In the business of resale, we always try to stay ahead of the curve in terms of seasons - shopping for and styling spaces. The last few months of 2013 were really hectic, but my sisters and I still managed to get some Panoply vintage shopping done, thinking of future vignettes. We were set for the holidays & new year, but many items are currently sitting in either my basement or my sisters', ready and waiting for the months ahead.
It may be awhile before sister M and I style some of these latest items in our booth spaces. Sometimes styling has to wait until inspiration strikes from the three of us - my sisters M and J, and me - and that may take a few shopping sprees before a vignette or two comes to life. Some items just have to be fostered awhile until the love for them can be shared. So, I'll share some items with you now, while I'm spending my days planning, organizing and fostering 'stuff'.
In one of our booth spaces, we typically reserve part of it for a more primitive look, with a bit of a farmhouse or country vibe to it, even industrial. To that, I have these really cool mail carts with removable wire baskets, on folding wheel bases that I scored - not just one, but three (plus an extra basket!). Imagine the possibilities of what can be done with these babies. I may just have to keep one or two of these. They're all cleaned up, ready to roll.
Plus, I've got this galvanized foot locker:
I've also got at a few other galvanized pieces, a long chicken feeder, plus three galvanized carriers left over from last October's
wedding decor that can be styled and sold. I've also got a set of glass, pint-sized bottles (similar to milk bottles) that advertise "Swamp Juice" on them, that easily fit into the chicken feeder. It would make a great picnic vignette for Summer.
Here's a genuine French garden piece, a tiered, wire flower stand (it's holding small, faux herb pots on the bottom, but I also have vintage English clay pots to sell with the piece as an option).
The stool's already been reclaimed and in use in my bath. ;) It matches another one I bought at auction - they're from 1940's - 1950's schoolhouses, with an oak seat on cast iron base. My other one is still in its original wood and cast iron state, as a side table in my TV area. Since this one was painted, and is now a nice, chippy white, I put it in my bath.
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| White, chippy stool, a keeper in the bathroom |
Of course, ironstone is universally popular, and our region is no different. I picked this very old, little tea set, a variation on the tea leaf pattern, last Summer.
There's also this crock, a five gallon size, with cobalt blue painting, with a bee sting motif, which is in great shape.
It seems mid-century modern has become fairly popular with the young adult buyers, but my two sisters don't embrace it as easily as I do. So, this leather and wood chair may or may not get placed into a vignette somewhere along the line. It's a nice, heavy chair which came from a doctor's office, and has brass tacks along the back side of the backrest. I've actually used it for extra seating this past Fall for family gatherings, but Mr. P. doesn't embrace it either.
I'll try matching it up with some barware or some other kind of a Mad Men-esque look. This cool bingo cage could look good with it, along with some vintage bingo cards I have to go alongside the cage.
Vintage luggage is always a good seller, and this one is quite handsome with its flat surface and chunky shape. It's nice and clean on the inside as well, a bonus.
We are most always hoarding buying textiles, and these woolens (below) may have to wait until late Summer or early Fall, 2014, to style and sell, but that'll be okay. I'm enjoying fostering these throws, and used two of them already in this past holiday season. The red one on the left is a Pendleton (I used it as my tree skirt), the burnt orange is mohair, and the one on the far right is a Scotland wool. I like them all, and they were all from the same estate. We also took away three more boxes of hand-worked linens from this estate.
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| Most recent quilt acquisitions, freshly laundered - fostering for now; likely keeping |
In addition to the pieces mentioned so far, my sister M also has several furniture pieces recently acquired from a family member who died. We sometimes talk about the need for more retail space, but decided patience is the virtue we'll practice. We could probably be in good shape to style for the next twelve months - without another shopping excursion in that time frame (which you and I know ain't gonna happen, lol!).
We also try to keep plenty of smalls in stock. I'm ready to purge some of my vintage purses, such as this group I recently acquired, all of which I'll likely sell.
I'm really looking forward to getting some of these pieces styled, moving toward Spring and Summer displays. Once like items are grouped in a theme, it usually comes together very easily in styling. Smalls, such as the beaded and mesh purses, are typically displayed in curios or jewelry cases. My sisters and I usually talk about our ideas, think through our own stashes, and then go into the antique mall with a plan and execute rather quickly.
Sometimes we act quickly in styling, as was the case this past week, when a dining room set sold after only five days! Our display went from this - a rather dark, Pennsylvania House cherry dining set (seats need recovered but sister M chose to let the buyer decide that), set with 1930s Noritake Azalea china, Viking glass tumblers and a Capodimonte centerpiece...
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| Panoply booth, February, 2014 - Dining Room |
...to this - a lighter and brighter garden scene below (same space). We brought in a wicker rolling cart and chippy, wood garden table, along with the tiered wire basket & faux herb pots (mentioned above), and moved a few other items around.
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| Panoply booth, February, 2014 - Garden Space |
We've actually sold a couple other big ticket items already this month and had to shuffle other vignettes. The garden vignette above left a few holes in its previous space, so we quickly brought in some vintage, wooden ironing boards and irons for a laundry space (see below).
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| Panoply booth, February, 2014 - Laundry Space |
It's hard to see for the white out, but there's a string of lace with vintage hankies hanging behind the ironing boards, mimicking an old-fashioned clothesline.
Our main space had a settee that coordinated with two chairs, and the settee sold, as did a Victorian fainting couch. So, we moved the desk over with the remaining chairs (it previously sat beside the fainting couch. You can see how we styled the spaces previously, in January,
here).
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| Panoply booth, February, 2014 - Sitting Room |
We naturally think and plan ahead in terms of season, as most retailers do. It typically takes less than a half day for even a big move, but can last an entire day if we tackle more than one large overhaul. M and I have gotten ourselves into a good groove, working alongside each other.
There's always something to look forward to in shopping and styling vintage and antique finds, and using organizational skills is important for even moderate success. And when it doesn't move as we hoped it would, there's always an opportunity for a yard sale - or, should we decide to purge through local donation, the chance to make someone else really happy with a lucky find.
I'll leave you with a photo of someone else's score at a recent auction we attended.....
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| "You'll shoot your eye out!" Look at those horns! Not our score, but another buyer's |
This bench / chaise / couch was part of the personal property of a local estate, but the provenance is that it was a decommissioned piece from a museum in Waco, TX. The seat (there's a mirror on top of it in this photo), is made from alligator skin, the backrest is an African deer and, course, there's all those horns. Can you imagine bending over to pick something up and come up to have one of those horns shoot poke your eye out?! This item sold for $3,400. Lucky find or not, it definitely made one buyer really happy.
We'll be shopping in the Cincinnati area this weekend, M & I, and we'll be staying with sister J. We're likely to be anywhere from across the river in Kentucky all the way up to Springfield, OH, out and about, scouting, scrounging, scouring - whatever you call it - while the winter weather gives us a little break. Have a great weekend, whatever you decide to get into!
Sharing:
This setting features the table in the sunroom - bright and cheery, even on cloudy days, as the ceiling is all windows. I mixed things up, starting with West Virginia Fiesta, the square dinner plates in Sunflower, as my charger base. I then layered my Fire King Jadeite Restaurantware dinner plates and Noritake 'Reverie' salad plates. The Fiestaware was a recent purchase at one of our seconds outlets nearby, the Jadeite was a lucky and reasonable find in an antique mall in Kentucky, and the Noritake (1974, complete dinner service for 16) was an auction score several years ago.
Although the dishware is casual, I don't hesitate to use my sterling flatware. This pattern is the classic "Prelude", by International Silver (1939). It was an auction purchase many years ago with complete place setting service for eight. The forks rest on very casual, white duck cloth napkins, trimmed with a yellow stripe. I have collected many of these sets, in many different stripes, and mix and match them based on my color theme. The glassware is classic, West Virginia Blenko, hand-blown, dimpled crackle glass (1970's). These glasses were handed down to me from my mother-in-law.
More vintage items rounded out the table setting. Although the silverplate salt & peppers are a bit pitted from age, I couldn't resist rescuing them when found on an antiquing jaunt. I had a pair once before and, regrettably, sold them, so when I saw these, I snatched them up.
The bowl holding the fresh daisies is the larger of a matte, yellow-washed, ruffled rose bowl pair, an auction buy. The bowl rests on a vintage crocheted doily, layered on a hand-embroidered table topper, centered on a vintage damask round tablecloth.
Another of my many collections are napkins rings. I have more than three dozen, but I've never been picky about what I buy, other than the price being right and something about it has to catch my eye. Since this table was set casually, these rings served only as decor, but still with purpose. I pulled out all my rings which had names monogrammed on them since I knew we were planning to play a game of trying to drum up names for the mother-to-be's baby. I think all but the top-most rings pictured are sterling. The one on the far right, though not monogrammed, has a child's motif. Most of these were collected from various estate sales.
When at auction, I have several friends and family who know I am drawn to the dishes, and always tease me about bidding on them and soliciting an invitation for a meal. It's fun to actually be able to put these dishes and textiles together with purpose. Too often I get caught up in the throes of preparing the food and end up short-changing the presentation, but I do love a nice presentation.
