My first time being a vendor - ever!

I did it!!  I did my first show!!  With the help of my good friend and "seasoned" show vendor, Helen of Mossy Cottage, I actually did it!  We were part of the Barnyard Junkies' Vintage Holiday Market in Ashland, Virginia. 

The bench sold!  It was very bittersweet.....if it didn't sell, it was coming home with me.  My hubby said that he will build me another.  :)

I did come home with this beauty, but I don't think it will stay long....

It was definitely a learning experience, but I did well.  It was great meeting new people and doing some networking.  I have some tweaking to do, but will I do another?  Most definitely!

 

 

Susan

To move or not to move...

That is the question.  Well, I FINALLY answered my own question and am VERY happy about the decision.  Yes, we are going to close our Bowling Green shop and move it back to Fredericksburg! 

 

We are actually going back to the place we were before....R&R Antiques!  Located at the corner of William and Caroline Streets, it has anything and everything for the collector and beyond!

 

 

 

This has been a hard decision, but there are so many reasons why I chose to move.  First and foremost, business is slow.  We are in a very small town with virtually no foot traffic.  Don't get me wrong, I have some great customers, but of course they don't need to shop in there everyday.  I've also learned that having your own shop is almost a 24-7 venture.  To sell, you have to buy.  To buy, you have to go out for many hours.  When you are stuck running the daily dealings of a store, you lose "valuable" time that could otherwise be used for hunting for treasures.  Your one day "off"  is then spent buying stuff to bring back to sell - not to mention if it needs cleaning, painting, etc.!  My house has definitely suffered! I used to commute four hours per day with an 8+ hour work day, and I think I had more personal time than I do now.  :)

Bottom line, I want my life back to do what really makes me happy!  So, I am moving back to my old stomping grounds in Fredericksburg and I couldn't be happier!!  I will be in an antique mall where I only need to maintain my space on the schedule that I chose and pay rent.  Yay!  I can finally get creative and inspired again! 

 

Here's our new space.  Still has some things in it from my dear friend and owner, but I can start moving in! 

 

 

One thing for sure....our refrigerator and food closet will be full again...dinner will be cooked and the house will be clean!!  Who wouldn't be happy with that combo!

I MET LUCKETTS GREEN!

This past week I have been very busy working on restoring a couple of pieces into fabulous treasures.  We find our items in many different places and are always scouting furniture needing some love.  Well, let's just say that I see the beauty where the Mr. may not always.  :)

 

This one piece came from a customer who called about some items she had.  I almost didn't take it, but knew that I could do something with it. Though, with the veneer in the shape it was, I wasn't so sure.

 

 

 

So, as I stood back and stared, paced around it, pulled up a chair and sipped coffee, I finally had the vision!  I had just received my first order of milk paint and decided that this is the piece to try it on!  I quickly whipped up a batch of Lucketts Green and painted away.

 

 

 

 

 

Look at the sweet bird pulls I found at one of my most favorite places on earth, Class and Trash!  The perfect final touch!!

 

 

 

  This was my first experience with milk paint, and I found it really fun to work with.  Overall, I love the way this dresser turned out! 

 

 

 

 

Susan

Need more blogging....

There is no question....this blogging stuff is so new to me and with that, I have been procrastinating about putting up a new post. 

It's not so much about posting per se....but WHAT to post about.  I am so busy with running the shop - and we have so many other things going on right now, that I don't feel that I do, or have, anything interesting to write about. 

I have been working on several projects lately, and I will do a post on each of those individually...but I think on this one, I am going to focus on something my wonderful husband did for me about a month ago....  If you follow me on Facebook, you may have already seen it.  This is about the BEAUTIFUL bench that he made out of an antique 3/4 bed that we have had in inventory for a good two years.  If you have an antique business, you may know that 3/4 beds are a hard sell.  I have seen so many cool bed benches on Pinterest and FB that I begged him to do something similar.  What he did was over-the-top, in my opinion. 

Here is the bed before....YES, it IS a beautiful bed!  I know...how could we cut it up like that?  I look at it this way....it has been sitting in the shop for so long with no one loving it.  Why not make it into something that someone will be able to love AND use?

I am ashamed to say that I did not take pictures of Dean as he was building it....perhaps that's a good thing.  :)  It didn't seem to be the easy job I thought it would be. 

Here is the after picture.  See how he used almost all of the parts? 

 

 

I love my man.....

 

 

 

 

Susan

The little French table

I have had this idea in the back of my mind for quite sometime ~ after seeing several similar projects on blogs and Pinterest.  I had the perfect coffee table for this project at the shop and brought it home.  There is sat in my dining room for weeks as I pondered, planned and walked around it sighing...until I finally got the inspiration and the fire under my *** to get started.  It took me two days to finish this project, but I love the way it turned out.

 

Here is the before picture of the table.  The straight lines and sturdy construction made for a perfect base for the project.

 

 

I found the image I wanted from www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com  and uploaded it to www.blockposters.com  to print it out larger for the table.  After taping the image together, it was time to get started!!

 

 

I began with giving the table two coats of ASCP in Paris Grey.  A fitting color for my little French table!

 

After letting the paint dry good and sanding it with 2,000 grit sandpaper,  I prepared to transfer the image.  There are several different ways to this, but I chose to do the ole' rub the back with a graphite pencil.  After I completed that, I place the image in the position I wanted and taped it down.  Next, I took a ballpoint pen and traced the image onto the table.

 

 

The image came out fairly light, but it worked well enough.  To fill in the letters, I used a sharpie PAINT pen.  I have yet to master the artist paint brush and with the arthritis settling into my hands, the chunky size felt much better in my fingers.

 

 

Once I completed it, I lightly sanded with a 180 grit sandpaper to give it an aged look.  I should have sanded it a bit more, because once I applied the wax, the image turned out darker than I really had wanted....but I still like it!

 

 

 

Here she is ~ all painted, waxed and ready to go!  She'll be at the new location in early September!

 

Susan

 

Extreme Makeovers - Furniture Style

Over the years, I have learned that some of my most joyful moments are when I stand back and admire the work I have done on a piece of furniture that was ready for the trash.  I have saved many pieces ~ some from the actual dump!  Back "in the day", painting was never an option.  I would strip, sand and refinish almost every piece that I got my hands on.  I cringe at the mere thought of how much of the bad chemicals I have touched and inhaled.  I finally switched over to the environmentally and skin safe strippers, but not until just a few years ago. 

These days, paint is my medium of choice.  No question, chalk paint is my preference!  However, on hard to brush pieces (i.e. chairs), I still pull out the good ole spray paint. But, as the new paints and colors come out, I get excited about the new possibilities!  I CANNOT wait to get my hands on Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint!  I've already pre-ordered!

There wasn't a sunny weekend that I wouldn't be outside working on a project or two.  Saturdays quickly became known as "Shed Day" at my house.  It was such a relaxing way to decompress from my busy 70+ hour work week (which included the horrendous Northern Virginia commute).  The physical effort it took to sand the top of a table enabled me to release a lot of frustration!  The monotonous strokes of the paint brush allowed my brain just run free and relax.

Once I left my somewhat typical day job and opened our shop, my days were full of the day-to-day activities required for running a business.  I no longer had the weekends fully free and my projects piled up.  Luckily, I have started taken some on and once again, I am loving every minute! 

With that, I'd like to introduce you to some of my latest projects! 

This little table had seen better days for sure.

With a little Annie Sloan paint, a freshened top and new wheels, she rocks!

 

One of my favorite transformations is this china cabinet....

Before

After!!

But, this is the one that I am most proud of....

As I write this post, I am chomping at the bit to get out and start the next project!!  Enjoy this fabulous Sunday!