Two Days, Two Flea Markets -- Twice the Fun!

Last weekend was the big flea market in Midland, MI -- always a great shopping day!  It was chilly and rainy when my friend Bargain Hunter and I set out in the morning.  The sun would peek through to tease us and then the clouds would open up and it just poured!   Thankfully, I had a new pair of Sloggers I got from my sister for my birthday.  On their maiden voyage, they kept my feet warm and dry even though many of the booths were big puddles.

Pretty, cool, aren't they?

Maybe because of the rain, it seemed like there were less vendors there than usual.  And the prices seem to be going up, too.  More of the sellers are dealers selling stuff from their booths, often at mall prices.  I still found lots of cool things, though I bought less than usual -- maybe I'm FINALLY becoming a more discriminating shopper!

Vintage Christmas was the theme of the day (which often seems the case for me)....I think I'm officially addicted to it!  It's so hard to pass up mid-century kitsch, though -- how could I resist?  I laugh with Bargain Hunter and tell her that I'll stop buying Christmas when she stops buying tablecloths.  I hope she never stops!

One of the best buys was also one of the cheapest -- always a nice combo!  It's a tall plastic Christmas tree that looks like a ceramic one.  It needs many little bulbs replaced (fortunately, I've been stockpiling replacement bulbs and stars for these trees, so that's easy).

Not ceramic -- plastic!

The snowman is 'mom art' from the 1960s...a styrofoam shape covered with hundreds of sequins pinned on .  It had to take hours to do!  I was going to sell him, but just can't part with him.  

Napco candle holders, original box  |  Napco girl planter in mint condition

I love Japanese pose dolls and never pass them up -- the same with Bradford wise men.  The little elves are tied together and are (I think) ornaments

Oops!

These glittered cardboard electric candles are mint -- the seller said she thought they'd never been taken out of their boxes

It wasn't all Christmas.  I got a few other goodies, too...

I'd never seen these Holt Howard chick salt and peppers before

Of course, there have to be linens.  The guest towel has a black poodle on it, too.  

Got these hankies for a tiny price.  I think the husband didn't charge me what the wife would have wanted him to.  My gain!  I really like the Grand Rapids hankie -- I've never seen a city one that wasn't New York City or Washington.

Bargain Hunter convinced me to get this Pyrex bowl.  I probably would have passed it by.  

Here are just a few of the cool things at the flea market...

Empty window frame stretched with lace.  I like the idea but the lace is too frou-frou for my taste

Liked the idea of decoupaging a long piece and leaving white space at the top and bottom on this table.

In that same shabby chic booth there was this low table that they'd turned into a chenille ottoman.  Again, I like the idea, but don't like the plain white chenille.  I think a vintage barkcloth would have been stunning

Assorted letters -- some were cut of blocks and magnets added to the back

I really liked this tray -- it's one I don't have.  I didn't like the high price or the rust, though

I spent a little money here!  She had great vintage Christmas

This little house & Santa was $75!  It goes with an old railroad set and gets wired to the track.  When the train goes by, Santa starts to climb down the chimney.

This fountain was really unusual -- I don't know when you'd use it.  The ballerina rotates the entire time it's on

I always want a round laundry cart, but choke on the prices

Lots of lovely Pyrex here....none came home with me

 On Sunday, Bargain Hunter and I went to Mega Mall Antiques' parking lot Flea Market.   There were lots of vendors there -- more than the other 2 times I've gone.  There were also lots of sales inside.  I bought several things, but forgot to take pictures of any of them!   In fact, I didn't take a single picture at Mega Mall.  If you go to Bargain Hunter's blog, you'll see lots of pics from Mega Mall & their flea market.

Of course, half of what I bought was (what else?) vintage Christmas!

I got a tree stand just like this (but in better condition)  I forgot to take a picture of it, so this one is borrowed from Pinterest.

I've been looking for a Santa on a rocket...so mid-century!

On a less happy note, my carpal tunnel is coming back -- a clear sign that I've been doing too much computer work lately.  I've had to switch back to a left-handed mouse and am really trying to limit what I do.  I just can't type one handed, though, and photo editing left-handed is really slow.  That's NOT a good thing with the busy holiday shopping season coming on Etsy!  Hopefully, mousing with my left hand and wearing my brace as much as possible will make it go away.  I might even have to dig out the carpal tunnel exercise sheet I got from physical therapy 3 years ago.

That's it from Kitschy Vintage land...I hope you have a great week!

Updated Chest of Drawers with Desktop

I finished a project!   Sadly, that statement gets an exclamation point, because it hasn't happened for a while...

I've had a cool chest of drawers with built-in desk out in the barn for a few years.  I'd call it a secretary, but it doesn't have the sloped top like my grandmother's did.

It was badly in need of repair, gluing up and cosmetics -- the finish was really worn.  I had to almost take the innards apart in order to restore them, but it was pretty straightforward.

I painted it with a creamy white and painted the desktop green, then added green accents to the knobs to glam them a little.

I lined the drawers with some turquoise and white lined paper to make it look more 'finished'.  I learned this trick from a friend...I line my drawers at home, but had not thought of doing it for furniture I was selling.  

You'll see that I didn't use chalk paint or distress it....  I'm not a fan of chalk paint lately.  It's so expensive and my homemade version is never as nice as the commercially made stuff, no matter how careful I am with it.  And, yes, there's less prep work, but there's so much more work on the other end (I hate waxing)!  I like the way it looks when others do it but just don't have the patience (or money) for it right now.  

I finished a few more little painting jobs, too, as I'm trying to get furniture ready to take to the booth next week.  This little nightstand was structurally great, but badly needed new paint, too.  I forgot to take a 'before' picture of it, but just picture peeling, dirty UGLY paint!

I never get lonely working in the garage -- the whole time I'm out there, Turner -- my protector -- is on the job, watching the driveway to make sure the menacing mail truck, bike riders and runners don't come and get me!

Thrift Shopping Therapy

As I said in my last post, it's been a really busy month.  We've had happy things -- a new grandson, lots of fun times with our granddaughter, lots of houseguests -- and there have been not-so-happy things -- lots of rain (and therefore, LOTS of mosquitoes), lots of yard work, and really slow summer sales.  People just don't buy much in antique malls in July because they're all busy outside or on vacation.  I don't blame them one bit!  Then there's the let-down when all the out of town family leaves and you know you won't see them again until Christmas (or later)...

So, I've just been crabby and down in the dumps.  What does a thrifter do when she's crabby?  Go shopping!

There was a mega-Pyrex estate sale today, but it was an hour away and began at 4:00.  My friend Bargain Hunter and I really thought about going -- they had over 300 pieces of Pyrex!  Look at all this Pyrex (and that's not all of it)!

We figured out, though, that if we weren't one of the first 10 or 20 people in we'd never get any good stuff and we'd use 4 gallons of gas just to get there and back.  We decided at the last minute meet up somewhere and just see what sales were nearby instead.

There wasn't much -- we kissed a few frogs (sales not worth the drive to get them), went to a disappointing local estate sale, an even more disappointing high-priced 'liquidation' sale run by the same company and finally ended up at a resale shop.

I bought one thing -- this fun little vinyl make-up bag or train case.  It's shiny black patent vinyl (like the Easter shoes I used to have when I was little) and has a clear vinyl layer that separates the stuff below from that above.  It was at it's lowest price at the resale shop and was a good deal.

When I restocked my booth at the antique mall today, I shopped a little and found these sweeties, too.  A 1940s never-been-used Hawaii tablecloth with four napkins in its original box!

Each napkin has a different island on it

Even the box is cool!

 I bought two of these turquoise and pink barkcloth panels for a bargain price because they're cutters.  See the big holes on either side (where the table shows through)?  I have a couple of benches to cover, though, that they'll be perfect for!

Even with the frogs and the disappointment of not going to the mega-Pyrex sale, Bargain Hunter and I vented a little and laughed a lot and both felt better for the trip.  Just goes to show that it's not what deals you find or what you buy that's important, it's the fun people you 'hunt' with!

Hope you find some good sales this weekend...as my dad used to say, "stay with the happy people"!

Don't be Afraid -- It's Only a Lawn Chair

When Mr. KV and I were newlyweds (37+ years ago) we lived in a wonderful little house built in 1912 (still my favorite house, though subsequent owners have remodeled all of the charm out of it).  We rented it (and eventually bought it) from a family friend who'd been born there and whose parents had lived there for their entire married life.  He was an ancient 63 (hmmm...doesn't seem so old now) and could remember when it had an outhouse and no running water.

When we moved in, he'd left his mother's webbed rocking chair on the front porch.  He told me it was her favorite chair and her favorite place to sit.  It had alternating green & cream webbing, like so many back in the day.  It quickly became MY favorite place to sit, too, and in a few years, I had to reweb it.  It's one of the few pieces of furniture we've had since day one of our marriage!

We've moved it to 5 different states and now it lives on our back screened porch.  Last week it finally gave up and most of the webbing tore (right under a son who shall remain nameless -- we all got a good laugh.)
Time to reweb it!

 If you've never rewebbed a chair, don't be afraid to take it on -- it's easy!  Here are some tips to help you get started:

1.  Find good webbing so you don't have to do it again in a few months...
Sometimes hardware stores have it, and it's available on Amazon, but most of that webbing's pretty weak and will tear fairly soon under regular use.  I ended up getting mine at Lawn Chair USA -- it's a GREAT online shop!  The webbing I got was really heavy and was less expensive per foot than the packages on  Amazon.  Because my rocker has a high back, I needed more footage than for a standard lawn chair.  The small packages at Amazon were $7.99 plus shipping for 39 ft (which they estimate will do a standard chair).  The reviews on that webbing noted that a) it wasn't enough for lots of people and they had to buy more and b) it tore quickly for lots of people.  At Lawn Chair USA, I got 150 ft for $20 with free shipping!   Enough to do my rocker plus another small chair.

2.  Use online resources...
I hadn't rewebbed a chair in over 30 years, so I went out online and found lots of resources.  This youtube video is really helpful.

3.  Measure twice, cut once...
I took one of the broken lengths of each size I needed and taped it to my table.  I know it sounds silly, but it made cutting the pieces super-fast and foolproof.

4.  Keep an example...
Keep one of the ends you remove with the clip still in it until you learn exactly how to orient them.  It's easy to get the clips twisted around and then they won't go in.  I left one for each end intact so I could double check it until doing them was automatic.

5.  If possible, leave the old webs in place and remove them one by one to replace...
It's easier to know which way to weave them and also to get them spaced right if you add them one at a time and just remove the old ones as you go.

6.  Stretch it as tightly as possible,..
The webbing gives a little over time, so you'll want to stretch it as tightly as you can.  An added bonus is that you get a workout pulling it tight to get the bracket hook into the seating hole!  I bracketed one end and then, after weaving, pulled it tight and used the tip of a scissor to mark the spot for the other bracket.  Because the clips have a little thickness, it makes the webbing really tight once you double it over.

Here's my chair, all finished (and tested, of course)...