by Barbra G.
(Vancouver, Canada)
I have often thought about hosting a trunk show in my home. Thanks everyone for all the great tips.
My question is.. how do you set up your space to make it visually attractive? Should you keep all the jewelry displays confined to one room? Or does it work out well if you spread out your displays in other areas of your house?
I have an open concept living/dining room area so I know that’s not a problem but what about in the kitchen or a bedroom so there is more space for people to move around in?
I like the idea of people being able to walk about freely without being congested and crowded into one room. I think it would be nice if there was still space for people to sit to leisurely to eat and drink their wine while contemplating their purchases.
Barbra G.
Hi Barbara, I like your idea of leaving space for people to sit leisurely while contemplating their purchases.
If you decide to spread out into more than one room, here some things to consider:
It might be a good idea to have helpers who can be stationed in the other jewelry rooms, answering questions, helping guests shop, and keeping an eye on things.
If any of the guests are people you don’t know personally, would you feel comfortable with them wandering through other rooms of your house to see all of the displayed jewelry?
It would be a good idea to make sure that guests know there’s more jewelry in other rooms, so they won’t think that what they see in the living/dining room is all there is.
Each room where you display jewelry should have good lighting, plus mirrors for people to try on jewelry or hold it up next to their faces.
It’s usually easier to sell jewelry when you interact with party guests, but if they’re in other rooms that would be difficult.
And this may sound silly, but it would be a factor for me – with food and drinks, guests may accidentally leave crumbs, spills, etc. in the other rooms.
I would totally have helpers in the other rooms!
Hi Barbra,
I agree with Rena on this one. I think all your jewellery should be in the one area. You can place it on different surfaces or even exchange the pictures on your walls temporarily with a framed display of your work so that it is not just on a table or single surface.
You could also set up another table slightly away from the first (if you have room) with more stock on that. Remember to have good flow through the areas too.
Some ideas I have tried in the past include various levels and themed displays such as rocks or driftwood for sea colours, black & white’s for more elegant pieces and so on…
Christmas lights placed around the table also works well highlighting some of your sparkly pieces.
I have also seen someone use some of those display crystals (for vases) that you can buy in dollar stores spread in a wavy pattern around the table with jewellery spread amongst it – was very eye catching.
I hope this helps. Best of luck with your party.
Linda
I agree with Rena. I recently had a home show at my sister’s house and placed all of my displays in the kitchen which opens up to the dining room. The two spaces were situated to indicate what the spaces are used for. Since it was an open house this provided people time to visit and buy and was less congested.
This week I I’ll have a home show at our home. The space that we live in at this time is much smaller so all of the space will be one and it will be interesting to see how the flow works.
I do a show out of my home 3 times a year and since my whole house is basically a studio, my living room is setup for my home shows. It is an L-shape setup; I have 3 long tables – 2 next to each other in front of my window and 1 on the other side of the room near my patio door; always plenty of natural light. I also have 2-3 level displays which I sit towards the back of the table to give height to my necklace stands and I have space in front for my other jewelry stands. My table on the other side of the room is set up with my fused glass artwork and fused glass pendants — I also have my bracelet stand, watch stand and earring stand on this table. It is all basically in an L-shape so people have room to move around. I find that this works for me and hopefully, will work for someone else.
Totally agree with Rena. A friend of mine and me try to do a home show about twice a year and we always strive to place our tables to one area of the home that flows into another. This helps contain every aspect of the show.
Thank you Rena and ladies for responding to my question re: Trunk show in my home. Rena, you are so right about trying to keep the jewelry to one area. I never thought about leaving the jewelry unattended in another room, that would definitely be a concern if there were strangers in my home. Thank you ladies for all the great tips! Linda Finnie your suggestion re: the crystals sounds like a great idea! I bet it looked beautiful!
You are very Welcome Barbra, glad to be of help