A little bit about my & my business, and why I started my It’s So Chic deluxe Decoupage Papers Line….
Hi I’m Cindy owner and founder of It’s So Chic Interiors….I am a trained and qualified hair dresser and beauty therapist…
I started my business back in 2011, it was called Shabby Chic gifts back then.I had a gift shop within a gazebo travelling to events and festivals with very early starts as I carried so much stock it took me 2 hours to set it up before the start of the event. I did the odd piece of refinished furniture and also had those for sale at the events.
We started to build our own self build home, and going to all the events was taking us away from the build every weekend and was taking its toll so we decided to stop doing them and just concentrate on the furniture.
I had a pitch at the Bath Artisan Market once a month and would take a van full of furniture and come home with nothing. Then working till midnight and gone most nights getting furniture ready for the next market.
I started making reclaimed wood signs and plaques and would sell out of those too.
You may already know that my health isn’t the best and I had about a year where I just wasn’t up to the hard work of furniture upcycling so ventured into selling jewellery….I called it Sassy & Classy Jewellery….I found some fabulous wholesalers and sold some cracking pieces.
I missed doing the furniture so was soon back at it. But this time I decided I would work on a commission bases rather than lugging the furniture to markets.We were about 6 months away from finishing our self build when our present home sold so we rented for 6 months.
While hubby was onto the 2nd fix stage of our build I was either helping with putting up door frame trims and knotting and painting skirting boards etc or working on my furniture getting in the way 😁 I daren’t do it at our rented place as there wasn’t a suitable space.
When we moved in to our new home hubby put his foot down 😃 and wouldn’t let me work inside so the next thing was to install a workshop/studio.
The business thrived with my commissions diary booked up 6 months in advance. Early this year I had a brainwave to start another side to my business and launch It’s So Chic Decoupage Papers.
Following lots of fellow furniture artists and being part of many furniture upcycling groups I could see there was a definite surge for businesses to become more eco conscious.
There are lots of UK based furniture paint businesses but not for quality decoupage papers, most being imported from USA or Australia. The carbon footprint for even just 1 decoupage paper was massive so I set about researching and looking for suppliers within the UK who also ran an eco conscious business that I could work with so I could bring UK decoupage paper to the eco conscious UK based furniture artist….
Launch day was the 5th June and I’m so pleased with how well the designs have been received. I now have 60 different designs available to choose from. Here’s to the future and seeing what you all do with my fabulous papers. 🥰
