Before and After

Recently I re-did my big antique booth at Heartland Antique Mall. It is located on east bound interstate 44 in Lebanon Missouri. I have 2 small ones at Bear Ridge Antiques In Crocker Mo. I will be consolidating those two, and moving some of their stock to this booth at the end of the month. Doing this will reduce my outgoing cash. The result will be a good amount of stock that has never been seen by the crowd that frequents Heartland. So I think it is a good move. But more importantly I had to change the look and stock of the Heartland booth. Originally I attempted to market a 1970's groovy kind of vibe. It is all over the home dec magazines and there is a great deal of it to be found in the thrift stores around here. I worked very hard on it and the idea completely bombed. Nobody would buy my cute mushroom cookie jars and my orange and green knit afghans. So the only thing to do was change. I sold off all my stock at 75% off and took the money to buy shabby chic whites and romantic accessories. So here is a before and after comparison of the two styles in the same booth.

The real lesson here is to know my market. Here in this area, primitives sell well and so does pretty glass and anything to do with fishing or hunting. Shabby Chic is just starting to catch on in the antique malls here when it has been in urban areas for about 8 years now. My new booth is one of two of it's kind in my mall. This means there is not a great deal of competition. There was nothing like the previous 1970's look, but it was too different to be accepted.

Here I am in process, I decided to paint the walls to look like old parchment. They kind of look dirty, but the affect provided a neutral backdrop for merchandise. My 12 year old son Josh helped me paint. It was fun working with him.

This is the finished look with all of the goodies in it. Well, most of the goodies. I have an antique Victorian parlor set that I have to get in the booth in time for tax refunds.

The last picture didn't get in the overhead ladder. I really wanted one but had no idea where I was going to find one or how I would get it to the booth. I don't have a truck. Well, on painting day I noticed one for sale by one of the other vendors in the mall. It was only $25.00! God gave me the ladder I needed at a price that was super. Go God! I can hang chandeliers and candle holders. Or whatever. I also wanted a dress form to display jewelry and vintage clothing. Then the other day I found this great old (read, hard to find) dress form in another vendors booth. Oh happy day! These may seem like small events to you but to me they are examples of God's love and concern for every part of my life. They are love notes to my heart.

These items are  known as "smalls". In the antique business they are the bread and butter of daily sales and they add up a lot at the end of the month paycheck. Heartland sells mostly items that are under $20.00 because of it's location on the interstate. Travelers looking to pick up a small gift or something special stop in for a break from the road. They buy an ice cream or box of chocolates next door at the Russel Stovers outlet and then come in to cruise up and down the aisles a bit before they hit the road again. In the summer tour buses going to Branson stop here too. Big items won't fit on the bus but little things will.

Here are more smalls and I have already sold that black desk lamp this last weekend. I made the shade on the big lamp. I hope somebody falls in love with it and takes it home.

Typically items should be marked up three times the purchasing price. This is needed to cover the overhead of rent, credit card fees and 10% commission. But lately I have learned that the big ticket items such as furnishings may not even have double the markup. The idea is to understand what price will best appeal to the buyer and be able to move the high ticket items in a reasonable amount of time. Also, if sales are slow, a sale can get things moving again. So can moving around what is already in the booth. Pairing like objects together, matching colors, and resetting the booth are all important ways to keep repeat customers interested.

 

 I bought these shelves from other vendors in the mall. The screen will be used to sell wreaths I think it makes an airy divider between the booth and the aisle too.

Thanks for visiting my Heartland antique booth. Come on by if you are in the area. Again it's in Lebanon Missouri. There are loads of signs so you won't miss it and hours are from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, 7 days a week.

Antique Booth At Bear Ridge

Well booth number two at Bear Ridge Antiques went up this last week. It was a huge push of buying, cleaning, and tagging. It takes a bunch of work when a booth goes up from scratch. Weeks of picking through thrift stores and garage sales and flea markets finally pay off with the creation of a beautiful vignette that is friendly and shoppable. But I am still new to this business and just pray that people will come and purchase my hand-made and hand picked goodies. It feels like hanging my heart out in public for all the world to see. So I get really nervous if folks don't buy stuff and I take it personally if nothing sells.

That will never do, I intend to keep a strong and positive mindset. I will be a successful entrepreneur!

But I tell you, I love all of this stuff. I hope my customers and you love it all too. In the near future I will be opening up an Etsy shop so I can offer the same type of wonderful treasures that I either find here in the flea markets or the goodies will be hand made by me.

But for now, I hope you enjoy these pictures as you come shopping at my booth today.

  These chairs were a sad and faded ugly blue before they got a coat of paint. Yes paint. I figured if an artist can prep a canvas with gesso and paint, why not a whole chair as a 3 dimensional canvas?

The graphics on the chairs and other pieces are from http://www.graphicsfairy-diy.com/. Better known as The Graphics Fairy. Thank you so much! You make my stuff look great!

After I painted the chairs and let them dry for a couple of days, I applied the images with the help of a projection machine that makes images bigger. Using a plain old black Sharpie, I traced the outlines first and then filled in the centers. Easy as pie.

 Some other things in the booth are items cobbled together with E6000 glue. The candy dish on the left is an example. On the right (requiring no glue) is vintage bird cage I fell in love with at a flea market in Springfield MO.. I gave it a teacup "bird"to make it cheery.

There is more fun stuff on the shelves.Behind them is make-do newsprint wallpaper. The shop owner, Dee, suggested it. I think it will mellow to a lovely gold as it ages.

This piano bench got a layer of vintage sheet music and a design of an antique skeleton key (from the Graphics Fairy). I added some dry brushed white paint to lighten it a bit and give the whole piece texture.

Here is another small fancy table treated similarly, but instead of drawing the dragonfly on, I printed it out. I learned how to use water slide transfers from a kind lady at http://thepolkadotcloset.blogspot.com/2011/03/using-water-slide-decals.html. The proprietress there shares all of her crafts and is a major inspiration for me. Thanks Polka dot Closet!

Some more hand-crafted things are on top of the piano bench. There are some great close ups here
of the bottle.

.The "Dream" board sports a crown found at The Graphics Fairy too. I love her vintage images, and can't get enough! I also had fun decorating that lampshade on the right.

Thanks for coming to my booth today. I hope you enjoyed your time here! And just so you know some days when  I write I feel fun and bouncy, like today. Other times I am thoughtful and post deeper ideas like yesterday when I wrote about breast cancer. It is all the same person. I know we all have our moods, so I hope you will understand. Some of the posts will be Photo shop intensive and look very different from images like here, where I want you to see the booth only. Often times I will manipulate an image to express a feeling or an idea. Those times will have different colors added and other tricks so I can communicate better with you, the reader. Stick with me as I grow as an artist, business owner and blogger. I look forward to our time spent together and would love to read your blog too.