flea market – Junkin With Jayme

Posted on April 1, 2019April 1, 2019 by jaymekor

Vintage Market Days of Charleston, from a vendor perspective

The Vintage Market Days event has been a thing for years and I have seen their advertisements for venues all over the southeast. This year I decided to try a “new” festival and get out of the Atlanta market. I felt fairly confident that I could do well in any environment that was geared totally around the vintage vibe and Knicknaques Vintage Boutique was instantly approved as a vendor for the VMD in Charleston, SC.

I originally chose a 10×20 booth simply because that is the size I am used to working with at the Cotton Pickin’ Fair, but the more I started to think about it, the more intimidated I became. What if I scale back a bit for my first event here? I mean, I had no idea what kind of area I would be working with. Was there going to be a wall on any side? Was there a way to hang my lights and ladder from the ceiling? I knew nothing and honestly had a very hard time getting information about the event and even less about the space I was working with. I immediately contacted them and asked them to change my booth from a 10×20 to a 10×10. So, yes, I chickened out a bit. It was weeks before I finally got a new contract for the 10×10 booth and I found out at the same time, that this particular event had a change in management. That could be good and bad, but went ahead and signed my contract for the 10×10 booth with someone informing me that they would honor my request for a booth with a wall at the back. I breathed a “small” sigh of relief and began prepping.

I wanted a boho inspired look, using white, gold and green colors with natural rattan and wicker. I had the rattan and wicker in stock at the store and set to work painting a couple dressers and a chair. Can you tell I’m obsessed with gold leaf? So pretty, and they both tie in with the look I had in mind. This chair came as a last minute thought. She has been in my basement for years and I was ready to see her transform. I had some leftover white faux fur for recovering the seat and decided on gold spray paint for the frame and cane. She is totally glam now and ready for a new home. But, I will be honest and tell you that I will not be disappointed if she doesn’t sell and I have to bring her home!

I felt more ready for this show than any other and moving day came quick. With the help of my fabulous husband, Greg, we had the trailer packed up and ready to go Wednesday night and we left around 7:30 am on Thursday. The four hour ride left me plenty of time to plan and to worry. I still had no idea about the 10×10 space I would be working with and was told we had 30 minutes to unload, which is no where near enough time for me to figure out what was going in and what was going to have to go back in the trailer. We got in around 12:30 and found we could leave the truck and trailer right outside while we unloaded everything. My booth was so small. I had no way to hang anything from the ceiling and I had NO walls. I was going to have to “make” my own walls using the furniture I had on hand. No big deal…we got this! We managed to cram as much as we could into my little area. Maybe a little too crammed, but I was happy with the end result! We finished setting up around 7:30pm and headed for our little Airbnb Whispering Pines cottage in Summerville. Adorable! After a comfortable night’s sleep, we arrived on at our booth around 9:00 am ready to go! The first 25 people in line received a free goody bag and it was super busy until about 2pm. Sales were great and I was struggling to keep up with restocking my sold inventory. My smalls were flying out the door, but my large furniture was staying put.

After closing, we moved some things around and finished restocking in time for the vendors to be treated to a tasty BBQ dinner. We headed back to our cottage and changed clothes to visit Saltwater Cowboys on Shem Creek in Mt Pleasant. They were recommended to us by a customer and their Trash Can Nachos came in a big tin can that they empty onto a plate. So yummy! I had a Pitt Street Lemonade…or two and Greg had a local Sweet Josie beer. We were full and ready to head back to get to bed.

Saturday sales were half of what they were Friday and my furniture was still sitting which is SO very unusual. Normally my furniture is the first to go! But the vendors around me weren’t selling furniture either. I marked my dressers way down hoping for some action, but…nothing. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Sunday is always SALE DAY. Make me an offer to keep us from having to load it up and take it back home! Sunday was slower than Saturday and I couldn’t sell my dressers. I did, however, sell my giant wooden lockers and a mid century chair that I never even took out of the trailer. One of the friendly vendors we met, Maureen, saved us from having to load up those lockers and when I brought the doors out of the trailer to show her, she spied my mid century lounge chair. She, thankfully, spared us a little more space❣️ Check out her awesome instagram page at Rustic Attitude.

At 4pm when the event closed, I was feeling much better about trailer space and we set to work breaking down the booth and reloading the trailer. This process normally takes us a few hours and we were on the road to go home by 6pm.

It felt good to sleep in my own bed and I’m looking forward to getting my store back in order. We met some great people at this event, but I am not sure if I will participate in another VMD show. The contract that I signed was very specific about all the vendors at this show being vintage or at least vintage inspired. The gutter company that was highlighted twice on VMD Facebook page and the skin rejuvenation booth just didn’t align with what I thought this show was going to be about. I also feel they had every opportunity to highlight each vendor through Facebook and instagram, but there were only a select few that they chose to post and some of them were advertised more than once. I may look into the Atlanta area shows to see if they are any different.

Stay tuned, but for now only 5 more weeks until the Cotton Pickin’ Fair! Visit my Facebook page Knicknaques Vintage Boutique for more information and updates.

Jayme

Posted on January 7, 2015 by jaymekor

Delivery adventure complete!

Day one. Settee, check. Coffee tables, check. Luggage, check. Vodka and Crown, check. Two excited girls on the road, check! Tonya and I set out to get as far as we could on our way up to New Jersey. Somewhere in Virginia we decided to push all the way to Atlantic City. It wasn’t exactly on the way or part of the original route, but something we really wanted to see and it was only 2 hours (or so my GPS said) from my first delivery. 16 hours later, we made it to Atlantic City. We stayed in a comped suite at Harrah’s, thanks to Tonya’s Total Reward points. Atlantic City was everything we thought it would be and we can’t wait to go back and stay. But, we had a mission and had to get up and going the next day.

Day two. Loved Atlantic City, New Jersey…not a fan of New Jersey drivers, or the toll roads. Trying to stay on budget, I decided I was going to beat the toll roads and find an alternate route that wasn’t going to break the bank. My GPS said 2 hours to Montvale which was where I needed to drop off the coffee tables. It said only 2 1/2 hours when I told it to avoid the toll roads. Save $15 and add 30 minutes? Sounded good to me. Long story short, it still took 4 hours and about half way there, we were back on the toll road. New Jersey 1, me 0. After delivering the coffee tables, I set route for Livingston to drop off the settee. GPS said 30 minutes and at this point I didn’t care if it was toll roads or not. GPS doesn’t understand New Jersey traffic either and an hour and a half later we were there. New Jersey 2, me 0. Both clients loved their furniture and we got some good information about possibly getting in to see New York City the next day. We headed back into the truck and talked about what we wanted to do next. Going into the city meant staying two nights in a very expensive part of New Jersey and the cost of getting in and eating once we got there. I disliked the thought of being so close to New York and not being able to see the city, but Tonya (and my budget) kept telling me no. We got back on the road and drove as fast and as far as we could from New Jersey. New Jersey 2, me 1.

Day three. Woke up in the Pocono Mountains. I’m from the state of Washington and I know a mountain when I see it. I’ve always heard about how people love the Pocono Mountains and that it’s a great place to visit. It is a beautiful place but people, those aren’t mountains! They are large hills with trees. Ok, now that we have that out-of-the-way. We decided to take it slow and try to see as many flea markets, thrift stores and antique malls as we could. Apparently we weren’t far enough away from New Jersey and New York. They are very proud of their antiques in the Pocono mountains and we couldn’t afford those prices. Back in the truck and back on the road. We went through Hershey, Pennsylvania and threw some money at the Hollywood casino. Back in the truck and back on the road. We stopped for the night in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Day four. We got up early and found some really neat thrift stores and some really great buys. Finally! A place we can settle down and find some deals! I scored a beautiful leather suitcase, a vintage percolator (because one can never have too many percolators), the grooviest pair of retro hanging lamps and Tonya found an old lamp she just couldn’t live without.

Sophia (at Sophia’s Thrift Store) gave us the number of a friend of hers that would let us go junkin’ in his barns. She advised us to carry a big stick. Jimmie is a hillbilly and likes pretty girls. She also told us not to tell his wife that Sophia sent us. Uh I think we’ll move on?

We contemplated making it all the way home, but decided there was a big flea market we wanted to see near Roanoke, Virginia. We stopped near Roanoke at a Howard Johnson that was advertised as being voted the nicest motel near the Appalachian Trail. It went on to say they had breathtaking views and an award-winning full breakfast buffet. We saved a lot of money on that room, but needless to say I kept my gun on me at all times and slept with it under my pillow, on my rock hard bed. I was able to fall right asleep and then I woke up in a panic at 4 am. Did I lock the truck? Did Tonya do her nightly bed bug check? Did we deadbolt the door? Unbelievably, I did forget to lock the truck (don’t worry, everything was still there) and Tonya had taken care of everything else. Whew! Our breakfast the next morning was powdered eggs, cereal and fruit. Hardly award-winning. Oh and this was our breathtaking view-

The Poconos were more breathtaking than that!

Day five. We still have 400 miles to get home and the truck is only half full. Might as well hit a couple more flea markets. Happy’s Flea Market in Roanoke made us truly Happy. I found an old metal baby bed and some antique egg beaters. Now, if any of you have ever wanted antique egg beaters, you would know they are ridiculously expensive. They go anywhere from $9 to $25. I made it a mission (and a joke) that I was going to find them for a dollar- if it’s the last thing I do. I actually found them at Happy’s for $3 and the nice lady gave me two of them for $5.

Success! Not exactly a dollar but close enough.

We went on to find an old baby stroller, a floor lamp, a vintage metal top table and a VERY large picture frame. NOW the truck is full. Did that stop us from that last flea market? No. Leave it to Tonya to find an old metal cabinet that she HAD to have. She talked the very nice old man down to $35. He started at $50. Yay! And after a little unpacking and rearranging, we were on our way again.

We made it home, safe and sound and now my garage looks like an episode of Hoarders. Time to get busy, create some masterpieces and sell some treasures. Stayed tuned to find out what happens with all the goodies we collected…

Posted on July 10, 2014 by jaymekor

And the adventure begins…

This is my first attempt at blogging. I feel like I have something interesting to say and hope that people who read this will feel the same way. If you are reading this, please let me know your thoughts and ideas. I would love to make my blogging adventure something everyone will enjoy.

Hi. My name is Jayme. I am a 40’something, married mother of four. My husband, Greg, is the love of my life and my four children are my greatest accomplishment so far. I am a real estate appraiser by trade (which gets the bills paid) but my true passion (addiction) is junking. My highs are garage sales, thrift stores, flea markets and yes, even dumpsters. I live each day for the rush of finding a jewel-in-the-rough and transforming it into something unique and amazing. My mind is consumed with ideas of “what could be”. I’m obsessed with Pinterest. Although I am not a hoarder (my husband, children and neighbors will probably disagree), but my basement and garage are filled with treasures that are near and dear to my heart. I start to have withdrawals when the small path through my garage begins to get bigger. I…must…find…more!

My first taste of junking, began a few years ago at a garage sale. I spotted a pair of cane back chairs sitting in the grass in the yard. Beautiful cane, still intact. Ugly, old, stained brown fabric probably from the 1960’s or 70’s. Although unused and unwanted by their current owners, they were perfect to me! I took the pair of them home for $5.
I immediately set to work. I lovingly sanded them down and painted the frames an antique white. I recovered the seats in a gorgeous burnt-orange and crème floral fabric that I found at my favorite discount fabric store for $6 a yard. I learned removing staples are a pain in the ass (and hands) but a necessary evil when refinishing. I made my own cording and had better luck with my glue gun. My masterpiece was finished!
Now the true test was to see if someone could love them as much as I did. I opened my Etsy store in October of 2013 and my beautiful chairs were listed for sale for $200. They sold in two weeks to a buyer in Mississippi who absolutely loved them! I was hooked!

Since then, I have refinished and sold all types of furniture and have even dabbled in my own pallet creations and making lamps out of vintage coffee and tea pots. Shout out to my hubby, who helps me with the lamps…Thank you, Greg for supporting my addiction! I love each piece I create or recreate, but a fabulously crafted chair is my weakness.

I am currently finishing a settee for an Etsy client in New Jersey. She custom ordered a cane back chair from me and wanted me to finish a settee for her. I found the settee here in Georgia and she sent me her ideas for color and her own fabric. It is almost complete and so far it is beautiful. I normally ship my furniture through Greyhound Shipping and they haven’t let me down yet. My only problem is they have weight and size limits. So, I needed to find other options for my larger pieces. A few months ago, I tried Uship and had a great experience. I found a delivery company located in Florida that make regular trips across the country. My first item arrived on time and without incident. I had found another way to ship! I contacted Dan (my new shipper) and asked him if he could take the settee to New Jersey. He informed me that he was making a trip to New York in the next few weeks and could fit in the settee. Yay! I had time to work on it and an inexpensive way to get it to my buyer. In the meantime, I sold a heavy, 3 piece coffee table set and this buyer lived 30 minutes from my client with the settee. Perfect! I contacted Dan again to ask if he could fit in the coffee tables as well. He didn’t respond, which was very unusual because I normally get an immediate response. Being it was the week of the 4th of July, I figured he was out of the country on vacation or something. Two more messages and two weeks later…nothing. I am convinced he’s either dead or in jail. I’m truly heartbroken. And in a pickle. I have charged two clients for shipping and no way to ship at the last minute. At this point, I only have one option. ROAD TRIP!! Enter my best friend and co-conspirator Tonya. She has agreed to accompany me to New Jersey to deliver my furniture. She shares my passion and addiction for junking and we plan to make this a trip to remember!

That’s it up to this point. You’re all up to date. I have to get on with the rest of my day and I’m sure if there is anyone reading this, it’s time for you to move on too. Stay tuned…I’ll be updating often!