Wouldn’t you rather have something pretty?

There is a Savers store just around the corner from our local Deseret Industries (both are like a Goodwill store). I don’t check it quite as often as DI, but I try to stop in fairly regularly to look for furniture. They don’t have good stuff as often as DI does, but what furniture they do get is usually a great price!

One day a few weeks ago, I walked in the front door to see this table staring back at me:

Oh, I swear the heavens opened and angels sang! Look at those gorgeous legs!

Sure the top was a little worn…but that just meant it had been well loved!

And there were two chairs to boot!

Their legs weren’t half-bad either!

The only problem was a sticker marring the top of the table:

SOLD. Hold until 11 a.m.

I was crestfallen. Sadly I walked away, hoping that the person who purchased these lovely pieces would truly appreciate them.

I continued my rounds, stopping in at DI, then on to Wal-Mart. But I couldn’t get the little table out of my head. When I finished my errands at 10:50 a.m., I decided to stop back by Savers—just in case.

I walked in the door, and the little table looked at me hopefully (or so I imagined). It was still there! I walked away a few feet to keep an eye on it.

A store employee walked by the table and glanced at that tag. He called out, “What’s the story with this table? It’s almost 11:00! If that lady doesn’t come back soon…”

I saw my opening, and leaped in… “I’ll BUY IT!” I said with ill-concealed glee.

Then the wait began. 10:57. 10:59. 11:01! RING ME UP!

The little table…and the chairs…came home with ME!

And we were very happy!

Lest I sound like a true ogre, an effort was made to locate the original purchaser. As far as the employees could tell, she had left the store.

I found a remnant of a beautiful green bird print that was perfect for recovering the seats, and it set the tone for the rest of the makeover…green it would be! I took the fabric in with me to Home Depot and purchased a sample of Behr Ultra in a shade close to the birds. However, when I got it home I decided it was going to be a little too in-your-face green, so I lightened it with some white paint.

On the left you can see the unglazed chair; on the right is with glaze. It mellowed the color just enough, and brought out the interesting details.

And here’s a newly recovered chair seat. I love this fabric!

I sanded down the table top and re-stained it in my favorite Minwax Antique Walnut.

There’s a 14-inch butterfly leaf tucked away inside.

One of the things I love about this table is how narrow it is: only 31 inches. It would be perfect in small quarters.

I still love these beautiful double legs!

If I could, do you know what I would use this table for? A craft room. What a great place to spread out your projects! (I coated the top with 3 layers of Varathane just in case!) A seamstress could extend the table and cut out an entire dress. A scrapbooker could assemble a whole vacation’s worth of memories!

After all…wouldn’t you rather have something pretty to work on? Who needs that old folding table, anyway??

…And when the work was over

…maybe it could just be a nice place to enjoy a glass of lemonade with a friend.

This project has been featured at Beyond the Picket Fence and the DIY Home Sweet Home Project.

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Linking up to these great parties and Saved by Suzy.

Chicklets

Yesterday I shared pictures of the beautiful farm where my friend and I took pictures of my children a couple of weeks ago.   I am a novice photographer, but I had to take some pictures of my own…just for practice!  We didn’t get all of my children, but I thought I would share some photos of my beautiful chicklets!

This is child #3 (9 1/2 years).  He’s been up weeding the garden this morning in order to earn money for a new Wii game!  Yep, he’s motivated by cold, hard cash.

He was my smallest baby (7 lbs. 7 oz.), and has reminded short and slight.  He has the quickest temper, though!

But he’s capable of a quiet, reflective side.  He loves to read about animals, and has a very tender heart where they’re concerned.  The fact that his mother is allergic to EVERY animal is a great trial for him.

This is chicklet #4 (7 1/2 years).  When I found out I was pregnant with her, we were unemployed and uninsured and in the midst of a nasty legal battle.  I knew I wanted more children, but the timing didn’t seem quite right.  When I told my sister I was pregnant, she said, “How wonderful!  Now you have a little bright spot to look forward to!”  Oh, my dear sister!  She changed my whole perspective with those few words.  And this child…has been a bright spot every day of her life.

She’s all girl…loves to dress up, loves to dance, loves to pose for the camera!

She’s a princess, through and through.

This is chicklet #5.  He turns 6 on Saturday, and he wants to go see Cars 2!  I was literally in labor for 3 days with this child, and in the end we found out he had unusual condition with his umbilical cord and placenta that could have caused a life-threatening situation if labor had proceeded fast and furious.  We are grateful for tender mercies that made things happen as they needed to bring us a healthy boy!

This boy has also had some other challenges.  He had an injury that destroyed his left eardrum when he was 11 months old, and he’s had to have three surgeries to repair the damage—the last one was in February.  He’s also speech-delayed, but he has made tremendous ‘catch-up’ progress during the last year.

He wasn’t always a very happy child—in fact, I’d say he was an angry child for years!  But now…we see that gorgeous smile much more often, and it melts my heart every time!

This is chicklet #6 (3 1/2 years), my baby.  Even the day after #5 was born, I knew there was another little spirit meant for our home, and I knew it was a going to be a girl! 

I had a difficult time capturing her actually looking at the camera!  So we’ll just go with what comes naturally.  She’s full of life and fun, and perfectly secure in her lofty position as “the baby of the family.”

Thanks for visiting with us…off to other tasks now!

On the Farm

My pictures of my children are sadly out of date.  Rather than go to Target or another studio, I decided to have a friend take some pictures in a more “vintage-y” setting as befits the mood I am trying to create in my home!  My sweet neighbor directed us to a beautiful old farm about 15 miles away, where we were given permission to take pictures.  No one is living there at the moment, but you can see it was once a busy place!  There were treasures to be found wherever I looked, and I *wish* I could have gone hunting through the many ramshackle outbuildings!  I know I would have found some things that wanted to come home with me!

There were amazing old outbuildings everywhere…

And the foliage was taking over!

I peeked in this shed…there was an old washtub, a great old door, and a bike frame where I could see them…

Don’t you just love this little shack?  What a beautiful door.

One building may have been some kind of a guest house.  I loved the “K” (for “Korrie”) on the shutters with the chippy blue paint.

Water storage, maybe?  The tank just peeked out over the bushes.

There were piles of old barn wood and bits and pieces of old equipment all over the place!  I love how the plants just grow up through the tines.

Look at this treasure…an old cast iron bathtub hiding in a thicket!  (Sadly, it did not have claw feet.)

Here is a gate to nowhere…it was just leaning up against another pile of junk.

I would love to have this in a flower bed.

…or maybe this!

This box was just sitting outside with no one to love it.  It tempted me more than anything, but I did not give in!

My dear sweet husband does not understand my fascination with all this “old stuff.” 

What about you? 

Do you see the junk, or do you see the beauty?

Linking up here:

Postcard Table

My neighbor’s dad is retiring from his dental practice after FORTY-EIGHT years (can you believe that??). They asked me if I wanted to do something with this solid wood coffee table that had been in their reception area:

Umm…yes please! (You know I have a weakness for coffee tables!)

See that interesting red pattern that trails across our driveway? That’s what happens when a can of spray primer falls off the sawhorse, punctures on a piece of gravel, and then rolls down the driveway spraying merrily all the way…

I did something a little different for this coffee table. Instead of a French advertisement, I wanted it to look like a vintage French postcard (albeit a rather large one).

I painted this table a creamy white. I got my graphic from The Graphics Fairy, and I used the method demonstrated for my French Chocolate Coffee Table to paint the image on the table.

I distressed the table heavily, and glazed it lightly with Minwax Jacobean stain mixed with Martha Stewart glaze.

I love the postmark from 1887!

I like how the glaze sticks in the crevices of the legs.

I can’t really read the complete address, but I think it makes it look like it has been around for a long, long time.

I wonder if this was a love note?

I’d like to think so!

And speaking of love…there are more than 600 of you dear readers who follow my little projects now, and send sweet, encouraging comments my way every week. Thank you for that! I am also rapidly approaching my first “blogiversary,” or that day when my teenage daughter convinced me to start a blog. In celebration of both events, I am planning a giveaway! Watch for it to be announced soon!

This project has been featured at The Homeless Finch, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, and Party of 4.

Linking up to these parties.

So what have I learned?

I have been refinishing and refurbishing furniture to sell for a little over a year now. In April, I took a leap and participated in my first ‘show,’ the Scraps of Simplicity Boutique in West Haven, Utah.

Last Saturday I was a vendor at Bella’s Vintage Market in Salt Lake City, Utah.

…so I can’t claim to have a wealth of experience, but I have learned a thing or two that I will pass on to you! I hope they will help someone.

What do I take?

When went to my first show, I took along several great pieces of furniture (at least I thought so!). I had a long dresser, a chest of drawers and dresser set, a sofa table with benches, a set of arm chairs, a table and four chairs…you get the picture! The first lesson I learned was that the majority of shoppers at a craft show do not come prepared to buy or transport large items! So the sad thing was that the I ended up bringing a lot of those pieces home with me. I was able to sell them through the classifieds over the next couple of weeks, but it was a waste of time and energy to transport them back and forth. Stick with smaller items that can conceivably fit in a back seat or trunk.

So for Bella’s market, I had several coffee tables, stools, single chairs, etc. I did take one monstrously heavy cedar chest…and it came home with me!

Like me, you may have friends who also make great stuff, and you may want to help them out by trying to sell out of your booth. The next lesson I learned is that items unrelated to the major theme of your booth don’t do well. At my first show, I invited a friend who makes cute Easter baskets to sell them in my booth. I don’t think one of them sold.

At Bella’s, my sister placed some of her ultra-adorable handmade caps on a display. None of them sold, either.

This is not a reflection on those products—it’s just that when the buyers are looking at a “home furnishings” booth, they simply don’t see those unrelated items. They don’t compute! So they get passed over.

I made an expensive miscalculation related to this lesson at Bella’s as well. I love the beautiful clay tags and pennant banners from Vintage Skye.

I think everyone should love them as much as I do! Since she offered a 40% discount for bulk orders, I spent $125 purchasing banners and tags for resale. I think I sold something like four tags. Ouch! Again, it’s not a reflection of these fabulous items…but they just were passed over because they didn’t fit with the ‘theme’ of the booth. So my advice: don’t try to be successful as a re-seller. (Guess what I’ll be giving as Christmas gifts this year??)

Displays

My best advice for your displays is to think vertical! It’s really difficult to do this if the majority of your product is furniture. But you’re likely to have some smaller items, and anything you can do to draw the eye upward, especially for smaller items, is good! At the Scraps Market, I borrowed a friend’s pegboard displays, and they were great for hanging things like shutters and my hand-painted signs.

I didn’t have them at Bella’s Market, and I think that was a mistake. Signs in a basket simply don’t have the same impact. So think about creating some kind a wall you can hang things on. In the alternative, bring some folding tables so you can set some things up higher, like we did with the pink headboards and footboards. Then we used the space in front of them without worrying about hiding anything important.

Next, shake things up throughout the day. As items sell—and even if they don’t'—move things around. You don’t want to leave empty spaces, but more importantly, things may attract attention differently in different spaces. Often times a buyer may walk through your booth more than once, and if you’ve moved things around, they may see something they missed the first time!

Costs of a Show

I’m still struggling to determine if my own show experiences can be qualified as “successes.” I think there is a lot more to consider than just money, although money is probably the most important benchmark. When I’m looking at costs, I try to consider not only materials, but also gas, food, and the time I take from others.

My time I don’t really count, as I am doing it because I love to. For my first show, though, I had a HUGE amount of help from four terrific friends as well as my family. They did it because they loved ME, and while I am grateful for that, I’m not necessarily comfortable with it! For the second show, I cut down considerably on what I had other people do for me, and that quieted my conscience a bit.

If you’re going to be at an all day show, you’re going to need food. I think I spent around $35 for feed three or four of us two meals, and that comes out of my profits. I should probably also figure the cost of the extra pizzas we ate in the weeks leading up to the show, as well as dinner out the night after the first show because we were so exhausted! I haven’t actually figured gas costs, although I need to. I pulled a trailer, and I’m sure that wasn’t cheap!

Traffic, Traffic, Traffic

In the real estate game, they tell you that the three most important considerations are “location, location, location.” For a craft show or market, I’d say the most important considerations are “traffic, traffic, traffic.”

No matter how great your products are, TRAFFIC IS KEY! It’s way too easy to feel like a failure when your things don’t sell, but if you don’t have good traffic at a show, there’s only so much blame you can place on yourself!

(Note: I tend to slash prices when things aren’t flying out of my booth, because I really don’t want to pack it all up and take it home! That is my choice, and I know it cuts down on potential profits. But sometimes I figure any sale is better than no sale.)

You may be able to do a little bit to increase traffic yourself. Try to do what you can to advertise. Lots of shows may have fliers available for you to distribute. Try to. I even took some to a local vintage-y consignment shop that I love, and they agreed to place them on their counter for me. Mention the show on Facebook or your blog. And one thing I did for Bella’s Market was to post items I was taking on the classifieds, and state that they would “be available at this place on this date.” I had a few calls from those ads, so it didn’t hurt!

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So, the big question is…have *I* been successful at these markets? Well, the jury is still out on that. Neither market I have participated in has had great traffic. The Scraps Market was great for the first two hours, but the afternoon was lousy. Still, I came out ahead…but really only very much ahead once I sold the ‘leftovers’ in the subsequent weeks. I am technically ‘ahead’ for Bella’s Market as well, but it will be better after I sell some of my ‘leftovers’ for that one as well. At the moment I think I may have made about 59 cents an hour! This was the first year for that show, and I knew it was a risk—but the hope is that I would have my foot in the door for subsequent years. I wish the organizers hadn’t charged admission; I think there would have been better walk-in traffic without it.

There are a lot of intangibles to consider when considering the success question as well, though. Did I enjoy it? Yes, for the most part. I enjoy making smaller items on occasion, and they don’t sell well through the classifieds, so this is a good venue for that. I also enjoy meeting and talking to people about my project. We bloggers tend to be “compliment junkies,” as a friend of mine puts it, and it’s great to visit with people who admire your work.

I had a great time spending the day with my neighbor and teenage daughter. My daughter enjoys trading things in my booth with other vendors (she’s partial to jewelry and cupcakes). OK, I like that too!

So…will I do it again? I don’t know yet! Yesterday, after crunching the numbers, I would have said ‘no.’ Today…I’m at ‘maybe.’ It might be fun to do the October Scraps of Simplicity Market to see if there’s a real difference in the spring and fall shows (I have heard that there is)…

What would you do?

(I really want to know!)