Time Marches On

$89.95

It’s 110 in the shade as they say in Texas, and I’m fretting about Christmas! What is it about being in retail that turns us into a split personality – one leg in the present and the other firmly elsewhere in the future? Anyone can say they live in the future, but those of us in retail can swear it was just Easter. Well, it was, we were just at market buying Easter, came home to a hot summer – threw 4th of July out – organized our holiday offerings and unpacked ghosts, goblins and turkeys all in the same week. Sybil never had anything on a retailer personality.

Now, as the clock ticks down to the end of summer and we gear up for the insanity of the season to come, it is time for all retailers to stop, stand facing east and recite – “I will enjoy the season, I will live in the moment….as soon as I retire!”

To all our friends who are not in the retail biz, we really are delighted to move from season to season on a daily basis, really we are. But, there are days we think it is 55 degrees with Christmas carols, walk out our door to almost die in oven known as summer! It IS a shock to the system. But, if we didn’t love it, we wouldn’t do it season after season. I’m excited to see fall coming, excited to share all the goodies hiding in our warehouse, excited to see if I lived up to your expectations of what Silver Barn is. I look forward to your response…just remind ME that we are in August, THEN September and so on, and so on…as I have no clue what month or day I’m in half the time!

Round Top, TX

Fabulous Display

I love to go to Round Top Antiques show each spring and fall. It is such a mish-mash of good and bad, creative and trashy and I come away with all kinds of ideas. To me, it is an idea source. Not to say I didn’t come away with a few things! That will be in another post!! But, mainly it is an idea resource. I think we are creative here at the store until I see some of what they do in the middle of a field inside a tent!! So, enjoy the snapshots of a few things I saw. I promise to get back out there before it is over to offer up more goodies to enjoy – especially for those of you too far away to visit in person!

Metal Fishes

What Makes Silver Barn so Special?

Iron candleholder $80; Imageglow candle

Besides our customers, what makes Silver Barn so special? We work hard to find products that are unique, local artisans that have a special offering, foods that are more than a new take on the old sour cream dip. But, one element I never considered when opening the store was how we would find fabulous vendors through Twitter. @ImageGlow, @Petscribbles have added to our unique symphony of goodies. How would I ever have found these two unique and special people and their fabulous products if not for Twitter? THAT is an element of our store that I think is so very, very special – we find the unique, the special, from unusual places, merge them together and create pieces that work for any of our customers.
A perfect example is our fabulous wall piece – a hand-crafted iron sconce featuring a fleur de lis created by an artist out of Katy, Texas, and a great candle from ImageGlow. The delicate scoll work on the candle softens the heaviness of the ironwork. Two different pieces, from totally opposite ends of the country, merging in our little store in Columbus.
Thanks Twitter for giving retailers another place to search for great products for our customers.

Classy Pet Decor

Pet Pics

As we expand our pet assortment I must say, I love these vintage looking images of pets. I’m excited to expand our pet assortment and provide more than great collars and shampoos. I want pet owners to have beautiful things for their homes that don’t scream ” I HEART SOMETHING”. Pet owners are NOT carnival decorators! So excited to finally find classy ways to say ” I enjoy my pet”! Enjoy.

Got A Wall?

Wall Art

We may have a nice big store, one I thought we’d never fill. But, these days we are looking for more room. As we get ready for our Ladies Night Out event we had to make room for more merchandise – so, I went up! Posted these kids chairs on the wall in the kids section and used them as display space for our new Kreative Kids luggage. Now, we are ready – as we found room to expand.