Great Crate Christmas Tree

For the past three years I have constructed a crate Christmas tree display in the front of my booth.

Each year it is different.

This year I expanded the size to allow for more areas for Christmas smalls and for my dyed bottle brush trees.

Took all of one day to clear out the front and find all the crates which are used the rest of the year throughout both booths for displays.








 

I added an extra one on the bottom row allowing for the extra crates in the rows. 

All crates are tied together and tied to the chicken wire behind to stabilize.




Yes, children have tried to climb the crates.

This year's color is a red.

Ten yards of tulle split in half.

Used as garland on the crates and to make Miss Chrissy a top.





 

It is quite fun to fill in the display spaces. 

I can change out items as they sell.

All spaces feature the bottle brush trees.

Along with vintage and vintage-looking Christmas items. 

Gold feathers hang from most of the crates.

(PLASTIC!)


 





 

Just noticed the vintage photo cards are sideways.

Miss Chrissy is standing at the very tippy-top dressed in garland and tulle with a feather pendant.

Off to organize stuff around the house to start decorating. 



Finished the outside lights and wreaths Sunday.

Need to haul more items over to the booths.

Shop Small Saturday was a great day for the antique mall.

The dealers at Riverfront Antique Mall have created a Face Book page for dealers to post items and sales. 

Come join us if you wish.

Dealing On The River @ Riverfront Antique Mall 


See y'all!

ETSY SHOP IS CLOSED

 I will accept reserved listings if you see something in the blog posts you want.

Booth Boost

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

Fall Into My Booth

I spent some time last week bringing some bits of Fall and Halloween to the front of my large booth.



Booth W-10 is at the end of a long aisle - this is what meets the customer's eye.

I keep items from all holidays in the back section of the booth moving them forward when the time comes.

No shifting back and forth from mall to home.

Just rotating stock around the booth space and adding the new items.



 

The orange pumpkins are for display - Dollar Tree finds.

Dollar Tree starlings for my birdcages.

Creepy image clings on the mirrors are from Dollar Tree last year.

I hope they have some more this year.





 

And what about Miss Katherine who was front and center?

I carefully shifted her onto sliders and slid her around the corner.

All 150 pounds of her!

She is one hefty lady.

I will be adding more as the season progresses.



See y'all!


 

CLOSED FOR SUMMER!

 Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA16

SHOP HERE! 

Friday Finds

Another year of chickening out on the 127 Longest Yard Sale.

However, I did chance upon a garage sale where the couple had planned to sell at the 127 sale, but their plans fell apart.

I wish I had arrived sooner - trucks piled high were leaving as I drove up.

I envisioned this drop leaf dining table in a soft gray, but it was stored in the back of the truck when I was unloading at the antique mall on Tuesday.

Another dealer offered to help unload and shove it in the booth.

Thanks, Pamn!

It is mahogany so painting would have been quite the chore.

I had to go back in Chuck's truck to pick it up. 

It was so humid my lens kept clouding up.

Maybe a romantic dining table.

Available in Booth W-10 - cheap!

My project can be your project.

Several years of Victoria magazines.  

A friend and I scanned through for the ones we wanted.

The other bundles are $3 each bundle in Booth C-23.

A quick run through GW netted me a large old bird cage and a metal bookshelf.

When they are cleaned and tagged, they will be at the antique mall.

Did you save up your babysitting money to buy a John Romain handbag?

I did!

Found two vintage ones in great shape.



Along with milk bottles, picnic baskets and the green-legged little table.

More vintage hats - all available in Booth C-23.

The hat in front has a matching clutch and hat pin in a Cullum's box with the receipt!

Cullum's has been gone for decades.

The hat alone was $50 way back when.

For back to school, a child-size paint easel and a large cursive tablet.

A couple of baskets.

A small table needing a lot of work.

A blue Old Yeller.

A pink and green homemade doll.

A set of medical encyclopedias in a magazine box.

Some more thrift shop finds:

Two carved wall hangings.

A candlestick table.

A piano music stand.

So all in all, I did not need to travel four hours to shop.

 


In fact I found so much, we skipped Saturday's auction.

Happy hunting this weekend.


See y'all!

CLOSED FOR SUMMER!

 Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA16

SHOP HERE! 

Friday Finds

It was the perfect trifecta - sidewalk shopping, thrift store discount day, and Habitat sale day.

A pair of lovely turquoise French doors that remind of Joanna Gaines.

They came quite a roundabout way from Olive Out.

A pair of old screen doors.

As you can see the doors are in Booth W-10.

Thanks, Liz, for this primitive beauty.

Handmade shoeshine box.

Came with real dirt!

One tweed suitcase.

Two large brown suitcases.

One blue train case.

A large green and yellow cupboard door.

Come back Sunday for its makeover.

Two flambeaux.

Look, Fonda, a globe and dictionary stand!

I've finished this makeover also.

I've been a painting fool.

I found a box of reference books.

Harold loved his dictionary so much, he engraved his name on it! 

I love red levels to display bottle brush trees - this one just level enough to show my poor brick barrow no longer even pretends to be level! 

A leather briefcase.

These make great magazine storage.

I have polished all the cases.

I have fluffed some stuff.



I am on a painting spree.

Be prepared to be wowed! 


See y'all!

Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA16

SHOP HERE!