A Happy Reason to Sell Things...

I just got back from 'Dealer Day'  -- the one Sunday a month when the mall owners open up at 10:00 so the dealers can work in their booths without customers there.  I brought in a new shelf unit and then spent hours (literally) rearranging everything.  It's alot like moving the furniture in your house -- you move just one thing and at the end of the domino-effect, you've moved everything in the room, including the stuff on the walls!

 It's lots of work, but also lots of fun.  I especially like talking to the customers as they come through when the mall opens at 12:00.  I've noticed that some  dealers ignore the customers who walk past or stop in while they're working.  I do the opposite -- I always say hello and ask them if they're having fun.  I think antique malls are fun, so why shouldn't they?  I have the best conversations with them, often about what I sell, how I find it and how I identify it.  I think customers are as naturally curious about the selling process as I used to be.  I've even had customers ask me why I sell and if it's hard to let things go.

Which brings me to the title of this post (I bet you thought I'd never get there, didn't you?)  I had a waterfall desk at the mall for months (here it is at the front of the booth). 

 I started out at $120, which I thought was reasonable -- especially since there was another one in the mall (identical but for the hardware) at $150.   No takers.  So I lowered it to $100, and STILL no takers.  Finally, a week ago , I lowered it to $80, marked it as SALE so that no further discount could be taken and made the price sign REALLY big.  I just wanted it gone -- I was sick of seeing it in my booth!

I sold it on Friday (FINALLY)!  Today, I was talking to one of my friends who works there and she told me how completely over-the-top thrilled the young woman was who bought it.   She was so excited to find a waterfall desk at that price, which she could afford.  That made me feel wonderful -- just like when the young couple bought my yellow formica table and were so happy to have it for their kitchen.

 Sure, I want to get rid of stuff around here (please don't mention how I keep buying more) and absolutely, I want to make a profit.  But knowing that someone else has found such pleasure in getting the thing I found, brought home and cleaned up reminds me of every beloved thing I've ever found at an antique mall.  I think most sellers are collectors at heart and true collectors love to share their collections with others (why else would we all spend the time blogging and reading each others' blogs?)   Selling a great find to someone and having it make them REALLY happy is just plain wonderful!

My head above water -- finally!

For the past three months, I've been working on the dinner reservations and seating arrangements for a fund-raising banquet for a charity I support.  They go into the local jail and counsel young men and women who are at one of the worst and lowest points in their lives.  You can read more about Forgotten Man Ministries here.

Anyway, the banquet was last night and we filled the local banquet facility to capacity -- 63 tables of 10 or more each!  There was great food, great music and the testimonies from 5 men and women who are fighting hard against their former lives and addictions.  I'm so thankful that the banquet went well and so thankful that it's OVER!  All I've done in my spare time for the past 2 weeks is juggle tables and reservations and follow-up with people who wanted to attend.

This morning I had planned to go to an estate sale that was only about 1/2 hour from home -- really close by the usual estate sale standards.  I decided to sleep in, though, and have a don't-leave-the-house day.  I don't know about you, but I love it when I don't have to go anywhere!  I worked in the basement (still reorganizing after the flood) and I took lots of pictures for etsy listings.  I'm really excited to get some new listings up for Christmas shoppers.

Tomorrow Bargain Hunter and I are going to an auction that is literally 10 minutes from my house.  How much fun is that! -- close to home AND an auction!  We haven't gone shopping together in a LONG TIME.  It should be lots of fun, though whether the auction will be any good is not so sure.  I'll let you know after tomorrow.

I'm anxious to read what everyone's been doing while I've been buried under table reservations.  I hope you all had a fun (and safe) Halloween and have been finding lots of great deals!

Shop, Kitschy Vintage, Shop!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Shop, Kitschy Vintage, shop!

I might not be posting much for a while.  Or if I do, my posts will look like the pages of the old Dick and Jane books -- lots of pictures with very few words.  

Dick, Jane & Sally

My job at the church is 95% computer work and I do a lot of computer work at home.   I knew it would catch up with me eventually... I'm suffering right now from really painful carpal tunnel in my right hand and can only use my left hand for mousing and typing.  That doesn't make for very efficient (or fast) blogging!

I'm on drugs and wearing a splint and am hopeful that a few weeks of hand-rest will allow it to subside.   In the meantime:

 See Kitschy Vintage.
See Kitschy Vintage shop.
Shop, Kitschy Vintage, shop.

Fast & Furious Thrifting

Lately, I feel like I'm always running and that everywhere I go, I'm in a hurry.  So it should have come as no surprise that I was rushing through sales this morning!

My son & his girlfriend are in town this weekend and I had to drop off a van-full of stuff at recycling, go the antique mall to 'fluff' the booth and then meet them & Mr. KV for lunch.  So what else did I do but add 3 sales to stop at along the way!  I ended up adding a fourth one I saw a sign for, so all-told, I traveled 42 miles round trip, hit 4 family-run estate sales and ran my errands -- all in a little over 2 hours.

It was worth the trip, since I found some good things (and some unusual things, at that).  Here's what I got in my fast & furious shopping spree:

The two tablecloths aren't great, but they were cheap...

The photo album only has a few pages that have pictures -- it's mostly unused.  I think I'll sell the photos on Etsy

This spiral bound cake decorating book is from the 1950s -- It's for the woman who wants to start a business in her own home and is subtitled "Learn so you can Earn" -- don't we ALL want to do that?

The weird garland is plastic spruce and has big jingle bells.  It would be perfect for "Would You Buy it Wednesday?"

These were my big splurge -- especially the two at the top.  They're reverse painted on curved glass.  They're really pretty, but I found out that the one on the right has a crack at the bottom right that blended in with the pattern.  Too bad.  I also can never resist any kind of vintage advertisement, and especially pictorial thermometers.  The one on the right (bottom)just says Phone 50.  I wonder how old it is?

This is a great clock -- it's not really mosaic, but look-alike metal

 At one sale, I went out to the garage, which was loaded with workshop stuff, including a 6' long stretch of wall with floor to ceiling cigar boxes, all filled with hardware stuff & labeled.  I asked how much they were and the worker got a BIG box and said "Fill this up for $5".  That was all I needed to hear!  I got so many cigar boxes full of great old stuff and a wooden cheese box and a cigarillo box (which I think I'll keep).

Each one of these boxes is full of old hardware stuff!

 I had so much fun looking through all the boxes and I spent WAY too much time there -- the worker told me I was "his kind of woman", especially when I asked if he had a pancake compressor for sale.  I guess some girls like jewels and some girls like old drawer pulls, hinges and mousetraps...

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All in all, it was a pretty successful way to spend a couple of hours on a rainy, chilly fall morning!  Now I just have to wait for the floor and walls to dry out in the basement and then I can start 'playing with' all my new junk stuff.

Star-studded Accordion Hanging Rack

Well, the pipe's been repaired, the floors wet-vaced, the industrial sized blowers are blowing and the carpet is drying (see yesterday's post), so now I can get back to the business of blogging about something fun!

I think just about everyone has one of these wooden accordian hangers -- they're a staple of every college dorm room!  They're really useful, but not much to look at.  If you don't have one around the house, you can always find them at garage sales.

I wanted to use mine in the booth for hanging aprons and linens, but didn't want it to look so ordinary, so I glammed it up a bit!

 I took it apart and painted it  "Depression Glass" green.  Then I bought carriage bolts that were long enough to serve as pegs.  I needed to find something to use as a spacer so the stars on the end wouldn't go down to the base.  I finally ended up buying a piece of fish filter tubing that was easily cut to size and had a ID (inner diameter) large enough to go over the bolts.

 I topped each bolt with a mirror star and a closed end push nut.  Some of the nuts and mirror stars were vintage ones that I found in my dad's old hardware organizer and some were new ones.  These run about 85 cents for 2 nuts and the mirror stars are about 80 cents each -- they're both usually in the specialty drawers at the hardware store.

This was a very easy project with a big return because it looks great!  One word of advice, though -- don't forget (like I did) to slip the hangers back over the bolts before your attach everything, or you'll have to take it apart again!

Disaster in Kitschy Vintage land!

I was all set to blog tonight about a new project I just finished over the weekend, but a household disaster has changed my plans!

We bought our 1962 ranch from an older man who was a little cheap frugal.   When he had a new boiler put in for our baseboard hot-water heat, he wouldn't let the installers put in new piping.  He insisted that the aged, corroded copper pipe that snakes around the basement in odd, spider-like contortions was 'still good'.  Every plumber who looks at the strange piping in the boiler room just shakes his head and mumbles. 

Unfortunately 'still good' is no longer good enough!  Tonight I went downstairs to find my storage & staging are flooded by a steady drip from a corroded joint.   The water pooled out and then the same area rug that keeps my tootsies toasty in the winter wicked all the water through my entire craft room!    The main 'living' part of the basement is still dry -- including Mr. KV's man-cave (that's a relief!) -- but Kitschy Vintage land is a soggy mess and every box is soaked. 

So Mr. KV and I just finished moving everything that's dry off all of the surfaces so the restoration people can come in dry it all out (after the plumber fixes the latest corroded pipe failure). 

Some things that didn't get wet were a quilt my great-grandmother made, my dad's ukelele, my grandmother's (broken) violin and all of the family pictures stored in the basement.    This is just another reality-check reminder that it's all just STUFF and most of it has very little real importance!

Now, maybe I'll get around to telling you about my newest project tomorrow, after clean-up has begun.

Pyrex Bonanza!

My friend Bargain Hunter and I were all set to go to an auction yesterday -- our first together in a few years -- but she had to cancel.  With a day off to myself, I decided to do what else?  Shop!  I stopped at one family-run estate sale on my way to the antique mall to 'fluff' the booth and I'm so happy I did!

I got the mother-lode of pyrex refrigerator dishes.  The only downside is that they were all FILTHY!  All of them had dried baked food crusts and  a film of brown scum -- the kind that some old people have in their houses when they just don't clean well...for years.  I wasn't sure if the it was dirt on them or if the finish was gone, but decided to take my chances.

I got so much Pyrex (and some other treasures, too):

I've never seen this pattern before.  It's a fired on white finish with gold painted pinecones.  The pinecones are on the lid, too.

After I snapped some pictures, I got to work scrubbing.  It took 3 sinks of dishwater to get the grime off.   Did you know that a Pyrex percolator comes apart?   I didn't, but I do now!

I got a couple of large pieces and had to go back to pick them up. (including this white utility cart that was in the bathroom, covered with sheets and towels).  I was so excited when they said they'd sell it to me and even more excited when they got all the stuff off of it and I saw that it had electric!

 When I was back to pick the big things up, I made one last pass through the kitchen and found these:

I think this is an original Fire King jadite mixing bowl -- it was tucked away in the back of a cabinet!  The baster is a glass one, though I don't know if it's Pyrex or not.

This is the bottom of the Fire King bowl.

The lady who owned it was in her 80s and I'm pretty sure it's the real thing and not a repro.  I went out online and did some research and I don't think that the mixing bowls had been copied.  Can anyone tell me if it's real?

FINALLY everything was clean! 

All in all, I'd say I had found a prince of a Pyrex sale!