Adding items to my Booth

 I am enjoying having the freedom a booth allows. I can come and go and yet my booth remains open everyday from 10 - 7. 

I went over Sunday evening to add a few items and noticed that I have been painting with a lot of shades of grey lately, ( funny how a simple phrase can make you think twice - no reference to that awful book:) from charcoal to very light, from silver to bluish. 













I added a small candle stand Sunday evening. I was amazed earlier, to see that depending on age and style and condition, the price of candle stands can vary in price, from as little as $20, to more than $1500. 

The one I brought in probably dates to no earlier than the 1970's. It was dark pine and had seen a little bit of  wear so I decided to paint it a pale grey and then distress it a bit. 

I also brought in some silver-plate. When I found it, it was beyond nicely tarnished. It was so black that it was difficult to determine the condition and whether it was just plated or better. 

After a lot of polish and much elbow grease, I was able to see that most pieces were indeed plated, but one lovely piece was actually sterling! 

As I start to think of Christmas, I am drawn to more ornate pieces and love to put them in a rustic setting and then add a bit of color. Ordinarily, I do not like to rush Christmas, but since our Holiday Open House is November 8, I have no choice.  So the pumpkin gourd to the right will soon be replaced with a vintage ornament.


I don't know if you can see it in the photo or not, but the pine cone looks as though it is tipped with frost or snow. It is actually sap.
When I was returning from my walk last Friday morning I noticed many of these pine cones, so, of course, had to gather them up. Many had long dry pine needles stuck to them, and by the time I got home I was stuck to them, also.

I put them on the patio table hoping the sap will harden and be less sticky so I can use them for my Christmas booth.

I hope you can join us for our holiday event - "Everything Old is New Again". Several vendors, myself included, will have demonstrations in our booths on repurposing vintage items for decorating, or wrapping packages, or adding to newer goodies to give your gifts and home a special touch.

Our "tea lady" will serve tea and home made treats to make you feel welcome and help get you in the mood for celebrating the holidays.

Hoping to get back on track with Posting

Greetings!
I apologize for the long pause in posts. Our lives are not our own. Since our shop on North Main has been purchased by the state of Illinois for its Highway 2 widening, we have been trying to figure out where a shop full of books and store inventory and workspace for painting, and space for consulting are all going to go. 

My store is now in the East State Antique Mall, as many of you may already know, but, of course I went from 4 rooms in the shop to one booth in the mall. Obviously, there are many items left after the partial move. Fortunately, a few small tables have sold, as well as my large breakfront, and most recently my black hutch. So, I have been able to move more items to my booth.

I am happy to report that many of the "Halloween" items also sold, the portrait, the candelabra, some tarnished silver-plate....all items which get "repurposed", as Halloween decor. I love using what I have or finding something which isn't specific to just one holiday. 

With different candles and some greens, the candelabra could be perfect for Christmas. (if I still had it)

The task ahead is to finish redoing furniture at the shop, while I still have the space to do it. 

Meanwhile Halloween is fast approaching, and we have to get into high gear for Christmas.

Example: two ads, same event, minor changes, but whole different feel. First step ads, 2nd step, redo the booth. I love that part.

Hope you can join us. I will be there and hopefully be able to see some dear, familiar faces.

Talk about Labor Day!!!

I thought moving to a booth would simplify my life a bit. And I guess that, since we are still in the relocation mode, we are not yet in the simplification stage. However, not only have things not been simplified, but selling one BIG piece that took up almost all of the back wall of the booth, has put me in the fast forward mode.

I have learned very quickly that I must find and redo more furniture so that I have more of a back log, items ready to fill in when something sells.

Yesterday and the day before were spent getting at least a few more things ready to go.

I have had the items in the picture below for a while, but decided to give them a face lift and update.

light wood kidney-shaped table and hairpin-back chair

Painted chairs

First step was to wash down the chairs and remove the seats in order to paint the frames. I used a spray enamel (much easier with all the small curved surfaces).  I didn't take a photo of the table-just plain black. I was probably focused too much on what I was going to do to embellish it. My thought was basically a starburst (sonic, atomic).

computer generated star embellished

Then I started the painting. First I had to make stencils out of stiff, coated paper.
It is basically a free hand design, I laid out the varying sizes of "points" and stenciled them in turquoise, being careful to do opposite sides so I didn't smear wet paint. Of course, I did smear wet paint. The points are not perfect; neither am I. (I am sure that is difficult for John to believe:). 

I then tried to cut out a circle but could not get it smooth enough, so I ran up to our trusty Dollar Superstore and found a geometry stencil with two different size circles on it.



I stencilled circles on the star points alternating red and gold, and today I have to varnish the top, so the surface and painting will be protected. It will be fast-drying varnish, so that I can get the three pieces over to the antique mall, before the big breakfront is removed. 

Then, of course, I will have to rearrange the booth with a new centerpiece on the back wall. Can you guess what theme will take center stage?

No, it is not real.  It is actually a vase. How cool is that!
What do you put in a skeleton head?!?

After all that,  I will be set for the BIG event of the weekend. Yes, it's the same link as above, but be sure to click to get the details on the "flea". And, while you are there, please "like" their page, so you can continue to get these announcements. Also be sure to "like" Just A Second,  so we can stay in touch. 

Looking forward to your visit!

Two Men and A Truck

I was at the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK storefront Monday, where I also locked my keys in the car. While I was talking to AAA, the woman asked where I was...and what I was moving. She highly recommended TWO MEN AND A TRUCK, and she asked why I was there. She also LOVES antiques. I guess I can still have fun conversations, even if I do not have a store front.

The truck is arriving Wednesday AM to move as much as will fit in my booth, since my booth contract starts Friday. Now, imagine emptying breakfronts with all that "stuff", and trying to find a place for all that, while you are removing most of the pieces that can hold it, and you are having a sale to sell quite a bit of those goodies, which you want to be displayed somewhere other than the floor. 

Such is the confusing situation at Just A Second this week... and that is what is waking me up even earlier than my usual pretty early wake-up time. 

AAA came, and it's a bit disconcerting to witness how easy it is to break into a locked car with just a couple of simple gadgets. It is important to remember that It takes just one call in distress to pay for the membership - well worth it!

Before I left, I showed the office person, I was working with, Ann's artwork and suggested they might want to change their logo to the art Ann Nellie's Barn Sale provided, at which point I heard the story of the grandmother of the guys who started Two Men and a Truck, providing the logo for the business.  And another reminder...that friendly conversations are everywhere. 

Don't forget our sale, inside and out (weather permitting). It is Saturday, August 16, 9-4, at Just A Second, 1710 N. Main St., and starting this afternoon, you can also visit the East State Mall at our new location. See if you can find Just A Second.  It would also be nice if you "liked" my new location. Yes, right now we have two locations. Aren't you impressed!

A New Chapter Begins

We woke up this past week to a different sky - very apparent from the vantage point of our "sleeping porch" room. Our bedroom has eight windows in it, and this summer, with its cool nights and no need for the air conditioning, has been wonderful, like sleeping under the stars, in the fresh air minus the bugs.

I wake up without an alarm between 5:30 and 6:00 AM, and every morning this past week, I have thought it was going to be a rainy day, in spite of the forecasts to the contrary. 

Yes, the days are getting shorter, and the 7:00 walking time will be more difficult, just because of the later sunrise.

Soon it will be time to "cozy" up our room, but not yet. It is August, after all, and still summer.

The view from my desk/nightstand

Here is the other side of the room and a bit of the 

wicker settee where I sit when, John, (Carson to all 

you Downton Abbey fans) sometimes brings me my

morning coffee.

Here is the view from where I sit, down to the back yard where summer 

is in full bloom.  Can you tell the photo is taken through the screen?

And this August, August 15 to be exact, there will be more changes than just the shortening of the daylight hours. That date is the kick-off for the relocating and downsizing of Just A Second from our shop on North Main Street to a booth at the East State Antique Mall. The booth is the size of just one room at the shop, so our having to relocate is to your advantage. 

Saturday, August 16, we will be having a relocation sale in our parking lot where many items will be priced as you would expect at a yard sale. Other items in the store will be greatly reduced to facilitate vacating by October - all part of the state's plan to widen North Main Street (Highway 2), and to add a recreation path to the west side of the highway.

As you can imagine, it is a mixed bag of feelings I share.

Change is scary but also exciting. I am excited to be in a new and different location and to have a different space to make my own, but I will miss the shop and the one-to-one interaction with all the friends I have made during the five years the shop has been open.

I love that I can keep my "hand in the game" of antiquing and decorating, and do it all - the picking, and the staging, and the personalizing on a much smaller scale.

I am looking forward to having more free time to visit our children and their families scattered across this vast country. 

I also love that, once again, I will spend more time at home to take care of the long overdue, refreshing and repainting of our house.

So, please spread the word, my friends, by sharing this post through your social networks.
I am looking forward to your visit.

I am closed for the month of July to paint. I have been looking at our house with a very critical eye.  Sometimes taking photos really helps.  We get so used to seeing things that we don't really see them. 

And, it has been quite a while since some rooms have been painted, including the living room and dining room, which really needed freshening up. I had no desire to change the color, because I didn't want to have things reupholstered or have to buy furniture because the walls no longer worked. As boring as it sounds, I just wanted to use the same wall color, so one coat would do the job. 

I could remember the name of the color and the brand of paint we used when we had it all painted several years ago.

So, I went to our friendly Ace Hardware store and told them the paint colors.  They were able to look them up and reproduce them and bonus!!!, they did it in Benjamin Moore Paint which they sold to me at the same "buy one, get one free" sale price of their house Kensington and Clark paint, which FYI, is rated #1 by consumer reports. 

And because I needed 2 gallons of wall paint and 1 gallon of trim paint, I could get another gallon FREE, I ordered the paint shown in the bedroom photos above.  It is called Lucky Charm by Kensington and Clark, but it is almost identical to Benjamin Moore's "Smoke".

If you are like our children, you are probably incredulous regarding the size of our bed. Yes, it is a full size. On the other hand, I am the only one who can use the bed spread which was my mother's. It is muslim with chenille crewel work embroidery. It is a bit fussy for me, but nice and summery, so it will work for a while. 

Since painting is the chore of the month, any blogging I do will be about, what else?, painting!

The shop will be open today, Wednesday, July 16, from 11-2, since I have books to ship, and some customers coming in by appointment: 815-978-3071. Then it's back to painting an upstairs bathroom. No rest for the wicked.

Full speed ahead

So much going on, as has always been the case when we approach May.  And the end of April, beginning of May, 2014, even with children all grown, is no exception. 

This weekend, April 25 and 26, is the Vintage Shop Hop. And so we have been getting ready for that, although not nearly as ready as I would like to be. Thank goodness Devola and Tina are part of Just A Second and have provided some terrific goodies for garden and home.  

You can see a few concrete garden goodies, and there are plenty more out on the deck.
There are also some wire pieces and rusty industrial items which can accent garden areas. Can't you see that tractor light sitting on your patio amongst some purple and orange potted plants?

We have adorned some beautiful, made in the USA birch twig wreaths with burlap and vintage pins, etc., for your front door. We even sprayed a few in aqua, gray, or white to give you a bit of a choice. And we have this large barbed wire wreath that would look absolutely terrific on a barn or the side of a garage. It's heavy, so it needs a sound structure for its home.

And speaking of barns, it look like Bessie here escaped and is peeking in your screen door!
She would be perfect on your porch or hanging on your kitchen wall - nice and light so easy to put anywhere. Warning: the screen is pretty rusty and full of holes, but still looks terrific.

 As is often the case, most of our items are one of a kind, although there may be two "Bessies" if time allows.

Check out these state line vintage shops in Illinois and Wisconsin who are all Punch Card Participants. If you get to a least 16 of them over the two days and get your card punched, you will get entered in the drawing for a $500 worth of gift certificates for a vintage shopping spree. See you this weekend! Looking forward to your visit.