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Running a Business

Show Business | Buying To Sell

As I was preparing for Lucketts, I received some e-mails and comments from a few of my readers who are fellow antique dealers. They were interested in knowing how I select what I buy to sell. The short answer is…I shop for myself. I know that’s sort of a fluffy answer, but it’s true. I buy what I would love to have in my own home. It’s worth more to me if I love it. Does that make sense? If I only sold things I was “eh” about, I wouldn’t be very proud of my booth or shop. If I sell things that give me a little pain to put a tag on…well, then I’m on the right track. So, more specifically, what do I look for in things I buy? How can you translate my philosophy if you’re a dealer? As I said, buy what you

May 27, 2013 74 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Lucketts 2013 Day Two Recap

Day one of Lucketts is all hustle and bustle. Day two is much more relaxed. It was still the busiest day two I’ve experienced in my Lucketts fair career, but it wasn’t anything like the Saturday craziness. I actually had a chance to stage my space and take some pictures before the gates opened… …and I had more time to spend with people who came just to say hello. Lorraine brought me a beautiful ironstone sugar jar with a daisy planted inside. Does she know me or what? Candace of The Love Tag Shoppe, who had waited in line since 8:00 am Saturday in order to shop, came back for day two to hang out. (Thanks so much for sharing your pictures, Candace.) I also had a chance to see my dear friend, Funky Junk Donna, in action over at the Hometalk booth next door. She was teaching how to

May 22, 2013 38 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Lucketts 2013 Day One Recap

Saturday is always THE DAY of Lucketts. That’s when the die hard buyers come and the place is always bustling. I started the morning super early at 5:15 am, so I would have plenty of time to drive down and get the booth set up by the time the gates opened. The skies looked a little cloudy as we drove south, but I was still optimistic. Clouds are okay. Clouds are good. Just as we drove over the bridge into Virginia, the rain started to fall. Nooooooo! There were some clear spots of sky that were taunting me. I thought of Maryanne in Sense & Sensibility. “There’s some blue sky. Let us chase it!” Well, the blue sky just moved further away and when I arrived at Lucketts, there was a steady drizzle. Bummer. My heart sank. All of my stuff was in a cube under a tarp. There was

May 21, 2013 102 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Carrying me to the finish line

I feel like I could write for a week straight and still forget to share things I want to share about the time leading up to Lucketts and the event itself. The recap and tutorials and before & afters and stories and pictures and lessons learned will come…but not in this post. Yes, we had some stinky weather. Despite that, this was my most successful Lucketts Fair ever. By a lot. And in more ways than can be kept in a money box and counted at the end of the day. I took enough to Lucketts to fill a 20 ft truck and my van. I came home with a van load and a few things in the back of a pick up. I met amazing people, cried with some of them, laughed with others. It was all amazing and I can’t wait to share more about it. Tonight, though,

May 20, 2013 85 Comments

Antiques

Lucketts Eve

I’ve been having a few technical difficulties this evening, so I posted some of these pictures and this information on Facebook and Twitter already. It’s getting late and I know 5:15 am is going to come very quickly, so I’m going to keep this brief. Today was about all of the last minute details like making “sold” tags. It’s one of those things that won’t make me any money and some people might not care about, but I think it just looks nice to have cute sold tags. So, if you see a craft tag tied on with a red and white string on a piece, you know it’s sold. (I’m selling some of this string tomorrow, too.) Speaking of sold, here’s a look at the custom sign I made for Jami of Freckled Laundry. She requested a lavender sign and this is what I came up with. See?

May 18, 2013 40 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Packing for Lucketts & Giveaway

Today we loaded all of the things I’ve been shopping for and working on for weeks. Here are some of the pieces we packed… This is my mom’s favorite dresser. We actually have a three-way wager going on which dresser will sell first. We’ll see who’s right… Here’s the channel-back chair. I must say, this is a piece I patted myself on the back for. I was actually giggling as my mom and I finished the cushion last night and set it in place. I couldn’t believe that I did that! Here’s the French settee… …and some other things… I just finished this dresser today and I shared a snapshot on my Facebook page and it blew up! (In the figurative, social media definition of the word.) It was so fun to see the positive reaction, especially when this was a piece I really struggled on (hence finishing it at

May 16, 2013 No Comments

buying & selling antiques

dressergallery

May 15, 2013 80 Comments

Before and Afters

Say hello to “Dried Lavender”

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, there are a lot of new things I’m working on behind the scenes. One of those things is new colors for the milk paint line! Well, Lucketts is the perfect time to test out those colors “in the real world” on a piece of furniture, so I’ve been doing a lot of “testing”! Here is the first new color I’m introducing… Dried Lavender The names of my paint colors are all inspired by things I love or use in my home, so Dried Lavender fit perfectly. I’ve sold it out of my space at Lucketts for years… …and it’s in some of my more famous pictures… When milk paint customers and retailers started asking me for a purple, I knew immediately this is the direction I would go. I mean, I’m not really a purple person, so a grayish, smoky purple is about

May 13, 2013 70 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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