We Don't Sell Food or Toilet Paper

My sales at the April occasional sale in Buffalo continued to be spotty. Some furniture seems to be selling, the number of shoppers has increased substantially and interest has heated up from the depths of winter. My sales were higher in volume but capped by an $89 upholstered chair. I sold a ton of smalls. $15-20 frames and paintings sold out. But my $395 brass bed bench generated little interest. It appears that the customers wanted to buy, but were limiting their purchases to my cheaper items.

I have never really understood the antiques business. The one thing that I have learned is that as soon as I think I have it worked out, I am wrong. Then there is the undeniable truth that we don't sell necessities. There is no food or toilet paper for sale in the shop. There is an inverse relationship between gasoline prices and sales. The more gasoline costs the less discretionary money there is for my shabotaged pieces.

I am going to gut my spot at the Porch before the May occasional sale. I need to shake it up completely. I will add many more smalls. Smaller tables, cheaper furniture and many more frames, prints and paintings. I want to have a more Spring look. More things for the garden. More color. And I do have the turquoise, teal and aqua memo in hand for the shabotaging. Maybe some nice weather will permit me to rework my inventory and freshen my look.

And I am very happy that I have a real job to support this habit.

Mr. Flannery

If it will fit in the truck, it will surely fit in the house

A mantra that contributes to an overwhelming accumulation of stuff. While true with any individual truck full, it is a delusion that falls apart somewhere between the 13th and 17th load. The people involved in our style of decorating most often believe that more is better and much more is even betterer. The old saw that three of anything are a collection, means that we collect just about everything. Three examples of any collection is a minimal level surpassed long ago.

I have never collected mixing bowls. When I moved into the lake house about 15 years ago I had an open space above the cupboards in the pantry. This will be a great place to display a few bowls and crocks. Therefore, I searched through the moving boxes and started putting a few pieces that were laying around, mostly as incidental purchases related to something else that I wanted, on display in the pantry. 15 years and many trucks full later and this is what I have.

This is really not what I have. This is what I have room to display. There are other bowls and crockery scattered through the house, closed cupboards and various storage spaces. Oh my! And some people worry about 3 pieces being a collection. I am obviously bowled over.

Mr. Flannery

Weller Pottery Kingfisher Pitchers

I really like these Weller Pottery pitchers. They are from the Zona line. I like this duck pitcher too.


Mr. Flannery

Old Lights Yes - Old Wires I Don't Think So

One of the many fields of interests that I have explored in the junkin' world is lamps and lighting. I used to collect leaded and slag panel stained glass lamps, but they have now disappeared from the market or moved to Sotheby type prices. Just about the only leaded glass lamps that I see at auction today are Tiffany lamps (made by their daughter Tiffany in 1987) or turn of the century Chinese pieces (that would be 8 years ago when the century turned). So I have branched out into more recent table, floor and hanging lamps.

While antique or vintage lighting is often stunning, the wiring can be down right shocking. I like the old lighting, but the old wiring has to go. It is better to disassemble most lamps and rewire them with new, well insulated wiring. The photo is of a pair of interesting lavender colored boudoir lamps that I recently redid.

There is nothing more jarring than a nice old lamp fitted with a brand new shiny brass socket from the Depot. It just doesn't look right. I like to reuse the old brass parts from the lamp while fitting the newer guts from the Depot inside. I often buy lamps at auction, not for their lighting suitability, but for their wonderfully patinated brass parts. These parts look right and are much cheaper than a new light repair kit. I buy surplus power cords at the local electronic parts salvage store. They have a regular molded plug on one end and a special attachment plug on the other. I cut off the special plug, thread it through the lamp, strip the ends and connect up the lamp socket. Not only do these cords have an integrated plug, they only cost me a half buck each. (You can use a cheap new extension cord in the same manner if you can't find the surplus store nearby.)


Mr. Flannery

The Strangest Couch

I bought this strange couch at an auction 2 summers ago. The arms and back are about 5 feet tall. I have decided to call it an Englenook, but do not know what it is really called.

One of my good friends from the Porch has agreed to reupholster it for me. So I am going to haul it to her shop sometime this week. Each arm weighs about 100 pounds. This is going to be a nice curl up in piece across from the fireplace in my house.

Mr. Flannery

Selling some things

I worked Thursday and Friday mornings at the Porch. The weather was excellent and buyers could feel the start of Spring in their souls. 'Course the last of the melting snow gave them that winter feel in their soles. We had good crowds and Kari sold 2 center islands in the first couple of hours. My sales have been slower but I have great hope for the weekend.

Some of my goods were sold at Dave Millers Auction in St Cloud on Friday night. Unfortunately, I did not haul a second load there before the auction as I had planned. The limited amount of stuff that I sold did surprisingly well, almost enough to cover the items that I bought. So now I have an upholstered chair and a few other knick-knacks to haul into the Porch on Saturday.

I brought the chair into the Porch at about 9:30 this morning. It was sold by 10 o'clock. That's pretty quick turn around. Bought, hauled and sold all within 12 hours. It would be nice if everything went that quickly. There were good crowds at the shops in Buffalo on Saturday. Lots of people taking advantage of the Spring weather. People were happy and enjoyed going from shop to shop in the sunshine. I hope that sales are equally happy.

Mr. Flannery

Scenes from the April Sales

My Brass and Iron Bench


Second Hand Rose
The first ocassional sale place
in Buffalo


This 'n That
Second Hand Rose's Neighbor

Kari's Stuff at The Porch

Kari with a Bar She Built

Some of My Silver Plate

Mr. Flannery

Ready for the April Sale

The entrance to the Porch

My neighbors Annemarie & Lisa

I finally finished setting up my space at the Porch. Now I just hope someone likes it, 'cause I'm not bringing it back to my house.

Mr. Flannery

Victorian Iron & Brass Bed Bench

Another View of the Bench

Newel Post Lamp

1950's Pressed Steel Lawn Chairs

Silver Plate Servers & Italian Accordion

Turquoise Cabinet

& Jenny Lind Bed

Oil on Board Paintings

On Decorating My Space - 3 Days Before the Sale

I hate my space at the Porch. It has no cohesion or sense of direction. It looks like I filled the trailer from the garage and dumped it in a heap at the shop. The Shabbies are there wonderfully decorating and tieing their spaces together. Their merchandise is all coordinated in the color du jour and the presentation is spectacular. (Damn I must have missed the meeting where they decided that aquas, teals and turquoise were in and old car rusty primer was out).

They are merchandisers with a flair for decorating. I am a stacker piling the boxes of Wheaties on the metal shelves. They are presenters offering the customers a cozy pink nest. I am the junk man wondering if I should have washed that mirror after only 20 years in the garage.

Mr. Flannery

Herding the Hogs

I attended a nice general auction in St. Cloud on Friday evening. I bought an interesting mix of junk to shabotage, junk to sell as is and junk for me to keep. I filled most of the pick-up truck and was able to bring 90% of it right into the Buffalo shop this morning.

The most interesting item is a large Victorian bench made from a wonderful cast iron and brass bed. It must weigh 150 pounds. It is already at the Porch for the April sale. I found a very nice Jenny Lind single bed, a beautiful oak door with a center window, mouldings and a crackly white paint. The antique Italian accordion looks nice situated half way under one of the stacks of tables.

I am about 3/4th set-up at the Porch. When I have that finished I get to do my favorite thing; price my items. It seems to take me forever to get everything marked and ready to go. My items there range for a huge 1950's greens-to-blue glazed pottery lamp, to a rusty red shabotaged coffee table, to a 1950's back lighted farm scene picture and a 1890's greenish white stained glass window.

I've been finishing my painting on the driveway this afternoon. Walmart had their cheapest spray paint on sale for less than $1 per can. I painted a bunch of broken up gesso frames flat white and a 1940's maple file cubby cabinet primer red. It worked great as long as I remembered to stay upwind of the 20 mph gusts.

Mr. Flannery

Shabby in Sauk Rapids

There soon will be a new shop in Sauk Rapids, just across the Mississippi River from St. Cloud, in a great old store front. It is called Gypsy Lea's and will feature the same kind of shabby but chic furniture and accouterments that are in the Buffalo shops with its own distinctive features and flair. Gypsy Lea's will also operate on the occasional sale schedule that has been successful in Buffalo. The first sale is planned for the 2nd Thursday-Sunday in May. I had an opportunity to tour the space with the owner today. It looks great.

The carpenters were installing drywall, concrete ledges (like the popular concrete kitchen counters) were being formed, electrical boxes in the open ceiling girders were being laid out and rustic door casings were being planned for the ancient wood interior wall. The wood wall was an outside wall before a 1950's addition. It will be a beautiful feature stretching almost 50 feet across the back of the retail space. The total floor space, approximately 1700 square feet, is going to offer solid, but nailable, walls, high ceilings (with open girders for lots of hanging) and plenty of electric outlets for all those lamps that the shabbies love to use for accent.

I purchased 6 gigantic hanging church ceiling fixtures at a recent auction. They are going to be part of my contribution to the Grand Opening Sale. They will look fantastic hung from the girders.

I am certain that Gypsy Lea's is going to provide a great new shopping destination for Central Minnesota.

Mr. Flannery

Shuffling Off to Buffalo

The occasional sales in Buffalo will start on April 3rd so it is time to decide which hogs to herd in and how to set up my space. It is part of the never ending "Dancing with Furniture" that seems to occur everyday in this business.

Buffalo Minnesota has developed an interesting niche in the antiques and shabby chic sale market. The 8-9 shops located there are open one four-day weekend each month. The shops each have their own sense and style but as a group they are the shabby roses that I so often watch. There are two rules that seem to keep interest and sales up. The limited open time means that if you want the stuff you have to come now or forget it for a month. The second requires the dealers to remove their stock if it doesn’t sell in two months. The excitement created by limited opportunity and guaranteed fresh stock gets the shoppers to Buffalo for the Sales. And of course the stock is innovative, stylish, quirky and just plain fun.

I have been selling in this woman’s world for about 3 years. Among the roses of frilly pillows, rustic furniture, fabulous fabrics and cabin accessories I try to sell my hogs sprinkled with some real antiques. I am one of the 7-8 dealers who sell in a shop named the Porch and Atelier. The shop is housed in the historic 1905 brick post office in downtown Buffalo. The 2 storeys of the shop have sloping floors, field stone and brick walls, high ceilings, large windows, pressed tin and character to die for. (Of course, hanging frames on granite or brick walls is often problematic).

The limited opening time also means a limited time to stock and set up my space. And the limited space available to me means a puzzle dance to get the pieces to fit. I have started making my list of items and dancing my furniture into the space. I have the top half of a 1870's Victorian desk and bookcase that was painted turquoise 50-60 years ago, a rewired pierced tin hanging lamp, an oil painting of a sailing ship in an old paint maroon wood frame, a large round leather top coffee table with faux bamboo legs, a 6 pane window with wonderful greenish-white stained glass, fancy gesso frames some in gold and one in a sloppy old teal colored paint and multitude of tin boxes and other smalls. This is just my initial inventory. Other items will be added as they are painted, cleaned, pounded together and otherwise shabotaged for sale in the shop.

Mr. Flannery

Night Hunter

From my office window. The owls are getting ready for their night out.

Mr. Flannery

Bookends into Brackets

I bought a pair of brass colored spelter metal bookends at an auction on Saturday ($1). I am going to turn them upside down and attach them to a hall tree door project. They will be fancy shelf brackets. I'll decide whether to paint them when I get further into the project. This is an easy way to fancy up a project. It is much cheaper than buying a standard shelf bracket and it will add a ton of style.

The bookends are in a stylized ostrich plume design that is one of the symbols of the Prince of Wales. I guess after they are mounted the ostrich will be putting its head in the ground.

Mr. Flannery

Furniture from a Box

Here are photos of an occasional table that I assembled last year. I laminated the well lettered side of a shipping crate to the top of a small pine table. I used a router to round over and even out the edges. It was finished with a washed out stain and a coat of lacquer. I like the final product. The total cost for materials was less than $5. And I still have another side of the crate to use somewhere else.

Mr. Flannery

Why Hogs and Roses?

Many of the shops around here use rose in their names. Rose Cottage, Second Hand Rose, Rose Trellis and even Rusty Rose. These are the shops that emphasize shabby chic, cottage or some other similar fussy and girly style of furnishings. They are the shabbies. Flowers and frills and lacy type things. I’m a guy who has somehow fallen into this shabby world. No wife or girlfriend pushing me for help and certainly no partner expressing the need to decorate. My stuff tends to be outside of the cottage and you will not find a piece of foo foo anywhere. My things are the hogs in this world of roses. Thus the title: Hogs and Roses.

I have been collecting, buying and selling antiques and objets d’interest for many years. At 8 years old my best friend and I took our coaster wagons on a scavenger hunt through the alleys of St. Paul. We returned with a full load of great stuff that others were tossing out. I’ve been hunting ever since.

I ran into the earliest shabbies about ten years ago. What I saw was a bad coat of paint on a piece of 1970's press board junk. And it was selling. I declared that I would shabotage furniture when pigs fly. Thus the title: Hogs and Roses.

Fortunately the shabbies have changed greatly from my first exposure. The pieces are much better in design and execution. Creativity and style exude from the items that many of the shabby ladies now produce. The creative opportunities presented by recycling, reconstructing and redesigning are exhilarating, inventive and often very clever.

My house was gut remodeled about 12 years ago. The design incorporates 17 antique stained glass windows and many other architectural antiques. This design process was the one great artistic expression in my life. The reuse and incorporation of similar architectural elements into my hogs now offers a similar, but smaller scale, opportunity to make further artistic expression. I started to sell some of my pieces in one of the girly rose type shops. I was "the man" when women were in the shop for our monthly sales. They are presenters offering the customers a cozy pink nest. I am the junk man wondering if I should have washed that mirror after only 20 years in the garage. Thus the title: Hogs and Roses.

I will be writing an occasional blog at this site. I will give you some of my ideas, share some of my treasures and seek your counsel in dealing with the thorns that sometimes appear among the roses.

Right now I am contemplating the use of old doors in shabotage projects. Contemplation is about as far as I have gotten because I have no suitable place to work. The garage is filled with inventory (which may be psycho-babble for the good junk that I don't want to part with right now). The weather on the tundra is still too cold to work outside. I have started excavating my garage. I even found proof that the cement floor still exists under the pile. Excavating has produced a number of treasures and the contemplation of new hogs to assemble.

I hope that you comment on this blog and return again to see what we are doing. I’ll be the guy in the corner trying to hide his hogs among the roses.

Mr. Flannery