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Running a Business

buying & selling antiques

getting ready for a fair

I wish getting ready for a fair just involved putting on a cute sundress and taking some cash out for ice cream, but I’m not talking about simply going to a fair. I’m talking about being a vendor at a fair and that involves a lot more. First of all, I tip my hat to those who show at fairs regularly…like almost every weekend of the year. I don’t know how you do it. I do one fair a year and it just about kills me! Well, not literally, but it takes over my house, my poor husband has to fend for himself for dinner most nights, and it means I am paint splattered more than usual (and that’s a lot already!) I know a number of my readers are also antique dealers and are currently vendors at fairs or want to be, so I thought I would share some

May 3, 2012 1 Comment

Miscellaneus

What price is right?

I receive a lot of questions through comments and e-mail and one of the things I’m asked most about is pricing. When you’re selling pieces as a part of your business, how do you know what number you should put on the tag? I wish I could just throw out a perfect formula like investment + labor + desired profit = price, but it’s much more of a “soft” thing for me. It’s a gut feel. And it varies so much depending on your location, the shop, the event, the piece, the time of year, the weather, your mood. Get the picture? There are so many factors. I make a huge profit on some things (like a chair I bought for $10 and sold for $285) and I make a small profit on other things. I’m a cheap person and a DIYer, so it’s hard for me to imagine paying

April 18, 2012 No Comments

buying & selling antiques

moved in

I moved into my current room (more like an alcove) on the first floor at Lucketts back in December, but I have never really moved in. I sort of dropped off the boxes and made do. Karen and Jennifer have been filling the space for me while I worked on my book and went through a few other things that weren’t quite as fun. When I brought my stuff there on Thursday, it felt like the first time I was really moving into the space and getting settled there. I am still planning to patch and paint the walls, do something new with the curtains and hang a few things from the ceiling. I’m looking forward to when I have the time to do that. Until then, it’s starting to look like “me.” I’m working on some rewriting for the book, so I’m just going to let the pictures do

April 14, 2012 No Comments

Antiques

restocking my room

My *plans* have been derailed so often lately that I’m hesitant to use the word. I’m afraid my spleen will burst or we’ll have an epic snow storm in April or maybe lose power for two days. Who knows. I am just using the word *plans* generally. So, when I planned to go to Lucketts this Thursday, I wasn’t going to hold my breath. Tomorrow is Thursday and the plans are looking good. (I’m wincing right now…) I’ve been pricing, sorting, cleaning, loading (only a little) and working on last minute things I can take to restock my space. It’s almost like I’m moving in all over again. I moved into my new space on the first floor in December, but Karen and Jennifer started babysitting the space for me almost right away. I had a few pieces in there, but now all you’ll find is one dresser, a handful

April 11, 2012 No Comments

my business story

{dreams for the future}

The other day, one of my readers asked what my dreams were for the future and I thought it would be nice to share the answer in a post instead of a comment. Before I share my dreams for the future, I’m going to share a bit about the past. Many of you know my story. In short, my business was started out of the desire to add a little income to the family budget. I didn’t have any big dreams attached to it. I just wanted to make a couple hundred dollars a month to help with some bills. I’ve never considered myself an entrepreneur or a designer, writer, photographer…any of that. I was just a stay-at-home mom who wanted to do something more than what I was doing, but I wanted a job that would allow me to stay home with my boys. About a year into my business,

April 7, 2012 No Comments

my business story

The Nate Berkus Show

I shared back in January that I had the opportunity to go up to New York City to be a guest on The Nate Berkus Show. Well, the wait is finally over and the show aired (or airs, depending on where you live) today. Here’s the video in case you missed it… I’ve been sitting on (not literally) all of my behind-the-scenes pictures and I am finally able to share them! It really was a great experience. I was extremely nervous, but my word of the year is celebrate and I was determined that this trip and opportunity was going to be a celebration, not a bundle of nerves. I was not going to let self-doubt and fear and anxiety rob me of the joy. With my mind made up about those things, I had some butterflies, but I was able to thoroughly enjoy myself. The morning of the taping, I

April 2, 2012 No Comments

buying & selling antiques

Lucketts Eye Candy

On the way back from the Annie Sloan workshop yesterday, I stopped in at Lucketts to pay my rent and check out my space. I really miss that place! I was looking forward to getting my space filled again after working on the book, but then my gallbladder decided it wanted a divorce, so that upended those plans. I’m hoping to get some pieces ready this week, so I can move back into my space next week. I can’t thank Jennifer and Karen enough for keeping my space full and beautiful in my absence. While I was there, I couldn’t help but snap some pictures of some things that caught my eye… I love these chairs and was pretty tempted at $98/each, but I know I can find ones like this on Craig’s List for a lot less and I have enough upholstery projects to keep me busy. Hello legs…

April 1, 2012 No Comments

Photography

50mm

I’ve become a bit of a lens junkie over the past year. It all started when my old Nikon lens (that came with the film SLR I bought about eight years ago) wasn’t working with my new D7000 Nikon. It worked, but it took forever to get it to focus, so it was finally time for an upgrade. Since then, I’ve bought four new lenses and just added one more…a 50 mm. (If your curious about my camera and other lenses, you can read about them HERE.) It’s not the one I really wanted, but this one is $130 and the one I really wanted was almost $700, so I decided I would get this one for now and upgrade later. One reason I wanted this lens is because the aperture can open to 1.8, which is big. That means the camera lets in more light, which is nice for interior

March 10, 2012 No 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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