Antique Tool Chest Before, and After.

 

Remember this from yesterday's post? Well, I got to work on it right away.... scrubbing off layers of dirt and caked grease. Dawn dish soap did the trick. 

Much, much better. I am not going to touch it. No paint, nuthin'. Perhaps a little wax for protection, that's it. I love the rustic, industrial beat-up-ness of it.

Auction Junque

Hubby and I spent two days at a local estate auction and we really hit the box jackpot.

Because of work I had to be in and out and couldn't stay, so I had pointed out this box to him and said I had I had my heart set on it.

Several people told me it was from the WW1 era, but I am not sure about that. I am sure that it is filthy, and full of junk, and also that the wood underneath the filth is gorgeous. Kevin had to buy a whole "row lot" for $30 to get it, but by gosh, he got it for me! I am so happy with it.

I also got this wood box for $2.... it's pretty big - steamer trunk size.

This was also on top of my list:

 

I have been  hoping for, and kind of looking for, a set of metal lockers for a while. I have been falling in love with industrial looking items, for incorporating into my farmhouse decor... and I wanted a locker for storing my crafty stuff and my paints/tools in . This one is pretty beat up, but reparable... my buddy Carolyn and I decided to split it, if we won it - which we did, for $100.00! We're going to split it in two lengthwise, one part for me and one for her. :) I almost can't believe I got it.... wow. 

We got two truck loads of stuff.... and Carolyn's husband got the locker on his trailer and moved it. As usual, much of it gets taken directly to the dump, because you end up with so much garbage when you purchase row lots and box lots. There were tons of goodies as well, though... lots of industrial stuff, since it was a  shop and old country store they were emptying out. Fantastic junk!!!

 

Things I've Been Working On....

 I found this church pew as-is and put it directly into the shop! 

 I've been doing a lot of hand painted signs; this one I painted white and used a crackle medium to get the chippy old wood look. It turned out awesome! 

 I scored these at a huge charity shop in a nearby big city. I liked their unusual tall and narrow shape. I wanted the drawers to be a bit more of a pale aqua; but since I didn't want to buy more paint, I tried to mix my own, and it turned out darker than I planned. Oh well! 

 

 My mom had these cast off wood drawers from a desk that fell apart. I painted them and turned them into storage boxes! The one in the middle has chalkboard paint on the front so the contents can be labeled. 

 

 Chalk board sign.

 

 Hand lettered "Farm" sign! 

I gave this vintage table a tea dyed finish. 

Check out my new business page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarolinaVintage

Market Warriors: A Rant

 (Photo: PBS website)

Okay this is going to seem like crazy  nonsense if you don't know what the "Market Warriors" show is on PBS. But I just have to get this off my chest. (If you want to know what I'm talking about, you can watch episodes on the website. They're quite amusing.)

I have a intense love/hate relationship with that show. Mostly hate; but just enough love to keep watching with sick fascination.

I am no expert - this is just my humble, by-standing opinion. They're PBS, and I suppose they know what they're doing...... 

Okay. First of all, I cannot stand Miller. They need to let her go! Her and her whiny voice, prancing around the outdoor markets like it's some kind of beauty pageant stage.... please. 

Also: they have the whole premise of the show backwards, in my opinion. The contestants have to buy items at "flea markets" (pppppfffffffttt - the big Liberty, NC antique show? NOT a flea market.) where most of the vendors are professional antiques dealers. These people do shows for a living..... it's not a "flea market"!
So, because of this, the contestants on the show are pretty much buying at retail.... anyone can see that.
Then, the items they bought are expected to make money at auction?! Seriously? I thought everyone in this business knew that you buy cheap at auction and flip your item for more money in a retail setting such as a booth or shop or outdoor market type of thing.
How can you be expected to buy at retail and flip it for profit .... at auction?! C'mon. I just don't think it's realistic. Not one bit. All dealers know you go to auctions for dealios,  and mark it up in your shop/booth/shows.

One more thing: the items the contestants go for. I know they're given target items for the target rounds and those items have to fit criteria... I get that. Okay.
But in the Shop Till You Drop rounds? They're going for these smaller, decorative type items.... like tramp art boxes, and needlework samplers, and folk art, lamps, pottery, art glass, and stuff like that. Half of the time, I'm looking at items just off camera, that I know cold be sold for bookoos of money, just based off what little I know from the home decor point of view. From things I have seen sell for tons of money right now. Case in point: in one episode, one of the guys is looking at a piece of pottery for a couple of hundred bucks, and right behind him is a vintage wood card catalog. Now, I don't know what the dealer wanted for the card catalog, but I guarantee you, that contestant would have been able to make some kind of money on that card catalog, just based off how I know card catalogs are selling right now because they're so wildly popular!! He got the pottery, and lost several hundred dollars on it when their items went to auction. Meanwhile, I am screaming at my TV screen.....

The only dude who I think had half a clue was the bald guy they replaced this season with the new lady. He was a professional decorator or something like that... so he knew what people were buying! He always went for the mid century stuff, chairs, tables, etc. and he usually did really well when his items went to auction.

They have a good idea for a show but they need to seriously re think some of the rules and the "bones" of it, and re cast the whole thing. Get some fresh blood in there; liven things up a bit.... keep it different. Let them sell in other venues besides auctions. Let them pick their items from some place besides these glorified "flea markets" populated by professional dealers. Visit a real life estate sale; or a country auction, or a thrift shop, or a big church rummage sale.... or something.... Puhleeeeeeeze?

Okay, rant over.

:)

Check out the show: Market Warriors

Oak Coffee Table "Re"....

Hubby and I discovered this at the Goodwill. It's not very old. It used to have little "wings" on it, with hinges, so that when it was open, it was round. But, the "wings" were missing. It was also covered in peeling black paint. It actually wasn't too bad as a black piece.... but I had an idea in mind that was a little more dynamic and "shabby cottage".

I used a little get stripper to get the majority of the paint off the top, and Kevin sanded off the top for me. I helped a little bit. Here, I was starting to stain the top ("golden oak" by Minwax). I still think it would have been fine left black on the bottom, but...

I think white, being more neutral, will sell better.  I chalk painted the bottom white and lightly distressed the legs, and finished off the whole thing in a light wax. It is as heavy as all get out, being solid oak.

Pansy Ring

I have wondered what this thing was for a long time... years, in fact. There were several floating around the antiques shop when I was just an employee there.

 

Well the other day Sally told me what it was, finally!! It's a pansy ring..... 

How adorable is that?! I have never, ever seen those any where else, ever.  I think I will have to buy myself one; just because.

Also, I made this chalkboard sign this week from a door from a door off and old buffet my husband found under a pile of his junk in one of the barns:

It has a jute string at the top in case I need to hang it if I ever go on the road or something.
The shop is open, and slowly attracting customers; but it has been hard to get people to realize it's open after being closed for so long. It's going to be a lot of hard work.... but I am up for the task. :)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, everyone! With warm weather here, yard sales will abound; so go forth, and be thrifty!

LOL

Songbird Guitar

I pulled this out of the dumpster a couple of years ago. It is a cheap, K-Mart Christmas special type of thing, made in Japan, pretty much worthless as a useful instrument. It has been sitting around in storage all this time.

So like anything sitting around taking up space these days, it got painted. Then I did this bird design on it, which I based off a stencil I have. Then I kind of embellished it....

It was Kevin who suggested that I do some vines on the sides as well; and it turned out great. He is really developing a artsy eye from all the stuff I've shown him! He has excellent judgement on these things... who would have thought? He's such a "man's man" ..... I never would have imagined he'd have an eye for art, color, and design like he does.

The cool thing about it is ( and you can't see in these photos) that I painted the bird in short strokes and it resembles feathers.

The sad thing is, when I put the polycrylic on it, for some reason the stain on the bottom part where the strings attach bled through and made the whole part look pink-ish. :/

Oh well, it is what it is.