Mont Albert Antique Fair ~ my first try at selling in a long, long time.

I started out with a table full of bits and pieces from around the house and from my Storage Unit.

I washed, I sorted, I priced, I packed ~~ and now I have enough to sell this weekend at the Mont Albert (Vic) Rotary Club Annual ANTIQUE FAIR at the primary school.

Setting up will be this evening (Friday 24th) from 7pm so I have carefully packed the car, and am almost ready to go, and only 4 hours early.

It has been a long time since I sold at an Antique Fair or Antique Center.  Back in the 1980s I regularly had space in a local Antique Center, and enjoyed spending Sundays there, tidying up the stock and talking to the customers.

In recent years I have sold some vintage linen and clothing at the North Melbourne Market, but this is my first venture into a 2-day Antique Fair since the '80s.  I know a lot has changed, but I feel sure I'll meet lots of interesting collectors and have a great weekend.   My friends Anne and Mike will be next to me for encouragement.  They have been selling at Mont Albert for a few years now, and convinced me it would be a good idea to join them.

I will keep you all informed of my progress.

Sunday afternoon and it is all finished

Well I really am proud of myself today. Finished this in just one weekend, and I am very pleased with the results.  I distressed the edges ever so slightly, for that 'shabby chic' look, using a rather fine sandpaper, so as not to get carried away with the process.

Now I have no excuse to not sort out my tshirts, pjs and undies into neat tidy drawers,.... oh yes, I forgot to buy lining paper, so have to wait another day or 2.

My first venture into a make-over I shall count as a big success!

Day Two ..

 Day Two and the drawers have been undercoated, and since this photo was taken also had their first coat of Antique White USA, paint.

 The Body has also had an undercoat, in the bedroom as I couldn't carry it outside to the garage on my own. Might be OK to give a first topcoat tomorrow morning.

I also managed to go shopping today and purchased 8 very sweet silver knobs for the drawers at PROVINCIAL HOME LIVING.  They have lovely furniture and accessories, and who knew they also stock a wide range of knobs?

Just need to buy a hacksaw now, as the screws are too long and will have to be cut off once put into position.  Hey, this is turning into a fun project.

my first Painting Project

Yesterday I went shopping, at Bunnings.  I have a plan.

This 1980s 'orange' pine chest of drawers is very handy, it stores lots of my clothes and things, in my unit where storage is at a premium. But - - -  it's ugly.  In our previous home it fitted inside the walk-in robe, so was out of sight and didn't bother me too much. Prior to that, it was in my son's bedroom, matching his pine bed,[ just like all teens had in 1981].

I have only ever once tried to paint a piece of furniture, it was about 1978 and it was an ugly brown wardrobe, which became an ugly green-antique-finish, painted wardrobe! I never picked up a paintbrush again.

This afternoon I started the 'reno' Removed all handles, sanded down all the drawer surfaces and I have given each one an undercoat.  Yay me!  The body is too heavy and difficult for me to remove to the garage without help. So I have bought a drop cloth and I will paint it  in the bedroom tomorrow!
The plan is to paint it all white, and rub back a few places to get a 'shabby chic' look.

watch this space |__|

Retail Shopping .. .. .. shock horror

sometimes you just have to go to a shopping center and Buy what you want.  I hate that, I love finding just what I want / need at Op Shops, or Sunday markets, or Garage Sales.

However, I really wanted a small green or aqua teapot, so I got this cutie from House.

Then, I have moved an old computer/printer table out of the tiny study into a corner of the dining room, all it needed was a couple of baskets or boxes on the bottom shelf to keep crafty stuff in. Although I went looking for cane baskets, these fabric ones were too cute to leave behind in Target, especially as cane does tend to catch and snag yarn, and these had green and aqua spots [my two new favourite colours for the black and white kitchen].

I am now spending a lazy Sunday afternoon re-arranging some of my 'treasures'.

How's your Sunday?

Finally, some nice Vintage Retro Shopping for Myself

On the weekend granddaughter LJ, and I decided to pop into the Waverley Antique Bazaar for a bit of a look around.  They seem to attract the kind of sellers I like, lots of Retro, lots of quirky, unusual bits and pieces.   My regular readers from last year will know I moved from a large house to a small unit and de-cluttered in a big way.  Well I am finding the black and white of the new kitchen a bit too stark and boring so I had decided to jazz it up a bit with some green and aqua colours.

I had a few pieces here, and at Waverley I found a lovely little piece of retro fabric to put into a frame to hang on the wall and a couple of jars and some sweet Czechoslovakian green glass bowls with gold trim (with original stickers underneath)

As we were about to leave, there was an announcement that one of the Stalls was closing down, that day, and for the last hour of the day everything was $1 a piece.  LJ and I went to look and found that large jar, the green bowls and amazingly, THREE Margaret Preston prints.  Last week Helen, at Objects of Whimsy  had mentioned Margaret Preston and I commented how much I loved her work, now I have 3 framed prints on the wall for a total price of $3.

amazing!

That was a successful end to LJ's Melbourne holiday, and she helped me choose where in the  room to place them.

After that, there was only an exciting Sunday to spend in Melbourne before she flew home again.

Later in the week I'll update my other blog with news of what Yarn Bombing exploits we got up to on Sunday, but as I haven't put anything up on that blog for a long time, I'll have to do some catch up first.

Oppy -- -- -- my one and only Doll

This is Oppy, she is the only Doll I own, but when I read Clare's blog and saw some of the Dolls others had, I knew I just had to share Oppy with you.

My dear daughter-in-law from Sydney was visiting Melbourne one weekend in 2009 and we tripped around a few Op shops looking for fabrics and vintage goodies.  At the time Emily was making lots of these cute Softies, and this one, (supposedly a Giraffe) arrived in my mailbox a few weeks later.  She has a tag on her arm stating that her name is Oppy.  I was immediately smitten.  She lives in my bedroom, close to my vintage suitcase collection.

Pop over to Clare's blog if you would like to see more well loved dolls, and maybe you'd like to share your favourites too.