Quick Layout

Bad picture, but here is one of our layouts that we worked on about 2 months ago.  Both sides of the store are pretty much still the same though the middle is changing somewhat, but the display merchandising is an evolving art and our style is to create it in the moment.  Lisa works best when she's in the space and telling me what to move and where.  Very much like our personal life too. ;)  Sorry for the poor photo quality.

More Furniture

The fun part is going to be blending all of the different styles of furniture into a "feel".  I think we can do it with all of the beautiful pieces that we have.  The koa cases cleanup really nicely, two days of work but worth it.  The large square cases have their first coat of gold paint and today I'll put on two more coats.  In the photo with the Asian screens is our wrap desk.  The last image of the large black case with gold accents will be where we display most of our ceramic vessels; Wishkeepers.

Oh and by the way, I have been living on straight coffee for the last couple of weeks.  Living Foods makes the best Americano and their sticky buns, coconut macaroons, and chocolate chip cookies are some of the best that I have ever tasted.  The coconut macaroons taste almost as good as my late Gramma Dolly's and it takes me back to when I was 10 years old, spending my summer months up in Maine.  She would let me pilot our little boat around Flander's pond and would fill me up on coconut macaroons and peanut butter fluff sandwiches; all I could eat.  Could a kid ask for anything more?  She was the best.

Moving in some furniture

Galleries with built in walls covered in carpet is out.  Our concept is to have a gallery/boutique that has more real furniture.  Something that you might find in a resort or very nice home on the islands.  Place the paintings directly on the wall as if it was in your home.  A lot of our furniture pieces will be made from Hawaiian Koa.  We were lucky to have some beautiful cases from Marty and Carole's private collection for use.  They are the best.

Some of the other furniture has been bought new, and the "best" stuff is from Island Liquidators.  Shhhhhhh.  Keep that a secret, they have some of the best resort pieces, and the more banged up the better they look.  Lived in looks best in my opinion.

You can get an idea as to the colors of the store with some of the furniture to view so see for yourself.

Track lights are in today

Track lights will be in today.  The great guys, Chris and Derrick at Ken Wheatley; Wheatley Electric Inc. in Hanapepe have done an awesome job!  These guys even mopped my floor after working on it on Friday before they left.  Oh, reminds me I gotta treat them to lunch!

I highly recommend Ken and his crew if you need electrical done right and professionally.

Ken  Wheatley
335-3777

Signage

Here are a couple of signs that we are working on. The goal is to have a sign that pops visually, is clean and easy to read, and uses some of our colors from inside the store. We did not want a bamboo font. Horrible!

A sign that has a Hawaiian plantation feel, with a little Asian thrown in.  The top sign is our first choice.  The outer border will be a little darker brown, "Collection" in black letters.  Both have that horizontal wood texture.  What do you think?

Sign Art Kauai is making our signs

Yup, every store needs a sign, and ours is gonna be great....I hope.  I really never thought about how much thought must go into making one.  After all it is the first thing that a potential client sees of you, and do you remember what your mom used to say about first impressions?

I have every confidence in Sign Art to give me a strong yet elegant expression of our gallery. However if our sign is junk, then the only person I have to blame is me.  My thought is simplicity is best and use the colors of the store on the sign for flow.  Any ideas?  You can post or email me.  Here is SIGN arts info:

Dawn Lagundino

General Manager

WE'VE MOVED!  NEW ADDRESS BELOW!

SIGN art

3-3586 Kuhio Hwy., Suite 2

Lihue, HI 96766

Phone:  (808) 246-6812

Fax:  (808) 245-8797

Email:  dawn@signartkauai.com

www.signartkauai.com

www.twitter.com/signartkauai

Primed the Walls

Just primed the walls and had the primer tinted tan color so the final coats will cover easier.  This is the primer and the final coat is a little more lighter tan.  The floor also needs another coat of stain, but since it was the weekend and the Tsunami watch/scare had some stores close down earlier than usual, so I was unable to secure more stain in time.  Most of the time you want your floor completely done and sealed before painting.  At least that is the way I wanted to do it.  I'm using Masons Select stain and go it from Puhi Paint. Ron and Ron and the other guys are great. 

Puhi Paint across the intersection from Kauai Community College  4490 Puhi Road Lihue, HI 96766-8922 - (808) 246-8828
 
So today, Monday I'll finish the priming, stain the floor one more time and try and get the back room primed as well.  Not enough time in 24 hours.  Oh well, just keep plugging away with a smile.

Red Red Red

Here is the first coat of red over a grey primer. We had Barbara Cameron come and help us finalize the red, she is a great interior designer.  Her design studio is Yochi Interiors in Lihue on Akahi Street, same side as Tip Top.  She is also a LEED accredited designer, and you can check out her site below.

yochiinteriors.com

The red wall will take about 3 coats of red to get the desired tones.  Take a look and see what you think.  You can see the brush marks and the top of the picture where the color is a little darker.  We are going for darker.

Bubba's Burgers

Ok, I don't normally eat hamburger so don't tell Lisa.  Shhhhh, she thinks I'm a vegan, vegetarian, fish-aterian.  John at Bubba's was very friendly and if you start reading all the bumper stickers above the grill, which was right in front of us as we sat at the bar, you will get a small look at what is probably a guy with a great sense of humor.  I will test this observation as I frequent Bubba's more.  The staff was great and easy on the eyes too, but I think this last bit is part of John's master plan.

There is a picture from a magazine of Robert Downey Jr. who is quoted as saying, "Bubba's Burgers are the best on the planet!" or something like that.  Don't quote my quote.  For the record I had a deluxe Terriyaki burger and I would have it again.  I think as I work here and try the food from all the great eateries, I'll start posting my thoughts on what I try, and I will try everything.

bubbaburger.com

You are lucky if you have a friend like Renato

You are lucky if you have a dummy friend lucky my buddy Renato.  He works full time running his own family business, is a very involved dad, good husband (by another man's observations, but this hasn't been officially confirmed) and helps me in all his free time.  You would be considered very blessed to have a friend like this in your life.

Ok, enough brown nosing Renato, get to work, while I go get a bite to eat.   This picture shows the great cleaning and sanding this floor scraper is doing on the concrete.  We had two going at the same time so it made pretty quick work.  Check out Renato and Marjories's store at Kukui'ula Village at this link; palmpalmhawaii.com best store in the Village, until we open up ;)

Cleaning Up and preparing for the week

Aloha!  Hope you all had a great weekend?  Worked a little on the store this weekend.  Vacuumed all the dust and dirt off the floor and taped off most edges with blue painters tape.  Sorry most of this is boring until we start painting and bringing in furniture and stock.

The floor is really dirty.  It has a patina from all the red dirt and rain that sat on the concrete for so long from the construction phase.  I think I'm going to really have to scrub the floor with a powered floor scrubber if that's what you call the machine.  This is what I'll do, I will take a before and after of every project that I work on so you can see the difference.  That should be fun to see and be quite rewarding for me.

Here is a picture of the inside of the store looking out to the front of the store where all the wonderful clients, customers and friends will walk through to see us.  So tomorrow off to  The Home Depot to rent a floor machine and get to scrubbing.

Oh and on a side note, ate two pizzas at Merriman's Cafe last night and they were both very delicious.  Even the kids pasta was amazingly good.  Here's a link www.merrimanshawaii.com

Front doors opened for our first time

Opening store for the first time

We got our Keys!!!

Really is there anything more that I need to say.  Thank you Cheryl, Robert, Michael, and Karen you know who you are.  The clock starts here, so in 45 days, I think that makes it to April 4th.  I'm going to shoot to be open April 1st if we can get lights ordered, shipped and up in time.  Here are some pics below of the back door, Lisa and I opening our store for the very first time.  Lisa opening the front french doors and a panoramic of the front.  Today, I start cleaning the inside!

All the background stuff and a fun adventure!

Aloha!  Happy belated President's day!  In the process of opening the store all the background stuff has been going on even before we get the key.  Big things, insurance (all kinds, for any potentiality),  the dba with state of Hawaii from The Country Store to dba Red Bamboo Collection.  I secured the domain name www.redbamboocollection.com so its floating around the cosmos without any substance yet, but I'll let you know as that comes online.

We have found and purchased all of the store furniture and fixtures that will help ground the store with the feel that we want.   I guess the best way to define our style would be Hawaiian/Asian plantation style.  We are going for a relaxed warm feel, with rugs and simple clean furnishings.  Some of the furniture is being made by me and other pieces reconditioned and some beautiful koa furnishings as well.  I'll post some picks for you soon.  I'll leave the colors as a surprise but it'll be warm and clean.

Today Lisa and I are going to the meet and greet/tour at Living Foods Market and Cafe at Kukui'ula Village today at 4 p.m.  Very excited and should be fun getting to meet all the wonderful people that will become our partners in this great adventure.  See some of you there! Oh and feel free to post, ask questions or give advice.

Below is a link to an article on Living Foods Market and Cafe and to the official Kukui'ula Village website;

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2009/12/28/daily26.html

www.kukuiulavillage.com

We got our Lease!

Aloha to anyone who's reading this.  Lisa and I are opening up our new gift gallery in about 45 days including moving out of the old store.  Yes I said 45 days.  Most likely we will go over the 45 days but that's our scheduled opening date, but nothing official yet.

Here is a link to the official website www.kukuiulavillage.com