steampunk altered art, trash to treasure and junk
thats where my head is lately.... and for a long time as you can see in our robot above...we had her made about 15 yrs ago...shes 14 ft tall...
see the baby...and the iud...
back to the junk idea

its all over our store...

#from our giant islands and counters from salvaged parts....
#to all things industrial that we stock and sell to stay at home moms as well as the big time show dealers
who come thru sometimes...

# to our rough room,aka junk rooom,aka orphan room...its is full of nice saveable stuff, so superior to the particle board crapola out there in the furniture world......

# our big signs on shutters and windows..and cutting out words from the ceiling tin...
# jons birdhouses out of old cans and garage junk
# the raw materials , like doors, windows, spindles, shutters, and getting to hear or see the neat results in peoples homes.... they bring me in pictures sometimes...
#to filling our etsy site with the fun junky vintage raw materials for the junk/steampunk/altered artists out there on the web... http://www.gypsymarket.etsy.com/

this is the theme im seeing in so many places...

i think its a big trend that will fit our store like a glove ...
. its in the shelter magazines,

the big antique shows,

in the most high end shops,

at the fleas,

the big altered art/junk events that just happened.... both packed with buyers ..
[.country living faire and junk bonanza,} all the wonderful texas shows you can see in the blog world... etc etc....

so our job, in the retail world, is to figure how to best make money on this big idea thats sweeping the country.... thats all...
like my daughter says...weve always been about junk.meaning green oak ,,.. .and its nice to see the rest of the world catching on....

just take a look at the pottery barns ads....you can easily see they check out the fleas and antique stores.....

wierd, but our store has been reflected in country living since it started publication.....from deep country back when we covered everywall with everything and the colors were mostly dark......to now with completely different approach and colors but the same fun reusing spirit.... i still cover every wall at home ....

funny money,,,,

value is so funny in antiques....jon got these rugs at an auction...they look great , the family was rich, one is marked made in iran.....we paid about 80$ .....they are either factory made, and worth very little, like karastan or real orientals.....i cant tell ....the pattern is on the back , the colors are great..... so whats the price..?

..yesterday i said they are between 100 each or 1000 each..... im waiting for my rug buyer , he will want them if they are good orientals, if he doesnt want them that tells me they might be worth 100.... hes the expert....and weve sold to him before...

we sent word to him thru our antique buddy network,i dont have his number, he just called, hes on his way.... now i have to decide how to handle this.....should my goal be 1000 each? what if they are 5000 rugs? should i care.... maybe ask 2000 and let him take that or offer less......i am so rarely in this position,,,,as i think its horrible and unprofessional to not have something priced....rugs are about the only thing i ever dont price by what i paid.....but he is getting to see them instead of me selling them for 100....

the last time this happened....our parting deal was him paying us 6000$ for a big filthy pile of rugs... after the deal was made, he said he would have paid $7000....and i told him i would have taken $5000.....it was pretty funny......the big one he sent to turkey to be repaired....it must have been a heck of a rug...

...but we have a good relationship...the only way i ever get good rugs is by dumb luck at auction.... i know a teeny bit , but not really enough to know w hat im looking at...

he told me on the phone that the made in iran tag meant they were after ww1....

maybe i will just throw myself at his mercy.... or offer them at 2000, for the pair...

hmmmm.

FINAL REPORT;;;;; ..basically , let him have them at any price.... one was horribly damaged...and the other also not good...i knew there was a hole., thats all jon told me and it was that plus water damage....... but big and worth sending to turkey to get repaired...costing way more than what he paid....im satisfied...and happy with the guy...he knows i know nothing....and respect his very good reputation.... .i told him i was hoping for 2 or 3000 and he said he was too....

what we learned..... since hes spending 7 or 800 to get the hole repaired and it will still have lots serious off color and worn down spots....bad ones....my guess is one like this in good condition we could sell for 2 or 3000....thats my wild guess anyway....

isnt it georgous!!!

outside the box inventory

today im at a big antique show/flea in springfield ohio.......getting great outside the box inventory..... stuff you cant get at the gift shows....things i really think make our store a destination....things that you just cant get at the big gift shows.....
we bought all day today including...
.antique ships wheels
huge baskets
locker baskets
old road signs
all kinds of antique wooden containers from china
little stools
halloween crafts
big fun carved fish
little buddah heads
big glass jars
recycled cow, penguin, and car....these are so cool!!!

and so much more!!!!
got to meet sandy and joe from http://www.rhubarb-reign.blogspot.com/ and see their cool booth in person...i love reading her show adventures....
we are close to the country living show in columbus...but are passingit up formore fleamarketing tomorrow...its a beautiful weekend over here in ohio..
the guy who sold me a lot of this sells to terain...which i gather is a big deal altho i have never seen one....

today i liked about everything junky and tried to restrain myself.....

wish i knew ....

is this what they call steampunk!!!!!

this is by an old antique buddy who is an alcoholic and fabulous outsider artist.... http://www.alcoholicoutsiderartist.blogspot.com/

wish i knew how to do some of this...DONT YA JUST LOVE ARTISTS!!! where would we be without them..

really i wish i had the clientel to sell this kind of stuff in the store.......and support the artists ....but im in corn country for one thing....and i cant get

$$200 for a darling little robot...dang!!!! i really love them....but i cant blame the artists for their prices either....

i do buy for myself sometimes....and sometimes i think hey i work for very little a lot of times..now and in the past.....so why do artists want to start out so high?....

for the inner wonk in you

heres a new place i found http://www.laurenandemira.com/ and their blog about business...they wrote a book ... the boss of you..

LOOKS LIKE A LOT OF GOOD STUFF IN THERE...

lots of interesting business info and ideas... a new place to explore. im going back tonight....now off to work..

A GREAT DAY.... we had such a good weekend....and im so glad we went to the cash and carry and got all that fall...it looked great and sold great..lots of garland, and all the misc . went out the door today.....our idea of good used furniture is paying off too....it was like a party in there today...over 10 cars in the parking lot most of the day....

. A SUPER HOT THING...those great battery LIGHTS AND CANDLES.

.we are reordering like mad tomorrow...

MAYBE THINGS ARE TURNING AROUND...

clint eastwood and toughts for the day

~~~~I WANT TO BE LIKE CLINT EASTWOOD, BB KING, AND SENATOR BYRD..or alan greenspan ....... and just keep working deep into old age...im definitely hoping for 20 more years in the business....if my luck holds out ..

in antiques, i have lots of great old role models who loved their work and never did give it up.... until their bodies just gave out....

.one old customer actually came here the day he had chest pains, by old i mean in his 80s...his wife was furious wanting to take him to the hospital... .instead she had to drive him 45 miles to come see us.........he always wanted good things before 1850 and i had one.... a big corner cabinet...he couldnt get out of the car, . we drug it out into the parking lot and twirled it around and he bought it....then said ...take me to the hospital alice.... he was so rattled he didnt even beat me down on my price... he was one of my favorites....back then...he looked down on anything made after 1850...such a snob....but he would call me faithfully every week to see if i had something for him..that was the last time i saw him....... also on a different occasion,he was blind in one eye, he fell down in my rocks on the way up the steps to the store.....

~~ SMALL WORLD.... my blog is getting me in trouble....i talk about one guy a lot..hes so much fun and gives me business and show info and stories from texas to atlanta... i never use his name...well he was somewhere in america and talking about something and his buddy said"oh, i know all about it"...and that he'd read it on here...and recognized his friend/my friend ....... my friend kind of ripped me..i was so innocent....and i dont ever tell anything i consider bad...it was maybe about the deer head he painted like a Holstein...

~~ DUH....DONT ORDER WHAT YOU CANT PAY FOR... .i think i ahave read this as a plot before...... what maybe stores dont REALIZE is that your reputation gets tossed around all over a show or on the road...among reps, among companies, between reps and other stores...... if you dont pay on time or if your credit card gets declined , a lot of people know about it...especially if you are well known.......its a bad sign.

~~~KINDNESS OF STRANGERS... there is a lot of that going around..... today a dealer called....and said she had 8 tables and just got charged for 7...shes sending a check...

.i wish i had a picture of her for you...she and her dh drove a long way to come here....in a car!! and they got 8 tables in it.... shes going to paint them up for her store....

~~~~we might have to make our thing function on fewer or lower sales.....that would be so bad....but if the economy doesnt come back right that might be our new reality.....my plots in this direction would be MAKE MORE ON WHAT WE DO SELL... but how? **** to have a few more nice big expensive things for some of the buyers........*****and to keep working at being way more careful about the buying, the shipping , the bulk discounts....and all those things that can make lots of little differences.....****keep our prices down and try to be that place with the right stuff at the good price....

having our monthly and yearly numbers not grow or even sink a little is just gross to me....and scary.... its like we are STARTING ALL OVER IN A WAY... and we are definitely in a region with horrible un and under employment......they just dont have as much money to spend as they used to....thats a fact...