Tricycles for the Garden

Last summer, George went to an estate auction, and brought back a couple old rusty tricycles. I was excited about that, because tricycles (and bicycles) have always sold pretty quickly for us. Usually as a garden touch.

Although one time, a young man bought one of our old school bicycles and added some sort of motor. When he told me his plans for it I thought he was dreaming. But he brought me a picture of it a couple weeks later, and it was really cool.

I digress.
Back to the tricycles.

One went on a table top. Why a table top? Because if I put it on the floor, it's too tempting for little ones who want to ride it. We have no room for that unfortunately.

The other went in the display window. I really need to take the time to refinish the floor in there. A couple years ago, we had some pine trees cut from sawmill slabs on display. They drew moisture, and left the whitish spots you can see under the bike. I suppose fixing it is going to mean sanding the floor down completely, then putting new varnish on. 

That's going to be number 4,624 on my project list.

Again, I digress.

Back to the tricycles.

I figured they would sell quickly, but for whatever reason, they didn't.

Time went on.

I worked one into a gingerbread display.

More time went on.

Christmas display.

Really?

They drew lots of interest, but it was usually along this line:

"So and so would love this, I'll tell them to come look at them."

But apparently "so and so" never came.

Just about everyone who looked at them remarked at the reasonable price.

But they still remained.

In late winter, I put them in the clearance corner. STILL no takers.

I was beginning to wonder if they had a hex on them.

I was about to just take them off the floor for a few months when Pinterest gave me an idea.

Photo via Pinterest, and a blog you can see by clicking here. The blog post has several beautiful photos.

That hot pink is a little too hot for my taste, but I loved the concept. I have seen several 

bicycles painted in this manner, but it hadn't occured to me to give the tricycles the same treatment.

So, I looked through my spray paint stash, and settled on white and a more muted pink.

I love how the white one turned out. As for the pink, maybe it's a little TOO muted. 

Hmmm...

Once I got them back to the shop, I added a little red basket to the white one. I have a little sage green basket in the same style that could be added to the pink one. 

So...... we'll see if they sell now. Here's hoping!

By the way, this seems a good time to tell one of my favorite stories:

Several years ago, we were at an outdoor auction, full of antiques. The crowd was large with lots of buyers. But there was one guy there who was trying his best to sweep the auction. It became increasingly difficult to buy anything, because he was running the bids up so high. 

Two tricycles came up for bid. The guy was eying them eagerly. But so was a little boy, up on his daddy's shoulders. 

The bidding for choice on the 2 tricycles started. The little boy had his daddy's bid card, and was holding it up high. The guy bid against the boy a couple times, but finally stopped. Maybe he felt the pressure from the crowd who was watching, waiting, silently rooting for the boy to get the winning bid. He put down his card, and the little boy kept his high up in the air. 

Going once, going twice, SOLD! 

Daddy set the little boy down on the ground, and he ran to the tricycle of his choice with a big grin on his face. The crowd parted, and he rode off down the driveway on his new bike. I don't think George and I were the only two in the crowd with happy tears in our eyes. 

Sweet, sweet memory.