antiques/junking

That slappity slap sound you might be hearing from afar?

That is me clapping myself on the back for getting my booth ready for the August sale before hitting the road for our vacation.

First step was removing a lot of the colorful bits I had displayed for summer and creating a neutral  scene.  

Over the years, I’ve learned that people don’t visit my little corner to buy much in the way of traditional fall colors.  

So with a slight nod toward Autumn, I’m mostly focusing on summer’s last bit of glory.  

Most of the roses are packed away, with just a few remaining blooms.

After our Independence Day extravaganza, I only had one week to tear down, redo, and fill in, then pack and leave for the trip.

At first, I told myself that I’d only do a minor makeover.  And I drove to Kansas City with that in mind.

Next thing I know, I’ve moved every single piece of furniture in the space.

You know what I honestly need?  A job redoing booths for other dealers.  

I’m honestly overwhelmed by all the shopping, tagging, sorting, storing of the inventory.

The best part is when I get to play with it all and set it up.

Not as much the hunting and gathering part.

Oh, and making stuff!  I love that.  And the guests, I really enjoy working on the floor, talking to customers about what they are buying and how they’ll use it.

Over all, the great parts outweigh the sucky parts of the job.  I suppose that is typical of most lines of work.

As soon as set up is done for the current month, my mind is flying ahead to the next before we’ve even had our sale.  So, yep, it’s hard for me not to totally redo even when I don’t have time, or even really need to.

In the front, probably little more than third but not quite half, of my booth, I have a mini boutique set up with mostly jewelry.  I carry vintage, handcrafted, and silver, and have displayed eachcatagory separately.  Sorta.

In that area, across from the jewelry, I also have a rack of wedding apparel, and vintage clothes.  

I keep clear totes in my garage that I pop seasonally appropriate finds into throughout the year as I snag them at sales.  Red, white, and blue doesn’t exactly match the rest of my decor, but that was an easy problem to solve by placing the collection on one of my little jewelry shelves along the aisle at the front of my booth.

I have quite a few patriotic items this year, then fill in around them with anything that fits the color scheme.

Festive!  All I need are some firecrackers and a sparkler or two.

On another wall, I’ve gone with a seashore theme.

I’m a fan of beachiness year round and have my bedroom filled with shells and ocean paintings.  So, to me this isn’t exactly seasonal.  I think a pop of beach goes well with the entire cottage look anytime.

As far as the antique mall goes, I usually save it all up for summer to make one big, “splashy” look. 

A few jars got filled with shells and a simply decorated tie was put around their top.

And look at this delightful little sunbather I found.  My sister gave me some beach signage that she was done with and it helps complete the seaside atmosphere.

I am particularly happy with how everything came together this month.

It’s that time again!

First Friday weekend is here.  Having a larger space to work in has been such a joy.  I’m kinda treating it like the back half is my “regular space” and the front half is a jewelry boutique plus a small wall to theme out however I like.

This month, that will is set up for spring weddings.  Which is probably a major indulgence of usable space, because just how many wedding gowns do I expect to sell?  But they are lovely, and make a beautiful backdrop.  I allow myself one corner to simply play with and enjoy, not expecting to get a big profit from the goods.

On the other hand, heck yes, I would like to sell them all!  But being reasonable, I know that isn’t going to happen.  But I devoted the entire wall to them any way, because well, it’s fun for me to do.

The jewelry boutique portion of my set up is right across from the Wall of Romantic Weddings.  It will not get much of a redo each month, because it works so well as is.  I rearrange the goods, of course and always bring in new pieces.  But the shelves and lighting stay the same.

My main reasoning for leaving the set up as is seems valid to me.  My typical goods are cottagey/shabby chic and I figure that if the jewelry is buried in the back amidst that, many people who love jewelry, but don’t like cottage style, might walk right on by and not see the jewelry mingled with the rest.

Having enough space to set the goods up as if I have two separate booths helps get shoppers interested in the sparkly pretties to stop to look at them.  Our mall tends to lean toward primitive and funky stuff, so my jewelry displays could easily be over looked if they weren’t along the aisle.

The same theory goes with the beaded plant stakes and sun catchers I make.  Their appeal is more general, so I leave them at the entrance too.

My Royals display is also up front.   It did well last month, so I’m giving it another go around.  Personally, I’m not a sports fan, but I love the way KC supports its team.   Plus, I love blue, but it rarely sells in my space, oddly enough.  With its own separate area, it did pretty good.  

The sale is this Friday and Saturday at Good Juju in the Old West Bottoms of KC.  See you there?

Aren’t these bunnies so cute?  I cut them out of an old postcard.  

My Easter decor corner isn’t super large for the First Friday sale at Juju this week, but I enjoyed creating and gathering things to put there.  

Like this wooden basket that I covered in a patchwork of pastel wallpapers.
There are also lots of tiny, hanging baskets on my pink Easter Tree.  That was previously filled with hearts as a Valentine Tree and before that was fulfilling its traditional use as a Christmas tree.  I’m afraid I’ll miss that ballerina pink tree after April unless I can think of a good reason to keep using it in May.   

The color fits in well with my garden/cottage area, and I like its vertical shape that I can overload with pretties.  So, I have a feeling, I might be keeping it up.  

Full of teacups for a garden party display? 

I have been making lots of ballerina slippers, they could be cute on it too.  Or I could fill it up with fairies?

Yep, I have a feeling the pretty pink tree will be around a while.

I am loving my new space.  It can be set up in different themes without them being right in top of each other in a mishmash the way I had to arrange stuff in my previous, smaller spot.

I feel like I can have a better flow throughout booth even with a variety of elements in it.

I think I forgot to get pics of the green zone for St Pat’s day.  But here is a little bit of it.

And here is the other side of my cottagey garden area in the center of the room.  My pal, Angie, gave me this white table last week, so I shifted things around to fit it in.  It makes a handy place to overfill, but might be just a smidge too large for me, it won’t be a versatile piece to move around.   I might be passing it on to someone else after a couple of uses.

I’ll see what next month brings.  That big, white table is a good look for springtime.  Thanks, Angie!

Unpacking my pretties for this week’s First Friday Weekend at Good Juju was extra special since I got to explore and figure out how best to use my new space.

Plus, it’s Valentine’s month, and I cannot resist drenching my booth in hearts and roses.

And maybe a few mushrooms.

Over my last few years at this venue, I’ve seen that pink doesn’t sell as well for me as neutrals when it comes to my creations. 

This time of year, I feel free to go hog wild with my favorite rosy hue.

Along with plenty of the rich creams and faded tans that do so well there.

Plus a few splashes of the holiday’s traditional red.

And lots of roses scattered throughout.

This is my entryway into the space.

I had Rich add some chains from the high ceilings for me.  Those hang down to a reachable place so that I will never need to use the terrifying 80 foot tall (at least it feels that high to me).  With these lowered chains, I am able to hang seasonal decor at the entry and change things up on a regular basis.

For now, I’m loving it all so much exactly as it is, so I didn’t add any extras to the ceiling.  

No “changing it up” is needed yet, because the whole spot is a ginormous change!  

I’m thinking I could let it ride for a few months, as is, just bringing in fresh merch for each sale.  But I do sorta have a hot air balloon crafting idea brewing, that would be beautiful for Easter, or spring…. Hmm….