Today I officially started the biggest project of my life (again!). My new boutique opens in twelve short weeks and everyone in the Red Velvet family is hard at work making it come to life. This project is so special to me. I'm thankful, inspired, overwhelmed and so excited.
I am normally very private about my projects until they are ready to release, but I've decided to share peeks at the entire process here on my blog this time. I'm looking forward to sharing a little bit of the craziness that goes into starting a new business like this. It's insane!
Step 1: Treasure hunting. We purchased a large fully stocked vintage store for our next location. There are tens of thousands of items in the building. One of the first steps is to go through every single rack of clothing, shelf, pile and box. There's SO much stuff and we want to revamp the space and make it our own. It will take a long time, but I'm looking forward to sharing the pretty things.
Today we started collecting items to photograph this weekend. We're doing a blog party (a REAL one with 12+ inspiring posts!!) and huge shop update on Monday. The update will be in the afternoon and will include lots of pretty dresses, accessories and housewares… Oh, and a few handmade items like my instant photo stickers and a new print! I love photo shoots and can't wait to work on them all weekend.
Here's a fun photo that Mr. Larson took of me today. Sorry if anyone is creeped out by mannequins. I think they are so beautiful and I can't wait to give them cute wigs, glasses, dresses and headphones. I have always had a thing for vintage mannequins. I love the ones with mod makeup and eyelashes.
I'll share lots more photos this weekend! XO.
39 Comments
How exciting! I’m looking forward to hearing about all these changes in the next few months 🙂
Kam
eeee! 🙂
Congrats on your new project!!!
It is always interesting reading about others journeys.
Argh!!! that’s a GREAT shot! 🙂
ELSIE
I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU
SO EXCITED FOR YOU
this is like something that i would love to do, and something i would always love to say i would do and probably never do it, but here you are DOING IT.
you are soo inspiring.
you make me want to come visit missouri reallly bad. just to visit your store. i hope i can soon!
until then, please, yes, keep us updated with what is going on! i am soo excited for you! <3
You rock girl, good luck with your new adventure 🙂 Xoxo
can’t wait to see the other photos!good luck!
a smile from italy
justine
Oh wow congrats! Can’t wait too see more!
LOVE the mannequin photo.
i am absolutely in LOVE with the photo. its gorgeous.
AHHHHHHHHH ELSIE!
I’m so incredibly excited.
My best friend and I are definitely making a roadtrip to your new show when it opens up in October! Until then, we’ll be seeing you in Chicago next month 🙂
so excited for you, elsie!!!
this shot is amazing, can’t wait to see more! thanks for sharing this project with us.
and happy weekend!
Your new venture sounds so exciting! I’m looking forward to seeing how it progresses, thankyou for letting us in on the process too, I can completely understand why normally you’d keep things under wraps.
Love the blog, you are a true inspiration
PS. I can kinda seen why you like the mannequins…but I’m still not convinced! 😉
i am so excited for you! i can’t wait to see peeks along the way. a few months ago my friend and i talked about opening a store with handmade vintage and cupcakes (in ontario). we thought it was a fantastic idea and i’m glad you guys do too! great minds think alike, hehe. our project is on hold indefinitely but i’m so happy for you girls!
♥elycia
oh and i forgot to ask: are all of those fans from your store? i have been searching high and low for a vintage fan of my own. i wish i lived closer.
♥elycia
this whole adventure is truly amazing…i am so excited for you and thrilled you are going to share with us all that you are doing!
ps. i LOVE vintage mannequins. sorta creepy but really pretty!
WOW! Looks like a daunting but thrilling task! I can’t imagine what you will find! Would love to “volunteer” my time to help! LOL
wow! how fun! can’t wait to track all the steps of the process.
sue 🙂
they are a little creepy when naked, but i’m sure they’ll be gorgeous after you dress them! 🙂
i can’t wait to see what you do with the space!!! thanks for sharing the setting-up process. it’ll be really fun to see everything coming together.
mr larson should really think about being a Part time for fun photographer. some of the pictures i have seen that hes taken are so much better than my photo professors portfolio!
xoxo
Erica
Wow, how exciting to be able to root through a whole heap of amazing vintage stuff! I can’t wait to see pics ♥ ♥
woah! you are going to be so busy. I hope everything goes well! ummm, I don’t mean to be rude but I payed for your retro beauty school about five days back and we still haven’t heard anything. don’t worry as I know you’ve been away and your are going to be super busy it’s just my dad is starting to get cranky and I don’t want him to complain hehe 😛 thanks and sorry if I sound grumpy or rude xo
Those photos are amazing! I am so happy for you and here when ever you need extra help 🙂 Please come back soon… with Emma
i went treasure hunting with my girls yesterday (that is what we call it when we go thrifting!)
congrats on the new boutique, this is very exciting!! i hope someday i’ll be able to visit it 🙂
hahaha – love both of these pictures!
thank you so much for sharing this journey with all of us readers! It is my dream to one day have a craft studio open to the public/ a boutique/ a coffe shop 🙂 that’s a lot all mixed together but i dream big! I’m so excited to be able to watch the process of you and your sister making your dream shop happen! and yay for cupcakes!!!!!!!!!!
Can’t waitttttt!
Wowee!! This is so exciting!!!!
Can’t wait to see how it unfolds
All the best,
Talia Christine
http://taliachristine.blogspot.com
That sounds like so much fun! I would love to dig through a building packed with vintage.
A fully stocked, vintage store of your own to plow through sounds like a dream! 🙂 I wanted to let you know that I borrowed your fan photo for my blog, it links back to A Beautiful Mess. I hope you dont mind, it fit perfectly into today’s post.
it’s so nice of you to take us along on the journey! can’t wait to read your posts and see the photos!
the mannequins photo is FABULOUS. i really love that shot. nice work mr. larson!
I really really wanna visit your shop!
Wow! Your new place looks wonderful. 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing this process on your blog. I plan to open a retail business in the next few years with my partner, so a peek into this process will be very helpful. My partner is a tattoo artist, and we want to combine that business with the retail one. *Keeping our fingers crossed.* Anyhow, can’t wait to see more of your adventures! 🙂
Can’t wait to see!!
Congratulations, Elsie! I can totally see why you’re so excited, The Style was amazing, and I’m positive you will make that space even MORE amazing. I can’t wait to see the store when it opens…and have a cupcake. 🙂 Oh, and I think the mannequins are beautiful!
I painted a mannequin for one of Undergrad study projects.
She turned out gorgeous.
I only painted the torso of her, but I have some seriously gorgeous plans for her legs, and plan to make a table out of it to use in My senior exhibition!
SO EXCITING
Your new shop is going to be breath taking
xoxo
bB
Elsie, I’m sooo happy for you! You lucky, lucky girl! I adore the last mannequin photo. I can’t wait to see everything! You are so inspiring! I just checked out your sisters blog and I think I’m in love with it too. I’m just starting to cook, and i’m super excited to try some of her stuff.
so excited to see the sneak peaks! I am super excited for you and this next chapter of Red Velvet! I can’t wait until your shop opens and I can take a road trip down there!!