I sold a lot of pieces before we moved halfway across the country from PA to MN. I knew that some of them just weren’t going to work in what would most likely be our new house. And I don’t regret selling any of the pieces I sold. There were a few things, though, that I didn’t know where I would put them or how they would work, but I just wasn’t ready to let them go.
This step-back cupboard was one of those pieces.
It’s been one of my favorite finds from the moment I found it lined up in a row of dusty furniture in a second-hand shop.
It had a few different homes in my last house and I loved how versatile it was. The base cabinet housed exercise weights, craft supplies, office supplies, and Legos at various times. The top almost always showcased ironstone.
But in our new house, it looked small compared to the 9′ ceilings. It looked dinky and the old paint lost its character and charm and just looked old.
It made me sad to see a piece I loved look so diminished in its new surroundings.
I moved it into my office and it faired better in there, but I still knew this piece wasn’t getting the attention it deserved.
So, I’m taking it with me to sell at Junk Bonanza. I may have to give it a hug before it goes to its new home (just be prepared if you’re the buyer!)
The cabinet wears old paint (not original, but probably 1950’s) and has original (working) latches and glass panes. It is sturdy and comes in two pieces, so it’s easy to move. (The top left piece of trim broke off when we moved it, but I still have the piece and will reattach it.)
I’m also selling the postal sorter I’ve used in my studio. I love this piece, but it was displaced when I shuffled furniture around in my studio.
I’m also selling these two tables that were also displaced during the great furniture scoot event…
I have a few old signs (like the Green Grocer sign and For Rent sign, both from my PA kitchen) and a few other smalls that I’m still rounding up. I am also bringing a big basket of “scratch and dent” MMS Milk Paint products. These are products that were returned from Amazon and are still in good, useable condition, but the packaging isn’t pretty enough to resell at full price. So, there will be some nice discounts!
In addition to selling antiques, I’ll be teaching MMS Milk Paint demos. We’ll do some informal demos at our booth, but I’ll be on the “stage” Thursday and Friday at noon, and Saturday at 11:00 am. You can see a full list of event activities HERE.
We’ll be setting up the booth on Wednesday and I’ll share pictures! I’ll also give updates on Instagram Stories if you want to follow along.
I look forward to meeting some of you there…
oh, i have coveted that mail sorter for a while, too bad i’m back on the east coast, if you were going to Luckett’s it would be MINE. Have fun!
True that Donna !! I love that piece,,
I’ve always loved that mail sorter! It would be a great piece for one of your boys’ rooms to display their favorite things. Have a great time!
Ha, except they don’t want mom’s antique stuff in their rooms!
I love the mail sorter too. Could you use it in your powder room or bathroom? Hope you have a great time at junk bonanza.
oh, I wish you”d put your old signs on your selling site instead! I’d love one!!!i
It’s next to impossible to find any around here!
I think we all agree – don’t sell the mail sorter! Hard to find, hard to replace.
Noooooo you can’t sell the MAIL SORTER
I also agree that’s a tough piece to let go! When my boys were your boys age a few years ago, they would have that thing filled with favorite lego “guys” in about two minutes LOL!
LOL! I came on to say NOOOOO! Don’t sell the mail sorter. Apparently, I’m not the only one who has coveted it. Sure glad there are a ton of pictures of it out there. I’m in mourning and wishing so bad that I could be at Junk Bonanza!!
How much are you asking for the mail sorter?
Please don’t sell that mail sorter……….Forty something years ago I went on a
house tour in East Greenwich, RI. I fell in love with the house and what I remember most was the mail sorter. The owner had it placed over her couch, but high enough so it wouldn’t interfere with anyone. And I still remember it as clear as
yesterday and thought it was the most amazing thing and I still do. Have I
ever seen one in my travels and the answer is NO. So please think it over
long and hard. Thank. I can get off my soap box now. lol
Love your mail sorter. I was married to a rural mail man so he used something similar every day. Bigger though. I’m too far away to come get it though. Hope you find a place for it. If it MUST be sold, hope it’s bought by someone who truly loves it as much as we all do!!!
I’m with everyone else. Don’t sell it!! It’s beautiful with all your smalls in the cubbies & your paintings on top. It’s perfect & I enjoy looking at it every single time you put a picture of it up. Please reconsider. How about the laundry room or your pretty basement? There has to be a place for this in your home. I’m afraid you are going to regret selling this & you won’t find a replacement easily!
Do you ship? I’d take some scratch and dents!
So excited to see your beautiful pieces in person – REALLY hoping the weatherpeople are overblowing this winter storm that’s coming!
It sounds like you will have no trouble selling the mail sorter. I always loved all of your pre-Luckett’s posts as I could not go there yet found it exciting to see everything you would be selling. I especially loved the smalls and appreciated your online shopping events. One item I still wish I had was the small rabbit wearing the backpack…so if you find an extra one of those, I’ll be so excited to have one. I’d also purchase some of your paint as it’s hard for me to find it where we live.
Have a great time at the Junk Bonanza and I look forward to your posts sharing the excitement.
Are you interested in selling any of your marmalade jars? (Shipping) Pretty please.
My dad was a mailman send that mail sorter so reminds me of him. Maybe you’d like to trade it for some things in my shop? Haha
Oh I love the mail sorta and blue table. If I live close, they definitely would be going home with me! Somebody will be wearing a smile.
Hi, I too would love to buy a Dundee marmalade jar from you. Is that possible? I have an old mail sorter and want to sell it but don’t know what to ask for it. Love your blog and all that you do!
Hi Deana. Old love to have a mail sorter too. Where do you live ? I might be interested in yours. I’m in Oklahoma. Thanks !
Sorry – supposed to say: I’d love to…
If you ship it, I would buy the mail sorter! And I will post photos of it so everyone can see it in its new home. It would be well loved and cared for.
I, too, would be interested in scratchand dents. Particularly Tricycle or typewriter and some tough coat.
I’d love to have the step back cupboard and the mail sorter. My husband would kill me because we’d have to come get it from Oklahoma!! Nevertheless, I WANT BOTH PIECES!! 🙂
I’m with everyone else…love the mail sorter and waiting to see how you respond to the queries. Good luck and fair skies at the sale.
As much as I appreciate the good example you are setting in weeding out the furniture you can’t use, I have to agree with my fellow FMMS (Fans of Miss Mustard Seed) that you might consider holding back the mail sorter for now. It’s not only a beautiful, nostalgic piece, it has functionality that would lend itself to all kinds of situations.
Good luck at Junk Bonanza. So glad you are focusing more on demonstrating MMS milk paint and less on selling individual (and hard-to-move) pieces. Are you going to videotape your teach-ins for the website?
I’m wondering if your boys will be be involved in Junk Bonanza? They had such a great time preparing for, and helping out at, Luckett’s, maybe this event will become a family affair, too.
I was so excited to be coming to Junk Bonanza all the way from NE. My husband had to deliver his vinegar to Minneapolis, so I was going to come along and attend. But now…we have the second bomb cyclone due to hit on Wednesday thru Friday. They are predicting 24″ of snow and 50 mph winds. Needless to say, we won”t be traveling across SD with that happening. And our son needs our help on the ranch. I am pretty disappointed….but it is what it is. I hope the storm doesn’t affect the event. Maybe next year…
Oh man! So sorry I won’t get to meet you there!
Did you paint the cow painting that is pictured on the floor next to the step-back cupboard picture on today’s blog post above? I am in love with that one. Any chance you will sell a print of it one day online?
No, I didn’t. That was painted by Cindy Austin and you can buy prints on her website.
Thank you so much Marian! Going to search for it now! I have one of your paintings on my wish list for mother’s day 🙂
Marian, It looks like you could make and sell a mail sorter! Could be assembled by the buyers if designed with interlocking pieces. Or maybe you and Jeff could design one and sell plans for it?
I have a mail sorter which is very primitive and came out of the school where I taught art. When they sold the building they were going to haul it to the dump but instead it came home with me. I have had it for almost forty years and it holds my beautiful collection of coffee mugs and antique dollhouse furniture. Although my home has many interesting pieces, my old mail sorter always gets the most love and comments. I echo the other fans. I think you will regret letting that treasure go.
Please don’t sell the mail sorter. It can go in so many places. My first thought is a bathroom but it’s one of those pieces that you can slip in almost anywhere. I’d hang on to it for now.
I agree- just dont know how you can part with that mail sorter!!! I love how it looks, and wish I could find one, and wish even more I could be at Junk Bonanza to buy yours!!! All of your pieces are soooo awesome, and I would treasure any of them!!!! – But especially that mail sorter!!! I too think it would be perfect in so many other places in your house!!! Know you must do what you think is right, so to whom ever buys it, please tell them how fortunate they are and make them promise to love it always!!!
The mail sorter makes me sad. My grandmother was the first Post Mistress in our small town. Long after she pasted they redid the Post Office and my husband and I got her huge postal island and used it in our kitchen. It was full of drawers, a space for a stool and under a coat of polyurethane you could read where she had stamped letters in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Unfortunately, we divorced and it was too big for me to take. My ex still has it.
I would like to second, third and fourth everyone else’s opinion to not sell the mail sorter. Hang on to it for at least one year in another function and then reassess selling it. It is such a beautiful piece and belongs with you. Hope we aren’t all bringing you down with our negative responses to the news of your plan to sell this piece. Maybe you can tell we have regrets about our own losses and separations from pieces to which we have said goodbye.
Ha, I really appreciate all of the comments encouraging me to keep it, but I sell things only when I’m ready and I’m ready. I have sold a lot of amazing pieces and I haven’t regretted any of them. I’ve loved this piece for a few years and now I’m happy for it to go to a new home.
I wouldn’t sell either piece, but then I am sentimentally attached to a plastic butter tub. Have you considered raising the cupboard by putting a large piece of art or wall decor above it? Will the mail sorter go in one of your bathrooms?
I’ve always loved seeing what your bringing to the sales. You have the best stuff. Does amazon still sell your products? I can’t drive ( brain cancer, but I’m believing for complete healing) anyway just wondering.
As much as I love the mail sorter (and I really, really do), the piece I would be lining up early to buy if I lived close enough is your green grocer sign. I’ve loved and admired it for years. If you don’t sell it (not likely) and would ship it to Florida, let me know! I bought your nightstands a few years ago and we love them so much. They are perfect in our master bedroom. I also love the two tables. What a great event this is going to be. I suddenly have a strong urge to visit Minnesota!
I was also planning a drive to Shakopee from eastern NE, but between the aftermath of flooding and the approaching storm I reluctantly decided to stay home. Big bummer! Hope you have good weather there for the sale.!
I am so interested in buying a marmalade jar..are you selling? My new condo is decorated in a coastal farmhouse look look so one of these would fit right in.TY.
I had to thank you for your post on copper pots last October! I spend from Jan-April each year in a little town in Tuscany, not far from Lucca. I had accidentally made one of my children sick many years ago from cooking in an old copper pot from our market that I had not realized had lost its lining over time. I’ve been Leary ever since! Last month , while at the Lucca market, I bought five copper pots for 150€. My dream was to have them retinned at the place you mentioned, one at a time. A local neighbor told me there were only three men who did retinning in Italy and France, and one lived only minutes away. He retinned and polished all five E. Dehillerin- Paris pots for €80 total. Unbelievably excited! Thanks for the inspiration!
Oh, wonderful! And yes, I only use my copper pots that have been retinned or are new, so I know they are in good condition.