(Cross posted from Black Sheep)
Cassie had been quite busy lately. Her life had taken a different track than she?d imagined even just a few months ago and she?d spent so much time trying to figure out what her next step was going to be. The idea was actually an old one. A bookstore. She settled on the idea after dismissing it as silly several times and then quickly sprang into action.
All of the furniture was cleared out of the basement to prepare for the shift from living space to shop space. Cassie herself designed the floor plan, with the help of a consulting architect to be sure she wouldn?t bring the house down with her renovations. She couldn?t bring herself to remove the lovely kitchenette so instead she placed welcoming signs and the check out area there, working with the counter space. Also in the welcoming entrance there was always a vase of freshly cut flowers. Occasionally there was even a plate of freshly baked cookies on the counter for customers although Cassie refused to name the source where she got them from. Floor to ceiling bookshelves were built along the walls of the main room of the basement and then there were rows of bookshelves set up in the empty space in the center. The newer books were kept here, divided up into sections according to genre and then organized alphabetically by author. Mystery made up the bulk of the books. After all, that was along the lines of what the store specialized in. There were however, small sections for romance, fiction, history, science fiction/fantasy and even children?s books. A final section, slightly larger than the others but smaller than the mystery, was a section on England. The books in here included history, historical fiction, guide books, and anything Cassie could get her hands on that was written by British authors. The rare books, however, were kept elsewhere, even the British ones. The bedroom was transformed in a similar fashion to the main room. It being the smaller of the two rooms made it perfect for the rare, expensive books for sale and those on display only. A small sign hung above the doorway, indicating that it housed rare books. Those on display were kept in shatterproof glass cases-these books were for looking only, no touching! Included in the display was a set of very old Shakespeare plays and writings, a gift to Cassie that she couldn?t bear to part with, even for the vast sums of money they were worth. Tucked into corners and spaces here and there were overstuffed arm chairs or squishy bean bags, inviting customers to sit down and read for a spell. It took time, effort and money to hunt down books to fill her shelves and slowly but surely, Cassie was filling her basement with books.
She was commissioning a sign that would hang outside of her house. It wasn?t ready yet, but she?d come up with the design on her own. The Twisted Key-The Rare, the Old, the Mysterious and Just Plain Good Reads. The letters were in a twisty sort of script colored black and the sign was designed to look old and just a little decrepit, the dark green background fading a bit here and there with a crack or two as well. To the left of the letters was a painted on twisted key, also black, one of the cracks running right across it.
Her little business was well on its way to opening.
Cassie had been quite busy lately. Her life had taken a different track than she?d imagined even just a few months ago and she?d spent so much time trying to figure out what her next step was going to be. The idea was actually an old one. A bookstore. She settled on the idea after dismissing it as silly several times and then quickly sprang into action.
All of the furniture was cleared out of the basement to prepare for the shift from living space to shop space. Cassie herself designed the floor plan, with the help of a consulting architect to be sure she wouldn?t bring the house down with her renovations. She couldn?t bring herself to remove the lovely kitchenette so instead she placed welcoming signs and the check out area there, working with the counter space. Also in the welcoming entrance there was always a vase of freshly cut flowers. Occasionally there was even a plate of freshly baked cookies on the counter for customers although Cassie refused to name the source where she got them from. Floor to ceiling bookshelves were built along the walls of the main room of the basement and then there were rows of bookshelves set up in the empty space in the center. The newer books were kept here, divided up into sections according to genre and then organized alphabetically by author. Mystery made up the bulk of the books. After all, that was along the lines of what the store specialized in. There were however, small sections for romance, fiction, history, science fiction/fantasy and even children?s books. A final section, slightly larger than the others but smaller than the mystery, was a section on England. The books in here included history, historical fiction, guide books, and anything Cassie could get her hands on that was written by British authors. The rare books, however, were kept elsewhere, even the British ones. The bedroom was transformed in a similar fashion to the main room. It being the smaller of the two rooms made it perfect for the rare, expensive books for sale and those on display only. A small sign hung above the doorway, indicating that it housed rare books. Those on display were kept in shatterproof glass cases-these books were for looking only, no touching! Included in the display was a set of very old Shakespeare plays and writings, a gift to Cassie that she couldn?t bear to part with, even for the vast sums of money they were worth. Tucked into corners and spaces here and there were overstuffed arm chairs or squishy bean bags, inviting customers to sit down and read for a spell. It took time, effort and money to hunt down books to fill her shelves and slowly but surely, Cassie was filling her basement with books.
She was commissioning a sign that would hang outside of her house. It wasn?t ready yet, but she?d come up with the design on her own. The Twisted Key-The Rare, the Old, the Mysterious and Just Plain Good Reads. The letters were in a twisty sort of script colored black and the sign was designed to look old and just a little decrepit, the dark green background fading a bit here and there with a crack or two as well. To the left of the letters was a painted on twisted key, also black, one of the cracks running right across it.
Her little business was well on its way to opening.