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Running a Business

buying & selling antiques

Pricing & Pieces to Paint

My dining room table was filled with pieces to price for Lucketts, mostly ironstone, and the living room was pretty cluttered as well, so I decided to get that taken care of. Before I got to all of the pricing and packing, I had a conference call with my MMSMP retailers in the UK. The girls came from all over…Scotland, England and Ireland. It was so exciting to talk to them about my vision for the brand, ideas and tips. So often it’s just me in my basement or me pecking away at my computer and it doesn’t hit me how much my expectations have been blown out of the water. In fact, just last week I learned that we have a retailer coming on in Dubai. Like, THE Dubai. Not Dubai, Wyoming or something, but THE Dubai. Crazy and very humbling. Anyway, after the call, I got to the pricing.

April 1, 2014 25 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Last Week's Finds

When I get home from shopping, I like to open all of the bags and boxes and spread everything out on the dining room table. I think it has to do with feeling a sense of accomplishment. This is what I did today. It’s harder to feel that when it’s out of sight. I think it also makes my hauls look more impressive. I do live in an area where ironstone is a pretty regular find, but it’s not like I walk into a shop and it’s all piled neatly waiting for me. This spread was collected from four different stores over hours of scouring booths and shelves. I also don’t get it all at bargain basement prices. Sometimes I do find a plate for $.50 or a pitcher for $5.00, but most of the time I buy ironstone because I love it and want a lot of it in

March 29, 2014 37 Comments

Running a Business

Show Business | part 4 :

As I’ve been posting this series about being a vendor at antique shows, I’ve been asked a few questions. Some of them involved pricing and negotiating, so I thought I would chat on those topics. I was a shopper at these events long before I was a vendor and that helped me with the decisions made about the kind of vendor I wanted to be. I wanted to be the kind of vendor I like to shop from… great stuff, great prices, friendly and helpful. And, given the wall of people who run to my booth each year at Lucketts, I think that approach has really paid off. So, how do I approach my pricing? I’m not going to give a specific number for things, because the nature of antiques and handmade/hand painted items makes uniform pricing difficult. I’m going to talk about my approach generally. First of all, I

March 25, 2014 21 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Show Business | Part 3

I’ve really enjoyed writing this series, I just have to say! Sometimes it helps me a lot to talk through my own process. Sometimes when I’m feeling overwhelmed with all of the stuff on my plate, it’s fun to look through the pictures of the past and see how far this little business has come. It’s been quite an amazing journey. Anyway, this is part three of the series. If you missed one and two, you can check them out here: Part 2: Tagging & Planning the Space and Part 1. In this post, we’re going to cover keeping an inventory, running a checkout and promoting your booth. So…inventory. Yeah, I tried that one when I first started this business. I made a simple spreadsheet and recorded everything I tagged and was selling. I made note of what I paid for the item and what I listed it for, so I

March 18, 2014 31 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Show Business | Tagging & Setting Up

Today I’m continuing the series on “show business”, aka being a vendor at an antique show/fair/market. If you missed part one, you can check it out HERE. In part two, we’re going to talk about tagging (branding) and planning the space. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a little in love with my tag. There’s something very exciting about seeing my logo and name on a tag, hanging from a piece I curated or made. After a few years of tying my tags onto thousands of pieces, that feeling hasn’t gone away. My current tags were designed by Reni of Bliss & Tell Branding Company. But, when I first started, my marketing budget was zero. You might think I’m exaggerating, but buying a piece of furniture for $50 was a HUGE investment that was very scary to me. I was fortunate enough to have my logo, which I am still using

March 15, 2014 27 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Show Business | Part 1

As I’ve mentioned how I’m getting ready for the Luckett’s Spring Market, I’ve received several e-mails asking various questions about my process, so I thought I would share the answers with “the group” in the way of a series. I think we’re overdo for some information-heavy posts, anyway! So, here we go… If you’re happily selling in an antique mall, on Etsy, eBay or maybe just occasionally at tag sales or you have a stash you’ve told your husband will become a business…at some point…you might wonder why you should try being a vendor at a fair. What is the advantage of being a vendor at an antique fair and is it worth hauling your stuff to an event? I’m going to give you a very muddy answer. It depends on the type of vendor you are. If you’re really a collector who needs an overflow, so you have an

March 14, 2014 37 Comments

buying & selling antiques

tagging, keeping & selling

I had a living room full of stuff that needed to be sorted out today. Boxes of ironstone, boxwood wreaths and butcher twine, furniture and other things that have been delivered or bought over the past few days. I had a little bit of time this afternoon, so I picked away at it, selecting what needed to go to the basement to be worked on, what needed to be photographed to be listed in the shop and what I wanted to keep (well, keep and exchange for other things to sell.) I tagged things for Lucketts that had a tighter margin and I felt they might be too expensive with shipping included. I also thought about what would be better to take to an antique fair as opposed to packing to ship and what would be good display pieces. Also, I want to make sure I have great stuff, which

March 2, 2014 13 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Here comes Lucketts…

I know it’s just the first day of March, but my sights are already set on the Lucketts Antique Market. It’s historically been my biggest event of the year. And every year I try to top the previous year…in the pieces I bring, the way things are set up, the planning and prep that goes into two days. Last year, I felt a little off. It was still an amazing sale, but it rained and I didn’t have enough time to set up the booth the way I wanted to. I remember shoppers running towards my booth when they opened the gates early and I was still frantically unpacking boxes, crying out, “I’m not ready, yet!” Well, I just had to relax and let it be…rain, big blue tarp, frizzy hair, damp shoes, unfinished booth and all. If you didn’t see the photos from last year, Jeff photobombed about 85%

February 28, 2014 30 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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