wasn’t focused on opening another store. Heck, I just wanted to survive a gas crunch, a banking and housing crisis, 2 major elections, and a major drought!
Fast forward to 2014 and an opportunity comes along that is, well, now or never! Viola! Silver Barn gets a sibling – Silver Barn & Co. Why the “& Co.?” Because we have invited a few of our favorite people to bring their excellent taste and products to be the best we can be.
The challenges? Oh yeah baby! How do you remain consistent when one store sells one thing well and the other sells something different? Decorating two stores for Christmas is like the Groundhog Day movie – it is a new day of decorating every morning — over and over!
But where am I lucky? Two of the most beautiful locations in Columbus and La Grange, Texas house our stores; and the staffs at both stores keep me going and keep me sane! Thank you guys!! And, NO, I will not share their names!

Necessity = Invention

When you’re in the mood, you’re in the mood. When you’re ready to paint and you don’t have the color you want – you invent. The invention of a new color is something I’ve never done. I feel so accomplished! Lol!!

So, now we took one super bright red and made a muted “blood plum”! Now I’m changing everything about this piece since I live the deep color. It’s sort of a Mardi Gras muted plum. It’s fun. It’s my first. Will I be as excited with my next? Hmm…

The Temps!

Whenever I come back from market, many of our customers ask, “What did you find?”  Quite often I say the best things I found were “in the temps”.  So, I thought I’d tell you about one discovery I made this year “IN THE TEMPS” which is the temporary showrooms.  These guys don’t have fancy showrooms with numerous reps helping and food and wine all around.  These guys are in a 10×10 booth crammed with merchandise and staff and hopefully customers.  (I always feel bad when I walk by an empty booth, they look so lonely.)

This time “in the temps” I found a great new company called Knollwood Lane where there were all sorts of new and different items.  From pillows to wall decor to a lazy susan out of an old tree to burb cloths featuring cute sayings.  Basically, my kind of place.  One stop shopping for all the areas of my two stores – Columbus and La Grange.  And, their booth was packed!  I love all of my traditional, showroom vendors and reps.  They know me, know the store, know what we carry so they don’t try to sell me crystal and chrome chandeliers in a Tuscan-Lodge rustic environment.  That is where the Temps can be a problem.  And, through the years I’ve seen some Temp vendors we’ve found move up to showrooms and find great success.  Nora Fleming and Mary Lake Thompson come to mind, and we’ve enjoyed watching and being a part of their growth.

But, there is something about finding that needle in a haystack that makes it all worth exploring the wonderful world of TEMPS.  So, when you explore our stores you will find those hidden gems as well, and we hope you feel the way we do when we find something very special.  That is our goal.  That is why we are here. That is why shopping independent is so important.  We all support independence and creativity in one form or another

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