Here, under the “Learn” umbrella, I share the knowledge I’ve gained through the years and things I’m still learning, because there’s always something more to learn, about finding and selling vintage goods. I share items that sold each month, things I buy to sell, pictures of the booth, online selling tips and anything else I find that will help you succeed in your vintage reselling journey, whatever your goals in that journey are.
I took these pictures of my friend Terri’s booth at the Pickle Patch in Sylacauga a couple of weeks ago. She always has the neatest things, specializing in beautiful, creative painting.
The next time I went in, maybe as much as a week later, the booth was almost empty. It’s no surprise almost everything had sold! Way to go Terri!
We get on a road, following a plan, a plan that has deviated and become twisted, then sometimes we have to stop what we’re doing and re-evaluate. I tend to get off balance. Like an unbalanced washing machine. I’ve had way too many irons in the fire and too many things going undone and plans not coming to fruition. I’ve had my Etsy shop that I was struggling to keep up with and booths in 3, yes three, antique malls. We have 3 booths in one of those malls alone! And we were still paying rent on the old b&m shop. Using it for storage until we could get the time and energy to reopen. That was the plan. Keep up 5 booths in 3 different cities, wanting to have a large Etsy store, and run an antique shop at least a few days a week. I took pictures of the shop last month in preparation of The Big Clean Up to get ready to open in June. Here’s a partial shot of one of the rooms:
I hear what you’re thinking out there. Gasp! She’s a hoarder! False. 99% of that is for sale. That’s what they all say. Well, in this case, it’s true. Most of this was waiting to be put on Etsy before going to the local booth. How did it get to be such a mess? Ricky thought he’d put his woodworking shop in my shop, so I was moved to one, small side room. Quickly. Things were stacked in the beginning but, like hoarders, they started being tossed in, shoved in, strewn around, left that way… But he didn’t move his woodworking shop in there. He rented a building next door. And the mess expanded:
Now, you’ve got to know that weighs on your mind. Or it does mine. I might not even see the mess for a week, but it’s in my subconscious mind. Nagging me. But we had plans and I needed to get down there and get to work. But I haven’t yet.
Then one day last week I started thinking. Yes, it hurt. Why do you ask? 🙂 I “was burdened” with the thought that it was time to let the shop go. We were never going to get around to cleaning it up and opening again. We were paying rent on something that was giving nothing in return and it’s not been open to the public in two years. As slow as I am it would take me the next 10 years to work all that stuff out. Yes, it was time. Ricky wasn’t home that morning, but when he came in, he made a bee-line to the room I was in and said, “I need to talk to you about something.” At first I was kinda scared the way he said that, all serious like, but when he said, “I think we need to let the shop go”, that burden was lifted! Keep in mind neither of us had mentioned this before. Both of us were proceeding with the plan to reopen. But when we were thinking the same thoughts, independently, all morning long and couldn’t get it off our minds… well, there’s no question that this is what we’re supposed to do.
There’s more to the story, more changes in the works, but I’m not ready to share all that. It’s still in the maybe this or maybe that stage. So to pay tribute to the little brick and mortar shop I had for a couple of years, here are some pictures (some that I could find quickly) of how it used to be:
(The same room as the picture above.)
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We’re at it again. Opening another booth in a mall new to us, Angels in Opelika, Alabama. It’s a big ‘un. The mall and the booth. Both big. We’ve been working hard the past few weeks getting things ready to go in the booth, but kept having to put the stuff we were finishing into the booth at Longleaf in Alex City because stuff was selling out of there. So now, both booths are kinda bare looking. It’s all taking over our life. There is no life outside of building, painting, fixing, redoing… I’ve even been too tired to look at Pinterest at night!
Here are the pieces we put in Angels:
Stacked benches hubby built and I painted and a five sided table I painted and antiqued.
Before I go further, just let me remind you how much out of my comfort zone I am with painting. But ya do what’cha gotta do.
Adorable mid century nightstand in aqua with black legs.
Fab, mid century dresser in gray and white.
The picture does not show the original, faux wood graining of this chifferobe. It’s really pretty cool. —– Ha! I was trying so hard not to be in the full length mirror that I forgot the little round mirror. So there I am.
An accident happened during transport. Some wood was knocked off one of the legs. The top was messed up a bit, too. I’ll either have to take some chalkboard paint there to make the necessary repairs or bring it home. The picnic basket top is painted in chalkboard paint, too.
Took this picture before we left the house. An old door with original, chippy paint was cut in half. The panels were painted in chalkboard paint and old hooks were added at the bottom.
A bookcase hubby made, the half door coat rack again and an old tin Hoosier drawer. On the shelf of the bookcase is this little tote:
It’s a small tote with a Graphics Fairy image transfer. I wasn’t completely happy with the image transfer result. But guess what? It was the first thing to sell. I always wonder, when the first thing to sell is “some little something”, nothing special, if someone in the mall bought it to make us feel good, give us a start, or if they truly liked it? In this case I also wonder if they’re going to paint over it? LOL But I suppose it’s cute as is. I know I’m critical because I did it and it didn’t match the vision. But perhaps the … um… messiness of it gives it a more authentic look?
Anyway, if y’all are anywhere near Opelika come on by and see what’s next! We’re still working. Busy, busy, busy. Our booth is all the way to the left. When you walk in the mall, turn left and go as far as you can go. We’re the last corner booth on the right. Booth “OREO”. If I’d known that the name was going to be on the wall, I’d have thought of something more clever. Oreo’s our cat and was the first name that came to mind.
Don’t forget we’re at Longleaf in Alex City and the Pickle Patch Market in Sylacauga, too. We’re booth WC1 at Longleaf and 05 at the Patch. Just ask. And enjoy all the other booths, too! There are some great ones in all three malls. They make for fun outings.
I managed to go to a couple of yard sales this past weekend. It’s not often that I find all the pieces to a vignette in one day. (Vignette isn’t the right word here, but I can’t think of anything better.)
First, I found this toolbox:
Someone had painted it silver, which is fine. I’m sure it was just a tin toolbox and they “prettied” it up because it was looking rough and banged up. Well, it’s been painted long enough to look rough and banged up again.
Later, I found this big, wooden ladybug:
It’s probably a Hobby Lobby or other home dec store item. Nothing expensive. But awfully cute!
So I went to Dollar Tree and bought some daisy bushes.
Real flowers planted in the toolbox would be so much better, but I’m not about to try to keep real flowers alive. This is going to my booth in The Pickle Patch in Sylacauga.
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Where have I been these past few weeks, you ask? Well, I’ll tell ya. A nasty sinus infection had me down a few days and I had – pardon the vulgar words that follow – snot brain for several weeks after that. It was like my thoughts had to swim through mucus before they could form. So sorry for that visual. But I’m betting you’re sitting there nodding in a been-there-done-that way. I was like a deer in headlights. But that’s finally almost gone.
Had a couple of my daughter’s baby showers to go to and spent a good bit of time preparing the estate sale mentioned in the last post. Then there was the ever present work. Going from booth to booth and Etsy. Annnnddd… we do have plans to reopen the shop and have been cleaning up in there when we had the chance. I think I’ve mentioned that before. At first, we were shooting for a March opening. Now it’s April 1. We’ll see. BECAUSE — Our first grand-darling will be born within the next couple of days!! I imagine we’ll keep the roads hot. Who cares about opening the shop? LOL
So you’re up to date on what’s been going on in my life lately. Not much. Won’t be able to say that this time next week, but that’s where it is right now.
