Hey Witches!
HWIC here! It's been a while since I've had a chance to makeover a space and I thought it would be fun to show off the magical transformation of the behind-the-scenes space we call The Sourcery.
This project was important to me for many reasons, practical and personal. As a small business owner (and human) on any given day there are several scarcity-related messages swirling around my brain that I must push back on in order to do my job. Spending money on things that don’t have an immediate or obvious return on their investment is a big challenge for me. Growing up in scarcity, one of the messages I received quite frequently was that the way I spent money was frivolous. When I reflect as an adult, I know that the things I was spending money on were related to self-care, self-expression and gaining knowledge around esoteric subjects. All things deemed unimportant within late-stage capitalism and therefore viewed as foolish and irresponsible. But they were also the things that were actually feeding my soul. They were things that would become the foundation for my business.
What I have learned to do over the years is pause for just a second, breathe and let a feeling of abundance wash over me. I tell myself to trust my intuition, to visualize and feel into the flow of “enough” and the momentum of my growing business. To step into gratitude for the resources that I have available in that moment. To re-pattern my thinking to reflect that despite messages I’ve received throughout my life, I am actually quite responsible with money and have pretty good judgement when it comes to investing in the right ideas and opportunities. My South Node is in Capricorn for goodness sake!
So once a year, as an abundance practice I splurge on a big project for the business. An upgrade that won’t necessarily translate directly into higher sales but will improve the brand over all in some way. One year I redid all the overhead lighting in the shop. The next year I put in our magical hearth Hestia, a fireplace façade with built-in bookshelves. This year it was time for a Sourcery glow up.
The Sourcery is across the street from the shop and its where we pack and ship online orders, make products, store extra inventory, have meetings and eat lunch. It’s also where a few of us management types have our offices. In late 2020 we upgraded to a much bigger space, literally just upstairs from the first one. It’s about twice the size, with high ceilings and 10 huge windows that provide ample sunbeams. It was a real game changer when we moved in and it felt completely luxurious even with hand-me-down furniture and an overwhelming amount of grey.
Since we were right in the (early) middle of the pandemic it was hard to spend money on anything that wasn’t completely essential to the business. Even though HausWitch remained relatively healthy, (both physically and financially) throughout the pandemic, no one really knew what would happen next, so I was keeping my wallet CLOSED. I spent only what was necessary to make the new space functional. Cue sad "Before" Photo:
A year later and the new Sourcery has served us so well that I decided it was time to really commit. I started planning in December, knowing January would be a nice slow month to transform the space. I made a Pinterest board, started reaching out to friends for help, and most importantly I bought a vinate leopard-print sofa for my office and named it Cheetarah. (Shout out Retro Warehouse!)
Now that I was sharing my office with Cheetarah we needed to re-arrange the furniture to accommodate the influx of big cat energy. I got it into my head that since we met a huge financial goal in 2021 I deserved a whole office makeover, including a brand new desk. The one I was using was a hand-me-down from the person who had our old office before us and I felt like I deserved a new big girl desk of my own. I told myself that it was important for me to honor my accomplishments and step fully into my power by getting the exact desk that I wanted. Basically, I wanted to boss it up.
After weeks of searching, I was forced to admit that the exact desk that I wanted was the exact desk I already had. A lesson I wish I’d learned before I dragged it down the hall, shoved it into the elevator and dumped it back in our old office space downstairs. Ultimately, I’m just glad my pride didn’t keep me from going back to get it once I realized my mistake. It turns out that I’d gotten pretty attached! I love how well the L-shape fills out the space, how the drawers are in the exact right spot for maximum reachability, and how it lends itself to putting my feet up on it quite nicely. If that’s not big boss energy, I don’t know what is.
I swapped out my old shelving unit for one that has a cabinet to hide some stuff away. I found some wire wall grids that I can clip things to vision-board style. They came in black, but I painted them pink so that the wire would blend into the wall more, allowing whatever visual treasures I was hanging to stand out. I took some of my art to be professionally framed (shout out Mingo Gallery!) after many years of having stuffed them into ill-fitting IKEA frames. And that was really all she needed… until Morgan and Jordan came with the color magick.
I always say that some of the realest magic around my business is all the magical people it’s attracted. Painter and illustrator Morgan Elliott was one of the very first customers the shop ever had and she was so cool that I knew I was on the right path if someone like her liked my store. 6+ years, and many, many creative projects later (Morgan is the creator of our signature Winnie the Witch, her house is on the cover of and featured throughout HausMagick, and her illustrations cover the shop’s windows and most of our branding collateral) it was time for her to bring her magic to the new and improved Sourcery.
The Moon was in Aquarius and the Witches said, “Be Vulnerable”
After a quick brainstorming sesh Morgan and her very talented and nice illustrator husband Jordan came to our grey castle in the sky armed with 5 gallons of paint in our brand colors: Green, Chartreuse, Pink, Grey and Black and told me they were going to do some “color blocking”. I didn’t really know what that meant, but at this point in my career I’ve learned to let the very talented people surrounding me do what they do without getting in the way. I was glad I did!
They started by painting the wall in the front pink as a background for lettering that would eventually be added. After seeing how much a full wall of color changed the space, I was completely sold. They did the big green wall next, and I was in love. Both green and pink are great for connecting with your heart space, perfect for a heart-centered business like HausWitch. Green also calls in abundance, growth and prosperity, which felt like an obvious fit when bringing some color magick into a business space.
Color blocking for the win! Cheers to trusting the process for once!
Still, I was apprehensive about letting them paint a huge wall in what we call “The Joy Room” matte black. Like all the rooms in The Sourcery, it has a nice big window and feels super light and bright. (We call it the Joy Room because the vintage table and chairs that we use as a conference table was an actual set piece in the Jennifer Lawrence movie, “Joy”. "Joy" is based on the life of fellow trailblazing entrepreneur Joy Mangano. I found it years ago at a vintage warehouse and even though I considered replacing it for this upgrade, nothing I found could replace the synchronistic vintage magic of the Joy Table.)
So back to the black, I was very skeptical that it would make the space feel too dark, but again, thank the goddess I was able to trust the artists. The black wall not only looks amazing, but has no effect on the overall brightness of the room. I liked it so much that we also decided to paint the biggest wall in my office black too!
Like a nice piece of black tourmaline, the effect of the black walls in both spaces act as a necessary anchor, grounding the energy of the room. I think because I’m an air sign I usually equate clarity and creativity with super bright, airy spaces and I can forget that while floating is fun, you also have to occasionally put your feet on the ground. It’s all a question of balance. (See Chapter 6 of MY OWN BOOK where I already learned this lesson only to forget it completely during this process.) In my office it helps me feel rooted and organized, which in turn helps me feel freer to be creative.
Once the walls were color-blocked they went back in with some cute celestial illustrations in the Joy Room and the INCREDIBLE lettering on the front pink wall letting everyone know exactly where they are the minute they walk in. When they were done it felt like the space was finally, officially, initiated.
The last major thing was outfitting the space with more functional shelving and intentional workspaces. Now, while I am a DIY-kind of witch, places like The Container Store stress me the fuck out. Talk about overwhelm! So many containers! So many options! What size will work best? How many measurements would I have to do? It’s enough to make my Gemini head spin! So luckily, I knew just who to call for help.
A few years ago I met my friend Stasia Steele at a retreat for other women entrepreneurs. She owns an organizing business called The Little Details, which outfits spaces with all the shelving and container goodness you could ever need. She came in wielding her measuring tape like a magic wand and we brainstormed about how to get the most out of the space. The next thing I knew there was a whole plan with schematics and everything and let me tell you, the HausWitch staff with Virgo placements had hearts in their eyes and their jaws on the floor.
The moon was perfectly placed in Virgo on the day they came to install. What Stasia and her team did exceeded our expectations. Right down to the perfectly fitted shelf liners that keep our tiny bottles from tipping over and the “recipe shelf” that they outfitted over our potion-making-station. To say it is a huge upgrade is a huge understatement.
This was by far the most expensive part of the makeover, but it was the easiest part to justify. A more organized business is a more efficient business and it’s hard to make the case that investing in efficiency is frivolous. I mean, my scarcity brain was still found ways, but in the end I realized that it's a complete blessing from the universe that there is a person whose actual job it is to be an expert at this and that I really like that person and want to support the work they do in this world. Plus, knowing that I did not have to manage the hanging of a single solitary shelf was honestly priceless.
All that was left was re-hanging our Wall of Fame. It’s a big, long wall right in front of the space where we hang our printed press coverage. Even though I had just hung it last year when we moved in, by the end of 2021 we had about double the amount of stuff to hang. What can I say, we’ve always been #blessedwithgoodpress. Gallery walls are not my favorite thing to do, but luckily over the years I’ve mastered the old butcher paper template method and this one went up surprisingly easily.
After that there were just a few finishing touches to add. We hung this cutie paper roll to keep track of important order packing and shipping info, got a more functional cabinet to house things in the Joy Room, and hung our new artwork from Beverly Artist Eloise Augustin.
The Joy Room officially became the Joy Portal.
We cleared out a bunch of random stuff and kept only what is truly still serving us. We re-arranged and re-purposed furniture. Slowly but surely, over the course of the month everything fell into place.
In some very satisfying ways...
Cheetarah is honestly dangerously good at naps. It's bringing in some big Don Draper energy and I'm not mad about it.
Thanks for coming on this journey with me! Its such a treat to get back to my roots as an amateur interiors blogger! You can see more about the whole process, including what happened when the HausWitch staff saw the new and improved space for the first time, on our Instagram and Tik Tok!
The Moon is in Pisces and the Witches say, "Grant a Wish!"
