Second Hand Chic: The Early Days

So, here I am with 2000 square feet of floor space to fill. I hauled my vintage treasures in, raided my mother's garage and begged my sisters for cast-offs. I put a sign in the window, asking people to bring in their unwanted yet adorable items to consign. Most would-be consignors showed up at my door with particle-board computer desks and hideous sofas that belonged in a trailer park. I realized at this point I was going to have to find furniture myself and start painting like a mad woman in order to fill the store by my opening deadline. I quickly discovered the "oops" paint at the Home Depot: $5 for a gallon of questionably mixed paint.

I decided to set up dispays using color as a theme. Unfortunately, my daughter Emily, was color-blind and could not decipher between shades of green, brown and red. She really is color-blind! What are the chances?

A lucky find at an estate sale.
I spent lots of time trawling the "DI", our name for Deseret Industries in these parts. I had always been a faithful DI shopper. I brought my husband on one visit to the DI and surprisingly, even though he grew up in Salt Lake, he had never step foot in a Deseret Industries store. When they rolled a cart out with fresh merchandise from the back room and he observed the frenzied hordes descend upon it he was confused by the mayhem. He thought perhaps that they were serving coffee and donuts. He was also amused by the group of senior citizens who spent the day parked on the row of sofas. I guess they have no where elso to go...it's a lifestyle!


Adorable pink.

I found this enamel table in a scary basement. I realized then I had to overcome my arachnaphobia.

The result of a painting frenzy! The black furniture is a popular favorite.

This cute waterfall front dresser was brought in by a gal who was closing her consignment shop. I should have seen the signs. This endeavor was not going to be as easy as I imagined.

This piece was actually brought in by a consignor! But. like I said the cute consignment items were few and far between.

Kelly