white cottage and shabby

more from our workshop....all rehabbed ,repainted, repurposed, fluffed up, and shabbified for our showroom....the top one was a door, now a corner cupboard...the desk from the 70s and the vanity was part of a bedroom set in the 30s or 40s....

what ive learned about POSTCARDS

i really love them, and have saved a lot...but they havent been very hot sellers for us....im going to dig some nice christmas ones out for the store tomorrow...
heres my postcard experience...

... the antique ones, pre ww1, are mostly not worth very much...usually a $ or less

..the good ones are made in germany , mainly from 1890 to 1910..the pretty ones are the least desireable....the roses, the girls, the sentimental, the holidays.....i guess there were so many of those , the collectors dont value them as much....which is good for us that love that kind.... you should be able to find them at any big show.....

..over 1$ and sometimes a lot more....halloween, santa, small towns, some artists, wierd mechanical ones, advertizing

my cyber friend susan , the dutch rose, has some nice pictures and info on antique postcards right now.... http://www.thedutchrose.blogspot.com/

THE ROUGH ROOM

i never get pictures from out there, because its cold and dark and crowded....but its a lot of peoples favorite room in the store.... its actually a quansit barn from the 1940s..and our original selling spot...
if you are creative, handy or that kind of person who can see the best in everything , you would like our rough room...thats where the rough furniture goes.... its not dusted, fixed, etc etc....its as found....and a 1880 table might have a 1940 dresser on top of it...so you have to really look...also lots of mirror parts out there and odd ball chairs....and lots of nice old furniture just waiting for a new home....

ive overheard some fun names for it....like the JUNK ROOM or THE ORPHAN ROOM,,
and lots of times people come tell me about what they did with their finds from out there..i love hearing about that kind of stuff...
.. we price by what we paid..so some prices can be super low...and 2 similar things might have way different prices....and always for us, the newer things are of least value...so a good modern piece might be really low in price...
we antiquers definitely have recycling in our genes!!!

my friends store ....FLIRT ..in rochester

heres a fun foo foo tree with a tu tu......in FLIRT in downtown rochester..

around the store

it feels pretty good and christmassy out at the store...and things are selling well...

a few people have called to see if we are having a big sale.....we arent....some little sales tho....and our customers know we will give a price break if we can....

.we cant have big sales like walmart...and the malls...i think people understand that the big guys probably make money at 50% off and even more....they plan on it ..

... we buy by the dozens and the big guys buy by the truckloads....

luckily we have lots of great stuff you would never find at a hallmark..or ..hobby lobby...

and lots of great customers...

theft

the good thing is he got caught and is in jail....a guy came in and said he had stuff to sell...i went out and looked on his truck said no and went in....just minutes later he stole a big full size iron bed out of the driveway at 10 in the morning, then headed for the highway and broke into our storage building and got a cupboard......he went to a shop in the next town and the women realized he had bashed in their door, ...he was in their driveway when they arrived....so one kept him in conversation like he was a customer and the other got his licence plate called the cops....after a high speed chase he was caught....
they called me and the cops called me ...and our tag was still on the bed...and he was easy to identify....
so it wasnt terrifying to me...for some reason...
..i hate a thief tho....and cant imagine the nerve or stupidity of the guy stealing a big bed 2 minutes after i left the area.... i just hope he doesnt get out of jail....
other than that we had a fine black friday....
with a girl buying most of our 1$ jewelry for her projects.....it was several boxes full....i was going to cover a manniken in it, but hopefully i will get more...

happy thanksgiving.....

things im thankful for~~~
anyone who enjoys my blog....
my family,
our customers, who pay our bills and keep us entertained and on our toes
the carpenters
our loyal workers,
the guys who sell to us
the store and the wonderful world of antiques and misc..
the internet
netflix
that obama will be president soon
and far awayfriends and family...including cyber friends...
all the strangers who have helped us out ...
all the wonderful stuff in the world..
theres so much more...
i hope everybody enjoys the big day tomorrow....

trash to treasure, junk art

we picked these up...arent they neat!!! just made out of old licence plates..more coming soon...... junk art is getting so interesting to me..when you start thinking about junk, and reusing cast aways , . the possibilities are kind of endless....

i love having hand made stuff that isnt made in china....

today jon and i worked on some huge signs, using all recycled aka junk parts...pictures later...

we sell so many old parts and pieces , its always interesting to ask the buyers about their plans and projects.we have some very creative customers!!!! .i always ask for pictures..hopefully some will come, via computer, and i can put them on here....

around the store....november

around the store...we are all about christmas right now...but a cool new shabby antique did come in., the white mantle above.....also another depression era buffet,


also coming in this week...more crocks, more books, and lots more chairs, very cool barnwood tables from our carpenters........

weve been painting cabinets this week in a new color, deep mustard..

the business side........

the economy is so bad and getting worse around here.., if the factory rumors im hearing are true another big closing is coming......but our loyal customers are still coming and buying......thank heavens!!! lots of worry tho...
we have great plots to stay afloat!!!!...
we are making stuff and trying to keep our prices as low as possible and trying to not lay anyone off..
the weekdays are pretty slow, thats normal here, but we busy making things or improving our inventory...and definitely fluffing up everything and all our christmas displays...
this week we are making some big signs....and some other word projects..
..and the carpenters are bringing lots in....their load this week was very good, nice reasonable barnwood tables with very cool legs....and window cupboards which always sell well...and are reasonable.

.lots of my time is on a computer project ..always a hard thing!!!.we are actually/ finally going to put some of our rehabbed recycled trash to treasure furniture online....being in rural indiana, our prices seem very reasonable to folks in other parts of the country ...thats our hope anyway... i will post it on here when it gets done...

this week we had 2 dealings on the opposite ends of the wwjd spectrum....one was a customer who broke a lid, and brought it up to show me....the other was a person who wanted the name of my carpenter...i never give that name out, we have a deal and he doesnt sell my designs to anyone but me.... she said she had barnwood for sale, he needs barnwood, ....so i gave her the name...she called him and wanted to buy cupboards..he said no, i only sell to green oak.... pretty takky , imho....... but it did show me how good my carpenters word is...which i really count on and appreciate....
my theory on honesty is you better be honest because everybody will probably find out everything anyway, and at just the wrong time........and also , lying is so wrong!!!!
i know there are so many grey areas in the world ..and there are possibly other ways to look at this...maybe this is normal somewhere...

for m

hi....tables 70,the spindle leg one is very shiney...but nice..... lttle blanket chest....120 and mantle 775..

customers this week...

its a small world on the internet..
..this week 2 indiana women came to the store....and one said her daughter had sent them...the daughter is in texas and had seen our website.....
......another customer led me down la la lane into a wonderful new business plan of us buying this great building thats available and so reasonable in a great location on a highway, it has a huge inside and a great outside display area and the owners want out...the idea is for us to buy it and recreate another green oak there....besides the money part and the time part and the staff part it sounds fabulous !!! oh, and the dh part.... dang!!!

....note to another customer...you scared the @#&%* out of dh by mentioning the above info!!! i told him its just a baby idea go ahead and squish it.....
....

the melting pot...in recycled furniture

these are 2 of our newest creations....they could be great shabby store counters or very funky mini bars.....
the white one has great provenance.....the cool trim board under the top came from a house somewhere in ohio...we bought it at the springfield flea market....the nice old tin we put on the front came from a demolition project in chicago, and the wood from a neat pile of door trim we bought...we have always liked the idea of archetectural salvage and think it makes our best things......
..we think of these as store counters but lots get bought for very cool cottage or a castle style kitchen islands....the backs are open ..or bars...like in the tiki bar by your pool....

they are on wheels in the paint shop waiting to get rolled out to their spots...

this dark one would be good in a fun gothic kitchen .....or a vampire movie, or an industrial style store display.... its kind of a dark castle look..and very large....

right now we have about 6 of these counters, all a bit different...

i painted the top one, in my shabby driftwoody colors... my paint job is the messiest of all of us, but it fits some pieces just right....imho..

outsider art .... junk in kansas

heres some fun outsider art from the great state of kansas

http://www.kansastravel.org/kansasart.htm

its kind of quiet around the store after the big weekend openhouse....it feels funny...

.but lots of folks are coming thru and shopping in peace...we will be empty then a whole carload of shoppers come in..

.we are so thankful in this economy for the great crowd we had at our openhouse.and all our customers who support us all year.......its a pretty scary time...i feel good tho....and hope to keep on going...we kind of have to since we have no other income flowing in...unless dh wins the lottery!!

even if this happened i couldnt see getting out of this crazy business....

a sign of winter coming is carol left for key west...she is our main counter and go to person from april to november...we always hate to see her go, but know she will have a ball down there.....

here are some interesting links lately...aa

AROUNT THE WEB....

for fun junking ideas and a junk calendar http://www.robomargo.com/

for business talk and lots of good website info http://www.small-business-forum.net/

for shipping our furniture http://www.upak.com/

for pure eye candy and kind of a mini mental vacation for you .... http://www.ullam.typepad.com/

www.thevintagemoth.blogspot.com

a new junking site www.plainandsimplykaren.blogspot.com

a fun customer this week...with a button that said ARTISTS MAKE LOUSY SLAVES...

nightlife lately...iclaudius from netflix ....with john hurt as caligula...we just finished the duchess of duke street thru netflix....it was so good...and georgous victorian interiors....

saps and shutters....

we just got a load of indiana sap buckets...nice big pile of shutters.... also a big old corn sheller and some wierd old tables...indiana primitives are geting harder and harder to find...for us anyway...i like to have a lot...

fun at the openhouse

all ready

we are all ready for our openhouse starting tomorrow.... it looks a lot different this year...lots of red and a pink foo foo tree.........

the foo foo and white parts

the country parts

the red parts...

well, its not perfect but we are all ready ... everybody has worked so hard and its been a big mess for our customers who came thru during the messy work days...
... so today is for resting and getting ready for a good day tomorrow... the store all dolled up for the holidays....the open house is fri sat and sunday...

obama seems so close to winning....its hard to believe its even possible...!!! ...im thrilled and so hopeful for obama to lead us to better times and a better country, closer to the ideals we learned about in grade school....

we should be kind of newsed out around here, but we watch and watch and read and read.........i think my favorite image so far is an obama sign and a rebel flag on the same house...loved it!!! and i love that the president might be watching racheal maddow...

heres a nice wish for the obamas.... http://www.salon.com/opinion/keillor/2008/11/05/happy_couple/

im voting early.....and crossing my fingers..

trash to treasure...in and out

incoming......we got a whole truck load of shutters from ohio....lots of big tall ones...in good condition and mostly dark colors....they run between 14$ and 20$....lots of new cheap little stuff in the 1$ box...lots of sewing items...more doors, plinth pile...3 small barnbeams...more windows...

the carpenters brought lots of window cupboards,one gigantic, another that jon dolled up with a few little extras, like sliced spindles and headboard parts and some wood wings..., also 3 store counters out of old doors , which make good islands too..more big double door displays.......and 3 potting benches made out of salvaged indiana barnwwood

outgoing....and customer ideas this week...glass blocks for a wall, old doors for a headboard,

buffet for a vessel sink,,plus lots of hooks, knobs and braces....