September Photos

September is over, and it has been a crazy busy month. I was offered a spot at our sister store, Paris Flea Market, and decided to try it. I had always wanted to have a spot there and it seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. I was also was invited to share a spot with Mandi, a fellow Roomie, at a show in Livermore. I had a lot of fun with both things, but unfortunately it was all a bit much for me health-wise. So, no more shows for
me and I will only do the Paris Flea for another month. It was a tough decision to make, but I know it was the right one for me at this time.

One good thing that came out of being at Paris Flea was that I meet the most amazing and talented collage artist. Her name is Sharon, and she had a spot briefly at RWAP, but she left before I could get a chance to meet her. Sharon also does classes, teaching others how to do some of her beautiful projects. I find her work very inspiring. She graciously gave me permission to take picture of her space.

I also wanted to share this photo I took of Aileen modeling some vintage fashion at the Paris sale. doesn't she look amazing?

Another bright spot in my month was that I was honored to be chosen as "Consigner of the month", for RWAP. I was given a photo and blurb in the newsletter and on the website. You can check it out at roomwithapast.com. You can also see the new group photo, and if you look closely you can find me on the right, right behind the 2 ladies in front. I feel like an official Roomie now!







I don't have the dollar amount for last weeks RWAP sale, but I know it was a pretty good month. I was there for the first time on a Thursday night opening and it was amazing, with long lines for check out and completely wall to wall with customers. I can see why only the more experienced vendors work that night. It was a lot of fun, but I think I prefer my somewhat quieter Friday shift.

Pillows, Pillows and More Pillows.

Chip has been away the last 2 week for job training. He managed to get back east just in time for the earthquake and the hurricane. I miss him and it's been pretty lonely here with just me and the cat but I have managed to get a lot of projects done.

I was in the mood to make some pillows and I managed
to crank out 10 pillows in just 2 days. After taking a break from burlap, I have been doing it again in a big way lately. I found some better quality burlap in Sacramento when I went to see my daughter last week, so I picked it up and used it for these pillows. Just your basic square pillow and my french stencils, very easy

I also did some pillows using vintage linens. These can be found at most estate sales and they are usually very inexpensive - only a dollar or two. They are so beautiful, with such great hand work and I love to re-pupose them and give them a new life. I used this wonderful product called steam-a-steam to apply the linens to the pillow. So fast and easy - I love that. Some have my twisty roses for more interest. I also did a pillow using Sheer Heaven to transfer an image of a vintage postcard


Finally I did some collage pillows using the vintage linens plus velvet flowers and vintage images (Graphics Fairy). I make a basic pillow and then tack on the linens creating a small pocket for the images, then add on the other things. I have also put cabinet cards (vintage photos on cardboard) in the pocket. The gold cherub on this one was given to me by my friend Linda. You could even put in a photo of your child instead of the vintage images.

The ribbon bows are actually rayon seam binding. You can find this on Etsy for about $10 for a 100 yard roll. To give it a vintage look, I wet it down, scrunch it up and let it dry. For this project I then tied on several bows in 2 different colors. I think these are so sweet.

August Sale

The July Roomy sale was crazy. I sold 8 pieces of furniture, which is amazing in my small space. Just so things wouldn't be on the floor I had to find, bring home, paint and move furniture in, all in the same day. I was happy to have the sales, but very very tired by Sunday.

Fortunately, Chip and I were able to get away for a mini-vacation to celebrate our 11th anniversary. Chip had also had a stressful month job-wise, so the peace and beauty of Mendocino was just what we needed. We stayed in a nice B&B and browsed through the galleries and shops, and enjoyed the many fine restaurants.











This months sale was a lot easier. I started painting early, so I didn't have to do it all at once. I also hit a few very good sales, and had a few fruitful trips to the thrift stores. This was good I haven't been feeling to well and wasn't able to do as much as usual. It funny, as it always seems I won't be able to get enough done, but it always works out in the end.










I was really happy with this burlap pillow I did. My friend Lainey told me about this fantastic thing call Sheer Heaven. With this product you can apply any image onto fabric. You print your image on your printer with the special paper, and then spray the image with alcohol, place it on the fabric, burnish a little and the image transfers right to the fabric. Unlike t-shirt transfers, there is no hard plastic finish. I printed the image onto muslin and then applied the muslin to the burlap using steam-a-seam.

I hope to have time to do more of these pillows next month and doing other things with this fantastic product. I 'm doing a few shows with a fellow Roomie in September, so I better get going!

Before and After Part 2

I ran into some really great furniture pieces this month and I couldn't wait to get them painted and set up for the Room sale, which starts Thursday night. We are supposed to be set up by Tuesday, so I moved everything in, including this small buffet - here it is in it's "before" state. I was thinking I was in great shape this month I had a full space and 2 backup pieces, plus another that I could paint if I had to.

So I fluffed and primed, hung pictures and staged until I was happy with how it looked. Have I said this business is a lot of work? Well, it is sometimes a ton of work. But fun, and I'm always happy to see the finished project.


I drove home, tired, but thinking I could relax for the next few days and work on small, fun projects. I won't go into the details of how this happened, but both the night stands from my previous blog and the small buffet with the french stencil shown here have been sold, along with the mirror above the buffet, the lamp and a few smaller pieces. Now, I'm not complaining, a sale is a sale, but at this point I was kind of tired of painting and I was really happy with my display, so I did have mixed feelings. Like I said, it's all a lot of work.




Today I was feeling better about everything and I was able to finish the last piece of furniture and get it and another loaded into the car, ready to restage my space tomorrow. It went so well I had time to do a few fun projects and I did get a chance for a short thrift store outing with my friend and fellow Roomie, Linda. I"ll post pictures again, once I re-stage

Before and After

I've been busy this week getting ready for the next Room With A Past sale. I wanted to share a before and after of one of my projects and I also wanted to share a little bit on my paint techniques.

These night stands started life as a vanity. When I found them, the mirror and middle part of the vanity were long gone. They were in sad shape, with missing veneer and lots of little dings and dents. As you can see, not pretty.

But they had great style, they were basically sound, the drawers all worked, and they even had the original hardware. The best thing about them was the price - only $10 each. I am always looking for furniture like this - great lines, basically sound, but with a rough finish - and because of that, cheap!

So I patched the missing veneer with Spackle. Spackle is a plaster that comes in a powder form and available at any hardware store. You just mix it with a little water into a thick paste, then spread it on with a putty knife. After it dries, sand until smooth. I don't usually worry about smaller dings, as it just ads character in my opinion. I also sanded the stands all over, to smooth out the rough finish and help the paint to stick. Pre-sanding isn't always necessary, in this case it was needed

After sanding I painted with primer. Primer is essential with older pieces like this. It adheres better than paint and makes the paint go on better and last longer. I then painted them a pale blue grey. I can't tell you the color, as I just mixed up some white and grey paint I had on hand. I was going for a very distressed look, so I sanded quite a bit, especially on the edges. Finally I brushed on a glaze coat and then rubbed it off, leaving a little more in the crevices. I used a Ralph Lauren Technique glaze that the former owners of my new house left behind when they moved. It's great for finishing projects as it adds an aged look and is also a protective finish. I've been using it a lot.

June Roomie Sale

We just finished the June sale yesterday. We were very busy and sales were quite good - I don't have the sales numbers yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be my best month so far.

My favorite thing this month is this huge sign. It was originally a drafting table top that I got when I was still in Colorado. I loved the patina and the price was right, but I wasn't sure what to do with it. My friend Lainey gave me the idea to make a sign out of it, and it couldn't have been easier. It was one of the first things to sell.

I did two of these french chairs and they both sold, and I sold all my tables as well. I hope I can find some more of these chairs for next month.

I finally am starting to feel creative and I did some very nice, small collages this month. I do these just for myself, following what ever muse is inspiring me at the moment. They were small, the size of a bingo card. I put them in the sale, not expecting too much (I didn't even take pictures of any of them!). To my surprise, I sold every one.

The inspiration for most of them was some new scrapbook paper and stickers by Tim Holtz. The paper is brown kraft paper with various images and the stickers coordinate with the paper.

It went very well with my style and other things I have, including a box of vintage photos. At first I wasn't sure about doing these, as it just seemed like cheating somehow - I mean, is it my art or Tim Holtz's? But the ideas just seemed to flow and I was happy with the result, and I was just glad to be creating again. I used some of the same ideas on these journals here.

A Few Easy Projects

I'm busy this week preparing for the June Roomy sale. I thought I would share a few projects that would be great for the beginning crafter. The first project is an altered kitchen cabinet door. These are fairly easy to find at garage sales, thrift stores or architectural salvage dealers. I never pay more than $5, and it's usually less than that. The older the door, the better, but even newer doors look fine - this one was a sample door of recent vintage.

I prime and then paint the door in flat white house paint, usually one or two coats will do. Once dry, sand the edges and sides well, exposing the bare wood. For this door I used some scapbook paper (Tim Holz), and an image from Graphics Fairy. I use Super 77 spray adhesive, and I've found the best way to apply the adhesive is to use a paper grocery bag. Put the image face down in the bottom of the bag and either go outside or stand by an open window. The bag captures most of the excess adhesive - you don't want to breathe it, as it's pretty toxic, so be careful. I apply the image to the scrapbook paper and then apply the paper to the door, use a good solid coat of adhesive - you don't want it going anywhere. Next I sprayed the image with a clear sealer to protect it, and then I applied a glaze coat, first brushing on all over and wiping off with a paper towel. I used Ralph Lauren technique glaze in a taupe color. You could also make your own using a mixture of white glue, water and a taupe paint in equal proportions. Finally I drilled 3 holes in the bottom and added some knobs. These great clock knobs are from Hobby Lobby, but you could also use glass knobs or leave them off.

The next project is even easier. I found these metal plant pots at the thrift store. You see these all the time, and they are very inexpensive. There wasn't anything wrong with them, but I wanted to give them a fresh look and to blend better with my other inventory. I painted them white using a spray primer and flat white house paint. I then sanded all over, which revealed the bare metal and highlighted the details. I then applied the images (Graphics Fairy), using the Super 77 method above. I used used a clear sealer and also applied the same glaze as with the door project, brushing on and wiping off, leaving more glaze in the crevices.

So there you have it - 2 very easy projects with a great vintage look.