Burn Boutique

**Lets start off by saying this post is long overdue, many reading this will be thinking this is old news. I cant believe I didn't schedule this blog post out ahead of time like I had every intention of doing. **

For many years it has been a dream of mine to own a clothing boutique. I always assumed this would not be something I could do until much later in life. However for the past several years I have been buying the majority of my clothes at online boutiques. It quickly became clear to me that this was they way I needed to accomplish this goal and it would allow me to do it much sooner. So a couple weeks ago I launched my own online clothing boutique, Burn Boutique . Today I am going to do an overview of the launch process and how I got it all started.

Again this is something I had been dropping hints and talking to my husband about for a couple years, it had been in my head much longer. But at the end of 2015 I talked to him about finally taking that leap to get it started at the beginning of 2016 and he agreed. I based this around the market buying schedule, knowing there would be an apparel buying market in Dallas at the end of January.

So after the holidays, once January 1st came around I started all the preparations to get the store going. I got the proper permits and license, picked a website host, got shipping supplies, etc. Then at the end of January it was time to shop for the actual clothing. My sister and I attended the Dallas Apparel Market together to buy all the merchandise. You can view our short vlog on shopping market below.

The first time shopping at market was super overwhelming. So overwhelming we actually found it tough to find enough things we wanted to buy, which was the opposite of my concerns going into it. After about 8 hours of shopping the first day our feet hurt so bad and we were so tired we knew we needed to call it a day. I went back the next day myself and purchased several more items. The final few items I purchased from the vendors websites. I am hopeful that next market trip will be a little easier.

 Photo shoot behind the scenes- Maddy wearing the Tie Dyed Pink Dress

Photo shoot Behind the Scenes I am wearing the Crochet Maxi

About a week after market all the clothes I ordered began to arrive. Once everything was in I added them to the website and set up a photo shoot with Lindsey Davenport Photography. Lindsey is now a local Dallas photographer but I met her back in New Mexico when she photographed my best friends wedding. Our photo shoot went so well, Lindsey is such a joy to work with. We shot the pictures in downtown McKinney which was so fun it has the cutest atmosphere. At the time of the photo shoot I had everything else all set for launch all I needed was the photos back, to drop them in the website and we were ready to go. So a couple days later when Lindsey sent them to me it was go time.

 The Minty Necklace and The Striped to Perfection Dress

 The Mochachino Kimono and the Shooting Stars Necklace

I launched the store on a Thursday and that weekend I was blown away by the sales that came in. A couple days before launch I posted a picture on instagram of our custom New Mexico Love shirts, there was so much excitement on social media about the shirts that by the time we launched they sold out in a couple of hours. (We ordered the second batch on day 2) That alone was such a blessing and better then I could have even imagined. The last couple weeks for the store have been great and I cant wait to see what many more will bring.

I feel so grateful and happy actually going after my dreams and seeing them unfold in front of me, I cant wait to see what weeks, months, and years of more hard work will bring. Right now I am still working at my job full time while I see where this takes me, it is not my plan to quit anytime soon.

I will be sure do more updates on the store and possibly a Q&A for those interested since I have gotten alot of questions.

Follow the Boutique: 
Website: http://www.burnboutique.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopburnboutique/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Burnboutique/

Dining Room Before and After

As I mentioned a while back, we moved into our new house in December and have since been trying to tackle one project at a time. While there was nothing major that needed to be renovated for us to comfortably live in our home there is still plenty of small things we wanted to accomplish to make the place "ours", a couple weeks ago I shared the first of those small projects, our coffee bar in the kitchen.

Aside from lots of painting the next project area we took on was the dining space. The previous owners of the home actually didn't use it as a dining room they just used it as an extension of the living room and an office space. When we moved in we were very interested in using it as a "formal dining room" so there were a couple projects to tackle to get it there.

What we did to this room were, first paint. The walls were previously brown, we painted them a light neutral grey, Repose Gray by Sherwin Williams . We actually used this color throughout a large portion of our house and we love it. Second we installed blinds in the window, for some reason there weren't any when we moved in and that window looked directly into the neighbors home. Third we installed a new chandelier style light fixture in the center and then brought in a brand new dining set.

The light and table expressed the look we were going for in our home and really pulled the room together. We are thrilled with both. Here are the before and after pictures in three phases: first the online pictures from how the previous owners had it, second mid paint, third the end product. I hope you enjoy

Online Photos from Previous Owner

During Painting Process

After

Find the look: 
Paint: Repose Gray- Sherwin Williams 
Light Fixture: Lowes 
Dining Table w/ 4 Chairs: Nebraska Furniture Mart
Captains Chairs: At Home (no longer available)