2015 Vintage Market Days Recap: My Booth

Can’t believe Friday is here already!! Today I’m finally sharing a recap of my booth at St Louis Vintage Market Days. This year was my most successful yet and my friend, Bre, suggested I write tips and advice for having a booth in a vintage market… I thought that was a pretty good idea, so let me know if you are interested in something like that too and I’ll put together that post for next week!

But for now, I’m going to show you my booth set up on Day 1 and the other pieces I brought in over the rest of the weekend.

My booth was under the pavilion, as I shared with you in THIS post. This year I think I had a good mix of dressers, desks, chairs, small tables and nightstands, and consoles.

For smaller items, I did like I normally do, and went out to thrift stores, garage sales, antique malls, etc and only bought things that I LOVE. Things that I would use in my house. Then I added some fresh flowers and greenery and called it good. It was simple but beautifully adorned.

I always end of stacking some of my furniture, but this year, I didn’t have to do too much of it. That campaign desk was mostly overlooked until I sold enough to bring it down.

I had a huge crush on this armoire. I never got to stage it and photograph it by itself, so this will have to work as the reveal. The sad thing is, I don’t have a ‘before’. But it was horrible. Imagine layers of white latex, peeling all over, no back, and bright gold modern hardware. Totally not what this piece needed. I used a heat gun and removed ALL the paint, sanded the raw pine, whitewashed the wood, then dry brushed the the entire thing, then built a new back with interlocking pine planks, gave the interior a custom mixed blue-green wash, build a new shelf, and switched out all the hardware. It was a labor of love and I would have loved to keep it had it not been enormous and incredibly tall. This armoire was not an antique, but I sure made it look like one!

I got lucky this year and found several pieces of Ironstone which I grouped together inside. It protected them from the wind and random ‘bump’ accidents.

This pair of chairs I love so much, I wasn’t heartbroken at all that they didn’t sell. They have replaced the pair of chairs that was in my front room, and they coordinate perfectly, since I have a pair of pillows I made from this same fabric on my green sofa. The trestle end table you see pictured here was from my home and Bruno convinced me to bring along. I priced them high because I didn’t want to sell them. Well… they sold! I’m was happy/bummed at the same time! Guess what I’m going to be building this afternoon? 😉

 I had SO many people comment on the fresh flowers I used… I think it is something often forgotten in these shows… fresh flowers make anything look better!

This white chippy dresser sold within the first hour.

 

THEN this crazy awesome gal came in within the first hour also, and bought this pink floral dresser…

…AND the Turks & Caicos one! Can you even believe it?! She didn’t even know where she was going to put them in her home, but she knew she would figure it out, because they were too special to pass up. I love it when people love my work that much!

These sweet spice jars have the most amazing crazing and came home with me! 🙂 That mustard one made me think of Miss Mustard Seed!

Every time I paint a stately hepplewhite highboy in MMS Milk Paint in Artissimo, it sells on the 2nd day. This is the 3rd show in a row it has happened!

 

I sold this adorable pair of gray night stands on the first day as well!

 

By the middle of day 1, I had already cleared out that row of dressers and brought in new ones to take it’s place, including this gray roll-top desk. It also wasn’t an antique, but it was solid wood and the finish on it turned out perfectly. Most of the time roll-top desks are very tricky to paint, but I used my HomeRight sprayer, lightly distressed and waxed the whole thing and it was so perfect. Nothing stuck and nothing scratched off.

We finished this printer’s media console just a couple days before the show, so I never got a chance to properly stage it, but I did get some good shots of it and it will get it’s own post next week. It was BY FAR our most popular piece.   

By day 2, I moved some things around and brought in the other pair of chairs with the bright floral fabric. These didn’t sell but they had lots of admirers. They will be going in my Etsy shop soon!

 We build another X Media Console and it sold before noon on Saturday. The sweet girl who bought it was so excited too, which made it that much sweeter. 

 

 A few more pieces sold and soon it was time to rearrange again. This vignette on this campaign desk was my favorite from the entire weekend. I used General Finishes Snow White with my HomeRight sprayer, sprayed it 4 times, then used the GF High Performance Top Coat and sprayed it on 3 coats for a nice modern finish. You should have seen the before. It was ugly. And I was worried I wouldn’t get it finished in time! I’m SO glad I did.

This was another vignette that caught my eye. It’s funny when I’m rearranging things quickly, I put things together and don’t really think too much about it. But then after I’m chatting and moving around, if an arrangement keeps catching my eye, I’m like, “Hey! That’s a good vignette right there!” 😉 Staging a booth continually over a 3-day show is a great exercise for vignetting. I always feel like I learn something.

                      Saturday afternoon a HUGE storm came and the entire market was shut down early because of severe storm warnings. Within 15 minutes we were getting dumped on with rain, but not before we pulled everything that was left under the roof, covered it all with tarps and roped it down.

Sunday was chilly but beautiful. The skies were blue and the sun shone bright all day. Sunday morning was also the day our most popular piece, a printer’s media cabinet sold, and this is all we had left (besides the other pair of chairs). This dresser is now sitting in my front room, along with these chairs and I’m thinking we are keeping them!

I’ve never come this close to selling out, like I did this past one, and I don’t think it was a fluke or luck. There are several reasons that contribute and I’ll be maybe discussing it in the post I’m thinking of doing on tips and tricks for running a successful booth at a vintage market. Again, let me know if that is something you’d be interested in reading…

Next week I’ll also be sharing some fun shots I got of the rest of the market on Saturday morning!