Excerpted from “From Bench to Build-Out,” the lead feature in the upcoming March 2026 edition of INSTORE.
Amanda Deer Jewelry, Austin, TX
NOT EVERY DIY EFFORT requires demolition and reconstruction. For Amanda Eddy of Amanda Deer Jewelry in Austin, a focused project made all the difference.
Her store occupies a late 19th-century building in downtown Austin, where structural changes were out of the question due to the store’s historical status. The building did come with original Austin stone on the walls and beams on the ceilings, providing a strong foundation for the aesthetic she wanted to create.
“Breathe your brand into the store.”
When it came to choosing displays, however, she couldn’t find just the right thing to fit with her brand vibe and the vintage nature of the store itself. She created an inspiration image of the type of pedestal jewelry displays she dreamed of. Her husband, who is in tech professionally and does woodworking on the side, built the pedestals and created the necklace displays. He cut them out of wood and painted them pink to add a pop of color to the store. “It looked like a Pepto Bismol bottle exploded in the garage in the process,” Eddy recalls.
The displays have proven remarkably durable, demonstrating that they are true survivors. “Three years ago, our building had a fire, and we had to move out of our space for 30 days. All the water and soot from a kitchen fire next door came into our space and the floors buckled up.” Floors, drywall, rugs, couches — everything else was a total loss. But the displays, although covered in ash, survived with just a cleaning.
Amanda Eddy enlisted her husband, David Eddy, to make custom displays for her store.
Eddy also employs simple clear acrylic photo stands throughout the showroom, which they update seasonally with images from collection launches that they print in-house. “They look incredibly high-end, but they’re actually an affordable Amazon find,” Eddy notes.
Eddy recommends hiring a handyman and developing a concept with inspirational images to create DIY displays. “Displays are limited and often look the same,” she says. “DIYing gives you a way to breathe your own brand into the store floor.”
AMANDA DEER JEWELRY PHOTO GALLERY (8 IMAGES)
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