Trash to Treasure

I.                    Inspiration/Philosophy

a.      Lovely, yet affordable décor for your customers

b.      Themed, in an attractive setting

II.                  Sources: flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales, estate sales, and best of all, curbs!

III.                Inventory: diversify!

a.      Smalls: mark up should be more than double

1.      Inexpensive (the bulk of your smalls inventory) antique dishes for mix and match table settings, esp. weddings and parties; boudoir items (things you would find on a dressing table, such as small table mirrors, ornate mirror and brush sets, long gloves, ornate jewelry boxes, etc.); lamps, especially w/crystal or ornate bases; birdcages or anything with birds or owls on them; cloches with vignettes inside; vintage suitcases/picnic baskets (flat-topped double as transport/display/storage); vintage hats, purses and jewelry; pictures to turn into chalkboards; mirrors; urns, statuary, garden tools; wire baskets, galvanized buckets; vintage camping gear, esp. in plaid; rotary phones, typewriters; vintage kitchen tools; coffee or tea-related items; vintage trailer themed items; linens

2.      Investments: a small percentage of your inventory, boosting the overall quality and attractiveness to passing customers. “Eye candy” that you don’t mind keeping around a while due to pricing it higher.  Cycle these out so customers won’t grow to used to seeing them: Vintage dresses for “backdrop”; more rare vintage purses and jewelry; crochet bedspreads, quilts, tablecloths; fancier rare or larger items like statuary, industrial light fixtures, lovely art, etc

                                                            ii.      Furniture (not too big to transport, easy to fit into someone’s décor scheme, as well as your storage): try to at least double your investment: small to medium-sized tables; children’s cribs and kitchen furniture; vintage lawn chairs; dressers with fancy mirrors; buffets; small China cabinets; dining chairs (easy to transform into pretty boudoir or desk chairs); carts with wheels

IV.               Staging

a.      Minimize anachronisms to your theme

b.      Layer heights to maximize small spaces: stack tables, use each as display; open drawers of dressers and display items on inverted drawer; hang things from ceiling hooks and L-brackets

c.       Vary textures: Softs, like clothing, linens, lampshades, upholstered pieces; Hards, like wood furniture, metal garden ware; Organic: silk flowers, painted branches

d.      Use lighting to set mood (when electric is available)

e.      Create a “room” or vignette. Pinterest can be very helpful for ideas: Adriane DeVries, Use the Studio Space board. 

V.                 Transformation Techniques

a.      Paint: latex household paint for furniture.  If the wood is very worn, you will not need to sand or prime first (the grit gives “tooth” to the paint).  If very glossy, it doesn’t hurt to sand a bit and/or prime.  I rarely do this.  Many people are using “Chalk Paint,” which is expensive so I don’t bother.  A similar effect can be achieved with various similar colors layered and sanded. I have heard that any latex paint can be turned into chalk paint using plaster of paris. I assume a recipe for this is easy to find online.  If you like a bit of crackle, use Elmer’s glue between a dark coat of paint and a light upper.  Spray varnish and/or clear polyurethane make a good sealant for those surfaces you feel will get a heavy beating and need protection.

b.      Sanding

c.       Stenciling

d.      Stamping

e.      Paper embellishments: wallpaper, scrapbook, decoupage

f.        Hardware: keyholes, escutcheons, wooden filigrees, door knobs, drawer pulls, number plates

g.      Transfers

                                                              i.      Monochrome items: print inverted onto transparency paper and press like a stamp while still wet. Retrace any rough spots

                                                            ii.      Multicolor items: print inverted, then glue printout onto item, let dry, use water to slowly peel paper backing off.  Not as good, but sometimes looks cool. Try it!

h.      Odd Combinations

                                                              i.      Table base with a suitcase

                                                            ii.      Lamp into a hat stand

                                                          iii.      Floor lamp into a clothing display rack

                                                           iv.      Non-functional clock faces into table tops

                                                             v.      Cloches made from inverted round glass jars and bowls, paired with pretty plate and vignette

                                                           vi.      Picnic basket or other type of basket with a collection of items for a tea party, or dress up

VI.               Business Tips

a.      Keep overhead low: Booth vs. Show

b.      Keep receipts for tax deductions, Schedule C. Also helps with mileage tally (I use Mapquest): Rent, cost of inventory, paint and other supplies, payment to helpers

c.       Overall profit margin, minus expenses, should average around 50 percent of your total sales.

VII.              Give! With what the Lord has blessed you, give back to Him a percentage for His glory! I find that the upcycling process is so fun and therapeutic from start to finish that I do not need the income for myself. 100% of my profits go to favorite ministries like Haiti Foundation Against Poverty, WAR, World Vision and World Hope, among others.

 

Allegan Sunday April 25

I have a chronic, perhaps pathological, habit of buying junky pieces of furniture or otherwise broken down , vintagey household items, then painting them or rewiring them or embellishing them with other bits of junk, slapping a price tag on them, packing them, then bringing them to an outdoor antique show to sell as a benefit for an international relief organization.  It’s something we’ve been doing as a family business for a few years now, and we are getting organized and practiced at all the hard work of setting up for the one-day show at the fairgrounds about forty-five minutes south of here.  Set up is on Saturday, but we begin packing two minivans (one ours, one my mother-in-law’s, the dear woman), on Friday to spread out the workload.

Paris Picnic-ing is my absolute favorite thing to do, and I only get to do it six times, maybe seven, per year.  I was reflecting on it today and realized that of all the things I do, from mothering to wife-ing to teaching to friending, this is the one thing I do that doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable, while everything else is just a little bit out of my comfort zone.  Basically, most of the time I am willing to do things God calls me to do, while relying heavily on His help in accomplishing them by the skin of my teeth.  At the antique show, though, I feel like Eric Liddell of 1924 Olympic running fame when he said he felt God’s pleasure when he did what he was created to do. I do realize it is silly to compare selling junk to competing in the most elite international sports competition, but I get my thrills cheap. Literally.  We all have a role to fill, and some are more obvious or glamorous than others. My role, apparently, turning trash into treasure.  My dad always thought I would be a bag lady when I grew up, since I was bringing miscellany home from garage sales on the back of my bike in high school, so I guess I've come pretty close to fulfilling his prediction. I don't think it's something he would brag to friends about if he were still around.

Anyhoo, this past weekend was our first antique show of the season, and I was both nervous and excited.  It was our first time to use our newly purchased vehicle, so I didn’t know how much I could realistically pack in it.  I scaled our inventory way down, including only three picnic hampers instead of the usual eight or so, plus only the best stuff for spring to make for a pretty show.  I was so pleased that everything fit into the two vehicles easily, maybe even with a tad bit of room to spare, which was truly a first.  Next time I can definitely bring more, but the good news is that once it was all set up and merchandized, you could hardly tell there was less than usual.

With the help of our son's friend, who agreed to work for us for the day for even less pay than his regular job at a greenhouse, set up went quickly.  Having less inventory certainly helped, and thank the Lord, the rain in the forecast proved to be a bluff, so we had merely cool weather rather than cold and rainy. Nothing makes antique sales more miserable than trying to keep them dry in a downpour, which we have done many dismal weekends. We drove home in time to pick up our son from his karate conference to celebrate at Pizza Ranch, where I finally tried their famous taco pizza . Tim and I had a quiet evening while the boys had an overnighter at our house in order to wake up early for show day.

Waking up in the fives to get to the fairgrounds by seven was not as hard as I thought it would be, and definitely better than sleeping in freezing or damp or steaming hot vans in a creepy field near a river teeming with raving prison escapees.  One child rode in a van with one adult, and I got my son.  Fortunately or unfortunately for him, when I read a sign that said our exit was closed and that there was a detour, I actually took the detour.  On this particular day the detour took me, literally, through a swamp that sometimes has “water over the road,” as the sign officially announced.  Said road was gravel and wound through what appeared to be meth lab shack central, and I was never happier to see smooth asphalt than after twenty minutes of fearing a flat tire or a gunshot through the windshield.  Keeping my cool, I pointed out to my  son the beautiful spring fields and trees and cows, while he half-dozed.  His major concern was that there was no wi-fi for Minecraft out in the country.

We finally arrived long after the sun rose, but there was still plenty of time to arrange a few things I brought with me from home.  Truly, everything looked gorgeous, just as I had hoped, and we had time to sit and relax as we waited for the first customers. The first slow hour always tricks me into thinking that this is going to be the show when you come home with only a few hundred dollars for all your hard work, not even covering expenses. It's a heart-sinking feeling, sort of like when you are sure you are going to fail a pop quiz.  But as the shoppers made their way from the main entrance to our booth at the opposite side of the market, our sales were consistent with past shows, despite having less inventory than usual.  It’s as if there is a certain amount that people can spend per hour during that show, regardless of what I bring. What a huge relief, and pleasure, to sit in the sun, enjoying the first truly beautiful warm spell of the season, as people of like mind take home bags full of beautiful junk that I will not need to repack and bring home later. Aaah, bliss. 

I am still, a week later, feeling the high of doing what I love, and looking forward to next time.  There is no way it could be better than this one, but it will be fun to see what surprises I find packed in the baskets and suitcases for our next monthly Paris Picnic.

Content

"My crown is called content, a crown that seldom kings enjoy."~William Shakespeare

Less is More

The last of our shows for the season has ended, and all the picnic baskets are stowed in their winter homes. My studio is tidy and sparkling clean (as much as a basement room can be, at least), and I am feeling GOOOOOD.

All summer long there have been projects and piles of stuff all over the place awaiting cleaning, repairing, altering, painting, pricing, packing--completely hiding whole rooms in the house from view.  But now we have our space back, including our garage, thanks to the hundreds of items we have sold out from under our roof. Thank you, Jesus!  These items have been converted into funds to help the struggling moms and children living in the poverty of Haiti, thanks to our heroic friends who run Haiti Foundation Against Poverty. These stunning individuals train women in legitimate professions to provide for their families, administer health care, educate & feed orphaned children, and work with local agencies in the delicate issues of crime and political corruption. Their daily struggles are so much more than mine, living purposely among the poor and desperately needy.  May we all strive to be this gracious and self-sacrificial.

Perhaps someday I will go to visit these dear ones in person, but until then I will cherish the newly-empty spaces in my home that represent not only a place where we can resume living and playing, but also lives changed across the globe.  And now that my creative space is freed up of clutter, I can look forward to much whimsical upcycling during the "dark months."

Loveable Imperfection

Why do I love shabby things so?

Scuffed, painted furniture.  Tattered, Depression Era quilts.  Mix and match vintage china from England.  Faded handmade rugs.

It's interesting to me that, literally, nothing in my house is perfect.  Even if it was bought new at a store (usually as a gift to me by a friend or family member), it has imperfect, scratchy, chippy, vintage style.

Even my house is imperfect: cracked walls, un-level floors you can roll marbles down, moldings that don't quite meet each other at the ceiling.

Why does this comfort me so?  And should anything be done about it?

My best guess today is it's psychological. 

I am a radically imperfect person, and therefore I relate to these blatantly imperfect--yet charming--surroundings.  Probably underneath this affinity to these old things I am hoping that, like them, my imperfections could be endearing rather than something to dread or hide.

In The Nesting Place, a lovely decorating book by Myquillyn Smith, aka "The Nester," imperfection is both celebrated and encouraged as a sort of welcome mat of hospitality.  When someone enters a home with perfectly matched new furnishings, sparkly clean floors and counters, with no children's handprints or visible paper piles, they don't feel they can be their own imperfect selves. They will not relax enough to nestle into the throw pillows with a glass of wine.

Because guess what?  We're all imperfect. Shocker, I know.

Are vintage furnishings therefore a metaphor for us all?  I wax existential...

Anyhoo, Smith encourages us to go ahead and flaunt our homes as they are, not as we ideally wish them to be, because they are more welcoming to those with which we want to be real.

Let's keep it real in all our chippy, charming and fading glory.

October