Lawn Sales and Opening of the Shop

Good Monday Morning to all. Well it was hot this weekend, so hot that even at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning at the lawnsales, I was wishing that I had put on shorts instead of jeans. I'm afraid it was a bit of a disappointing day for treasure hunting and of course the most disappointing sales were the ones that were the furthest out of my way. I wanted to ask "Really, you actually paid to advertise this sale, not even free Craiglist listed, but actual payment to a newspaper, for this, THIS sale!!! Really?" Maybe it was the heat talking, but I don't consider sales limited to 10 boxes of baby clothing/toys and tables full of old video games and bottles of new shampoo as "something for every one" sales. Who has 30 bottles of shampoo to sell? Perhaps the ads were a little misleading?

Of course there are the sales advertised as "Huge Neighborhood Sales" when its only 2 houses participating. Don't even get me started on lawnsale signs being prominently displayed, left over from sales that took place a week ago or more, signs that you see and automatically follow, like Pavlov's response, only to be sadly disappointed and cursing the laziness of the people who put up those signs. Oh it is all well and good to get your cardboard announcement of your sale tacked up to every telephone pole in town, enticing buyers to your house, eagerly anticipating the money you will make from a day's worth of sales. But, at the end of the day, before you count your dollar bills and quarters, how about collecting up all those signs you posted? I have a confession. I would love to go knock at the door at 8:00 a.m. and when greeted by the owner in their pj's, innocently ask if the sale is inside as I don't see anything set up out on the lawn and wait for them to stammer out an explanation that the sale was last weekend and they forgot to retrieve their signs. Yup, it was hot on Saturday, the kind of heat that makes a gal crazy.

Recently I have had a few comments as to the progress of my shop "2nd fl Thriftiques - Vintage Finds & Repurposed Treasures" so I thought an update was in order. The shop was set to open for June 26th, this Saturday; however, the landlord of the building was delayed in getting the floors refinished which set off a chain reaction of other delays, pushing things back a week. Since the next weekend is 4th of July and I can't compete with fireworks and barbecues, I pushed it back to the following week, July 10th. I'll admit, it is a little frustrating, but that does give me more time to get ready, to make everything perfect.

My family can't wait to have our dining and living rooms back to normal. I am using the rooms as a staging ground of final inspection of all items going into the shop, for cleaning, pressing, pricing and packing.

Fortunately, there is another empty space in the building that the landlord is letting me use as storage, while my space is being renovated. It makes it a lot easier to bring up boxes and furniture bit by bit over the next 2 weeks. Here is what I have brought up so far. Please disregard the office chair, photocopier and water cooler, not mine, and certainly not for the shop. As you can see, my display pieces of furniture are all being painted cream or ivory to all blend together. I want the merchandise to be the pops of color.

I have been busy painting bookcases, a 3 panel screen, several smaller shelving units, 5 tables, and a bench, so far, to be used at the store. I am getting used to cream color paint on my fingernails that doesn't seem to come off in the shower. Oh well, I call it my version of a french manicure.

Here is a little piece that I found at Goodwill. It is an ashtray and was only $1.50 (50% off sale). I knew it could work as a display piece.

So after removing the handle, and a bit of sanding, and a fresh coat of ivory paint, here it is.

I have the perfect little round table that I just bought this weekend for $4.00 that would go well with this stand to be placed on top. One of the first collections that I will showcase on this piece will be my vintage wedding pieces including cake toppers and other decorations, hats, pearls and gloves. The stand kind of looks like a tiered wedding cake, so I think it will make a perfect display piece.

I will be posting for my official Open House, but in the meantime, here is the info for the shop.

2nd fl Thriftiques
2nd fl 8 School Street
Gorham, Maine 04038
thriftiques@yahoo.com
207 839-8147

Consignments welcomed. Thanks.

Got it at Goodwill
Sherrie