little bitty girl

Silence from me. What's going on, you ask? What is NOT going on, should be the better question.

About a month or so ago, I implied how I was going a little mental but I didn't explain why. Call me superstitious but I really don't like talking about "big" decisions until I've actually decided and done the thing I've decided to do. Like my marriage. I feel like if you say anything before, you might actually jinx it.

I was more than half way through my first year of business when I suddenly realized that I had outgrown the space I was working out of. I had basically been fortunate enough to work out of Stefan's office. I was offered a couple of new lines that came highly recommended by friends in the industry and all of sudden, I felt like Alice in Wonderland, grown too big and everything around was tiny.

Then came the hard decision of actually making the leap of faith of leasing an actual space of my own. It's funny how in my personal life, I am so easy going and free spirited about things while professionally, I tend to be very serious and (dare we say it?) anal about details.

"It's not in the business plan," I would wail to Stefan, while decision making. I would go through my plan and point to him where I stated I would expand. "February 2007. It states clearly on page 5, 12, 35 and in the financials that I WOULD NOT expand until then." Stef would just shrug his shoulders and say, "Your business. Your call." And so, I did. I took the plunge.

It's been a pretty painful three weeks of moving. First of all, I absolutely abhor moving. I would rather have pins stuck under my nails and lit on fire. Secondly, I am particular about how things should be done. I am a planner and a visualizer. I plan in my head how things are going to go, I draw things out. NOTHING. WENT. ACCORDING. TO. PLAN. I think God was teaching my anal retentive self that not everything will always go my way. Here's what went wrong -

The ceilings were too high for the racking system that I had previously bought and already purchased more of.

We decided to build a platform. I didn't orginally plan for it and was determined not to have one.

Ikea was out of the legs we needed at all stores in our region. They had some in Calgary, Alberta.

We special ordered legs from a supplier.

The legs were lost in transit.

The racking took so much longer to put up than anticipated.

We went to Ikea 6 times in one week - no hardware, wrong parts, faulty parts, etc.

Here's what went right -

Helping us build, plan and plot the space was not only my fabulous honours Math graduate husband but our equally fabulous, award winning architect friend, Kevin. Both of them spent two hours on the first day calculating every cubic cm of the space to figure out the best solution to maximize my tiny space without taking away the spacious feeling of it. (I actually wanted them to help me assemble my desk at the time but c'est la vie.)

The 'Stolmen' racking that we used actually requires a lot of precision and leveling. It helps to have two individuals who are more particular than me doing that shit.

Kevin used his contacts to order these special legs that we needed to build the platform. It ended up to be a far better solution than the Ikea ones as my floors were a little wonky and these legs had little thingamajigs to help level the platforms.

Oh, the legs were eventually found and hand delivered on time.

I actually ended up needing the platform that I didn't originally want.

The platform actually gives the space a better, more complete look.

Here's a little collage of the process.

I still need to de-Ikea the space with some decorative accent pieces but overall, I am so happy at how it all turned out. Throughout the process, my friends and family have kept me sane and I am so very lucky.