My New Antique Booth: Getting Ready for Opening Day!

I can’t even tell you the excitement I feel for getting to share with you one of my dreams come true! I explained last week how fortunate I was to be given a chance to expand my vendor domain from display case to floor space… in my new antique booth! Thank you very much Ohio Valley Antique Mall!! So many wonderful things have been happening in my little 8 x 10 slice of heaven! So, let me take you along to show you all of our progress.

Welcome to booth 252

It’s so crazy that after just one week we actually have a full, fun, and functional space! BUT it sure didn’t start out that way!! After some necessary planning and prep work, we were ready to GO! First things first, we painted the wood picket walls aqua blue. It was an instant facelift! We painted the baseboards as well and then turned our attention to the main challenge!

Challenge accepted

So let’s talk about the elephant in the room… an immovable vertical steel beam taking up precious floor space in the front of my booth! OH MY! I had to think outside the box while creating one at the same time. I ended up boxing in the eyesore by using two identical shelving units that we had on hand and a tall 8-inch board to join them together on one side. Luckily, I came up with the idea but Mark skillfully made the magic happen.

designing and decorating

Once the overall space was spruced up and functional, it was time for the really thrilling part… to bring in ALL of the treasures!

rookie Mistakes

Oh Boy… YES, mistakes were made! The biggest one, and I do mean the BIGGEST one, was buying an oversized buffet that was too large for my space. I fell in love with it and purchased it before I calculated its wide girth in my booth. It’s beautiful to be sure, but in a small area space is precious, so next time I will definitely consider size before buying!

Along with buying oversized furniture I also made the mistake of underpricing some items. I didn’t fully take into account the time it took me to paint some small tables. I priced them fairly low, they sold quickly, and some of the buyers were dealers (with their 10 percent discount), so my profit dwindled. In the future, I have to remember to factor in my time as well as the value of the piece.

still more to come

Wow! I can tell you one thing, I have found a new admiration for all the vintage vendors out there! I applaud them! Because it’s much harder than it looks, without a doubt! There is a lot of time and energy devoted to this entire process! But, if you have a GIANT passion for vintage… it’s all worth it! I still have loads of work to do. We are still working on the logo, lighting, and layering! So stay tuned for more of the fabulous adventures of the Homey Blue Heron vintage vendors and their new antique booth! So come on everybody Let’s get HOMEY!

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