Horrified

Was watching HGTV (I thought I never watch those kind of shows, but apparently I do - once in a while!) yesterday while putting away groceries.

Here's what I saw - a room makeover for a young girl. She hated her country-style bookcase, she's a more modern young thing.

So the decorator paints out the bookcase, so far so good, right? WRONG! The decorator didn't even scuff sand the old finish, much less prime out the piece, before applying hip red paint. Guess what? That trendy red is going to look tacky in no time. The poor kid can end up scratching the paint simply by dragging a book across the surface. What happens if she accidentally bangs into the corner of it? She may even be able to PEEL off the paint in large strips if she sees a tempting corner just waiting for her bored little fingers to give a tug.

It will take SOOOOOOO much more work to strip the entire piece, prime it, then repaint it. I lay money that it would never happen, instead it will just sit there looking crappy until it gets junked.

Why put so much work into transforming a space but take stupid shortcuts?

Maybe "horrified" is too strong a word, but I felt bad about the stupidness of it all. And the fact that people will see this episode and think they can do it that way, too.

Bellevue Research

I went out last week to start looking at neighborhoods for relocating our Bellevue store... It's pretty clear to me that we want to be in Bellvue proper - and I think we need to be near Bel-Red Road or near the 124th street exit off 520.

Keep your eyes peeled! I know I am.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes (say this like your are David Bowie)

There is an old saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I think about that sometimes as I drive through the neighborhood where our Seattle store is located.

I grew up less than a mile away from here, so I've witnessed a lifetime of evolution and change of this locale. I remember when walk/don't walk lights were installed on 45th street in Wallingford. I wrote my first check at Fuji's 5 and Dime (and I remember contemplating the idea of stealing a piece of candy there, too! Never could, never did. But I remember entertaining the thought...)

Stone Way Avenue is evolving. So many more residential units are being built on upper Stone. My business partner Herb recalls hanging off the end of the trolley on his skates and getting a ride up the street when he was a kid.

So things change. Others never seem to. Like our store being on this same corner since forever.

It looks like Daly's will be making some changes in Bellevue. The downtown core had transformed to a point where the rent is almost doubling. Wow. Who'd have thought?

Daly's has been on the same street (although 3 different addresses) since 1961. When we moved in to Bellevue, the Evergreen Floating Bridge wasn't even built, yet. Bellevue Square was a small outdoor mall. There were 5 paint outlets within that many blocks.

Change is good. The more we flex and adapt, the better we are at keeping up with the times. Small changes are easier than large ones.

So, we are going to get serious about finding a new home for our Bellevue shop. Ironically, even with all the annoying construction and traffic - we've have some great business in Bellevue.

The adventure continues....

... By The Way

Last week I was wondering how all these people would fit into the Colori Chicago paint store for the "Colori Me Red" party... We fit!

I would say there was about 150 colorful people who showed up; luckily they didn't all show up at the same time.

Life/Work Balance

I'm getting ready to go home - my daughter is sick today, and my husband pulled the morning shift - I get the afternoon.

Last week, my son was out on Wednesday (thus was I) and then I was off to Chicago for Thursday and Friday for C2 Paint work. Somewhere in there I need to squeeze Daly's work, too!