My Loss is Your Gain...

Who am I kidding, I should say My GAIN is Your Gain. This week we did an impromptu kitchen makeover and added upper cabinets, which we never had before. After living here for 6 years, I decided the Whole Kitchen Renovation was not going to happen anytime soon so I might as well add them now and live with a mismatched kitchen. Or more truthfully, I decided if I had to lean down into this dank dark cabinet one more time in search of the elusive EVOO, I was going to slit my ankles.

The GOOD NEWS is, I displaced all kinds of cool stuff that used to live on my walls & countertops/windowsills. This is just a VERY SMALL sneak peek at some of the items that will be appearing soon at Salvage Chic!

The BETTER NEWS is, I now have THIS lovely space to cook in. And the total cost of the project was $620 for the cabinets and about $100 in paint & supplies. Even Kenny commented that this morning he felt like such a 'grown-up' getting his cereal out of a cabinet at eye level. I guess he forgot we were both contemplating strangling each other or at least getting divorced while hanging said cabinets...

TAX-22 Situations

So I've been using TOO BUSY as the excuse for not blogging lately but honestly, I've been suffering from a severe case of the Winter Doldrums and adopted the motto "If you don't have anything nice to say... DON'T BLOG." Seriously, I don't want people creeping around Salvage Chic scared to do anything besides browse for fear of the Evil Shop Owner lambasting them on her Blog. But this one is kind of harmless and happens a LOT so I thought I'd share an anecdote of things that frost me on a daily basis.

A gentleman walked up to the counter with an item, I can't even remember what it was but it was $8 and I took it from him, proceeded to wrap & bag it and then punched into the cash register $8 and announced the total, "with tax that comes to $8.50." He did a double-triple-quadruple take and then barked SALES TAX! while reaching into his pocket for the extra 50 cents like now he was going to have to cancel Christmas. I understand it's kind of frustrating to pay sales tax on used goods which have ALREADY had sales tax paid on them when they were new, but you know... I'm not running a yard sale here. It's not like I am pocketing the extra 6.25% and laughing all the way to an offshore account where I hide my unreported income. What Uncle Sam wants, Uncle Sam gets!

While I'm on the subject of Sales Tax (here I go!) the other thing that drives me nuts is people who have a Reseller's Tax ID who assume this means they are exempt from paying Sales Tax on ANYTHING. If you're a Dealer there's this Massachusetts Reseller's form you fill out whereby you swear whatever you are buying is for Resale Purposes, so you're exempt from paying Sales Tax because it's eventually going to get paid by the End Buyer. All well and good. But if you walk up to the counter with say, a Salvage Chic CANDLE... I'm pretty sure you're not reselling that. A "TAX-22" situation, to say the least!

On a related note, I went to CVS this week and was purchasing just 1 item; when the cashier rang me up I acted all chagrined and exclaimed SALES TAX!! ...she didn't have sympathy for me either, LOL.

'Twas the Night Before Moving Day

and all through Salvage Chic... I got a little choked up because it was suddenly looking like we are going out of business. Have no fear, everything is just packed up for the BIG MOVE into the new space tomorrow!!

I hope my Dad is not reading this tonight because I forgot to tell him the entry into the new space is kinda angled weird so we are going to have to take all of this OUTSIDE and around the building to bring it through the front door of the new space...




My Mom and I jumped the gun tonight and moved the Fridge Door because we were so excited about the new cafe curtains we fashioned, in true Salvage Chic style, out of vinyl tablecloth fabric.


Finally, some more Sneak Peeks... Check back tomorrow to see how quickly it all filled up!

HOLD ON!

The high turnover of late has really gotten people on the Bandwagon of putting things On Hold. So much so, I had to start posting "ON HOLD for So-and-So", because I was getting duplicate requests and can't always respond to everyone immediately via email before I mark it On Hold on the website.

Today an email arrived from a well-known address and when I saw the subject "Hold Request", I couldn't click fast enough to open the email and see what this guy was interested in next. "How much for Duff?" it read; "Can I put him on hold?" Now THAT was funny. (for those who haven't seen it, I put a pic of my dog Duff's handsome mug on the What's New page, billing him as our C.S.O. or Chief Sniffing Officer) Unfortunately Duff just signed a multi-year contract to serve as C.S.O. and as such I can't sell him at this time... Sorry Jerry! Too bad because I've been kind of looking for a loophole to get out of this contract, Duff put in all kinds of hidden riders like bottomless bowls of kibble and he has a tendency to fall asleep during board meetings while emitting noxious gas. But I guess I'm stuck with him for now!

Here We GROW Again...

Given the State of the Economy lately, a lot of signs like this are cropping up all over the place. Normally the sight of a newly empty storefront leaves me feeling very sad, knowing some poor proprietor has had to hang up their hopes & dreams for the time being. Stumbling on this sign the other day left me with somewhat Mixed Emotions, because while it meant someone was downsizing, it also happened to hang in front of the space DIRECTLY ADJACENT to Salvage Chic. (Assuming that in some dictionary somewhere "Mixed Emotions" is defined as PRETTY FREAKING EXCITED) Even more so when I spoke to the landlord, and he was as eager to rent me the space as I was to take it over. Now if only March 1st would hurry up and get here... Stay Tuned!!

It's a Small World After All

It's a SMALL, SMALL World...

Last week this couple came into the shop and after spending a long time browsing, decided they wanted a piece of furniture and asked if it was OK to purchase and come back to pick it up later in the week. OF COURSE! we told them, and as I was ringing up their purchases the woman mentioned that although it was their first visit, she has been a longtime stalker of the website. I took her comment to mean they were from far away so I exclaimed, OH! Where do you Live? thinking they looked kind of hip & urban like a lot of young couples who visit us from Boston or Cambridge. To my surprise she answered "Halifax" to which of course I replied I also live in Halifax; and then, since I got the sense they maybe were going to have to borrow a vehicle to pick this piece of furniture I asked Where in Halifax? because we do offer Delivery Services. She referenced this cul-de-sac neighborhood near the Country Club so again of course I had to volunteer that my backyard abuts that neighborhood and tried to describe where to her. We kind of danced around trying to pinpoint locations until for some unknown reason I blurted out "I'm the one with the REALLY LOUD DOGS." (Yeah, THAT's something I want to be known for...) Her eyes got huge. "The Hounds! You have Hounds!" Ummmmm.... YEAH. (Why did I have to say that? Now they totally hate me.) She was looking at her husband all Triumphant-Like "I told you they were Hounds" and meanwhile he was trying so hard not to laugh he was almost crying and all I could think was They Have Definitely Had Conversations About My Dogs Before. I could only guess that she bet Hounds but his money was on the 3-headed dog Cerberus that guards the Gates of Hell, because no mortal hound should be able to make that much noise.

So, needless to say I ponied up Free Delivery on the piece they bought, and pretty much any piece they buy for the rest of the time they live in that house, if they ever want to patronize the Lady with the Loudmouth Dogs again. Then I went home and told my Husband "I met our neighbors out back! They are really nice, they just bought the house in May, I could totally see us hanging out with them, do you think when I drop off their desk I should include some cookies or a bottle of wine, like a welcome-to-the-neighborhood thing?" His response? "That might be a little weird. But you know what they'd probably really appreciate? EARPLUGS." Sigh. Welcome to the Neighborhood!

Bah, Hum-Blog!

I know that's what a lot of you are probably saying, if you even bother to check the Blog anymore... I'm Really Sorry!! Things got away from me a bit in the madness that is the Retail Christmas Season. I think maybe making all those wreaths zapped my Creative Mojo. Or maybe it was that if I heard one more Christmas Song I was going to throttle someone. The Good News is I'm fresh from a Christmas Getaway with my batteries fully recharged and ready to get back to work. Don't Worry, I'm not going to do anything Drastic like make a New Year's Resolution to Blog every day... even I know THAT'S not gonna happen.