“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Home Show

Late nights.
Choose a color.
No, we're not going to do that one.
What do you mean you're not going to make a sample? We've never done this before.
No time for a sample. It won't dry in time.
Some fights.
I don't think I've got enough plaster to cover this much space.
Fans blowing.
Got to get the next layer on.
Brenda's stressing because it doesn't look "good".
Can't help it now, we're out of time.
We were supposed to be there an hour ago.
It will have to do.
Pack it into the trailer and haul it to the show.
Maybe it's time to redesign the booth. This is too much work.
Find our space. Unload. Carpet is too long. What's going on?! Our space is only 18 feet. Our walls are 19' 6" and made of wood. They won't shrink. Talk to the head honcho. Problem solved.
Set it up. Where are the bolts? The colors look different here. Where's the extension cord? Do the lights work? This piece needs a layer of wax, it looks pale. Brenda still doesn't like it. Doesn't look good enough. Well, it's the best we could do. Next year we'll do it better. Start earlier. Do something to "wow" them.


This is our typical pre-home show week. And the list above was edited to fit better on your screen. There are endless details, and we are always scrambling to get things dry in time to take to the show.
The piece Brenda thought was not good enough is the star of the show. (This is not the first time this has happened.) Several people gave us positive feedback. One lady said our walls were far superior to the other 2 faux finish displays. Today the traffic was steady but not overwhelming. After seeing and hearing how people respond when they see our booth we abandoned our thoughts of re-designing it. Every year it's a lot of work, but we'll be back, I'm sure.

2 comments:

Dana said...

I'm so glad it went well!!! I thought about you guys all weekend.

I loved the poetic lines of pre-homeshow chaos. Very creative!!

Florence and Gary Deeter said...

Eric and Brenda,

Thanks for giving us an insight into the pre-game warm-up. The walls were incredibly different from last year. We love watching you talk with prospects.

Love,

Dad