New Blog & Website!

Today's the day! We've moved our blog to a new URL. Please visit us here, and please be sure to bookmark our new blog site for future visits. Our blog is now called Lettres from The Blissful, and as you will see, we've re-styled a few things! The blog you are currently reading will remain active and will serve as our archives.

Also, when you have a moment, please stop by our new website at theblissful.com! As anybody who has created one knows, designing and building a website is a labor of love. I am so pleased to make its debut.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to visiting with you on our new sites!

No Longer Under Wraps

Waiting for the moment when everything will be unveiled!

I admit it. We've been savoring a secret around here. It's been a little tough to keep under wraps. And today, after many, many months of dreaming, planning, and behind-the-scenes work, today is the time to debut it.

Many of our local customers may have caught the item about our shop in Diana Rossetti's Boldface column in yesterday's Canton Repository (click on the highlighted link above, then scroll all the way down to the bottom to read about us under Omnium-Gatherums).

While the final touches are still being prepped for our Big Reveal ("officially" scheduled for October 1st), I think now's a good time to bring you all into the loop!

As we approach the anniversary of the opening of our brick-and-mortar location here in Jackson Township, we are simplifying the shop's name. As of October 1st, the shop you have known as The Blissful Home will now be called, simply, THE BLISSFUL. Our new tagline, French-Inspired Finds & Furnishings, completes the package. As you know, I frequently refer to the shop in print as The Blissful. Now we are "officially" simplifying for two reasons: 1) to better reflect our Euro sensibility (with the new tagline), and (2) to better reflect the breadth of our offerings. Our scope stretches way beyond the home; not only do we offer accent furniture, art, lighting, mirrors, and home accessories, but we also have an array of apothecary, candles, jewelry, stationery, gourmet products, unique gifts, and ladies' apparel and accessories. THE BLISSFUL reflects our lifestyle approach to appointing your home and yourself.

Over the next few weeks, watch for our chic new storefront signage to be installed, as well as our new sign on the corner of Fulton and Dressler. Our gorgeous new website will go live on October 1st at http://www.theblissful.com/. There's nothing there yet, but please bookmark us for future visits! (For all of you who have asked, we are adding online commerce in January.) In addition, our blog (which you are currently reading) will be re-styled and make its home at a new URL, to be announced in about a week. Check back here for one last post, which will lead you to the new URL. The blog site you are currently reading will remain active and serve as our archives.

Local customers, please watch your mailbox in October for a personal invitation to THE BLISSFUL Unveiling & A French-Inspired Noel. This weekend soirée will feature shopping promotions, gourmet food and drink, and of course all of our wonderful holiday decorations and new finds perfect for gift-giving or for keeping! Please save these dates: Thursday, Nov. 1st, Friday, Nov. 2nd, and Saturday, Nov. 3rd, during regular store hours. Watch for our next post!

We're Going to the Fair!

I love fairs! Love almost everything about them: from the temperate weather of early autumn in which they're usually held to the people-watching to the fair fries and caramel apples...the ones with nuts. There is something about an outdoor festival that brings people of all ages and types together. The air buzzes with a feeling of community spirit, and whenever I can be, I'm right along for the ride. If there's a carousel around, I'm probably riding that, too.
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On Sunday, September 30th, I'll venture for the very first time to The Country Living Fair, sponsored by the beautiful and always inspiring magazine of the same name (maybe you've heard of it? :)) This year, the Fair will be held in Morrow, Ohio, at The Workshops of David T. Smith from Friday, September 28th through Sunday the 30th. Over a hundred artisans and craftspeople will show and sell their specialty wares while visitors wend their way through booths and stands chock full of the best of what's around. Among them will be our friends and fellow shop owners Kara and Darcy from the "petite department store" in Greenville, Ohio, McMaster & Storm. Perhaps next year The Blissful will be persuaded to set up a booth of our own!
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Making the trip with me will be my new, dear friend Rebecca, a designer with an eye for detail like nobody's business. What a pair we'll be: a designer and a boutique owner together at The Country Living Fair! You can bet we'll be lavishing in all of autumn's splendor and the creative handiwork of all the artists. I'll be taking my camera and will be sure to report back on the blog in full-color detail.
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Stay tuned!

Photo courtesy of CountryLiving.com

Welcome to Autumn

Our much-loved French Doormats are back, this time in spiced-up colors for fall.

Sorry to all of you hot weather lovers out there, but we are so over summer here at The Blissful! We're fall and winter weather people anyway, and we love how these shorter, slightly crisper autumnal days make us feel like nesting. How about you?

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New arrivals are showing up weekly as we make Le Grand Slide into autumn and [gulp] winter goods. Don't worry--we're not rushing things. Come in and see our new soy candle line (in chic, chunky boxes complete with matches!), our Bibliotheque Bangle bracelets, beaded candelabra, and extra large 2008 wall calendars by Cavallini & Co., among lots of other great finds.
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Much, much more is in store, as I've got a storage room, a warehouse, and a living room, dining room, and basement full of boxes. All of the contents will make their way into the store between now and December...there's only so much we can pack in each week!

P.S. If you are in need of a beautiful fall scarf, stay tuned, because we've got a new shipment in that hasn't yet made its way onto the sales floor.

Enjoy the good sleeping weather!

A Plethora of Sid

Look carefully at the reflection in the mirror...they're baa-aack!

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Our much-awaited large shipment of Sid Dickens Memory Blocks has arrrived! The newest collection for Fall/Holiday 2007 will arrive in the shop in October. We can't wait to see the new ones, either!

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As our local customers know, we sell right off the wall, but often we will sell out of a particular Block and need to order it for you. In a few weeks, we will issue a "last call" for orders that need to be delivered in time for Christmas, in the likely event that we will sell out of certain styles. Order now to be sure you receive the ones you want to give as Christmas gifts! Your requests can be reserved with a 50% deposit.

Make Way for Autumn

Yesterday we traveled down to Columbus for another visit to our regional tradeshow. As I have shared before on this blog, we don't shop this market frequently, nor do we buy deeply from its offerings. The predominant 'look' purveyed in most of the showrooms is not quite us. However, we do consistently buy from a couple of them, so we make our way down two or three times a year to take a peek at what's new.

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And are we ever glad we went yesterday! We picked up a new tabletop collection for fall/winter, spied out a second one we may decide to bring in, put in our fall/winter VOTIVO order (yes, we will be carrying Christmas Sage and Joie de Noel in their ready-to-gift holiday packaging, as well as Gingerbread in a holiday-ish chocolate brown box). But our best score of the show was a fabulously well-made, perfectly on-trend, and ridiculously well-priced ladies' accessories line which I am keeping under wraps until it shows up in the store. I have to confess that I didn't think a line like this would ever turn up at the Columbus show...or maybe I underestimated the Columbus show! It's fun to find new things to offer, and nice and convenient when you can see them in person without having to get on a plane.

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In addition, for all of you who have complimented the "5" necklace I wear very often, we are now offering two other styles from the same collection, both of them with 5's. Come in and see!

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And one last thing: our big fall shipment of Sid Dickens Memory Blocks is due to arrive this week, while smaller shipments will arrive periodically throughout the fall. This is our grand attempt to stay well-stocked through the holidays. Please keep in mind that this is one of our most popular collections, and we tend to go from well-stocked to spotty rather quickly. If you have your heart set on some particular styles, I recommend you reserve them now with a 50% deposit rather than take a chance. The second Retiring list has been released, so stop in to see which Blocks will soon become collectors' items (read: once we are sold out of the Retiring blocks, we will not be getting more, as they will no longer be in production after December 1st).

We've Finally Arrived

The day before yesterday, I received in the mail for the first time an invitation to the Maison et Objet show in Paris! Now mind you, they got my name from a list of retailers somewhere, undoubtedly because I am registered for some of the domestic tradeshows. But still. The thought of me being included on this list, period, was a little thrill, one that I wanted to share. I am still new enough at this shop owning thing to stand back and say to myself, "Wow. I'm a shop owner." Three years ago, doing anything retail-related was so far out of the realm of anything I ever expected to do with my life that it's funny. I mean, I never meant to do this. And here I am, loving (almost) every minute of it.

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The almost part is the one exception I have to make for a couple months back when, moving a heavy box in our storage room, my shoulder accidentally nudged our fire extinguisher off of its wall mount, deploying the thing and sending pungent-tasting (yes, I forgot to close my mouth for the first five seconds or so) white powder flying all over our storage room, our boxes of merchandise, our window treatments, and...all over me. Of course. It was real fun cleaning that up.

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And so, thanks to a glossy little leaflet that arrived in my mailbox straight from France, I feel, this week, that I've finally arrived.