Pea Green Show October 2015

The Pea Green show was held this past Saturday and as always was a lot of fun and hard work.  Now it's time to go back to the treasure hunt and prepare for March.  There was a steady flow of people, but the sales were down.  I heard some vendors complaining and others saying they did well, but you never really know.  As for me, sales were down about 40%.  Not good, but I still came out ahead, probably because I didn't take as much and sold a lot of smaller items. No complaints here, just grateful for the opportunity and the sales I did have.

These photos were taken before we opened.  I didn't get any pictures taken when it was all over.  I can tell you that it seemed like people were leaning toward the primitive items.  I sold every stool I had and a table that I painted.  I thought for sure the yellow shelf would sell, but I ended up bringing it back and putting it in my booth downtown.  I did not sell any skis or snow shoes.  Go figure....guess they're losing their mojo.  It seems that wooden boxes are still on the hot list.  I didn't have that many there, but sold all that I had. 'Til next next time......

New Behind The Wall Photos

I did some re-arranging, added some items and took some new photos.  I'm headed to an auction today.  Hopefully I will have new inventory to add next week!

Don't forget to head on over to Behind The Wall on Etsy  for a great selection of antiques, collectibles and vintage items for sale.  See ya after the auction!

Before and After Gossip Bench Project

This is a gossip bench I picked up at an auction a few weeks ago.  It was filthy and missing a screw or two and some needed to be tightened.  Other than that, it was in pretty good shape.  No one seemed to be interested in it, so I got lucky and got it real cheap.  After agonizing for a few weeks over what to do with it, I finally came up with an idea and this is how it turned out.  

I used a regular satin latex brown paint called Riding Boots for the base color and Natural Aspen for the accents and table.  When the base color was still slightly damp, I rubbed it with a damp cloth to achieve the worn or distressed look.  Well, I didn't really like the way it looked, so I applied what you might call a wash with the second color (Natural Aspen).  I just used a wet brush dipped in the paint and then wiped the excess off on newspaper before applying to the bench.  

Well, I still thought it needed something, so I just happened to have a fern leaf stencil.  I agonized over using that for about 30 minutes and finally said, "Give it a shot. You can always sand it off and start over."  So, I did, and I really liked the extra little something it gave to the whole thing. 

The final step was applying a light coat of a combination walnut stain and polyurethane. And, to me, that made it look just a little bit better.  So there you have it.  I am satisfied with it and it is now for sale in my booth  down town.  I just hope at least one other person likes it.  

I have not been to furniture painting classes and I am certainly not an expert when it comes to doing this type of thing, but I enjoy it a lot and I am learning along the way.  In my opinion, I think anyone could do this if they wanted to, and develop their own style.  


There is an auction coming up next week and hopefully I will be lucky enough to come up with another project.

If anyone has any comments or ideas, please feel free to share them.

Starting The New Year With New Items On eBay

Well, here we are beginning another year.  I keep telling myself it's going to be a good one, and so far I can't complain.  December and the first half of this month have been pretty good as far as selling goes, but if I don't start finding replacements for the things I sell, it will go down hill fast....and the pickins are slim around here right now.  We need to take a road trip to some place warm.

There was an estate sale this weekend, but it didn't look worth the drive, so we skipped it.  I ended up finding a few things just around town.  I found a box full of wooden letters in 3 different sizes for a real good price. The largest are 14" high.  Letters seem to be a hot item these days, so I should be able to move them and get my money back pretty quickly.  Some of the other items I found are now listed on eBay.  You can check them out below.

Oh, and I almost forgot...... GO BRONCOS!!

                                                              Brass Boot Match Holder    

                                                                Rogers Ice Tea Spoons

                                                        Permanent Micro Core Saucepan

                                                   Permanent Micro Core Fry Pan Saucepan

                                              Vintage Wool Cashmere Western Style Jacket

                                             Remington Two Tone Green Portable Typewriter

                                                    Antique Remington Portable Typewriter

New Items On Ebay

New Items On Ebay

The Boston Store

Little Casket Style 

Wire Rim Glasses

Old French Binoculars

New Spot In An Old Building

Well, I said I would keep up with this blog better, but I guess I didn't do a very good job, since I don't even remember when my last post was.  I am here now and will really try to do better.

This year has not been a great one for me as far as picking goes.  Seems to be less auctions and when there is one, I can't afford anything.  If these people are dealers, they must not be making much on what they buy, because they spend a hell of a lot more than I would.  And, that right there is my problem.  I'm tight with my money.  I just can't bring my self to buy a vintage train case for $30.  That's more than what I usually sell them for.  I'm all about passing on good deals when I can find them.  Just because it's been hard this year, doesn't mean I haven't been trying.  In fact, I have rented an additional space in a local historical building.  It sat vacant for quite some time.  Every time I drove by it, I would wish that I could be the one to rent it and open it up to vendors, but since I have a regular job, it just wasn't possible.  I just couldn't bring myself to give up a perfectly good job.  Then, one day I drove by and lo and behold there was activity inside and I knew something was happening.  Later, I heard that someone was planning to do the same thing I wanted to do.  I was a little disappointed it wasn't me, but glad to hear that it would not be vacant anymore.  Since I was already renting a space in another town, I was reluctant to try another one, but the rent was reasonable and the spaces are good size, so what the heck.  I should at least be able to make rent.....so I did it!  And, I'm glad I did.  The people are great, I'm having a great time and business is good!

Here are some photos of my space.  These are not partitioned off, so you can see into the spaces on each side.      

                                                                         

                                                                                

                                                                                

                                                                                  

                                                                                

                                                                                 

                           This is a picture of the wooden change jar that was sent on a cable to the office
                            upstairs.  It would be sent back down with your change when you
                            made a purchase.  It was a clothing store and I remember this when
                            I was a little girl.

This is all I have for now, but there is an auction this weekend.  Hope to find some good treasures to pass
along.  See you soon!

The "Olde" Market Place "Country Tag Sale"

Well, the show I was telling you about is over now....thank goodness!  Boy, are they a lot of work, but sooo worth it.  Actually, this is the only one we do and it happens twice a year.  Anyway, it went well and we sold a lot of stuff.  In fact every piece of furniture we took sold....all to the same person, and that happened within the first hour.  We had to ask them to leave it until later in the afternoon, because they were our display pieces and we wouldn't have any place to put everything.  They had no problem with that.   I was worried I would forget the camera, so I threw it in the bag the night before and then after we were all set up and as they were opening the doors to let the long line of people in, I realized I hadn't taken any photos, so fumbled around to get the camera  and took them so quickly, I forgot to change the setting, so they are a little fuzzy.  I also took some after photos and they are better, but not much to see.

                                                        These are the before pictures

                                                        These are the after pictures

Everyone just loved that yellow kitchen cabinet.  It is very old and had metal drawers with porcelain knob handles.  My favorite thing is the gooseneck floor lamp with the fiberglass cone shades.  Ya just can't get more 50's than that.  I found it on a picking excursion buried in the corner of a shed.  Still in good working condition and I love the two tone shades.  Can't believe no one wanted to buy it.  Of course I had a high price tag on it, thinking I might want to keep it for a while.  It was a long day, but well worth the time and effort.  Time to start thinking about the next one coming up in October.  Wonder what we'll find between now and then!?