Saturday, October 29, 2011

Fall is here


I love the fall colours but thats about all I love about fall. The cold weather is here and garage sales are a thing of the past, nobody wants to freeze their butts off having a yard sale. So this means that my bargain hunting is limited to second hand shops and stuff online and the odd auction.
Fall does bring the odd craft fair which does bring some items, but most items are sold at wholesale prices and there is no room in there for me to make any money. I am going to try to set up a small area in the basement to work on a few projects over the winter, the odd sunny day I might be able to work on a few items outside. The garage is full and hubby is storing his motorcycle there for the winter so there is no room to work in there, plus the fact that the garage is not heated and its friggin freezing in there. I long for the day that I we have our own place with access to the garage from the house and a  huge heated garage where I am free to do anything I want anytime I want.
It will be so nice to have our own home to decorate as we please and have the space that we so desparetly need, this house is so small. But for now until the contract is over this home and we will make do with what we have,
I have been checking out some blogs that I discovered by reading a magazine called Romantic Homes. I have fallen in love with a few of the blogs, sites and stores that I have found through this magazine. And I have fallen in love with the look of Vintage Shabby Chic Cottage look, that mixed in with a little bit of industrial look and that will be my new house. check out http://www.thebellacottage.com/  and http://www.karlascottage.typepad.com/  http://www.myparisfleamarket.com/ , there are just too many too list but these are 3 of my favorites so far.
Looking at these sites make me realize that if i want to own a business like this it is going to take alot of work alot of stock and lots of cash. I may have to start small and just let my business grow.
I picked up a few cute items the other day and will try to work on them over the winter, weather and space permitting.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Did Somebody say Antique Auction

On a drive the other day out of town hubby and I spotted an antique auction sign and decided to check it out. Well I think I have found a new addiction for sure. 3 hours later we were on our way home with the car packed as full as we could get it. This particular auction was not only antiques but they were also clearing out items from a local museum. Most of these items from the museum were being sold as grab bag boxes, they would show you a few items you would bid and you would get 3 boxes full of surprise items plus the items that you bid on. We got some great deals and when we got home we got to search threw the boxes for hidden treasures, it felt like Christmas. As a picker I think I could really increase my sales by attending more of these auctions and then reselling the items. I am going to rent a table at the local flea market for a few weekends and see how that goes.Now mind you some stuff we didn't even know what it was, but most of it is probably marketable. I will probably keep some stuff but most of it will be resold for a profit. We bid on a few things that we wanted for our own house and these items we got for an incredible price. I LOVE AUCTIONS LOL But I can see how you could get carried away quite easily at these things. We did not buy any large furniture pieces which was hard for me to pass up on, but we just have no room in our house. I am going to try to move some things around and definetly go back to this auction and buy furniture.
We did pick up an antique wall phone that I absouletly love and have always wanted. Hubby bought a couple of small radios that are very cool looking and work great and a bango that he got for 20 dollars lol. One of the boxes had about 20 old books in it and some of the books were signed by their original owner in 1942 while she was in grade 6, which I think is pretty cool. You will never find me shopping in a brick or an Ikea, i love the old stuff and things that are unique and have a history. Another item I bought was an antique bubble gum machine on a wrought iron stand, the glass globe has been replaced with plastic but i am hoping i can find a glass globe to make it all original. check out the pictures to see the bargains we picked up, even hubby had fun, thats a first, Brian hates shopping but the auction was fun, its impossible not to get caught up in it.

Friday, October 7, 2011

What do I collect?

Last weekend I went to an antique fair and at one of the booths a lady asked me what I collect. I thought about it a sec and realized I really do not collect one thing, I collect many. Not sure how I came about collecting so many things. I guess it starts out by seeing one item and I like it so I bought it, then I came across it again and thought how nice to have two. Then it becomes an addiction I guess everytime you see one you have to have it lol. I wonder when I crossed over from wanting to surround myself with things that make me happy to having so much of an item that I could fill this ladies booth with my collections. I guess I tell myself that one day I will have a store of my own and these collections with come in handy as product. But would I sell my collection that I have spent so much time collecting and have on display in my home. Will I become one of those people that is concerned more with making a buck then hanging on to what makes me happy. I have sold some things that I really like and it has me sad, one item I actually bought back when the woman advertised it on kijiji. It was a dresser that I destressed and spent alot of time on and regretted selling it, one day I am searching the internet and there it is, she stated she just could not find room for it, so I bought it back for half of what I sold it to her for. so I made a profit and got it back.
I suppose there will come a time when I will feel the need to downsize and sell some of my collections. But for now I will enjoy them and probably still add to them from time to time. And I will probably start new collections when I see items that interest me. I was once in a antique store where the lady had a lot of stuff for sale and among it she had her own items on display with stickers that said mine,meaning not for sale. i could maybe do that in my store that i hope to have someday, or maybe I will tire of them and sell them, who knows, our tastes change our wants change. Until then here they sit all strategically placed and on display for all to enjoy, me especially.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Hoosier finally made it out of the garage

I now have my hoosier cabinet in the kitchen, I felt like a kid at christmas when we carried it in. I could not wait to arrange all my baking supplies in the cupboards and display all of my kitchen treasures along the top. Its like having 6 more cupboards in the kitchen and now I feel so organized I just might have to bake something lol.
I am slowly getting the garage organized but instead of getting some pieces out i actually added some more stuff. I know I know bad bad Tobey. I saw a couple of chairs I could not resist and if I take the chairs from the dining room to paint as I had planned to do, we have to have something to sit on don't we. So the new chairs were needed,( hey its my story.) And the butcher block table I picked up for ten dollars was a steal and I would have been crazy to leave it behind. Just need to paint it or spruce it up a bit and then i can put it in the kitchen too. I know i just added on another project to the growing list of projects, but I will get to it.
Went to check out a small antique fair today and i was quite proud of myself, i saw lots of stuff i wanted but only came home with a few cans to add to my collection and an antique spitoon that i had to have. Don't ask my why I thought it was unique and had to have it.
This week I am getting back to work on the green dresser and the vanity, have shopped for paint and hardware and have everything i need to finish them. I also found some great pieces of wood to make my antique sign just need to make up some stencils. I met a lady today that runs her antique business out of her barn, and I thought what a great idea for my consigment store. If I operate it out of where I live I can save on paying rent for a store, and I can work at home and run the store. Just need to advertise and make sure i am not too far off the beaten track.  Can't wait to work on having my own store, but for now i will just dream about that and work on finding just the right home and shop. And get back to work on my stuff in the garage.