antiques/junking – Karla's Cottage

Simplifying my booth redo after surgery.

By Karla Nathan / March 29, 2026

It’s almost time for First Friday sales again at Good Juju.

The delightful vendors there all offered to redo my booth for me while I’m recuperating from rotator cuff surgery.

Which was quite generous. The owners and vendors have enough to do, working on their own spaces.

Ahead of the operation, I planned the space well, setting up mostly shelving displays and tagging boxes full of inventory in advance.

After my shoulder was worked on, I discovered that the pain wasn’t nearly as bad as I was warned it would be. Oh, yes, it hurt like crazy and I felt wiped out. But I could also deal with it better than expected since I’d been used to the constant ache for years.

It didn’t take long for me to be acceptably good at doing things left handed. And the booth was pretty much set up for popping new items into holes left by the previous sale.

While being careful and knowing my limitations, I figured I could manage the redo for the upcoming April sale.

For a while, I can’t drive or lift anything over 2lbs. So Rich loaded up the car then unloaded the boxes at Juju. He dropped me off with my crates of inventory placed in easy range for me to do some simple, left handed rearranging and refilling.

I will admit that the first trip was too much for me. Maybe I should’ve waited a week, not jumped in so soon. The next two visits went better, but did leave me drained.

My plan for having easy to fill in shelving sure helped. Typically, I shuffle all the pieces of furniture around for a new look each month. But that won’t happen for a while.

Not needing a major change sure made my mini redo go smoothly, even with one arm. Rich spent a few hours playing pool with his Kansas City buddies while I puttered about and emptied boxes. Then, he’d pick me up a do a couple little tasks that I couldn’t manage myself.

The arrangement worked out splendidly. I got out of the house, which I really needed. And I didn’t have to rely on other vendors too much. They are already doing a lot for me, by turning my lights off and on, helping my shoppers, and keeping the space picked up. I didn’t want to take advantage of their generosity.

There will be a few more months of this style of set up before I can go full force again. I will soon be able to drive but still won’t be able to carry my own things. I’ll be relying on Rich and the other dealers quite a bit.

I’m quite happy that I can manage as much as I have. And also very blessed that I have so much help to do the things I cannot.

I feel very blessed.

Another find from my past

antiques/junking, Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / March 12, 2026

Once again, I came across one of my creations while shopping in Topeka. It was a different mall than I’d found the water color in. But both items were sold in KC. I found them in two different Topeka stores, so I doubt they were sold by the same dealer.

I sold the painting about 20 years ago, but this cabinet was fairly recent, from Good Juju.

These shelves were quite a bargain and I was tempted to buy them (and resell again for a higher amount!). It was a cold day, I was tired and in a hurry, so I didn’t, but it’s still on my mind to go back and see if it’s available.

Kicking off the new year with hearts and roses

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / January 1, 2026

After and during our December sale at Good Juju I had a brief window of feeling better from my previous illness before catching another. I had two parties planned that week then needed to redo my booth. I got it about 90% done with the work, but started feeling icky, so wore a mask and kept going.

Catching this virus, as well as the one in November reminds me of why I push so hard to do my set up early and not wait til the last minute. You never know what could come up before the sale. And I feel more comfortable not having that big redo hanging over me.

I was able to finish that last 10% in time, without worries. It just isn’t in my makeup to be a procrastinator And it really isn’t from some sort of perfectionism or obsession, it’s from life lessons learned.

Stuff happens, so I manage my todo list to be prepared just in case.

After set up I was either recovering or having holiday fun, so my days started running together. When I put away all the trees from my house (it took 8 hours, I kinda took my time and made a day of it) I got out the calendar that I typically keep on the table (it had been put away due to the houseful of twinkles and baubles) and was stunned to see how close our January sale was.

There was a moment of panic, then plain ole relief. And maybe some minor back slapping, knowing I was ready for take off.

And seriously, what better way to kick off the new year than to be at one of my favorite places with all of those fun vendors and customers?

Not to mention I get to enjoy a whole new holiday. Valentines!

Yup, my booth is all hearts and flowers, which makes me happy. Because I’m a pushover for any sort of festive decor. I love a celebratory theme.

Because my much put off shoulder surgery is finally scheduled for Feb. 18th, I won’t be filling my cottage with hearts like usual. So I’m going to soak up as much of this theme as I can at Juju. I’m looking forward to our sale.

Jingle time at Juju

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 4, 2025

November’s First Friday Weekend at Good Juju was all about the holidays.

And for me at least, so is the upcoming December sale.

Opinions among dealers vary, with some thinking November is for shopping to decorate your house and December is shopping for gifts. Which I agree is valid, the same theory holds true for selling Halloween decor in September, not October because most people have finished decorating their homes by then.

So while a lot of dealers still have their gorgeous displays for the season and the mall is festive and sparkly, they can subtly up the non Christmas goods for sale too.

I added my crazy quilt stuffies in my own spot. Plus, if you look around, you’ll notice many of my display pieces such as bowls, plates, books, etc are normal every day pieces that I use to hold my items for sale.

I include functional or household items (as well as jewelry and clothing) in the mix.

But for me, I’m probably still at 90% ho ho holidays in the back part of my area.

Part of the front of the space is all jewelry, all the time.

But for now, there is a Yule tide glow over everything. Simply because I adore every thing related to the season all so much. I love making pretties , collecting old Christmas stuff, fixing it up, treasuring it, displaying it, loving it.

Will my sales in December be as good as they were in November? Maybe not, but my set up makes me extremely happy!

Don’t get me wrong, I take my business seriously. But I also am there to enjoy the work, doing the displays, indulging myself and my joy in styling the pieces I make or find.

There is a chance that I go a bit over the top for our two day sale……. it has been mentioned to me.

And when my love of Christmas collides with my tendency to over do- I am not just in my happy place.

I’m sliding into my domain of exhilaration!

November’s Juju sale will be festive

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / November 4, 2025

Christmas came early for me this year.

Extremely so.

I spent millions, well maybe just a few, but it felt like millions, of 6-9 hour days packing away Halloween and decking the halls with Christmas cheer before I flew off to Florida.

And I tell ya, when I got on that plane, I was ready to start my vacation.

People say to me, how nice it must be to only work two days a month. Hmm, not quite the way it goes. Our sale is two days a month, but there is a month full of behind the scenes, hunting, gathering, crafting, tagging, cleaning, and displaying that goes into the two days the shopping occurs.

And if I have plans during the month, my work schedule gets tightly condensed into a few days.

Because it’s important to me to have things ready to roll before I leave, that way I can relax and enjoy my trip.

And yup, I sure did enjoy it! I could kick back, look at the frolicking dolphins from my balcony, and know that when I got home, all I had to do was unpack my suitcase, not my booth.

That made my extra long vacation easy to just be in, live in the moment, not fret about work.

I’ll have more pics to come of the rest of my booth later. The sale will be Nov 7-8 from 9-6 each day in the Old West Bottoms of KC at Good Juju.

Holiday paintings in my booth

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, Hand painted, hand painted signs, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / October 16, 2025

While I’ve been away from my blog, I’ve still been in the habit of snapping pics of what I’m working on. And as usual, my main focus has been my booth at Good Juju, in the Old West Bottoms of KC.

I’m over the moon excited about my November sale’s holiday theme and wanted a noticeable way to sell ornies. Especially after seeing just how many were being brought into the mall by other dealers.

Wow, Juju must have the highest concentration of Shiny Brites in the Midwest. If you’re looking to add some vintage glory to your tree, uhm, I think I know what direction to point you in.

On the rear wall of the booth, my banner is flipped over to the Christmas Cottage side. It was a quick transformation from Haunted Cottage. The pulley system for hanging it made it simple to lower, turn over and hang back up. I did it by myself in a flash.

Well, maybe not like a lightening flash of speed. The canvas is 6×8’ and sorta unwieldy. It isn’t heavy, but a little stiff and bulky.

And big.

I waited until I had all of my leftover Halloween goods packed out of the way and the center of the space was open and clear, then tussled with it a bit. But the pulley process itself was super easy.

Another painted holiday touch is a couple of reindeer I prettied up with pink, white, and glitter.

Earlier this summer, I’d found a set of deer and a sleigh at a garage sale. I sold three of the cuties with the sleigh and saved back two for my decor. I kept the ones in the worst condition and gave them a makeover. They were rather holy, I’m thinking from years of repairs, hanging, and stapling lights to them. I patched holes with calking and changed the look from traditional to cottage chic with paint.

Since the glitter was sprinkled over Elmers Glue, they aren’t exactly good for yard art now. The adhesive for the vintage millinery blooms on their sparkly heads and the old ribbon was water based too. But after 50-60 years of living out in the elements every December, I think these gals deserved a break from pulling a sleigh in bad weather. They can be house deer now.

Or booth deer, I guess. I’m rather fond of them and would not be upset to give them a holiday home in my breezeway after our last day of sales, if no one else claims them.

Hey, thanks again for still reading after the kerfuffle of blog switching. I’ll have more antique mall pics coming plus all the other stuff I’ve been making in the last few weeks. See you around?

First Friday at Good Juju for August

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / July 28, 2025

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.

A big change with little effort

antiques/junking, cottage, redos

By Karla Nathan / June 20, 2025

The guest bath redo was pretty quickly done.

And pretty cheaply done, too. I moved stuff around from other rooms, shopped from my storage area, ordered some better curtain rods (I’d been using a tension rod, and switched to a set of swing bars for the over curtains) then repainted.

Although, paint is no longer the “cheap fix” it once was. Geez, the cost of a gallon has soared, hasn’t it? Honestly, I think I could’ve gotten by with a quart, it’s a small room. But I was erring on the side of caution. No one wants to get down to those last few drops in the can and not be quite finished.

The sink table was previously white, I brushed on and wiped off a dark umber glaze, then added some antique gold highlights to the detail. The large built in cabinet was white too. To change it up but not be too matchy with the vanity, I watered down some of the softer brown wall paint to do the same treatment. It’s a subtle difference.

The white iron piece was once black before I had painted it white in an earlier redo. For this new change, I used a spritz of gold spray paint over the metal, so it left a hint of color.

The center mirror was a lucky find at a garage sale, just the day before I had planned to start the project. I think its moodiness is exactly what the space needed. It wouldn’t have been the same without it.

My sister recently gave me our mom’s rose patterned mirror and it’s ideal here.

At first, I was going to repaint this mirror I’d redone years ago. Instead, I simply added a touch of gold to it. And the tiny cake stand? It was from a flea market and was already embellished with metallic paint.

Years ago, I used to paint a lot of ceiling tins with roses. This one’s faded tones matches the space nicely.

The shades are similar to this old postcard I put into this velvet frame.

This postcard is taped inside a glass lid that used to be on a box.

The pinks of this tiny painting I’ve done might be a little too bright but I still like it.

I really like all of it! And am so pleased by how quickly and smoothly it all went. I’m enjoying the big changes in this little room.

Let’s call it a seaside Fourth of July vacation look

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / June 5, 2025

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.

A garden party theme for June at my Good Juju booth

antiques/junking, Garden, Good JuJu, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 2, 2025

It’s that time again!

Good Juju in the Old West Bottoms of KC’s First Friday weekend is this upcoming Friday and Saturday from 9-6 both days.

For a fun, summertime display, I hung these hot air balloons and vintage wallpaper banners that I crafted on a snowy day last winter.

I was saving them for this big garden party styled look and they are exactly as I’d hoped it would be. Festive, isn’t it?

Here is the view from the front of my booth looking at the back half.

I also covered lampshades in vintage lace.

The crystal sun catchers are hung with a mini spotlight on them and a small fan causing a gentle breeze that makes them move slightly.

Here is a closeup of one of the banners. I think I have about a dozen or so. Most are hanging, but I left a few where they could easily be picked up if someone wants one.

I’ll show you the other sides of the booth in upcoming posts. I have a revamp on my June wedding corner, some beachy goods, and of course, loads of jewels.