Ready...Set...GO!

I think I told you all that I've taken a second booth at our antique mall all by myself for 3 months. This will be a tryout to see how it goes & I can vacate it at the end of September if it doesn't work out.

So I've been really busy for the past week or two getting ready to move in -- buying a few cabinets, shelves & fixtures, organizing stuff, painting, cleaning & pricing. Today's the day! Jim took the day off work and will drive all the big stuff over in the pickup truck and then help me get it ready.

I've got such butterflies in my stomach over this. If I thought opening the first booth with my friend was scary, this is doubly so! So please pray, if you're a praying person -- if not, then wish me luck! I'll post pictures after it's all set up.

B'Bye February...

March came in like a lamb today -- flirting with the high 30s and lots of sunshine, which means I trudged through the 12" snow again to hang tablecloths and dish towels on the clothesline.
It also means that February is over and we have one month in the antiques mall booth behind us.

I can't speak for my selling partner, but I did much better than I expected and am still having fun! I learned a few things in the first month, too:

* Mondays and Tuesdays are slow days -- now I know why some malls are closed on Mondays.
* The dealers who told us to "Buy right so you can sell right" were just that...right! Things move much faster if they're priced reasonably and not at the high end.
* Have items at all price points. Some people won't spend more than a few dollars -- have something there for them as well as the high rollers.
* Don't be impatient and don't be discouraged. It's so easy to get down if there is a string of a few days where nothing sells. I have to remind myself, though, that in a mall the right person has to walk through and see the right item. AND they don't always buy it the first time, but might come back and buy it later.
* Keep having fun! If I ever stop enjoying this adventure, I'll know it's time to quit.

All said, it's been a great first month and it's still enjoyable -- though I can't quit my day job (I hope my boss is reading this)! Do any of you who sell in malls have any more advice?

Dealer Day

Today was 'Dealer Day' at the antique mall. It's a really nice thing that the owners do for the dealers: once a month they have a two-hour time before they open on Sunday, provide breakfast and even have a giveaway for 2 lucky dealers in a drawing! It allows the dealers to come in, restock & 'fluff' their booths when there aren't any shoppers there, plus it's a great time to get to know each other (and shop). I've been really impressed by how helpful and supportive the owners are, as well as all of the sales staff -- this is turning out to be a great experience.

We met lots of dealers -- especially our booth neighbors -- and everyone was very nice & encouraging. Lots of them had advice and comments about our items and I feel like we'd have a good support net if we had a question or problem.

Here's what the booth looked like when we left today. I forgot my camera and Bargain Hunter took these with her phone:

Unfortunately (for my bottom line, anyway), there was also time to shop! I bought a few things, but am really trying to curb my enthusiasm. . . money is supposed to be coming and NOT going out! I'll take pictures of what I've been buying and post them soon. For now though, it's down to the craft room to work on some projects.

The Booth is Ready!

Well, the snow-pocalypse is over (it actually turned out to be a snow-fizzle, as we only got about 6-8") and we woke this morning to bright sunshine and a pretty & newly (clean) white world. Bargain Hunter and I spent the morning at the antique mall placing the last items in our booth and staging it. Now it's ready to go and just waiting for some shoppers! Several dealers and a few shoppers came by to check out what we had and I think we made a few sales.

We decided to hold off on the polka dots, because I did a sample board yesterday and didn't like the way they looked painted on the black with acrylic craft paint, so I talked BH out of them. She found a blog about pasting fabric circles to the wall using liquid starch as the paste -- what a clever idea (and they're removable, too)! So, we might do that or we might look for a cool retro border or we might decide to paint something else. With the booth filled, though, I don't think anyone will even notice the border.

Here are some pictures -- check it out for yourself! If you live in the Southeast Michigan area, you can find us at the Livingston Antique Outlet.

Temporama - A Retro Find!

I found some Temporama dishes at my local thrift store last week. I'd never heard of Canonsburg Pottery or Temporama, but was instantly drawn to the retro pattern & colors. It has a circular pattern of squiggles, sunbursts, lines & snowflakes in turquoise and tan.Since I'd never heard of the pottery company or the pattern before, I did some research. Here's what I found out:

Canonsburg Pottery was started as Canonsburg China Company in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania (outside of Pittsburgh) in 1900 by John George, but the name was changed in 1909 to Canonsburg Pottery. In 1959 they bought the molds & equipment from the Steubenville Pottery Company when it closed down and continued making some of their patterns under the Steubenville name. Canonsburg went out of business in 1978. Though Temporama is very 1960s in style & color, Canonsburg is probably best known for its floral patterns.

At the thrift store, I got 2 small oval platters, an egg platea gravy boatand a covered casserole
I priced them and put them in the shop, but have 'seller's remorse'! As I write about them and look at the pictures again, I want to go right back and get them to keep for myself.

Opening Day - Antique Mall Style

Today was Opening Day (for our booth at the antique mall)! My shop partner, Bargain Hunter (I'll just call her BH), and I went with her husband to get the booth set up. His truck was loaded with all the shelves for the booth and it looked like the Beverly Hillbillies (all it needed was Granny in a rocking chair)!

Here's what the booth looked like when we began -- the previous tenants left the *lovely* border, royal blue shelves and blue carpet. We wanted to go with a more 50s & retro look and less country, so we painted the border with black chalkboard paint. We're going to put lots of different colored polka dots on it and leave a space at the back of the booth to write a changing message, like 'Welcome' or 'Happy Valentine's Day'.

BH's husband has been so good to us! He not only built the tall white shelves and corner shelf that you'll see in the picture, but then took the day off work to come and help us get them into the booth and tied in to the wall. We couldn't have moved in without him!

Once the shelves were in and the border was painted, it was time to get out all the stuff and start staging -- that's the REALLY fun part! All told, we spent about 7 hours there and got the booth together pretty well. All of BH's items made it there in one trip, because she has an SUV and mostly bin-items. I have a TINY sedan and had lots of larger stuff, so only about half of my stuff is in. We're going back to paint the polka dots and add more stuff on Thursday, after the blizzard. Yes, the snowpocalypse is upon us -- we're supposed to get about 12" and have 60-mile-per-hour winds, so everything is closed tomorrow.

Here's what the booth looked like halfway through the process. . .. . .and when we left for the day

And now for the best part: by the end of the day both BH and I had our first sale! The people who worked at the mall were all excited to see a new dealer and see what we had. I've noticed that most shoppers won't come in the booth when you're putting things in (I never will, either), but the workers were happy to get first dibs. They bought our first two items! That was a great confirmation that we're on the right track.

I'll post more pictures after we dig out of the snow and finish up on Thursday.

Just One More Day!

My friend, Bargain Hunter, and I get to start setting up our booth at the antiques mall on Tuesday -- just one day away! I spent the afternoon and early evening pricing and putting items in bins to take there and finally feel like I'm almost ready. It's pretty exciting (but scary, too)! We have plans to move all the shelves in and do some painting and touch-up on Tuesday and then spend the rest of the week putting everything in. Our goal is to be ready by Friday afternoon for the weekend shoppers.

Ha! Do you know the old adage that 'if you want to make God laugh, make plans'? Well, I just saw the weather report for this week! We're under a winter storm warning for Tuesday evening into Wednesday evening -- they're predicting 12-16" of snow to fall. So much for our lofty goals! We'll just have to trust that we can get it all done and hope for the best. Those are brave words from the one whose car got stuck in the driveway on Saturday in just 4" of snow. Bargain Hunter may have to come and get me if I'm going to help set up on Thursday...

Hopefully, anyway, I'll have some pictures to share by the end of the week!

'Pressing' Memories

In preparation for the mall booth, I spent a good part of my day today at the ironing board. I ironed cafe curtains, aprons, tablecloths, dishtowels and over 30 handkerchiefs!
As I stood there ironing one hankie after another, I thought about my grandmother.
Like many little girls in the 1950s, I learned to iron on hankies. Everything that was ironed at our house was 'sprinkled' with water first, using a glass 7Up bottle with a sprinkle-head added. I remember my grandma (who we called, oddly enough, Ningle -- it's a long story) sprinkling the clothes at the kitchen table, folding and rolling them up and putting them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator over night. To this day, I have no idea why they chilled.It was such a big deal to get to sprinkle my own hankies and then iron them! I remember standing on a stool at the ironing board (always in front of 'The Guiding Light', 'The Edge of Night' or 'As the World Turns' on TV) and ironing the hankies, dishtowels and, later, aprons. I felt so grown up and independent, though now I know Ning was watching to make sure I didn't get burnt or incinerate the hankies.

Today as I ironed away, these happy memories made the job go much more quickly -- all the moment needed was 'The Edge of Night'!

Getting Ready to Sell!

In preparation for setting up the booth, I've been making more frequent trips to the local thrift & consignment stores, as well as estate sales. Today was my lucky day! I found:

A large Pyrex mixing bowl

A Homer Laughlin Riviera cream colored cream pitcher

A very small Pyrex casserole (the spoon is lets you see just how little it is!)
A 1970s Pyrex casserole (minus the lid)

A cool old chalkboard

Every day, we get a little closer to set-up week -- it's starting to be exciting!

Stepping Out in Faith!

Well, my friend Bargain Hunter and I signed the papers today to get a booth at our local antiques mall! We're really excited and have lots of ideas for making it work, but it's pretty scary, too. We take possession on February 1 (a Tuesday) and hope to have everything in place by Friday, February 4, so we don't lose the weekend traffic. Needless to say, that will be a VERY busy week!

I'll keep you posted on our progress as February 4 approaches and hope to have pictures to post, too.

This is REALLY scary!

About 6 months ago, I radically cut my paid work hours to be available to help my husband with his new business. Since then, I've been trying to find ways to earn money, while still being flexible in my hours -- not an easy task in this economy!

I've done lots of thrifting and estate-sale-shopping with my friend, Bargain Hunter. I've bought and sold on Ebay for years (okay, so I've bought more than I've sold -- who's counting?) but started selling on Etsy in October. I'm having so much fun! I find that I enjoy doing this more than just about anything else.

But, here's the scary part... My friend Bargain Hunter and I were talking about our dream to have a booth in an antique mall. She found out that our favorite local mall, Livingston Antique Outlet, has a few coming available in February and March. BH wants to get one of them and share it. We figured out that we'd have to sell just 13 items each to make the monthly rent. And LAO gets great shopper traffic -- you can hardly find a parking place there on the weekends and there are always lots of shoppers at other times of the week, too. The idea of doing that, though, is REALLY scary to me -- but exciting, too!

What's funny is that, in her last post, BH blogged about how scared she is to sell on Ebay and Etsy -- that's a piece of cake! I'm totally freaked out by the idea of selling in a mall! How can two friends who have so much in common have such different points of view?

So what do you think, dear readers? Should we give it a try for 6 months or so and see what we can do with it? Is it too late to begin doing something you've wished you could do for 20 years or more?

Pretty scary stuff!