Can you tell what it is yet?

On Friday 5th October Mr Frog received the keys to our premises 7 Security House, Ongar Road, Brentwood. That evening we went in, walked about a bit and left feeling a little daunted.

Saturday, we cleaned. A lot. We visited the local recycling centre. A lot. We left, feeling a little less daunted. This pattern has continued throughout the week, with quite a lot of purple and green paint thrown in, as well as a plumber who rid us of a large bath and shower unit. Just to clarify, we have not taken over someone’s bathroom, the shop was a fish pedicure salon in its previous life.

Half way through the week, the shop was looking quite colourful, but still very empty. By Thursday Claire’s section looked like this,

 

But the rest of the shop didn’t look like much of anything if I’m honest. There were lots of very empty shelving units looking sad and lonely.Then, yesterday, this arrived,

A whole stash of gorgeous books, all waiting to be let out! They were not set free until today. Why? Because I was at work and didn’t want to miss out!

So, today, Mr Frog and I did this,

 

many, many times, until we ended up with a huge amount of books all stacked into appropriate piles of organised chaos. Several hours later, we ended up with this,

 

and this,

But we didn’t stop there, oh no! We also fitted a jingly bell, just because.

And…

and finally,

So, now can you tell what is? I am very proud of the Chicken and Frog team this week. Everyone has worked their socks off, in-between working, looking after kids and trying to just fit in the ‘normal’ stuff, to transform an empty space into a vibrant, exciting children’s bookshop.

With just one week to go, we still have lots of little jobs left on our very long list, but I think that it’s fair to say, we are now confident that all will be well. We are ready to welcome the wonderful community of Brentwood into our haven of book and crafty delights.