pretty plans to pretty reality

So today it finally feels real.

We're expanding!! Up until now it was a pretty plan in my head, I projected the pretty plan into my husband's head and into my staff members' heads.
Step one was give our basement tenants a 4 month notice, so in those 4 months the plans got prettier and prettier. But as with a lot of plans it seemed to just stay a plan.
Then all of a sudden the 4 months were up, and the tenant moved out.
A huge big blank canvas was created when they left and took all their things with them.

How exciting it is to walk down the stairs in the store and see this vast area full of possibilities and imaginary scenery.
Imagine new carpet, imagine new walls, new racks, new desks. Imagine too how organized and grown up we'll feel with an actual beautiful space for our promotional department of the business!

I can hear my husband taking down one more wall as I'm sitting here typing this.
When that last wall is gone we will have almost 2000 square feet to play with.
We can build and create a gorgeous showroom for all our promotional wares. We can even have mannequins dressed in soccer jerseys, or canvas work jackets, or sometimes even gymnastic windsuits! We can have t-shirt ladders, shelves piled high with soft and beautiful coloured hoodies, Racks of bright jerseys, warm winter jackets, fun windbreaker jackets and golfshirts. Shelves with stainless steel mugs and water bottles and all the other items we can do for our customers, a wall full of hats for the guys. Machines purring away contently in the back behind a carefully planned work counter.
All the computers set up just the way we want them, wherever they are handiest and easiest to get to. Staff members bustling around like elves in Santa's shop, creating wonderful embroidery and heatpress work for our customers.
Shelving along the walls, for receiving and sorting shipments of blank garments, and counters for packaging and shipping garments now proudly sporting our customers logos, names or team mascots.

Oh and upstairs on the main floor..... wow, all of a sudden a 1/3 more room for retail. Imagine the pretty plans for that!! A thousand square feet more to fill to the ceiling with fashions and fun. I envision a place where any woman regardless of size, age and taste ,will feel welcome and at ease. Sweaters, tops, dresses, pants, skirts...ahhh sigh!
And purses, purses and more purses, wallets, maybe some journals, some compact mirrors or pillboxes? Which girl doesn't want to open her purse and see beautiful things in it? Funky jewelry, bracelets, earrings and watches. colour coordinated displays with fashions, scarves, belts , purses and jewelry. I can see it now.
Oohhh and shoes and boots!! Such fun we'll have buying to fill the store for this coming winter with boots, leggings, sweaters, dresses and jeans and everything else.
We'll dot some seating areas around here and there, because us girls, we like to sit and rest when we've shopped. And we especially like to sit and watch our friends model the things they took into the much bigger new changerooms we're planning. Display tables, more mannequins?...yeah why not?!

As I hear my wonderfully patient husband hammering down in the basement on a Friday night at 9:30pm of the July Long weekend, it hits me: this is for real! The plans just kicked into action.
A month or six weeks of mess and construction, and the pretty plans will be pretty reality. i can't wait!