Sunday Flea Finds

 We arrrived at our favorite flea market by 6 am today

and I think it paid off.

Two wooden ladders, paid $5 each.

Two wheelbarrows: paid $10 each and sold each for $24.

 My husband surprised me with this little beauty,

he knows I like scary dolls.

 A cool looking scale, only $10.

Sold for $35.

 Old Mirror with surprisingly good frame, paid $10.

 Always looking for sleds. Paid $10.

This one has a nice aged alligator finish.

This one I kept.

 Boiler, and yes I already have one that I can't sell.

Now I will have two that aren't selling, but only paid $10.

Mr. Log Cabin also sold me this.

Three Conservo Steamer Cooker things,

still in their ORIGINAL Crate.  What?!!!

Probably from around 1907.

Here is the backside of the crate.  

Apparently Mrs. Winslow had a hard time selling things too.

Read This Before You Offer Me 50% Off My Antiques

You are admiring my vintage mirror in my antique booth.  Gosh, you think, I would snap it up if I could get it for 50% off of that price.  I'll have the front desk call and ask her if she would take that offer.

What you may not know:

• I travelled 280 miles to purchase that mirror.  Sure, I made other purchases, but somebody didn't just knock and my door and hand it to me for free.

 

• I probably paid more for it than you would guess.  I'm not the only person out there junking for a living + I pay a fair price for my merchandise.

• It might look all primitive and yummy, but here is what I had to do to make it look that great:  cleaned off the layers of filth to reveal that great alligator finish I know you love.  Wipe on and off a dark wax to help highlight that vintage look.

• Do you know what plate glass is?  I do. (I have worked with antiques for over 20 years and have a pretty good general knowledge). It is freakishly heavy.  So I attached a chain that I knew would hold the weight.  It won't fall off your wall and smash your collection of Venetian glass.

• After all this I only marked it $24.  I know I have to be competitive to sell in this economy.  It is already cheap.  And what you probably don't know is that I've already told the young girl behind the counter that she can take 10% off anything of mine that is over $20 if someone asks. 
• I pay a surprisingly high amount of monthly rent for this little space in the antique mall.  And you know what else?  10% of whatever I sell also goes to them.  If you decide to use a credit card for this purchase, I lose another 5%.  Ouch.

So will I accept your 50% discount offer?  NO.  Nope.  Nada.  You say, it never hurts to ask...well, it does.

My Big Fat Buffet & Mirror Wedding "Vanellie" -- Furniture Redo

This was the old heavy buffet (or dresser?) that I bought at the Rusty Chandelier parking lot sale on 9.20.14.  It lived in the back of the van for about a week, until we felt brave enough to schlep it out.

I am pretty strong, but it was all my husband and I could do to get it out of the van and to the back yard.  It is a heavy beast.  The type of furniture I am trying to avoid.

But who could resist those details?

 

 

I would have left it gray, but the top had rust and damage. 

I decided to use a creamy color of chalkpaint,

and then distressing to let the gray shine through.

 

 

Two coats of the ivory paint.

Sanding to distress.

I liked how the gray and even an earlier layer of green paint peeked through.

More sanding so drawers slide smoothly.

 

I painted the interior a gray with purple tones --

it was actually the last of some old primer so it should cover drawer stains.

I reused the original metal pulls and knobs which had been painted gray,

they looked good against the ivory.

On the bottom doors I used glass knobs to call attention to the ornate detailing.

 

I had picked up the mirror several months ago.

I'm betting that it originally sat on top of a buffet.

So why not introduce them to each other?

 

Love at first sight, they were a perfect match.

A marriage made in heaven.

I'm naming her "Vanellie".

"Reflections" On A Trinketed Mirror

I had bought this mirror from Cindy in Lincoln.  It had a plainish, flatish gold frame.  The mirror itself was cloudy, chippy and cool looking.  At first I thought that I would paint the frame.  But the flat border was an invitation for festooning. 

Most of the stuff in my "junk drawer" is old, and a lot of it is metal which I thought would look good glued on the flat border.  I had a stash of small rectangular mirror pieces which were my inspiration.  I had poured these out over the surface of the big mirror to look at them, and liked that look so well that I glued some directly onto the mirror itself.  I also sacrificed the rest of my Cracker Jacks charms -- they were just the right size.

Oops, didn't get the R in the photo.

 

I love the final result.

 

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.

Altered Scary Halloween Mirrors & Photographs

I've been experimenting the last couple of years with quick and easy Halloween makeovers for mirrors and frames.

Sometime during this 2014 junking season I came across a stack of eight oval antique photos that once graced bubble frames.  (A bubble frame is an old convex glass frame. Because the glass wasn't flat, usually the glass has not made it intact through the last 100 years.) I gave the one on the left battery powered red blinking eyes, but decided to leave the rest "as is".

Last year I made a couple of creepy mirrors with an image peeking through the mirror where I had removed most of the silvering.  This year I went simpler and bought decals from DOLLAR TREE.  They really turned out nice, and people can still use the mirror all year long.

 

Lastly, I always have some nasty frames laying around.  I left the dirt and webs intact on these two.  I spraypainted flat black over the wooden frames and around the edges of the glass.   I left enough "clear" (although dirty and with a thin layer of paint) in the center to show through to the spooky (DOLLAR TREE!) portrait attached to the back. 

When I took it apart to put the picture on the back,

a dehydrated dead bug fell out.  Not one to waste,

I glued him to the front of the frame!