Well, not lonely. Rarely am I lonely with two four-year-olds running around my house (even in the bathroom. And oh, how I long to be lonely in the bathroom). But it sure has been lonely of JUNK. I hate to keep complaining about this but man, am I looking forward to yard sale season. I finally found two dressers a couple of weeks ago that I got painted and are now in the booth, but that’s the first big stuff I’ve brought to the booth in probably two months. Yikes. They’re OKAY but one of them had veneer issues and both of them took FOUR coats of primer (I rarely prime, but these had nasty finishes on them that sanding did nothing to remove) before I could paint them. So. At least they are something LARGE that I can put in my LARGE booth that seemed like such a GREAT idea in the summer.
I went up today to straighten and replenish and hang up the beginnings of my customized print wall. I’m going to see if there’s any kind of market for personalized prints — for new babies, weddings, etc. I had to make a bunch of new prints to faux-personalize for samples. I feel like I made a million but only ended up with eight or so. My creativity does not flourish in the cold, dark days of winter. But I figure that’s enough to get an idea about whether anyone is even interested in this venture. It’s a lot of wall space to give up, if not.
It looks so paltry but represents so much of my sad little life! Ugh. I think I’m getting less creative the older I get.
Here are some other shots from the booth today.
There was an ad for a junker warehouse sale on Monday that was supposed to start at 10. I stopped by right at 10 with the kids and the gate was still locked with no activity anywhere around. I went back at around 11:30, and it was open, but totally overwhelming — just piles and boxes of stuff, and whole areas that were off limit because they belonged to someone else but there were no real barriers to that section so I kept accidentally wandering into them. I didn’t have the energy so I stayed about five minutes, then headed home. At around 2, Shara texted me from the sale — she had, of course, found a ton of great stuff. I threw the kids in the car and ran down there (after promising her via text I wouldn’t buy anything she wanted!) and poked around with her for a bit. The only thing I bought was some wood, a lot of it this great, weathered, white, chippy planks that I can make a ton of signs out of. He only charged me $2 a piece, and I can get about three signs out of each plank, so it was a score. I know the whole “Farmer’s Market” sign is a bit cliche at this point but I still love them and it really seemed to work with the chippy paint.
You can see the two dressers I bought off of Craigslist in these pictures. I paid too much for the one with the mirror and as a result have it priced too high. I will have to come down eventually but I kind of wanted to keep something in the booth long enough to make it look full! The one in the picture below is massive — very well made and very heavy but it’s the one with some veneer issues, especially on the trim at the bottom.
These number signs came out of an urge to use up the mass of scrap wood I have in my garage. My intention was to make them look more like vintage industrial numbers, but last week I did a few with the “party of” painted on them and they all sold — so I hauled two more up there this week. This will be a good project for me to work on for the Junk Ranch.
I love this little barn I found. It opens up. Wouldn’t it be so cute to decorate for Christmas?
Another sign made out of the wood I bought earlier this week. If I thought it would do any good, I would totally hang this in my kids’ room.
I am WAY behind on answering e-mails, blog comments, and IG comments, so forgive me, please, if I haven’t gotten back to you. Things have been a little hectic around here these days.
Hope Spring is reaching your neck of the woods about now!
by Lara Jo
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