A New Vintage Market in DFW

Well I am finally back to the real world after being on vacation last week.  We took a trip to Yellowstone and loved it! This is one of those trips that should be on everbody's bucket list! I think instead of blogging (bragging) about it I'll just post a few pics on Pinterest and Instagram.  

But today I wanted to share my excitement about a new vintage market in DFW called Loot  (http://lootvintage.com/)  For their first appearance in the area they set up at Texas Motor Speedway this past weekend.

I didn't know about it far enough in advance to tell anybody but I bring it up now because I thought it was a great show and you need to mark your calendar for the Christmas Show, December 5-7.   I met a ton of creative vendors and saw some beautiful product that I want to share with you!

As soon as you walk up you are hit with lots of color!  I love colorful things.  

 

 

 

And we have some mod podge action going too!  

 

Wouldn't be a vintage market without some shabby, chippy love. 

 

 

Don't you just love the wood, metal and fabrics playing together?! 

 

 

I don't know if the water bottle comes with it, but this is one nice card file! 

 
I always get lots of display ideas at market.

 

Can you believe this beautiful booth?  Look at those fabrics.  Love.

I can't believe I didn't go back for this awesome metal fencing.

I'm adding the names of the vendors that allowed me to photograph their spaces.  Be sure you visit them!

 http://www.blossom-shop.com/

www.facebook.com/thegarageofeden

www.facebook.com/TheLittleYellowChair

www.facebook.com/bentnailredesigns

www.facebook.com/dirtandglitter

www.facebook.com/theredchandelier1

 

 

 

 

Doing What I Love!

When I first started my business all I wanted to do was paint furniture!  It has always given me great pleasure to paint an item and see how it could be transformed into something beautiful.  And even more satisfying is doing that for an actual customer!  But I tell you I read a lot of blogs and have seen some real nightmare stories about unhappy customers and honestly this scares me more than a little:(

So I decided early on that I wanted to treat my customer the way I wanted to be treated.  I would be honest and upfront, attentive and easy to reach.  So far so good.  Being great with customer service is a lot easier when it is modeled for you by others that you work with.  I have found this to be the case with Websters Chalk Paint Powder.  These guys set the bar pretty high when it comes to customer service and I have truly benefitted from that many times.  ( I know they must cringe sometimes when I call or email - I am pretty high maintenance!)

So when Websters decided to feature some of my work on their blog I was thrilled.  Now mind you, they do this for ALL Websters retailers but I felt pretty special when I saw one of my projects on their site.  And in one of their videos!  If you are into painting you really should check them out on youtube for tons of tutorials and inspiration. 

They asked me to share 'my favorite piece' and I knew exactly what piece it would be.  I bought this dresser from a friend who was making room for new stuff, lucky me.  This dresser had seen better days!  The legs were all gone, trim work was hanging by a thread, and the top had been abused beyond repair.  

I had seen lots of examples on Pinterest of painting only a portion of a piece and leaving the natural wood in others so that was the plan because the drawers of this dresser were beautiful. 

The Turquoise Heirloom

There are not many things in this world that I won't paint, but there are some that I don't like to paint!  For starters, chairs. And you can guess why.  I know I don't like to paint chairs because I have painted a ton of them. Many times when I host a chalk paint demo at the Antique Gallery I will paint a chair because  you can paint, distress and wax one in about 2 hours.  Here are some examples.

Bearing in mind that I don't like painting chairs you can probably imagine my reaction when my husband announced  "Dean wants you to paint a chair for Kylie".  So what's the big deal with that, you might ask?  Dean is a coworker.  Ok, maybe he's more than a coworker - he is actually my husband's boss.  Kylie is his beautiful, super talented daughter who is about to start her new career in teaching.  And the chair?  Well, the chair has history.  It's a family heirloom.  Belonged to Dean's great grandmother. And it has about a zillion spindles.  No pressure here! 
 



 

I agree to paint the chair with a zillion spindles because that's what I do, I paint furniture for people!  Of course I want to do a good job cause I like these people and who doesn't want to make a good impression with their work?  You can see that I forgot to take a before pic.   Did I mention a zillion spindles?  Sherwin Williams used to carry a curved roller made just for painting round things like spindles but when I inquired about them at the store the kid behind the counter gave me one of those 'what an idiot' looks.  No curved roller to be found.

 
When painting spindles you kinda have to go at it from every possible angle with every tool you can find.

 

Some how I managed to get two coats of paint on and decided the color was perfect!  The coast is not clear though - I still had to distress it.  They wanted light distressing, which is normally what I do, but I had this fear that I would overdo it and have to paint the chair all over again.  And all those spindles.  The best places to distress are the ones naturally aged.

 

 

 

 

Much to my surprise the distressing came out perfect!  This old chair has so much character it's almost like it was painting and distressing itself!  The project I was most concerned about getting right was probably one of the easiest I have ever done.  Enjoy Kylie!

Something old, something new at the Antique Mall

It is hard to believe it has been a year since I dove headfirst into my painting/picking business when I opened my first booth in an antique mall.  My spot was way in the back of the mall which suited me just fine.  I figured nobody would see what a novice I was if I hid in the back!

Six months in and I needed to make a decision - leave or stay.  You see, I wasn't selling an awful lot and my rent was beating me up. I had become a retailer for Websters Chalk Paint Powder (check it out here) but couldn't sell it in this mall because they have an exclusive with another chalk paint retailer. Sales in my Lewisville booth were going well, mainly because of the Websters. But our new manager had a solution: move my booth closer to the center of the mall, and start working the desk in exchange for rent.  Perfect!

So here I am, six more months and still sales aren't good.  I've learned a lot from the staff here and I enjoy working and getting to know the other dealers. I've made friends here.  My booth has never looked better, thanks to Cathy Lee!  But that hasn't changed my sales.

I have always heard that when one door shuts another one opens.  And that door swung wide open for exactly what I was looking for, a boutique.  More on that later!

So today I will sadly say goodbye to my first booth ever and adios to all my new friends.  But I will be back, because The Antique Gallery in Denton is one of my favorite places to shop! You should check them out sometime soon!