It Pays To Squirrel Away Metal Junk For Spring

I have an "outdoor" booth where I sell items that can make it through sun, ice, rain and WIND.  It is also exposed to "customers" 24 hours a day.  So, in the winter months I don't leave much of value out there -- but still have surprising good sales.

Well, the winds they are achangin' -- spring is peeping at here and there.  Time to clean and restock my outdoor booth.  With what?  This time of year there are still no garage sales, and very few auctions.

Like the wise squirrel, I have learned to bury a few nuts for the lean times.  I found some great metal stuff in October and November of last year and most of it went behind the garden shed. 

Look at this great teal metal lawn chair(rocker) that I found back there!

The great thing about metal -- it doesn't matter if it get a little rustier and more chippy over the winter.

Just think what other treasures might be waiting for me back there....
Time to start sorting the stack of rusty gold and getting it priced.  Spring will be here full force soon and I will need that area for potting up some succulents!

Revamping A Vintage Bathroom With Paintable Wallpaper

When we moved into our two-story house we didn't have an upstairs bathroom.  Tough to sleep upstairs and have to jog down a long staircase and two rooms before arriving at the ground floor toilet.  So around 1992 we transformed one of the three upstairs bedrooms into a nice size bathroom -- but we wanted it to look like a powder room that fit with our 1895 era home.

So we carefully selected a reclaimed victorian pedestal sink and clawfoot tub...and what we thought was timeless wallpaper.  (Ahem).  Apparently there is no such a thing as timeless wallpaper...

Looking at the bathroom with "fresh eyes" in 2016 means admitting we needed to stage an intervention against the dreaded bathroom "border".  I still think the subtle stripes look OK, but unfortunately we didn't take that striped paper all the way to the ceiling 25 years ago.  So we couldn't just tear down the border.

Something else we wanted to consider was time and money.  The entire house is facing third decade (with our family) scrutiny, and we only have so much time (energy) and money to go around.  So we settled on the "simpler" option (which ended up taking five days!) of leaving the striped wallpaper and not repainting the beadboard.

After juggling various options we definitely decided on an embossed, paintable border from Lowe's to go directly over the offending border.  I thought maybe I could just paint over the garish wallpaper of the north "accent" wall, but was outvoted 2 to 1.  So we decided to purchase the coordinating embossed, paintable wallpaper as well.  It also has the "tin ceiling" vibe which is appropriate for our Victorian house.

I do not have a photo of the "before" accent wall, but trust that it was every bit as offensive as the coordinating border.  Never having wallpapered before (my husband had done all the previous papering but was wisely out of the country on this occasion) I was a little anxious.  But the accent wall went fine.  Hang the wallpaper, paint two coats of paint on it.  Done.

The border was another animal entirely.  You were supposed to paint it ahead of time.  I did two coats of a color (this was previous to the accent wall -- I had finally settled on a good color by the time I painted the accent wall) and hated it.  Well, maybe if I take a bunch of time to tediously drybrush a slightly darker color on the raised areas.  No go.  That is when I yanked off a piece of the circa 1992 painted trim and took it to Lowe's to get a perfect match.  What I got was a close match (apparently whites are the hardest color to match).  Paint the border one more time and decide in the poor light that it is close enough to the first color that if some of the first color peeps through it is OK. 

Realize that one person (or even a team of people) should not try to hang 15 feet of border at one shot.  cut each of my three rolls of borders into three segments.  Realize I have to be sure that each one is numbered and not upside down.  Realize that the stupid company didn't even make their end patterns to line up against the beginning of the next border roll.  ARGH.  Realize after I do one whole wall that I really need to take to offending old layer of border off.  It was too late for the first wall, so I ended up having to glue some of the more obnoxious spots. Realize I need to go back to Lowe's and buy another border roll.  Paint one coat on the fourth border before hanging that one as well. Realize that after my back is KILLING me, that I need to do yet another coat of paint on all four walls of the border that is already 9 foot in the air.

I really like the final look , but I am not sure I would do it again.  I know for a fact that I will never hang another border ALAIL (as long as I live).

A Friend's Booth At The 2016 St Joseph MO Antique Show

My husband and I are privileged to be friends with a great local family.  

The "patriarch" wanted to downsize his wonderful antiques collection somewhat. 
I suggested that he participate in his first antiques show.

I was so busy taking photos of his cool

merchandise, that I missed taking a photo

of the sign in back of this twig table:

ALL PROCEEDS GO TO BACKPACK BUDDIES!

Every penny he made from the sale

will benefit a program which sends food home with

low-income children each weekend.

I am glad to report that his very first antique show

went very well and that Backpack Buddies

will be receiving a generous donation.

He set up right across the aisle from me,

so I was able to visit with he and his daughters when

things got slow.

These two fans had a baby brother,

which I am pleased to report went home with me.

I think we managed to make a small dent in

his downsizing goal...

but I wouldn't be surprised to see him set up again next year.

2016 St Joseph MO Antique Show -- My BOOTH

I participated in the St Joseph MO Antique Show over Valentine's weekend.  Decent weather and a great turn out!

Probably my favorite piece that I brought.  Still available

and probably heading to eBay.

A nod to the holiday.

Thank you Elizabeth for this exquisite box.

Fuelling was a St. Joseph MO bottling company.

Funky suitcase on hairpin legs,

it was fun to see how excited the new owner was to take it home.

Suitcases were a huge seller last year,

not so much this year.

My vintage shopping cart is also still available.

Love the patina on the dough bowl.

KEYS TO MY HEART

I'm putting these hollow ended keys on ebay next week.  The photos turned out so beautifully that I had to document them.

I do not collect keys,

but these make me wonder why I don't.

I don't know enough about keys to even know

what type of item they opened.

But they have definitely opened my eyes.

 

Vintage Hardware Themed Tiepins & Clips

Sometime during last year's junking season I netted all of these.  Any of you who sell junk on-line or in a brick-and-mortar store know that vintage tie pins / tie clips DO NOT SELL.  The thrift stores don't even want them.  If they are not signed by a designer they are of no value.

Then I started seeing some familiar shapes.

This fishing pole, shovel and thermometer are all tie clips...

Perfect little miniature locks...

The hardware store this guy worked for...

Three different "Mack" tie pins -- love the fireman dog...

Clock tie clip and pin...

Two Stanley tools and a GE blade.

So detailed...

Teensy Keys...

And mini shotgun shell pins...

All heading to ebay.

More Junk Art Mosaic Hearts

A few days ago I did a tutorial on adding vintage junk to frames (click here to see the "how to".  I had included photos of frames that the ladies had made in the class that I taught.  This post is documenting some of the frames that I made myself.

This is the first frame where I attempted to use

wood filler as a surface for the "junk."

It was a little chunky and smelled bad.

But it gave me some good experience on the type of "junk"

that looked good on the frame.

I LOVE the back of watches where you

can see all the little gears.

The first finished frame.

After I perfected the right wood filler

I experimented with applying it to different surfaces.

Wood was a given.  But would it work on metal?

You betcha.

This frame started out as a Michael's 99 cent bare wood frame.

I enjoyed finding the right vintage Valentine to add to it.

  

White Side Table "Minnie" Furniture Redo

I purchased "Minnie" late last fall.  My last ditch effort to squirrel away enough furniture to last through the winter.  At this point my back porch is looking a little "lean".  Better people than I would call it "neat and tidy", but I'm somewhat more comfortable with a packrat mentality.

I am definitely looking for little tables and stands to "redo".

Easier to carry, easier to sell.

I am also looking for sturdy furniture with some nice details.

Minnie fit the bill.

Minnie was named after a character in the book

"The Help", which I had just finished.