Inside Set Up At Vintage Home Sale

I have wanted to have a vintage sale at our house since

the first of May.  All I needed was a Thursday,

Friday and Saturday without rain.  

Good luck with that.

This weekend is bookended with rain.

Rain Thursday morning, and Saturday night.

But it is the best we have had it in weeks.

So I am taking the plunge.

I am calling it a "Summer Solstice Vintage Sale"

because we are opening Friday night from 6-8 pm,

and Saturday 7-10 am.

Most of the "smalls" are inside,

and already set up.

Only a few pieces of furniture will need to be

dragged outside before we start.

Any "weatherproof" furniture is already out there.

I am having three loose "themes" inside:

birds, western, patriotic.

And plenty of patriotic vignettes outisde.

(Tune in tomorrow for pics of the outside.)

As usual, plenty of dollar items inside and out.

Vintage Hendryx Brass Birdcage

 Still processing purchases from the flea market on Sunday.

Again, I will have to give my husband credit for spying this find.

 After getting this home,

I found that a maker marks is very important.

Fortunately for me, this brassy beauty

sports a brass "Hendryx" tag.

With this great condition,

and unusual pedestal base -- I am thinking it will do well on ebay.

Sunday Flea Finds

Even years ago...

on the way home...

after visiting our son and daughter-in-law

for the weekend....

we would stop at this same Sunday morning flea market.

Who knew....

that years later ....

 we would be living only 20 minutes .....

from the same flea market.

We go nearly every Sunday morning....

early.....

and it never disappoints.

It is about the sum of our junk hunting right now.

I need to document our finds more faithfully

in pictures.

Make*A*Mess*Monday

A quick summation of junking last weekend:  Friday I went to a church sale.  Saturday morning my husband and I went to the weekly Saturday morning "Tiny Town Auction" -- check out one of my posts on the Tiny Town Auction here.  Sunday after church we drove to an estate auction at a different little town.  Check my next post for the ebay worthy items that I picked up.

Others needed a little TLC and my Mondays are notorious for sanding, sawing and slopping paint around (after I painted this ladder celery green I literally slopped white paint on it). This past Monday morning was pretty hot and humid (plus I have a major poison ivy outbreak) so here is a quick tip to beat the heat (or at least tame it):
-- Before I went outside I soaked my cotton T-shirt in cold water, squeezed out the excess and put it on.  It wasn't pretty, but it did the job.  I also had a bottle handy to spray more water on as needed. --

Frames from the church sale, which included a couple nice big ones.  I am in the habit of painting all of my frames white. 

The little cloche holders I had purchased from the church sale and were originally green.  I spraypainted them, the previously white hat, and the wooden box all flat black in preparation for Halloween.

Little ladder that I purchased at the Sunday auction.  I watered down the celery green DIY chalk paint (with about 2/3 of it being water) to give the ladder some sheer coverage.  The birdcage I spraypainted flat black also in preparation for Halloween.

When I was done with the celery green chalk paint I actually painted the jar that I had stored the paint in, on the outside with the residual paint from my paintbrush.  It ended up kind of cute!  Check out my furniture redo post later this week to see my last celery green project.

Some of these guys were the little Disney dudes that hung out with Snow White.  Some were gnomes.  All were ceramic and came from the Sunday afternoon auction.  I painted over the (eeegad) purples and pinks -- that way they were dressed in with greens and red.  And all were all transformed into Christmas Elves.

Did I mention I painted them at 4 am because I couldn't

sleep due to getting a steroid shot for my poison ivy?

These guys looked so blissfully restful.

I pulled an all-nighter and still feel like I could

run a marathon.

Bird Cage Light Upcycle

I love the look of upcycled junk made into functioning light fixtures.  I just didn't picture myself as that person.  That person who knows enough about electricity not to kill themselves in the process.  That person who knows how to assemble lighting so it doesn't fall apart after two days.  Then I started finding items that would be so cute as upcycled light fixtures. 

And now in January I have some time to mess around with a project like that. So -- I bought a swag light kit and a socket at Mendard's.  Both purchases together were about $15.  This seemed a little pricey.  For my next couple projects I'm experimenting with extension cords and a socket (about $5 total).

This vintage birdcage came without a bottom, so it was a perfect upcycling candidate.

I confess my husband did most of the work.  The top was a pain, all the little wires had to be glued in place at the top.

Maybe someday I'll do a tutorial, but we are still working out the kinks.  I have about six more projects to practice on so then  I will be kink-free.  This upcycled baby is going to be for sale at St Joseph MO Antique Show over Valentine's Weekend. 

Road Trip To Buy New Junking Van & Vintage Finds 10.4.14

I was trolling Craiglist this week for vans.  I needed a cheap older van with "stow and go" seating for my junking business.  So when I say "new", it merely means new to me.  We ended up road tripping out to Grand Island, Nebraska last Saturday to buy one. It meant blowing the whole day, and very little time for junking sidetrips.   But it turned out that next door to where we purchased the van was a yard sale.  So while my husband did the test drive thing, I did my junking thing. 

By the time I was done with an armload of items, the transaction was done and my "new" van doors were open and welcoming me. 

I bought several cool photos, prints and frames.

 

Then we stopped briefly Lincoln to show the van off to my dad and get a stretch.  We detoured a whole block out of the way to stop at my junkin' friend Cindy's house.  She had a few things I was pleased to buy: a corn sheller, bird cage, upcycled Christmas tree, mirrors, santa picture. So we were able to break in the "new" van (nicknaming it "The Silver Bullet") by having it haul some vintage treasures.

Lincoln Road Trip For Vintage Finds 9.18.14 Fall Edition

My dad lives in Lincoln, NE and twice a year his neighborhood hosts area yards sales which I try to attend.  This is the fall edition.

I snapped this photo of my dad last weekend in his workshop.

He is 89 years old and always has a project going.

And yes, that is his smart phone attached to his belt.

I stopped in to visit my Lincoln friend Cindy Wednesday night and bought a lot from her.  I had to unload at my dad's house so that I would have room for junk on Thursday. On Thursday I ended up getting one or two things here and there at the neighborhood sales -- like rain drops, they eventually added up.  I actually had to leave a few things at dad's house until next time. 

My favorite find and probably the only keeper - a circa 1920s piano or banker's lamp. 

I love the tag that they stuck on it.

Heavy.  Great patina.  Altogether lovely.

 

I bought several small and light pieces of furniture --

exactly the kind of pieces I want to focus on.

They say confession is good for the soul: I also bought a large cabinet.  The pierced side inserts seduced me.  Where were the voices  of reason?  (Apparently they couldn't come because they had a doctor appointment and had to work).  No one to remind me that I am not buying large pieces of furniture anymore.  I talked someone into buying it from me while it was still in the van -- PTL.  I didn't even get a chance to take a photo of it.

Past Altered Halloween Projects

I'm basically done working on this year's Halloween items to sell.   Here are some items I made in past years:

I made several black rose bouquets.

Some of the roses came from Dollar Tree.

Some were silk or plastic roses that I spraypainted my favorite flat black.

A little white spiderwebbing over the top.

I like the little skeletons hanging off the vases.

These were the first altered bottles I made.

These were the first altered crow projects.

Thank goodness for Dollar Tree.

4.24.14 Junkin' Buying Trip To Nebraska

My dad and his wife live in Lincoln and twice a year their area hosts a neighborhood garage sale.  I try to make the drive so that I can have a visit with him, visit my friend Cindy that lives close to him, go to the garage sales, and a no brainer...go to Valentino's Pizza.
     This spring Katie was able to break away to go with me -- we are usually only gone for 24 hours.  We managed to fit in a lot of buying and eating into one trip.

We visited Cindy on Wednesday night.

Cindy works for an auction company/

has similar "junk taste" to mine /

picks some great junk for resale.

Three things I admire about her!

As if this isn't enough,

I admired her great display combining two

 of my faves - an old window and old photos.

The photographs are of "adopted" family members.

We also drooled over this fantastic bird cage.

The red wall color really made it pop.

Katie showing off a few of her treasures.

She seemed to be drawn to a certain color...

My favorite purchase of the day.

A Simplicity Mannequin doll and

dress form from the 1940s. 

She has such a beautiful, serene

expression.  Ebay bound.

I paid $8 for the doll, she sold for $49 on ebay.