July Travel / Camping Display At Rusty Chandelier

Katie has been doing the front displays at the Rusty Chandeliers lately.  They change monthly, and she puts a ton of time and thought into each one.  I help her long enough to get the bigger pieces in place and then come back after it is all done to take photos:

The Rusty Chandelier is located north of St Joseph, MO

at the intersection of 71 Hwy and I-29.

Junker's Direction Sign

While at the Fairbury, NE flea market last week (see posts) I purchased 20 perfectly aged, chippy green pickets from an old fence.  I envisioned making a cute little section of fence, and that still may be in the future.

But this is what I was inspired to do:

A Junking Directional Sign.

Don't you love the layers of white and green chippy paint?

Here it is at the Rusty Chandelier in the

Camping / Travel themed display.

Fairbury Flea Finds

This is the second post about our trip to Fairbury, Nebraska.  You can read my first post here telling about the flea market, auction and garage sales we went to.  I waited until this post to show you the treasures that I came home with .  Let's get on with the show...

Croquet balls, a staple of mine...

My two favorite finds, because they epitomize Nebraska...

a John Deere colored wheelbarrow and a

garden sized windmill (don't worry, I have the whole windmill.)...

I usually find a larger percentage of Christmas stuff.

But this trip it was just one sled and an old roll of Christmas wrap...

Two old toy dressers,

I had to pay the high end of what I was comfortable with...

An old Royal typewriter...

an old Goetz box,

easy to sell in St. Joseph...

An antique light fixture for ebay...

A hand tooled leather bowling bag (husband's find)...

Frame with cool hooks...

Rusty, farm related stuff --

which is my favorite thing to sell currently...

These lovely knobs,

which drew me in with their color and design...

 

A brushed stoneware flower pot and

a painted "vanilla" pot...

This wins the prize for the most unusual.

You stick the pronged side in the ground...

which allows you to rest your cigs & beverage

wherever you may find yourself.

Ingenious.

There Is No Place Like Nebraska -- July Junking Trifecta

I went to a friend's house Thursday morning to do some weeding.  As I was weeding I got to thinking that we didn't really have anything going on over the Fourth of July weekend, and I needed to remedy that and make some plans.  As soon as I got home, my husband said "We need to talk."  No, I wasn't in trouble -- he had come to the same conclusion and took it a step further and done his homework. 

I quickly cleaned up and packed and we took off for Fairbury, Nebraska.  He said Fairbury was hosting southeast Nebraska's largest flea market over the weekend of the Fourth.  Although I grew up in Nebraska, I never recall having been to Fairbury.  So we took a little tour of the town...

Fairbury, Nebraska was home to Fairbury Windmill Company, which was in business from 1899 until 1961.  Many of the old windmills that you see around were made by this company. Their windmill weights in the shape of bulls and horses are well known to collectors. 

These two park buildings were SO COOL.

They were built in 1936,

so I assume they were part of the CCC or WPA program.

Many vendors were still setting up on Thursday afternoon,

but at least half were ready to sell.

 

This wallhanging was made out of grain.

What a creative piece of folk art.

We saw (and picked up) a few fun things -- I'll show off my finds on a future post. 
I loved this old sled with SKIS, out of my price range though.  Then we ate a quick bite at an iconic Runza Restaurant (fooling people into eating cabbage since 1949). 

We ended the evening by attending an indoor weekly auction.  It was hot, things sold slow and someone kept outbidding me on everything I wanted.  So after we spent a big $3.00, we went back to our hotel for the night to watch some Food Network.

Friday morning we got up early to hit a few garage sales (yes, a trifecta in 24 hours -- flea market, auction, garage sales).   We picked up a few things, including buying some items from "Vince" (left) whom I recognized from last night's auction (where he was the one who outbid me on everything!)

One of the things I bought from Vince at his garage sale was this scary doll, which he ironically purchased Thursday night at the auction after I left. It was on my list of something I wanted! You'll have to tune in soon to see my other Fairbury treasures.

After the garage sales on Friday morning, we hit the flea market again.  Visited the newly set-up vendors... .and spent every last dollar we had.  Luckily, Valentino's Pizza took our credit card to pay for lunch. So we headed home with a full van, full tummies, and empty pocketbook.

 

 

"Katherine" Dresser Furniture Redo

I went to an estate sale last a week ago of someone I had known.  I found this very plain oak dresser.  I did not need another dresser, but there it was waiting for me.  I'm like the foster home that gives furniture a little lovin' and TLC before passing it on.

My husband begged me not to paint it, so we compromised.  I refinished the drawers and the top, finishing them off with two coats of wax.  They still had a kind of primitive look to them. I took the cue from the wood and lightly chalk painted the body of the dresser with white.  I sanded just enough so that the "alligatoring" would show through.  Then I added antique porcelain knobs to compliment the white body. 

I'm naming the dresser "Katherine" after her former owner.  I hope to find her a new home soon.

Primitive Shelf With A New Life

Do you have on-line local auctions in your area?  I've just participated in my second one.  I love that I can bid on auction items while in bed.  The auctions usually have a 10 day duration and then you are given the address of where to pick up your loot.

This was one of my lots. 

(The two narrow windows made me LOL when I saw them.

  They looked so much bigger in the auction photo.)

The "Before" photo of the primitive shelf is on the left.

It had a couple newer knobs attached to hang things from.

 

I took off the newer knobs.

Gave everything a quick sanding, mainly to get dirt off.

I loved the aged and rough sawn look the wood had.

The top actually had a plate trough, which is nice.

 

I replaced the knobs with three vintage hooks.

 

The outside ones have a great aqua color.

 

The huge sliding lock I added,

just to give the piece a little more personality.

 

I knew I wanted to use chain to hang the piece,

and found this great chain and clips in my stash.

 

I would have loved to have known the history of this little shelf,

but am pleased that it still has some life left in it.