Friday, September 30, 2016

Friday Finds

vintage finds, vintage books, thrift shops, estate sales
A good junkin' week always starts with books.

Bags of books including these literary magazines from the 1960's and a French poetry book from a thrift store.








A good junkin' week always starts with finding two items which have been in short supply recently: ice skates and crib springs.

Kermit looks at me as if I am past crazy.

Ice skates - it is still ninety degrees!






A good junkin' week always ends with estate sales, a community yard sale, and several church sales.

I went to a house demo sale.

Just point to a door, window, fence, deck - whatever - and it was yours.

I pulled the birdhouse off the post in the yard along with the garden bench and bucket planter.







I was too short to take the bifold doors down, but the owner took them down for me and packed them into the truck.

The prices were great.






Two Hobby Lobby metal wall art pieces.

A Scrabble game already reduced to the letters and holders.









One of my favorite finds.

A framed wedding invitation.

Ruth Rogers marrying Boyd Mayer on Tuesday morning, June 16, 1942, at 10AM in Hartsville, SC.

Chucks is quite sure this was a wartime wedding before Boyd was shipped out. 

Marriage announcement HERE.
Ruth's obituary HERE.





Look two globes, Fonda.

Not too old and both have stand issues.

A lovely large painted window.









A bin of finials, a pair of shutters, and four huge white wire baskets.












Four large boxes of books.

Over eighty of them!

Seller was giving me a price for each book which was taking time away from other sales.


I told him if he would give me a bundle price, I would take them all.

He gave me a price.

I said I could do half that price.






SOLD!

His sons carried the boxes up the STEEEEEP driveway for me.

Books are from the middle 1800's to the 1950's.

A big stack of old Sax Rohmer books both paperback and early hardback - remember Dr. Fu Manchu?

NO? READ HERE. 





Quite a few children's books and old textbooks.














April, 1960 - TEEN magazine featuring Annette Funicello, my favorite Mouseketeer.






These tiny books - my favorites.

I kept the small red Oxford dictionary, the green Shakespeare, and the Now We Are Six.

I am busy marking books for the booth.






Rusty grates, wire baskets, and a galvanized planter box.













After bargaining for all the books, the seller offered me a great price on a book shelf to hold them all.

All it needs is a good paint job.










After buying a few old things from a sale, the seller chased me up the street to ask if I would buy a bin of old bottles.


The price was too, too high, but as I walked away, the price got lower,

and lower,

and lower. 

Until I said SOLD!

By that time he had lugged the heavy bin a block up the street and carried it the rest of the way to my truck.

It seemed to be a day for street-side service.

Now I do have to clean all those bottles - maybe not the greatest deal!


 
It is always a good junkin' day when it ends with a 1960's Smith-Corona typewriter in avocado green.

 
It has found its forever home.

The small leatherette box holds slides.

Slides - I think they might be collectible soon. There are  millions out there. I know because I have been forced to watch most of them through my life.

I had to drive home to unload the truck in the middle of the morning to buy another truckload.

What is crazy: The official yard sale event for the county is October 8, but everyone has the sales BEFORE that Saturday so they can shop.

What is crazy: There will not be as many sales on October 8.

I cannot decide whether to go forth and hunt this weekend or stay at home and paint.

My head says paint, but my heart says hunt.


See y'all!








ETSY SHOP IS CLOSED








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Thursday, September 29, 2016

Booth Boost

refreshing a stale booth space
Booth owners are very cognizant of the need to refresh your booth space on a regular basis.



I have been neglecting my back room of the large booth.  

In fact I have not changed it since moving in two years ago.

I decided to bring in big collections from my personal stash.

Like three dozen folding rulers, door plates, and hundreds of keys.

Chucks helped me hang five panels of white pegboard around the space to hang baggies of stuff.



I switched around the shelving to create more of a square space instead of a long rectangle. 




The lattice covers a piece of paneling separating one storage area from another.

There were huge piles of stock to climb over while working.

The Mount Everest of Junk!





I decided to go ahead and move my white crates out into the main space.

These will become in a few weeks my crate Christmas tree.















I am collecting odds and ends to package and sell.


















In place of the white crates, I used a couple of small tables to corral Christmas.















I used white lace curtain panels to cover the concrete firewall.

Hung pegboard on the back of my large cubby which faces my office area.







The crates of books face the doorway into the back room.

Since I moved them from the left side, the books have been selling.

I rotate sets of books from the main space to the back space from time to time.








More Christmas on the side wall.
















I should have taken a photo of how dark and crowded it was before the change.

It is lighter and brighter and organized for optimum shopping.

There is about a third more stock in the back room though it appears emptier.

Some customers thought I had made it bigger.






Pegboard is useful for items needing flat places.

Just hang them up!















As for the stack of crates I removed - they are being used as a fall display.

It took about ten hours over three days for the booth boost to be completed.

Totally worth it!

How do you refresh your booth space?



See y'all!









ETSY SHOP IS CLOSED








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Sunday, September 25, 2016

Quickies


Krylon Chalky Finish Spray Paint, distressed painting, quick makeover
Time for Quickies!














Today's victim is the 1970's wooden waste bucket I bought a few weeks ago.

My instrument of torture was a can of Krylon Chalky Finish in Classic White.





I like the lion's head detail on each side.













I love them distressed!














 
Finished with a coat of spray satin varnish.












I have been reading all your lovely comments, but I have been involved with voter registration and a bit of campaigning and have been remiss in replying.

PLEASE register to vote and plan to vote in the November election.

See y'all!








ETSY SHOP IS CLOSED








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Friday, September 23, 2016

Friday Finds

cabinet photographs, Vintage Southern Picks blog
My Friday Finds post is more about finding Florence than treasures found.

Though Florence is a true treasure.


She started commenting on my posts quite awhile back.

I tracked her down on Google, but had no idea of her blog, Etsy shop, FB page, and Pinterest boards. 

I found out when she asked to use a link to my spooky ancestor milk bottles (READ HERE) on an Etsy listing featuring old cabinet cards.

Of course once I saw the cabinet cards I had to purchase them.

Chucks and I spent about 45 minutes the day the photos arrived creating back stories for each person.

We decided the couple above had these photos taken for their engagement. We think they found each other in prison - he a petty thief and she the prison cook.  

And they lived happily ever after.



I especially love family portraits with children.

The three sisters grew up to be a local sensation as a singing trio.

And they lived happily ever after.





Formal portraits were taken to com- memorate special milestones in life.

The two women graduated from a teaching college, taught for three years, and quit to marry and raise their children.

 
And they lived happily ever after.

Love the unusual diamond shape of the young man's photo.

After being scanned, I will use a copy of him  to make merchandise tags.




More formal portraits of young men.

Chucks and I saw a bright future for the guy standing by the chair.

He became president of a major furniture company, married well, and had five children.

And lived happily ever after.

Notice all of the stories we created have a happy ending.

All because Chucks insists on it.

Snarky me thinks of the dark side sometimes.

I will be busy scanning these into the computer for future use.

Now back to the amazing Florence.

Her blog Vintage Southern Picks is a delightful mix of vintage finds, transformations, and life stories. I have been busy reading back through her posts.

You can find Vintage Southern Picks on Facebook HERE.

Her Pinterest boards can be found HERE.

Etsy shop - VintageSouthernPicks - Where Vintage Meets Modern is HERE.

Most of you probably already know her, but be sure to go over and visit when you have a chance.

Thanks, Florence for becoming a blog friend. 



See y'all!









ETSY SHOP IS CLOSED








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Sunday, September 18, 2016

Quickies

fall decor, Rust-oleum Aqua, distressed painting, quick makeovers
What is it about blue and orange for fall?

When I am swimming each day, I look at an azure sky with the autumn leaves.

It makes me happy.







I gathered three victims for this quickies makeover this Sunday.

A pair of black iron arrows.

(Yes, I forgot to take a before pic before I painted the first coat - OOPS!)




A market basket.

HINT:  Rust-Oleum in Aqua.

















A desk organizer.













For extra interest for the iron arrows, they were sprayed first with cinnamon paint.











Market basket?

Check.













Arrows?  

Check.

Desk organizer?

Check.







Perfect with a prim pumpkin.












Of course, I distressed the arrows and desk organizer. 












Ready to point the way to FALLLLL!!!












Looks rusty to me.

















Great way to display.


















Look out for primitive pumpkins.















And one more pic for the road.









See y'all!









ETSY SHOP IS CLOSED








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