Gilmore Car Museum Flea Market

HOT.

HOT.

HOT.

(94 degrees on set up day) 

SWEATY.

SWEATY.

SWEATY.

(96 degrees on show day)

Hair up. Check.
Deodorant on. Check.
Lots and lots of ice water. Check.

FUN.
FUN.
FUN.

That's the kind of day we had at the Gilmore Car Museum a couple Saturdays ago.

Over 1,000 people came through the gates to oooh and ahhhh over 400 vintage cars, trucks, boats, and campers.

Now...let me tell you...

I'm not normally one of those gals who get all geeked over blingy cars.
I'm not usually impressed with fancy schmancy cars loaded with bells and whistles
that try to make a big statement.

I'm just happy that my SUV starts when I turn the key.

But, I've got to tell you that I had a ball watching all of the really old vintage cars rolling past our booth.
Motors softly put-puttering atop skinny tires.
Horns "wa-hooooga-ing" back and forth.
People in costume waving from rumble seats.
More people in costume riding antique bicycles around the property.
Old Cris Craft boats with their ultra shiny wooden hulls.
Retro music playing over the loudspeaker.
It was so much fun!

If you follow my Facebook page, you know that on that Friday morning at Doster Emporium,

Georgina and I stuffed these two trucks with our goodies to sell,
and took off merrily down the road on a blazingly hot morning.

We arrived nice and early, but I was immediately distracted by a couple of trucks parked close by.
I ooohhed and aaaahhed over them.
I stroked them,
and imagined myself rolling happily down the road hitting all of the flea markets and barn sales in complete boho style.   :)

I ended up buying this fabulous hippy chic truck

because it had my logo on it.

Hey! Get away from MY truck!

Juuuust kidding.

I really bought this one.

I WISH!!

[I've always had a thing for vintage pick up trucks.
Haven't a clue where it comes from,
but I'm totally obsessed.
I'm still kicking myself for not buying my SIL's perfect buttery yellow vintage truck
she had for sale many years ago...]

But we did have a fun day selling treasures to wives who were bored looking at vehicles and heard the flea market bug calling their name.

Here are a few pics of our cute little booth.

We were allowed a 20x30 space for a $10 fee.
Yep....only $10!

We seemed to be spilling over a wee bit,

but didn't have a close neighbor...

so we spraaawled. :)

 We busily got to work setting up before the morning rush,

and created vignettes here and there.

Three of my white end tables - sold.

My Aubusson rug - sold.

My old window box - sold.

Chicken wire cloche - sold.
A few framed pictures - sold.

My round oak table - sold.

Then, halfway through the day,
the "Rug Police" stopped by and informed us that we had to roll up all of our rugs laying on the grass.

Say what???

Since we didn't want to hauled off to be tarred and feathered and put in shackles,
we begrudgingly complied.

This French inspired mirror was transformed in my basement with ASCP in Duck Egg and Old White and distressed a bit back to the original gold.

Dry-brushed vintage frame with a photo of a woman who looks amazingly
like my grandmother did when she was 20 years old
on top of a 
pink folding table I painted with ASCP 'Antoinette' and stenciled a random damask pattern on top with 'Paris Grey' and 'Old White'.

Hmmmm....I'm thinking that Georgina's cute little footstool on the table

may be in need of a makeover at Heaven's Walk.

Lots of vintage jewelry - sold.

Plaid thermos - sold.

Blue & white Delft bowl - sold.

Brass swan - sold.
Some crocheted doilies - sold.

We had a pretty successful day.
Sold a few things.
Drooled over a few trucks.
Waved to a lot people.
Talked to even more people.
Handed out a ton of our business cards.
Didn't get taken to jail.
Drank a gallon of water.
Wished we had gallon of margaritas.
And sweated off about 5 pounds.

It was a fun day spent with my junkin' buddy.

♥

Georgina (from Doster Emporium) on the left and me on the right -- before we sweated our makeup off.

~  Blessings  ~

Sending hugs to all of my new followers!


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Just click on the buttons!

Open for Business!

Two SUVs full of Heaven's Walk treasures

+

  

3 days of pricing and tagging,

hammering and hanging,

and floofing and fluffing...

=

OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

I am so excited!

Heaven's Walk is now officially a booth at Doster Emporium!

The Emporium is located in an old grain & lumber mill in the small, quaint, rural town of Doster.

The Emporium is quite an historical building in the area.  Georgina, who owns it with her husband, has books filled with original orders from grain and lumber customers handwritten in their beautiful, old script.

Old photos of past owners and family members are framed and hung on the walls.

There's even some of the original mechanisms located in the center of the shop where you can see where the grain was poured from.

 







You can take a walk around the beautiful property on a path Georgina created and lined with wildflowers and vintage railroad memorabilia.





There's even a cute little outhouse on the property that Georgina remodeled all by herself.
She's very smart like that, and is such a dear heart!

Georgina said I was "in my element" as I transformed my little white room

into a sweet, cozy, and welcoming French-Nordic atmosphere for this season's customers.

It actually gave me the same feeling of contentment that fluffing my house does.

Unpacking boxes and boxes of goodies,

moving things around (more than once),

tucking things here and there,

and then standing back and sighing contentedly.

Now I understand why all of you gals out there who have had booths for so long

love it so!

I'm praying that this new venture will be profitable,

and most importantly ~

fun!

{It definitely gives me an excuse to hit the yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores more often,

doesn't it?}

Here are quite a few some

photos of my booth.

  
{Grab yourself cup of coffee,

or if it's after 12 noon -
a glass of wine...}

Update on the Heaven's Walk sign:  It's now up on the wall!

I love making these topiaries!

This rocker was my first attempt at upholstering (with a handmade faux grain sack). The end table is a ReStore transformation.

The French lamp was another ReStore transformation.

The "seaside" corner.

Yep, I had an extremely busy and productive winter
with my Annie Sloan chalk paint, paint brushes, Mod Podge, stencils, and a continuing love/hate relationship with my sewing machine.
Ninety percent of everything you see here was transformed in one way or another by the waving of my magic wand ~

and all of the inspiration came from YOU, my beloved blog friends.
YOU fed my creativity.


So, there you have it.
My new little piece of heaven!

 

If you're in the area,

be sure to stop by to see a bit of Heaven's Walk

at Doster Emporium, meet sweet Georgina,
and come do the happy dance with us!  :)

Ok...just ignore the dorky outfit.  I was wearing my work clothes...and freezing!

The Emporium is located at 12915 Doster Road in Plainwell, Michigan.

Hours are: Wednesday, Friday & Saturday from 12-4pm.

You can contact Georgina at 269-664-3231 if you can't make it during business hours.

She's more than willing to open up the shop just for you!

Be sure to check out Doster Emporium on Facebook, too!

[ Blessings ]

Linking to the parties on the lower right of my sidebar.
Just click on the buttons!


I'd love to have you join Heaven's Walk as a Linky Follower and GFC, too!

French Inspired Transformations

Warning ~

French inspiration ahead!

I've been painting like there's no tomorrow.

Well...I hope there's a tomorrow.

I've got more painting to do!

I've been working on some poor, ugly ducklings

for my friend, Georgina.

She owns Doster Emporium ~
a vintage grain elevator/lumber mill
she turned into a fabulously quaint antique shop
- full of trinkets and treasures -
with a very interesting history behind it.

The Doster family has owned it for over 100 years.
Georgina knows all of the history behind this beautiful old building,
and gladly gives tours of the building and it's beautiful surrounding property.

She's been giving me pieces of furniture and odds and ends to paint

so that she can sell them on Craigslist this winter,

as well as in the Emporium when it opens again in the spring.

(Or you can call her and she'll gladly open up the shop for you!
1-269-664-3231)

We plan on being vendors at the Allegan Antique Market at the May 2012 show
and will be taking a lot of my painted and her unpainted furniture with us.

Debbie will be coming down again and bringing some of her sweet things to sell, too.

Oh yeah, baby....
we're going to have the best booth there!

So....this is what I've been busy working on in my studio disaster-of-a-basement.


Project #1 was a historical desk that had beautiful French bones,
but was stained a very strange orange color.
Orange?   
Really?

I failed to take a 'before' photo of it.
You wouldn't have wanted to see it, believe me...

But this is how she turned out with a little ASCP-love
and a couple repurposed porcelain knobs that used to be on my kitchen cabinets.

ASCP in "French Grey" with "Old White" accents

Project #2 was a very old ho-hum rocker/glider.

Yikes!  Is that straw...or HORSEHAIR....?

With a little ASCP in 'Old White', Clear Wax, cushy new foam padding, and a piece of drop cloth,
it morphed in to a delicious French rocker/glider

with a faux grain sack seat.

I'm kind of getting into this reupholstering thing.

I love ripping into those old seats to see what's under there.

I loved the way she turned out,
and almost considered keeping her...

I used FabricMate pens for the first time on this drop cloth seat.

Those things are sweet!  

Very easy to use and much more realistic looking than fabric paint.

I didn't even have to use the painter's tape.
I just lined up my yardstick and drew stripes with the chisel tip.

Project #3 was a lonely looking, boring dining chair
(which I started painting before I remembered that I had to take a 'before' photo for you).

She morphed into a luscious French side-chair
with a faux grain sack seat made from more drop cloth ~
and yup, another FabricMate pen.

ASCP in "French Grey"

Are you still with me?

Ok, then.....

Project#4:  Can you say ~ "ugly pea-green mirror"?

Pea-green.  Really?
Good grief.
What are these people thinking....?

It was lovingly transformed into sweet French chicness.

ASCP in "Old White" with a drybrush of "Paris Grey".

Yes, believe it or not,
there's a Project #5.

Next up was an old gold frame that I whitewashed with ASCP in 'Old White'.

I added a French script piece of scrapbook paper,

swished a little chalk paint on the cardboard backing peeking out behind the large photo,

and inserted a couple vintage photos Georgina had at the Emporium.

The brown resin frame you see behind the picture

was just drybrushed with more 'Old White'

to create a pretty patina.

The old vintage oval mirror tucked in the back
was dressed with 'Old White' and a little distressing.
It's a beautifully made, heavy mirror. 

And last but not least,
a plain, old wood sconce was turned into a
sweet, Nordic inspired sconce
with a pretty blue tea light
(that smells like the ocean).

ASCP in 'Old White'

A little paint + a little layering of color +
a whiz of a palm sander + a rub of wax +
a lot of elbow grease buffing to a satiny sheen =

French inspired transformations
perfect for your home.

Like what you see?

Look for these treasures (and MORE!) at Doster Emporium 
 on Facebook.

We'll be listing them on Craigslist very soon, too!

(or just give Georgina a call!) 

 { Hugs }

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Just click on the buttons!

♥ And a warm welcome to my new followers!

Thank you for your comments! 

They are ALL read and ALL treasured! ♥