Thankyou Bloggers and Round Top Prep

Whatcha wanna do?  I don't know..watch t.v....

We are now in the last stages of selling and moving.  We're not quite ready to leave the house, so at this point furniture is optional.  About 90% of our things are in storage.  We still retain the washer/dryer, refridgerator, couch, and beds.  Also our necessaries for clothing.

 

With some time on my hands I get to work on something I dislike...getting things ready for the shop.  Here's a couple of things I found this week.   

 Once I bring an item home it has to be cleaned.  Most everything at estate sales comes in an "As Is" condition.  Things must be cleaned as there's always dirt and deficiencies not noticed at the sale in the poor lighting.  Hours can be spent on cleaning and finding the correct polish to give it just the right shine.  Once the items are cleaned they must be researched to find a fair price.  I'm pretty spot on in guessing what I think it can sell for, but there's a few times I have been made weak in the knees to find out what they are really worth.  I recommend sitting when finding out what items are worth. I still find researching time consuming and wish I didn't have to do it.

Aren't these shish-ka-bobs or skewers quaint?  They are pewter, made in Greece, and represent farm life.

Another thing that qualifies as "research" is reading blogs.  It's an essential part of having a shop space for me. It provides necessary clues as to what I need to shop for, what's trending, what's hot!  I also take design cues and display ideas from you ladies.  For all these things, I say, "Thank You!"  Without all your hard work, I couldn't do my job.  

This week will be wonderfully quiet as I get ready for a big day at my job...Shopping the last day of spring at Round Top. This is an incredible experience that I look forward to like a little child.  But it's business and boy howdy do I mean business when I'm there.  Giddy and laughing inside, but still business.  I feel like I should be doing stretches and squats or something to get ready for this.  Did I tell you where Hubby put my super-special shopping cart for this?  Yep, in the very back corner of a 9x10 storage unit.  Impossible to get to.  Luckily I still have the wagon.  I have visions of Scarlett O'Hara holding a wagon handle in one hand and a raised fist saying, "I shall never go cartless again!"

I'll be bringing you pictures from that adventure soon.  One thing I learned about pictures from Round Top last year is the more the better.  My goal is 100 pictures.  Can't wait to share with you.

A Painting and Secretly Renting Shop Space

 One thing I've been doing and haven't told about is renting a shop space. I've been doing this for 4 months now, and 3 months at this particular shop.  It has kept me busy and my mind off of waiting for the sale of the house to go through.

Many weird and wonderful things happen at estate sales.  Some people really do fight over items...and break them.  There's people like me looking to resell, some buying for themselves, and some are collectors.  Above all there is "treasure" to be had.

Sometimes I find something and can't believe my eyes.  How did no one else buy this?  How did I get so lucky?  Most things end up in the shop but a few get to stick around, like this painting.  I considered it a total steal.  Most people wouldn't.  You see there's a problem with this painting in that it's been around so long the paint is starting to flake off on the bottom right.

Most people don't like flaky paintings.  I don't mind.  This painting is extremely vivid and I can't help but stare at it.  Even though it is signed I could eventually mix up some paint and blend it in.  You'll never know.  I've done it before.  It's called "restoration."  Either way, for now it's off to storage till after the big move.

This was another outstanding find.  Funny story.  This town has two streets named Button.  One is Button Drive and the other is Button Place...or circle...The point is that while everyone was waiting for the opening time at one street I was on the other, and first in the door on this sale.  Replacements has this tureen without the lid and there's a similar one on Ebay, but it's a mismatched tureen and lid.  I feel pretty good about it selling, and I'm a sucker for transferware if I have to keep it.  

I only buy things I would like to keep.  That's not completely true.  About 99% of the time I buy stuff I would like to keep.  I understand trends so if I know there's a very sought after item I may buy it, though it pains me to do so.  

When I go to the shop this week I'll take some more photos of things I have there.  I think it will make a nice addition for when I can get back to blogging regularly. 

Have a great week!

 

Living In Limbo

Way, way back a few months ago we put our house up for sale.  I meticulously cleaned every micro-crumb off every surface and having the house always ready to show is very stressful.  Always making sure the animals are put away so they don't attack the realtor while I just happen to be at the store. 

After a few months of this I relaxed.  The house stayed mostly clean but I wasn't mopping my floors every day.  I'd make the realtor wait or schedule a convenient time, giving me plenty of notice.  We had a few realtors who were perturbed when I said I couldn't show the house in the next 30 minutes.  The nerve of me!

Now we have an offer!  We were elated.  We didn't know what to do with ourselves.  We were quickly brought back down to earth.  There's the contract and stipulations.  Then there's the inspection and the option period.  I don't like this part.  I have no inkling if the inspection went well, yet, or if the buyer will back out.  I just have to keep telling myself out of all the houses they saw, they bid on ours.

One of the stipulations on the contract is the buyer wants to take possession of the property on April 1st.  Ha ha that's funny, April Fool's!  No?  You're not kidding?  Oh... So that leaves basically 4 weeks to get packed and get out.  Except we're in the option period for a few more days.  So there's no packing.  Just waiting.  It is an uncomfortable feeling.

This January I had started the whole backwards hanger thing for my clothes and was planning on taking out the unworn items in June.  I'm speeding that up to today.  I need to do this anyway.  In some ways I feel I'm slowly being forced into a minimalist existence. 

You see, we have made plans for temporary housing. In case we leave by April 1st, we have nowhere to go without that sale check in hand.  Our temporary housing will be in one of those big 5th wheel RV's.  They are actually roomier than a New York apartment.  But I obviously can't take a whole house worth of stuff.  Our goal is to only stay one or two months at most.  In the meantime everything goes into storage.

And this conversation always circles back around to the option period... One day this will all be past, right?