Thrift Store Bonanza....or how my dog offered himself up for the greater good

I don't know about you, but at the tippy-top
of my list of things I don't want to hear at 6am Monday morning is this:

"Honey, you're gonna have to take the dog in to the vet...he had an encounter with a porcupine."

Oh no he di'int.

Hubby would've been more than happy to take him in 

as he has done before, but he was due at school bright and early (physics teacher), 

plus I was off work today. Fair enough. Still, it sucked. 

I had been up until 2am working on the booth and the blog, 

and I had serious brain fuzz going on. You want me to do whaaaaa? 

Handsome husband bid me farewell, and off I went into town.

Got to the vet's office at 8am sharp and dropped off our boy Havok,
who actually came out pretty well, all things considered.
He only had about a dozen quills, which is not bad at all,
if you know how bad it can be. No? You say you don't?
Google "pit bull vs porcupine", but only if you have a strong constitution.

Dropped the dog off with time to kill, 

so I did what any good junker would do: I hit the thrift stores. Yeah, baby!

First up was my fave consignment store 

where I unearthed this sign that I had somehow, 

inconceivably, missed on all my prior visits.

Could you not just DIE?

This baby is gonna (now and forever) have a "NFS" tag on it! 

It's big, about 3 1/2 feet tall and 2 1/2 feet wide. 

I plan on lugging this puppy with me wherever I hang my proverbial shingle.

As if that weren't fab enough, I hit the junking lotto 

with a series of finds that were only $1 each.

The bell: $1

The silver serving pieces: Two for $1

The hatbox? A DOLLAR! I mean, look at those colors! 

How could a day so wrong turn out so, so right???

Bless Havok's heart, had he not taken one for Team Fiona & Twig, 

who knows where these gems might've ended up?

Still no call from the vet, so I ran a few blocks over to Salvation Army. 

Now I usually can't find anything there of interest, 

but the junking gods tossed me a bone (sorry, more bad dog puns) 

and revealed more swell loot and swag.

Badminton rackets, 99¢ each.

Since I've been wigging about wall decor for my booth,
I saw some primo potential in these.

Sconces. Going, going, gone for a George Washington each. I may paint these.

Nifty wicker thingamajigger. What do you s'pose it was?
Check out the pocket sized Flemish art I scored, too.

Sweet little bird (quail?) on silver serving tray.
Second verse, same as the first....a buck.

An interesting bit of framed ephemera....
a speech Herbert Hoover gave to Wilmington College in 1948.

Large wicker basket for $3.

Best of all....a puppy healed and whole again? PRICELESS.

Happy Monday, Y'all!

~ Anne

A thirst quenched....

An eruption of color lit up the late afternoon sky
after a steady rain this afternoon. Driving home from work,
I phoned my husband and said "Get the camera. Now.
There's a rainbow outside like you would not believe!"
One of these days, I'll learn to take my camera with me,
but after seeing these images he captured,
I'm thankful he was the one behind the lens.

Wow.

It's been a brutal Summer here in the Texas Hill Country;
the water supply has been substantially depleted as a result
of the extended drought. It's also gone down as one of the
hottest Summer's on record, with temperatures lingering
well over 100 degrees for weeks on end.
Crops and gardens dying. Wells drying up.

And then as if by divine providence.....

Prayers answered.

We've received a good soaking this past week,
and the parched earth audibly heaves a grateful sigh.

Just beyond a grove of trees 

across from our property.

There are no words, except "thank you, Father...."

On second thought.....

Ever go back sometimes and re-read your blog entries?
And what sounded wry and ironic and erudite at 3am
suddenly sounds puerile and petulant by the light of day?
Welcome to my world.

Kindly consider this posting an apology
for my for carnival-themed entry yesterday.
Upon re-reading it, it feels jumbled and a bit peevish,
neither of which I want to convey to anyone gracious enough
to read what I have to say.

Mea Culpa.

Unrelated to that, I'm sort of obsessing about
how to decorate my booth. Anybody know a good source
of either canvas or muslin backdrops? And by good, I of course mean cheap. 
In particular, I'm looking for something to cover up the fugly pegboard.
I'm not the least bit crafty and I can't sew a stitch, so easy is the name of the game.

Ideas?

Have a blessed Sunday....

~ Anne

This post was edited to remove

any photos not taken by myself, Anne Lorys.

Musings from the Midway....

"Yessir, folks, step right up and see Lola,
the slippery, slithery Cobra Girl: She walks, she talks,
she crawls on her belly like a reptile, a leapin', screamin',
creepin', crawlin' mawnster! She's eleven feet lawng and she's ALIVE!"

"Now move along, move along...just follow us this way
and peek behind the curtain, if you dare.......

She's perplexed, she's bamboozled,
she's LIT-ER-ALLY flyin, without a net: She's......

Annie, the Clueless Shop Dealer! "

How the heck-fire do you guys do it?
I have a newfound respect for all of you shop dealers, believe-you-me.
The sheer amount of time invested in research,
acquiring inventory, cleaning, refinishing, pricing, booth set-up, travel time....
if I didn't love what lies ahead of me so darn much,
I'd likely feel pretty overwhelmed right about now.

Pricing is proving to be a prickly point (too much alliteration, I know).

After signing my lease for my first booth space at the local antique mall,
I took a leisurely tour of every booth there (well over 50)
and jotted down how each dealer had priced their wares.
To say they were all over the map would be a gross understatement.
One dealer had vintage suitcases priced at $15,
another had almost exactly the same thing going for $55.
To be fair, the mall I'm going to be in is one of the better ones in the area.
In my research of other malls, I've come across lots of dealers
who didn't know Milk Glass from Milk Duds....
venues where the descriptors "rare" and "antique" were tossed about
rather freely, as many items designated as such were clearly neither.

Methinks I'm going to stick to just calling everything I sell
"vintage" as a sort of pre-emptive CYA move.

See how I feverishly whip around that muslin and cheesecloth
in a booth decorating frenzy?

Trust me though when I assure you that I'm not complaining,
not by a longshot. I'm loving every minute of this,
addled and discombobulated though I might often feel.
Just sharing thoughts here....keepin' it real, like I've promised you
I will always, always do. I just feel a little out of my league,
especially when I compare myself to the likes of you pros.
Here you guys are gearing up for Warrenton, the Mother of All Shows,
and I'm having a minor wigout over how to price some twee tchotchkes. Sheesh.

Hmmm, maybe being a midway denizen isn't so bad after all....

The way I see it,the chief role of the carnival barker
is to charm and to sell, correct?
And rather than luring them in to gawk at poor old hapless
Lola the Cobra Gal, my aim is to weave a fanciful world
within the walls of my booth. Isn't that what we all try to do?
To create beauty, to expose the unusual,
to sell our customers on the possibilities
of (warning:overused cliché alert) thinking outside the box, stylistically speaking?
To lure them in with the unexpected and to
present a challenge to view the world through fresh eyes?

Rewrite in progress: " Yessir, folks, step right up and see the Amazing Annie,
proprietoress ex-tra-or-din-aire!
Right this way ladies and gents, into the world of Fiona & Twig,
a world of whimsy and wonder and just a whiff of danger....."

I think I like the sound of that.

Wonder if I can hire him for my grand opening....

This post was edited to remove
any photos not taken by myself, Anne Lorys.

9/11/2009

God Bless America

I rented my very first booth today!!!!!!!

 This is the banner I'll be hanging in my booth!

Do you think that was enough exclamation marks in the title?

Naaaah, I think not. Here's a few more...  !!!!!!!!!!!

Can ya tell I'm just a wee bit excited?

Doin' the happy dance here,
I cannot believe that it's FINALLY a reality!

Here's the scoop:

This is where I'll be located.

It's a well established antique mall with tons of foot traffic.
It's a gorgeous, two-story, turn of the century building
complete with creaky wooden floors and a tin ceiling.
It houses over 20,000 sq ft of antique bliss! Here's a few interior pics...

Lots of nifty retro signage above the front entrance.

Didn't I tell ya the tin ceiling was pretty rad?

Mmmm, hmmm, thought so.

Hey looky, we're headed up the stairs
to where my booth space is located!

I even love the stairs here!! Get a load of that patina.
Errr, maybe I oughta turn the gush factor down just a tad, ya think?

Okay now, kindly disregard the not so cool crap other dealer's stuff
in the space right now and picture all my rusty, chippy, industrial,
dreamy treasures instead. Got that image locked in? Okay, here's my spot...

Angle #1....I'm just off the stairs,
so I'll be getting loads of traffic!

Thankfully, the cruddy looking carpet is going,
leaving me with the glorious, original hardwood floors beneath.
Yippee Skippy!

Angle #2:

Angle #3:

That black bookcase might be staying, not sure yet.
It doesn't exactly rock my world, but I guess I could make it work for me.

More views...

So whaddaya think? It's not my dream space, but it's a start!

Here's a review of the mall that I cribbed from the web:

★★★★★ by Yahoo User
This is great fun! You can spend a couple of hours here poking around the many different dealer's areas. You'll find antique dolls toys vintage clothing coca cola memorabilia books china furniture and all the stuff you can remember from either your life your parents' life or your grandparents' life. The prices are great and the building itself is vast. The wooden floors and high ceilings sets you in the mood for years gone by. Poke around at your heart's content and find a few treasures to take home. Also because it is right in downtown Kerrville take some time to walk through some of the art galleries museums and shops all within walking distance. And...stop and have lunch at one of the good eateries right in downtown - lots of choices!

Here's two of the owners. Nice, nice ladies!
They even posed for this pic for me!

I head downtown bright and early to pay my deposit.
I don't think I'll actually taking possession until after Warrenton,
so that's good news for all you dealer buddies
who'll be selling there....you hear that Theresa? Mindy? Troy?
That means I'll be making one last hurrah
to stock up on inventory. Bring your good junk, k? ;-)

Big hugs to everyone who has walked this walk with me thus far!

XOXO,

Anne

Wonderfully White Wednesday!

'Tis my privilege to add my contribution to our celebration
of all things white. Many thanks to the lovely Kathleen
of Faded Charm , our gracious hostess.

I find myself in a domestically white frame of mind this week....

My sugar server perched atop a vintage table...

On a whim I turned this finger vase on its side~
doesn't it now resemble a row of hungry fish?!

Milk glass all packed up and headed to its new home....

I finally found the perfect chippy white kitchen scale I'd long been seeking!

So much beauty to be found within, in the ordinary and utilitarian.

But let's never forget the beauty which lies just beyond the kitchen door....

Happy White Wednesday!

~ Anne

Pass the cigars, it's a GIRL!

Ain't she purty?

Her name's Fantine.

Me and my gotta-have-it-right-now, impatient self
has been seriously jonesing for a dress form for what seems like forever.
My junking budget has taken a serious hit this past month or so
as I try to stock up on merch and props and such for my upcoming booth.
So a real live, busty, beautiful broad in the form of a female dress form was gonna have to wait.

In the meantime, I stumbled upon Jules, who I introduced you to last week.

Meh. He'll still come in handy, but he wasn't what I was truly looking for. 

Yes, I admit it....I was just using him until something better came along. 

Lookin' for the Junk BBD, no shame in that, right? 

So why do I feel like such a hussy, then?  ;-)

After Mass on Sunday, I set off just down the road
for some window shopping in the fab little town of Fredericksburg. You know, home of Red and the legendary Homestead stores, yada, yada.
Oh, and to grab a bite at the yummy well-known eatery, Rather Sweet ....
OMG, if you haven't eaten there, you simply must!
This chick is one seriously talented chef,
and she's been mentioned in scads of national mags
and been on the Food Network. Just go. Get the berry tart bar. Prepare to swoon.

Anyhoo....just window shopping. Yep, that's all I  planned on doing, yessirree. 

Was doing great until we hit the city limits 

and I saw a flashing "Antiques" sign I had never noticed before. 

"STOP THE CAR"  I screamed at my junking buddy 

who was driving. Turns out it's a brand spanking new Antique Mall 

which just opened a little over a month ago. 

They seem to have terrific stuff and mostly great prices. 

And that's where I found her....

She was nestled away in a corner behind a bunch of
Pepto Bismol pink frou frou. Almost passed her by,
and would have had she not whispered to me in French
"C'est un plaisir de vous rencontrer".

And with that, my resolve melted like a puddle of sorbet.

She isn't vintage, but that's aiight, I have plans to tea stain her soon.
And she comes on a really sturdy, solid rolling stand.
The best part? I was able to get her for a song,
and nope, it wasn't La Vie En Rose, either.

I picked up a few more treasures at my newfound junk source, 

as well as got my name on the waiting list for when a booth opens up. Score!

Here's another nifty little find which caught my eye the minute I walked in the front door:

It's an egg carrier-sorter thingamabob! A little too pricey for me,
but representative of some of the unusual things they have there.

Next installment, I'll give ya's a peek at the darling scales
I practically stole from them they were so cheap!

Have a fab Monday!

~ Anne

What's a girl to do?

Installment #22 here of "Who, ME, a shop owner? Sheeyeah, right..."

If you're a new reader, kindly allow me to bring you up to speed.
This blog was created to document and share
the birth of a dream, namely, my dream of owning my own shop.
It surely won't be a full-blown affair from the get-go...rather,
I'm looking at renting a space in an antique mall to start out,
and I'm down to the final two contenders.
At this point, I'd like to defer to all of YOU who have actual experience at this sort of thing, because I'm a bit stymied right now.

Contender #1: 10 x 10 space in a large, multi-vendor, two-story shop. Rent is $89 month, must sign a three month lease, and 10% commission to the owner. I would not be required to work at all. I'd pretty much have complete autonomy to do what I want with my space, which is a big draw for me. I want to be able to express myself creatively and artistically within my booth, and this space will allow me to do just that. It gets a pretty good amount of foot traffic, too.

Contender #2: No clearly defined space, per se. I would bring my things in, be allowed to set them up, but they mentioned that they like to move things around to keep things fresh. No rent whatsoever, but owner gets 20% of sales. You are required to work one weekend a month, as you will rotate this out with the other vendors. Right now, there are three other vendors. Six month lease. Not as much traffic. The owners are the nicest people I think I've ever met, but I'm really not digging the fact that I wouldn't have a spot that's just mine. Yeah, I'm an only child, how'd ya guess?  ;-)

Me in all my spoiled rotten only child glory...

I'm also on a waiting list at a couple of other spots,
and there are a few other malls that have expressed interest in having me,
so I'm not limited to the two I've shared with you here.

At this point, it almost feels like a no brainer~go with Contender #1.

But am I missing something here???
Is there something just glaringly obvious, a red flag,
a Whoa Nelly, a Danger Will Robinson thang I'm just not seeing in either of these choices???

Can ya help a sista out here?


This post was edited to remove
any photos not taken by myself, Anne Lorys.

Introductions are in order....

I've never truly felt that I had a junking day
where the junk gods were smiling upon me. 
My junker GPS always seems to direct me towards
the overpriced or the not-quite-right.
Oh sure, I've had days where I've found remarkable treasures,
but never at such a steal that I was positively giddy with delight. Until today.

Meet Jules....

As I muster up courage to move forward with my plans
to get a store space/booth, priority number one has been
trying to build up my inventory. I've been in search of
vignette backgrounds and display objects,
but I absolutely refuse to pay upwards of $50 for
chippy old screen doors and windows.
I mean, I know that things like that are pretty much a staple in vintage shops, but still....

Today is proof positive that the very best finds
are often stumbled upon purely by accident.

Discouraged from finding nothing of interest at several thrift stores,
I took a turn off the beaten path and found
a store I never even knew existed...it was the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store,
and it promises to be a never ending source of junky goodness for the forseeable future!

Row after row of chippy doors, windows, shutters, plumbing. And all for next to nothing!

I spied this huge rustic window screen lounging against a far wall
and almost keeled over when I viewed the price tag:
THREE DOLLARS!!!!

I was pricing these just last week in the antique malls,
and it was impossible to find any for less than $30.
Score one for the virtue of patience, something I'm not commonly known for.

The next row over, I came across these chippy white window screens for $6. Double score!!

These babies will be the perfect backdrop 

for some killer vignettes I have in mind.

But back to Jules.

It's a male form, but I'm sorta thinking I'm gonna 

androgynize (is that a word?) him up a bit. 

Add some pearls, some vintage millinery. He'll look dashing.

True, I've primarily been searching for female dress forms, 

but hey, for $20, I'll take a fella home with me instead, no problem! 

Uhhh, wait, that didn't come out right....  ;-)

The staff at the store said that in all their years of operation,
this was the first time they had acquired dress forms.
Turns out a lady who runs an antique shop
about 30 miles up the road was clearing out her garage
and donated about 20 to the shop....on the very same day I stumbled upon
this trove of treasures...purely by accident.

Or was it? I'm thinking that maybe those benevolent junk gods
were actually trying to quell my fears and guided my path
to this newfound nirvana. You know, to assure me that my
junking radar is spot-on and to embolden me to press on with plans for my shop.

Welcome home, Jules!

The friend I've never met....

When I visit a blog, I have no set rules on what I hope to find there....
a little eye candy is nice, usually in the form of something vintage or whimsical or just slightly off-kilter.
Even more so, I truly appreciate someone who can turn a phrase well,
who can draw remarkably vivid word pictures with such clarity
that I feel as though I've known them for  ages.

     Elizabeth Maxson of Elizabeth House

   is just such a person.

I remember well the first time I came across her blog. 

I was hooked instantly, this gal had it all! 

Impeccable style, unerring grace, the uncanny ability to transform the ordinary

into something transcendant.

Yep, she had all of those attributes in spades.

But that wasn't what kept me glued to my monitor reading her posts 

for the better part of an afternoon. 

It was her willingness to get real, to risk vulnerability, to share her hopes, her dreams, her fears.

All the rest, the striking visuals and the lyrical prose, was just icing.

I will likely never meet Elizabeth Maxson in person, but ultimately, that matters little. 

To borrow and tweak her customary sig line, 

she has sent so much of herself to all of her readers,  from her house to ours.

That's the sort of blogger I want to be, too.

So, in the spirit of "getting real", I have to admit that I've been 

wrestling with a lot of fears and insecurities 

regarding the direction I hope to take with this blog. 

Nothing specific or insurmountable, just a mish-mash of irrational neuroses 

forming an interior perfect storm. 

I have absolutely no intention of letting these pestering doubts derail me, 

but it's been a bit of a struggle of late to keep the faith. 

I'll share more on this as the days progress, 

but suffice it to say that today and tonight have been a low point.

No pretty pictures in this entry, save for the one of lovely Elizabeth. 

Just a little peek into my noggin with the hope that the cobwebs and tumbleweeds 

in there haven't scared you off!

Blah, blah, blah, wrap it up, Annie.  ;-)

Goodnight, sweet friends.

~ Anne

White Wednesday

I am pleased and honored to be contributing
to White Wednesday for the very first time.
Getting this one in a wee bit early as it's an early day tomorrow.

Many thanks to Kathleen at Faded Charm!

       

 My creamy white vase 

with such lovely feminine curves....

St. Francis among the ivy....

A solemn Madonna encircled
by my mother-of-pearl rosary.....

                                         

 My fairy tale wedding dress....

Happy White Wednesday...

~Anne

Requiem for a Garden....

My beloved husband is many things....
handsome, intelligent, strong, a good provider.

But alas, a gardener he is not. At least not yet.

This entry serves as an ode to what might have been~
to tomatoes not yet tasted, to onions which will never make me weep.

This, my friends, is a requiem to my husbands dearly departed Summer garden.

Sad, is it not?

Oh, the countless hours he spent working
the unforgiving Texas Hill Country soil...and in 100 degree weather, no less.
I never knew how adept my science teacher hubby was
at swinging a pick-axe as he pulverized rock after limestone rock
just inches beneath the surface. Now mind you, we're not talking
about pebbles here~many of these rocks are more accurately described as mini-boulders!

And so he began.

After weeks of tilling the stubborn Texas soil, he was ready to plant.
Hooray!
Visions of succulent salads brimming with home-grown onions
and tomatoes and squash began filling my head.

Pertinent information: My husband is not a Hill Country native,
nor is he a native Texan. I try not to hold this against him.
But he sure is cute, dontcha think?

Me and Handsome Hubby on wedding day, July 2007

But I digress.

We have a 4 foot perimeter fence around our 4 acre property,
and I think he genuinely believed that this would be sufficient
to keep the deer out. Shhhh, I can hear you native Texans chuckling already.  ;-)

I warned him that the perimeter fence would not suffice,
that he would also likely need at least an 8 foot fence
to keep the hungry critters out. No, he said, let me just try this
and this and this first. I bit my tongue hard and swore
that in the very near future, I would mightily resist the overpowering urge
to utter those four little words known and loved by husbands worldwide....

I told you so.

And so he began. All was well for a while,
but he wasn't prepared at all for THIS. (cue ominous music)

Meet the ever-hungry Texas whitetail deer.
I personally find them beautiful and a joy to watch. My husband, not so much.

After all they did do this to his labor of love...

That would be trampled upon chicken wire.
Perhaps it's better suited to keep chickens out than deer.
Hey, what do I know, I'm a city gal....
Handsome Hubby and I are like Green Acres personified.

He believed that our two beautiful Siberian Huskies
would act as steadfast sentries, ably and efficiently shoo-ing away our white-tailed trespassers.

Uhhh, yeah, right.

This is what they can be found doing any given Texas afternoon, 

deer or no deer. Oh, and kindly ignore the half-painted deck. 

Dutiful Husband is in the process of finishing it, 

but his darn day job as a physics teacher keeps getting in the way.

Feeling wistful over salads we shall never share,
I went on a mission of mercy yesterday afternoon and managed to unearth one lone survivor.....

Not much to look at, but a survivor nonetheless!

Handsome Husband has now wisely seen the error of his ways,
and has wisely has chosen to wait and re-plant next Spring
after erecting an 8 foot fence. Smart man, that husband of mine, I do think I'll keep him!

Here's hoping that your gardens bloom and grow in your little corner of the world!

~Anne

Chicken feeder redux....

I posted this easy breezy project on Junk Market Style, but

wanted to share it here, too...follow me on a tour of mi casa,

birds-eye view.  ;-)

I discovered a super cheap stash of these
rusty old chicken feeders at my nifty neighborhood flea market.
How apropos that the flea market is held in....you guessed it....an old chicken barn!

There it is on the bottom row, 

hard at work on my china hutch, Big Orange Betty.

Hmmmm, where else could I put one of these? A-ha, I've got it!

A gal needs a place to stash all her toiletries
and fancy-schmancy girl creams
that keep her, ahem, "naturally beautiful", right?

Last stop, the kitchen....

Eat your heart out, William Sonoma!

Enjoy your week, one and all!

~Anne

Warrenton 101....help a newbie out!

I'm going to be making my very first trip up to Warrenton next month, and to say that I am psyched would be a gross understatement.

Sooooo....I am in serious need of advice, tips, any info you can spare on how to make my first trip to this Junk Mecca a memorable one!

I seriously want to meet as many of you there as possible,
but sort of feeling like I'll be crashing a private club
to which I'm not yet a member.

Yeah, I know. Note to self below...

Those of you who have been so wonderfully kind to me,
who have inspired me with your talents and motivated me
with your encouragement, drop me a line!
Let me know how to reach you/where to find you at Warrenton.

There's a great big Texas hug waiting for ya if ya do!

XOXO,

Anne

All I want for Christmas....

....is this~

Discovered this in the back room
of a favorite vintage shop yesterday afternoon.

Papeterie, French for "a box used to hold stationery and other writing materials".

It's all there....the ink wells, the stamp pad, the pen.
There are writing papers just behind the stamp pad, too.

Have you seen anything more glorious than this lately?

I myself have not.

~Anne