garden party

did you get this in the mail? its our postcard for the annual garden party...
hope you are coming.....we will have a free plant for you, as long as they last anyway..... this year we got lots of nice plants from an amish greenhouse....as in my question, can you deliver,, now mam we only have horse and buggy, his answer....
but they sure are pretty plants and reasonable too....

a customers yard

one of our gazeboes in the hands of a master!! isnt it beautiful........

she sent us this for our pin up page on the website http://www.greenoakantiques.com/

we have one just like it right now....all ready and waiting for someone at our garden party this weekend....

another hoosier at springfield

a long term junking buddy he had a wonderful store long ago but now travels the country with his art.... ive bought lots and lots from him over the years and got my first antique lessons from his grandmother...

she was really fun..the way she did business was::::: be nice and honest

always have money

and , no mercy, she would buy from me but never cut me any slack...and always somehow got me down to my lowest price...

actually she was illiterate, i would have to fill out her check but she could sign her name....she was from down south, , and really old when i met her, but she was really smart and could do math in her head upside down...like when i would be adding her up she could get the total ### before me, looking at it upsidedown...

i can see her now, she usually paid cash, she would get it out and say , here comes my pretty money....she had exquisite taste and always ready to buy more if it was good enough...thats pretty much how i learned about antiques,from dealers like her who knew a lot about certain categories, ,,,,,, if she rejected something in victorian, her favorite, that told me a lot.......

road trip

dh took me to springfield ohio!!!! to the big extravaganza...

country home had a booth and the famose junk girls were there....but to me the thrill was all the fun stuff for sale from the 2500 vendors!!!!!...there was neat stuff everywhere, and way more to se than you cuold do in one day.... we went on the early buying day, friday........it was a ball and i think we got some fun , interesting and reasonable things to bring back for the store..

,,,we got a whole truckload, mostly things for our garden party..... german tubs, fun flowers, birdhouses, and some great spindles and posts and windows , and cute wire baskets that could be planters.....also a new batch of garden iron......and a batch of glove molds.....

in real antiques ; a big pile of flow blue and several good pieces of oak furniture...some pie birds and old candy containers...

and for myself that cute painting of a house.....and an english chimney pot for my garden....

http://www.springfieldantiqueshow.com/

http://www.texasrust.com/

most of this stuff now at http://www.greenoakantiques.com/

today with julie on the way to ohio

all this is at julies now....jon and i found it up here in corn country......the chaise was georgous...so french and in great shape..... the chairs have a setee too...the little chairs i see she painted already.....these pictures are from julies newsletter...
i have big big metal figural lamps from the same lady here at the store...and a beautiful french desk with matching chair....and a big french couch with carved birds, and a big gaudy deeply carved mirror....would love to have seen that house!!!!

www.bellachicinteriors.com

we delivered this for julie on our way to springfield.... a pile of purple....if you ever get to carmel indiana go see her...

the pictures are from her photographer.......

........

a good buy

this is all true, as far as i know... its about a guitar.....
..a guy who hauls low grade stuff from a big city had it in the auction....it wasnt a fancy auction....
jon was there, a guy who we buy from was there,,,the owner tried to show it to our friend,,,who bought the fiddle instead... ... and the guitar sold for 60$..also to someone we know......anyway!!!!
he put it on ebay and

it sold for $40,000!!!!!!!

he said he bid on it because of the case, he was pretty sure it was a gibson case.....
all the guys who were there are kicking themselves of course.....soome who are long time dealers....
it wasnt even a gibson...

p.s. .i saw it on ebay it went for 40,600....i wouldnt have known anything if i had been there..i probably would have bid more than 60 tho because it had such nice wood.....maybe 100 ...but i probably would have resold it in the store if i had gotten it........ i tried to download its p picture for here , but couldnt get it ....

off to springfield ohio tomorrow....for a big flea market....hopefully will be back with some wonderful goodies!!!! taking the big truck....

around the store

junque dealer to the queen?

one of our customers just won the democratic nomination for gov of indiana....if she wins in november -- would we be the junque dealer to the queen of indiana?
http://www.hoosiersforjill.com/

shes a great person, nice and very well qualified.... and we hope she wins...we ahould have some bumper stickers for her soon...

the beloved ex gov...otis bowen has shopped with us too...

the current gov wants to make us 31 a limited access highway....if that happens and our road is closed...we will probably be virtually ruined.....we get a lot of business off the highway....

trash to treasure crafts

the picture is an old memory jug...pretty valuable in the antique world....the scotties on top date it to probably the 40s....i dont know how they applied it.....


mosaic work is something i like but never get around to....i have lots of ideas and the material is everywhere..and so cheap.....like the beautiful chipped dishes in my half price room....
. nice ones here...
http://brook-thehomethatlovebuilt.blogspot.com/

i wanted to make big garden pieces with mosaic...full of cool natural stuff...shells, rocks, maybe glass..... big pedestals or birdbaths!!! or large planter boxes... it would be neat...
and i love mr flannerys suggestion below in the comments.....

you can see really fun t to t crafts here... http://www.greenbeanworkshop.blogspot.com/
and here... http://www.robomargo.com/
and dont forget http://www.tamponcrafts.com/

...i colllect tramp art....made from old cigar boxes by tramps...and maybe traded with nice housewives for pie or a chicken...its so expensive i have had to curtail my desires....

dear dh......

dear dh....

i really need a turret...im sick of doing my projects on the basement....its noisy and dreary down there..... a turret would be so perfect....and it could fit right in on the back porch...and i could look out into the woods....and have all my paper stuff around me.....

it would need lots of windows....

fluffers and floppers

at the store,we divide ourselves up into 2 groups...the fluffers and the floppers.....the floppers are the ones who move the big furniture in and out and to the back and from the back and help rearrange....and unload the trucks...and take the cabinets from the paint shop to the cupboard barn....etc etc......
the fluffers are the ones who figure out where stuff goes and make it pretty after it gets there.....and fill it up right....and fix the walls...
if something ever looks real bad you can bet a flopper got roped into fluffing..... or maybe something sold and isnt off the floor yet...but unloaded and in an aisle...

i go both ways...i can still carry most of it , but mostly i fluff ....and try and find room for everything and still have it look pretty good....luckily our customers can stand a little mess....they dont expect perfection....we get lots and lots in every week so it keeps us hopping.....
imho,the fluffers have great respect for the floppers but the floppers dont usually appreciate the fluffers.....

we never quite get it all done ...but we try!!!!!
i believe the great designers cant actually tell you how they do it....
..

connections

the best part of this business is the people........

..the most fun yesterday was a mom.....her sons in college and her job is to decorate his bathroom...... hes going to be a diesel mechanic...

. her first stop was the junkyard, for some hubcaps and then she came here.....

and found this sign.......

we think he will love it!!!

she also got some wierd old truck lights..

trash to treasure!!!!

parts is parts

i like to have lots of parts in stock.....and hear what kind of projects the buyers have in mind...

..these windows look like a good start for a cupboard door.....or a big wall accent. maybe with tin behind....

we have lots of windows.and i love the arched ones and the criss cross ones......we also try and have lots of shutters, doors bits of old woodwork, old dresser parts.old headboards, porch posts,spindles,, old fence,,,,

in new we have ....

wood appliques, we use them on our cupboards a lot..

glass knobs, in clear, green and even some pink....

brass hardware, true antique reproductions

iron bin pulls, ,

iron hooks,we have tons of these...big and small lots of fancy ones, fleur de lis , bugs etc

iron brackets and corners, big selection

in tin we have old and new...

lately i have heard lots of headboard ideas....and kitchen ideas....the tin is so versatile!!!! we use tin for birdhouse roofs too....

.i like the new tin when it starts to look old and rusty.............but if you want it nice and new looking put a primer coat on first....then it shouldnt rust..........and rust is always an issue with the tin.....or if it has rusted to a point perfect for you...just put a sealer on it....

if you made something neat from our parts, send me a picture!! i like to put them on the pin up page of our website... http://www.greenoakantiques.com/

favorite section

a lot of enjoyment in running a store is just puttering around with displays....and trying to find the right spot for everylthing.... like at home...except we can do it in foo foo section one day. then in prim the next day ...

here is my favorite section;;;;

.... kind of beige and white....and archetectural....our neatest fantasy pieces work in here.....also the neatest cement....

right now it has a nice white vanity and a bananaboat harvest table.... and several cupboards..and a shutter shelf..... the big shelf at the top is made from 2 doors..also now in is one of the neatest couch tables in old chippy white....with nice nice fat legs..

not sure what you call this style...its kind of cottage kind of shabby....but classic too....

in this part i have sea shells, silver, white crocks, lots of birds, and clear glass jars...plus lots of vintage white china and pottery......vintage crystal,,,prisms..old milkglass, whatever fits....

.... i need to order more cloches for this part...

... its straight down from the coffee , to the right...

fred and martha....

what i love about this business is its a world where sanford and son could bump into martha stewart.....

i have so many junky buddies....who our store depends on a lot.....one old guy was up in front of the zoning board , getting ripped for so many good reasons.....his pathetic plea was i have to wait till spring then i will take it to green oak...poor dh was on the zoning board at the time....

a pile like this looks good to our customers!!...

loading and hauling furniture and misc is a pretty messy job....but you gotta get it home~!!!

last summer, at auction, jon bought out contents of a hay mow..it was full of junk , all the stuff the auctioneers didnt want to haul down for the auction...,,,and no wonder there were big holes in the floor and boxes full of mostly junk....and some weather damage.and the built in ladder was about 1 foot wide......i did get up there....scary!!!.......it was pretty treacherous... i remember throwing hubcaps out the big mow opening...to the grass below....

jon hired another guy to help him get the boxes down....and some stranger helped me get down.....we sure came home dirty that day.....but it was great stuff....the guy had saved everything... kind of like hog heaven for me and jon.....

spring

we are all ready for spring......lots of good wire in so many shapes, from chairs, planters to little fences, and armillaries to gazeboes and seated arbors......2 more gazebos coming monday......they are big and easy to put together....... this year we got mostly dark iron.....lots of urns too..

and for the creative rustic garden we have lots of barnwood planters and birdhouses....as well as the fun cheap barn relics out in the parking lot.....cans, old chairs, old tables, ladders, big porchposts ,old doors and metal....
i love hearing all the customers plots ...i never know if something is going to be a headboard or a garden accent....its great...lots of the iron has been used for headboards too.....

thursdays

we are closed thursdays and this time of year i m usually out in the garden.., ...i see possible customers driving by and coming back real quick, . its our one day closed.....its hard ....i sure hate to miss anybody...
..
i love this time of year in the garden...composting, rearranging, making plans, dividing, etc etc...more is better but i probably have more space than i could possibly take care of...and its all flowers....its laid out kind of formal.....with lots of parts......in our old house lots of customers wandered around in my garden but over here they dont ....at the old house, where jon lives now, the garden was just outside the rough room door....and they could just walk out there, everybody was welcome.... one lady told me she came there every summer to meditate....jon cut it all down...now its all his stuff...chickens, guinnies, bantys, dogs and 4 boys....... i did move a lot of plants when we moved .. .

favorites

here are some favorites..... the one with the signs is what we make all the time..... they work great for kids rooms for stores even for t.v.s one shelf comes out......the back is thin so you can make a hole for cords if you want.....

my favorites tho are the other ones....the big funky one of a kinds..... they are harder to do....and never can look perfect like the standards...there is usually some little imperfection ....the fancy top of the big grey cupboard was a bed...the doors are old ceiling tin.... the finials were from some poor tables legs....

the big wide one was made out of 2 doors...these are big and bulky...but really great displays....and it saves the old doors from the landfills....

the glass window showcase is so fun to use...i really love these...but they are a hassle to make!!! so much can go wrong!!! old windows are basically a mess to work with....but isnt it cute!!! this one we did up for christmas......they could be little conservatories too....maybe for your cameleons!!!!

i like playing with the old parts....and love hearing what others are doing with them!!!

if you have bought parts from us and made something neat please send pictures..for our pin up page...on our website http://www.greenoakantiques.com/

have fun!!

night life

my night life revolves around tv. and dh of course!!

the tudors...boring
the wire...first season....great..getting the whole thing..
wristcutters, a love story....great
deadwood....watched it all again....why did they drop it!!!
nature....those poor gorillas
pants off dance off....omg...only bumped into it...
john adams....dissappointing.
the daily show!!!!...love it...
pbs news...
.i miss walter cronkite....
monarch of the glen...loved the first ones...
news news news...my favs racheal madow....patrick bucannen, lou dobbs...mark shields...so glad tucker is gone!!!
we take full advantage of netflix and tivo...

work this week

this week i want to

get the outside a little better..
..get the fountains going.......
..go to our mall booth art borkholders in nappanee...and fluff it up and take more things...if you go there, we are right down from the bank....2 booths...one for iron and one farther down with shabby on one side and dark on the other...
..find a spot for a big 8 ft wide display cupboard the carpenters made....its pretty big!!!and we are so full...
..try and get everything outside checked for prices.....
...set up a cute rooster display
....mainly fluff up the store after a big weekend....

white dresser

these are easy to find....its just a dresser out of a depression era bedroom set....in the rough they might be around 60$ in our rough room.....they are usually in walnut veneers...........

this one we painted in our bananaboat color....a nice warm tan and white over it.... its in our white room ..

the trouble with old dressers is usually the drawers.... they stick...or hardware is gone..... ...on ours jon fixes all that before we paint them.......

this weekend was beautiful and we had a lot going on outside.......lots of people came thru ..we sold gazebos, urns, planters, fences, glass balls..its spring!!!!..

the beautiful morning doves are trying to nest in the awning again...that doesnt work very well..

im hoping someone comes thru who needs horseshoes....we have a big pile!!! cheap!! also hoping for a craftsperson needing some nice glass blocks.....we have a pile of those too..... also lots of fruit jars at 1$ each.....or less in bulk!!

pricing

....heres one of our yardsale shirts...

if you shop here you know our prices can be a little funny.... it kind of all depends...we arent a hallmark...or walmart!!! thank heavens...
if we have had something for ages....we are always ready to make a deal on it....if we just got it we are a lot more firm.....the things the carpenters make cant come down much at all.....

antique pricing is kind of odd compared to other businesses...one reason is that we buy things in groups sometimes...like at auction.... maybe 5 things came together in a box.....for 10$.... if 2 of them sell for a profit...then there might be something left that you could say was free.....and could price very low or put in the junk shack for the yardsale....


also we use jiggling...we use this to get some of our best pieces......at auction if we got 2 things ; one very under the money....and one with hardly any profit left in it... we put the 2 together...and jiggle...what comes out ? ... the good thing gets a lower price and the big bargain a little higher price......is that wrong!!!!..this probably isnt real smart but it has been part of our plot for a long time......

another time jiggling comes in handy is when you make a big mistake...like when everyone in the auction crowd saw the big chip but you didn't...so you bought it at a big price....now what? if possible, we jiggle it down with another piece we got real cheap.... i feel like i still made money....

mostly, i believe in pricing by what i pay, ....so one month you might see a chair and 15$ and the next time something very similar for 25$......

sometimes i probably make big mistakes in pricing...i can't know everything!....my hope is if i made a huge error...sold you somethng for 10$ that was worth hundreds...please dont tell me!!!
im pretty sure someone bragged about a super bargain he got from me , and talked about it in a story in the south bend tribune...i figure its kind of good advertizing......
and im pretty sure im slightly famose, as an idiot, with the bottle guys for giving away some great bottles....actually i know very little about bottles...one of the guys , one who missed my bottles, came in and told me all about it...how good they were , how many hands they passed thru....all i can say is my happy bottle guy comes around a lot...

work this week

we have gotten so much in this week....some gigantic things from the carpenters..... 2 of them are 8 ft wide..and 7 ft tall........ also more spring florals,nice birds, glasss ball garden stakes, new plates, lots of old parts, bookcases, signs, boxes,more iron etc etc........ my goal this week is to make room for the incoming....and put tons of misc in the half price room ....stuff from last year... mistakes, too many , scuffed.. etc etc...that room should be packed by monday.....

also have been hauling lots of things to the little junk shack for the yardsale........

also this week...i want to clean up the back porch....we have just thrown stuff out there and its been too cold to really arrange it....also need to get a couple more fountains running....the water sounds so good...
there are two 8 ft long items all painted and ready to come out...i know not where!!!!

WE ARE OPEN MOTHERS DAY.... and im trying to talk wade into serving tea and crumpets on our good silver that day...open for sure but tea and crumpets might not happen!!

also coming up is our garden party...memorial day weekend....im hoping for wade to be here then too, but its his 50th birthday and his plan was to start the big day with champagne and strawberries in his wonderful garden..and just stay there all day....so its iffy.......

outside i will be trying to get everything priced....even the real rough cheap stuff south of the dock......
and fluff up the garden iron.....

jon got some really great old parts..and we will be working up something with them..we seem to have several nice spooncarved eastlake pieces right now.....

today we are seeing snow and several people in flip flops..

customer stories.... dh almost got smacked

this happened a long time ago with a dear customer...and she still comes....shes my age and a teacher and furniture dealer...she and dh were bent over some piece of furniture looking at the under parts, and her husband came up from behind and goosed her!!! she reared up and about decked poor innocent dh..... it was kind of tense for a second then a big laugh...

.... if you read this ,please know that we have had many laughs over that day...and happy thoughts of you and your dh...

painting issues

painting old furniture is always kind of unpredictable...
.. this weeks problem was a big beautiful buffet....it looked normal......but the paint started beading up, and not sticking right......the painters judgement was that it had an oil based stain on it......maybe the previous owners stained it up before putting it in the auction......and thus our latex paint wouldnt stick right......

it turned out ok tho...with some of the nice old finish showing thru....
when something has a super shiny finish we know we have to do something before painting...like liquid sander or real sanding or primer.....but this piece looked pretty normal...
.the painter likes everything perfect, unified, etc ...and doesnt really believe in the good parts of a hit and miss paint job....

outside!!!

it is so good to be outside....and so many goodies out there!!!

all the garden iron, plus the big roosters, and the european wash stands.....

then there is the fun trash to treasure stuff...just waiting for new homes;;; milk cans, horseshoes, old glass blocks, cheap chairs..... old windows and doors...shutters, ..glad we dont have zoning out here!!!! it doesnt look like trash to me....lots of stuff under 10$$

the sun feels great...

hard week...snafu

this place is chaos.
.the biggest mess of the week.....is about 4 peoples fault..mine too....but the result is a customer called today and she has someone elses cabinet.....she bought a lot of furniture ...and sent a truck to come get it....and we put someone elses cabinet on her truck.....now we are hoping the owner doesnt come tomorrow to get it....we dont exactly know the name.its on the cabinet tho....but we/dh is making a big trip tomorrow to retrieve it.....
so much happened this week.....
3 huge loads came in..
the back porch is clogged and a mess....
.the parking lot has tons of iron and almost arranged so you can walk thru....
.lots of the stuff thats set out all winter needs repriced....
i have sciatica....a nice guy gave me a pressure point massage .. im used to being able to carry about anything...
one of our carpenters took a real job...
its still mainly dark and dreaary around here...
our dedicated counter person is still in key west....
i charged someones card 2.98 ...instead of 298.00....he caught it....thank heavens...

so im on the couch watching the full monty and hoping for a nice sunny day tomorrow and lots of happy customers and that the cabinet person doesnt come until dh gets back.... ...

julies rough room

heres my daughters idea of a rough room....complete with a cute dog....... if you are ever in carmel indiana you might stop in and see her. http://www.bellachicinteriors.com/

our rough room is full....several great old mantles..buffets, big shelving, old chairs etc etc.and lots more....

a new load

heres jon today getting a load of furniture from one of his contacts....this is our boxtruck too full to close the door....we call it tailgating.....i havent seen the load yet....

we should be packed full this weekend!!!!

also the garden iron is here......

incoming parts

lots of great parts in this week...including some real nice porch posts....from 25$ to 45$

...some huge big square posts too...and some nice old oak round columns....also a few more windows and shutters.... .

jon also got about 15 mantles....some really great ones.... some painted and some will be refinished....short ones and tall ones....some really cheap half mantles....

i love this time of year..so much comes in....

incoming trash to treasure projects

these just came in....the arched one was a victorian door.......i think its going to llook great....
the other 2 will be showcases...or little greenhouses..... they are made from windows....

cant wait to paint them up and fluff them up a bit with more carvings and glass knobs....

yardsale

we have a big one every year...

. this week we got lots of misc which we packed away waiting for the big day.....

the yardsale is basically 20 tables divided into 50c.....1,00..... 2.00.........

....and the very best 4.00.......

also we have a big half price tent....

all thru the summer the excess from the auctions and buys is stored away for the big day......

digging into the past

when you are out digging around in old things ...sometimes you can just feel the kids or people who loved the stuff so long ago...... i like that feeling....and a total thrill to me is to see a spot that is kind of like they left it.... i have been in places like that on house calls sometimes., rooms untouched for years ..an old toolshed just like the guy left it...... and even at auction when you see all an individuals things, you get a pretty interesting view into a different time and what they were like and what they liked....

kind of like
this neat image from http://www.coffeyhousecollection.blogspot.com/

i dont know how she does it!!! but so nice..

wanna see some neat pictures?...by linda koch.....altered visions.
http://alteredvisions.typepad.com/photos/atcs/index.html

i love this little girl she made...i think she grew up to be an adventurous outside the box designer of her enviornment.....

around the store

lots of new and old in this week....

victorian parts

birds

old tools

crocks

black bookcases

birdhouses

harvest tables

oak dresser

giant potting bench

flying pigs

cubbyholes

orphan ideas

i have so much work to do...and some thngs i really want to get done i cant.

new signs for the front of the store....actually we are 29 yrs old and dont have a sign ...so dumb!!!

...find a painter to make life size mermaids

..take computer lessons, its so hard and boring for me....but i want more pictures to choose from and i cant figure out how to get them on...

put more trash to treasure directions

on the website

find someone to make window collages, i have the stuff and the ideas...but im too messy and busy to do it...

make a new verse folder....we have been passing the same one out for too many years...

make the lake manitou book with our vintage pictures

well thats part of my list.... it kind of helps to write it down...

hog heaven

so much has come in these past 2 weeks.....we are totally full.....

lots of cupboards and cabinets
huge amount of garden iron
lots of flowers
nice small birds
new signs and sticheries
more harvest tables
big fancy fountains
lots of good old parts and pieces
some nice old wicker
more chairs
stained glass windows
spoon collection..

and lots more

julie...

my daughter is a partner in this wonderful store in carmel indiana..... http://www.bellachicinteriors.com/

this morning she was on tv...its part way down on her first page....

...she worked here a long time and we miss her a lot..but im so happy about her new life in indy....her thing is salvaging old furniture in a wonderful modern way.....what i call luxe trash to treasure!!!

. its in downtown carmel, in the art district.... thats her on the left...

explore....

i love this site....you can get lost in there..the images are just wonderful...i like her fairytale things.....and so much else.... http://www.ullam.typepad.com/
her archives are packed full.... lots of beautiful things...and amazing artists in the castle parts.....and she visits stores and events all over the world....tons of pictures....