Ceiling Tile Trash to Treasure

George and I met up with Jessica one day last summer to check out some antique shops in Frederick, MD. It felt so strange to us to be out antiquing for the day, without looking for stuff for the store. Usually those days would end with us bringing back a truckload.

Instead, I bought one thing...

I fell in love with this old tin ceiling tile. Though I didn't like the dark dirty parts. 

I knew I wanted to hang it in out bathroom, but before I got the chance, I went to a wonderful local store called Whispering Pines. It's absolutely gorgeous! 

While I was there, I found the 2 embossed flower pictures on each end. Love!!! I had actually admired them last Christmas, but didn't have any place in mind to hang them. But now I do! I couldn't believe how perfectly they went with the ceiling tile. And bonus... they were on sale! 

But now I really felt the need to do away with dark, dirty part. I like the chippy bluish green with gold showing through, but I couldn't figure out how to keep that and get rid of the dark parts.

So, I decided to paint the whole thing. We found a chalk paint that complimented the color of the embossed pictures. It was a chalk paint which I honestly don't really care to use, but it was the best match we could find. 

After painting it, I used a sanding block to lightly distress it. Then I sprayed it with a sealer (and wouldn't you know, I got a couple runs in the spray varnish. Sigh)

But despite the runs, I absolutely love how it came out!!

They fill the wall, which is what I was hoping for. I love the colors, and how the embossing of the floral pics goes so well with the embossing of the ceiling tile. 

I wouldn't normally think of decorating a bathroom with canning jars, but I have several old blue jars, and the color is so similar to the wall grouping that I couldn't resist. 

Patience won out. I waited a couple years before I found what I wanted on that wall space, and once I saw the ceiling tile in that shop, it all snowballed. Yay! 

Our Sleigh is No Longer All That Rough

 It's a bit warmer today...it feels like 4 above instead of negative 1. Heat wave! (so to speak) 

We are currently under a winter storm warning for 4-8 inches of snow along with wind gusts to 45 mph.

 And when is the worst of it supposed to hit? Right around midnight. On New Years Eve. Yikes. We will be staying put right here in the house.

I did go out and sweep off the couple of inches of fluffy snow we picked up last night. And while I was out there, I got a couple better pictures of our sleigh:

For the whole story on the sleigh, it's worth it to read again how we got it. I had told that story here in a post called He Finally Got His Sleigh. 

And how did it look when we bought it at an auction? Like this:

Boy, she was rough.

You can see more pictures of it in the link above.

Sometime later, we actually ran across another sleigh that was in somewhat better shape, and we bought it too, also on the cheap. Between the 2 sleighs, George was able to fab them together to make one pretty decent one. He amazes me! This sleigh was truly a trash to treasure story!

It's not a sleigh to ride in, it might not hold up to that. But we love to set it on the porch every Christmas! 

If you are going out tonight, please be careful, no matter the weather where you live. But especially if you are under a snowstorm. 

Happy New Year! I hope 2026 will be a good one! 

Combining Vintage Items into New Treasures

Reminiscing...

One of our favorite things to create when we had our shop was combos.

We would look around our stash of vintage items, and inspiration would hit.

"Hey, look! This will fit on this!"

In this case, it was a 4-loaf bread pan that fit nicely on metal legs.

The large metal dishpan was a good topper for the barrel, giving it a whole new look.

We had the bowl from a vintage pitcher and bowl set for quite a while. No one wanted it without the pitcher, until we set it on the metal stand, which looked like it had been made for it. 

We laid a feed dolly down on its back, and added a box, making it into a fun planter. 

Somewhere along the way, we had picked up a box full of rusty concrete tools. They took up space in our garage for years until we turned them into hooks by attaching them to boards. The pointy one on the left is an old fur board that had been used originally to stretch pelts.

We attached 3 other fur boards to a bench for a unique look.

The barrel attached to a dolly made a fun planter.

As did the metal thingy attached to a wheel thingy.

How's that for an official description. Ha!

Once you start looking outside the box on vintage items, the possibilities are endless! 

Oh, in case you are wondering, all these items sold when the shop was open. 

We closed in 2023.

 

Sellers Cabinet with a Story

The stories she could tell! If only this old Sellers Cabinet could talk.

In fact, she did tell me a bit of her story.

See the wood attached to the side on the right? It should hold a wooden shelf.
There was a shelf there, covered in dirty pink paper.
I pulled it out to clean it, and when I took the paper off, it wasn't wood.

It was a folded up heavy cardboard calender.

From 1956!

That makeshift shelf has worked for a long time!
Love the resourcefulness of whoever came up with a solution using whatever they had laying around the house.

The cabinet had another story that is a mystery.
The pull out table part was in bad shape.
It's not enamel like most, but rather some kind of wood.
Maybe its the underlayment for enamel, and the enamel is missing?
It was all stained and nasty looking, so I painted it black.

My own version of resourcefulness.
😄

A Box Trailer Would Have Been Nice

Our October event has now come and gone.

Thanks so much to all who came and supported us!

Whew! We're tired! But, we are already preparing for the next one.

In fact, we bought a truckload for the November one a week ago.

We went to the special Saturday flea at Roger's Ohio. They usually are on Friday, and we don't get to go because of George's work schedule. But every so often, they hold one on Saturday, and we took advantage. 

We did put a couple things in the October event: the tea cart and the tall primitive cupboard. 

And they both have already sold.

We didn't take the trailer. It was a drizzly day, and we figured we wouldn't find much.

We figured wrong.

It took some serious stacking skills to get everything loaded in the truck. 

By the time we were done, we started thinking more seriously about buying a box trailer. We have a couple trailers, but always have to use tarps.

By the time we were home a couple hours later, and had driven through a couple SERIOUS DOWNPOURS, we were looking box trailers up online.

The rain didn't hurt anything. As soon as we got home, we got everything dried off. It had all needed a bath anyway, and Mother Nature gave us a helping hand. But honestly, we would rather do it ourselves.

And yeah, we are looking for a box trailer. 

Our next open date is November 23 & 24, which is Black Friday & Small Business Saturday. 

It's going to be a busy month getting ready. No rest for the weary! 😊

October Open Weekend

We are on day 2 of our October open weekend, and day 1 served up another example of this important tip for our shop:

It happened again. 2 people wanting the same thing at the same exact time. If the one who missed out had pulled the tag, she would have got it. As shoppers, we tend to look at something, then wander around looking at other things before we go back to get what we came in for. But with our one of a kind pieces being promoted on our Facebook page, chances are good that more than one person will be coming in for the same thing... at the same time.

So, if you are sure you want something, pull the tag and bring it to either me or George at the counter, and it will be yours to buy.

What was the piece that both wanted so badly this time?
This:

This old primitive cupboard. So prim, so sturdy, so cool.

We set several things outside before we open, and the lesson applies there too. If you are one of the folks who come early and stand in line waiting on us to open, and you see something you want outside, pull the tag.

See that plow leaning against the corner on the right? The customer who wanted it was waiting in line to get in, but didn't pull the tag. She told me as soon as she came in that she wanted it, and I told her to hurry and pull the tag. She was just lucky that no one else pulled it ahead of her, or she would have missed out, even as she stood there in line.

This is the only downside to the unique pieces we work hard to find. Only one person can buy them!

Some of our other cool pieces this month...

A metal dental cabinet. It sold as soon as we opened.

Barn gates, straight out of a sheep barn in Ohio. The corn sheller was from the same barn. The sheller and some of the gates are still available today.

The blanket box is still available. Love it's dovetailed corners!

Some of the ladders have sold, but we are actually bringing more in today.

Still have the iron wheels. This set is in great shape. We have more that are in a bit more used condition.

These chairs are screwed together, making a bench.

The large whiskey barrel with the green bands sold yesterday, but the shorter one is still available today. It still has it's wooden spigot.

We have lots more... old windows, lots of enamelware, signs, wooden boxes, old chairs, kitchenware, goats milk soap, WV decor, the list goes on and on.

Open today (Friday, October 13) from 10-5. Our next open weekend will be November 23 & 24, which is Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. After that, we will be open each Friday and Saturday until Christmas.

Hope you can come! 318 Jefferson Avenue in Moundsville, WV.

September Open Date

We are in the middle of our September open weekend. Whew! Another busy month getting ready! 

The pumpkin sign is painted on a large crate side that we took apart. Love the wire running across it.

These doors! So perfectly chippy!

The first thing that sold? This dresser. I could have sold it several more times, if only I could have twitched my nose and made more appear.

Quilts. Need I say more?

The white mantle went quickly too. We still have the brown one behind it.

Almost heaven!!!

This table is a marriage of an enamel top table, placed on a table that had issues with it's top. That's a post for another day...

Iron wheels. Awesome.

Another marriage. A child's roll top desk, placed on a cast iron sewing machine base. Truly one of a kind!

The black dresser/buffet sold as I was uploading this picture. Love the rockers!

I do believe the coolest thing in this display is the 3D horse picture.

We will be open again tomorrow from 10-5. Actually, we will probably open at 9, because the street in front of us will be holding our towns annual Fall Festival. Always a great day to visit Moundsville, WV!

August Summary

Our first 2 occasional shop weekends are under our belt.
Maybe for our 3rd one I can post blog pictures of it BEFORE instead of AFTER!
Here's to getting more organized!

Our July weekend (the first one) was better than we hoped. We were so excited by a line on Friday morning! The rest of that Friday was much slower. Saturday was slow, but steady, and we were happy with the turnout, with it being the first one.

August? Longer line on Friday, then the afternoon slowed considerably.
Since the July Saturday had been slow, George made other plans and didn't go to the shop with me.
Big mistake.
We had another short line on Saturday, then it slowed for just a bit. But around 11, folks started coming. And coming. And coming. For a couple hours, we were quite packed. I texted George a HELP! plea, and he came. It stayed busy most of the day.

WHEW! It looks like our leap of faith is going to work out! We are humbled and thankful.

Our theme for August was Old School, and we had 2 small classrooms set up.

From the time we made the decision to switch to occasional, I knew the August theme would be Old School. What a fun way to feature old school desks! Unfortunately, we only sold one desk. We plan to take the rest to an Antiques Fair. It's funny, I used to sell school desks easily, but the last few years, they have been a tough sell. But that's ok, they made for a fun theme.

Also fun was the outhouse display. That outhouse was a big hit! Maybe too big!
It taught a valuable lesson... if you want to buy something that is too big to bring to the counter, PULL THE TAG! We had a few people wanting it all at the same time. I won't go into the details, but the lesson is clear, pull the tag, so it's spoken for if you are sure you want something.

The funny thing about the outhouse is that we bought it a few years ago with the intent of using it as a pattern to make more. We put it beside our garden and kept garden tools in it, and never did get around to making more. The tree that was beside it was crowding it out, so I suggested we go ahead and sell it, and George agreed. Since so many customers wanted the outhouse, (I was still getting messages about it that evening), George took several pics of it, along with measurements. Looks like we will be making more after all! We hope to have a few made before the September open weekend.

We weren't sure whether to put out the clay pots we picked up recently or not, but since several customers showed an interest in them when I asked, we did put them out. The remaining ones will now be stored in the back until spring.

Crocks! Enough said. Love crocks!

The chicken wire front cabinet was one of the first items sold.

Vintage kitchenware always brings back memories.

We decided to sell these white cupboards for $10 per piece. Yep, they all sold.

Both the wagon wheels went home with the same customer. They found a great new home!

Another hit was the $2 clearance corner. I got rid of lots of smalls that I no longer wanted. Obviously we can't do that every month (some of those items retailed at up to $20. or so), but we may do it again sometime at some dollar level. For September, I'm planning a jar sale, which will include the old blue ones, as well as jars I have upcycled into various craft projects.

Another lesson learned is that we need to put the things we want to display outside out there BEFORE we open at 10. In July, we were putting stuff out as the line was coming in. That didn't work very well. This time, I had it all out well ahead of time.

Starting today, I will be tearing down the Old School set up, and starting on the next one. The basic theme will be Fall Is In The Air. The main features will be vintage treasures (as always), and lots of fall decor. We are kicking around some ideas for some fun displays and we will try our hardest to make it worth your while to come again in September on the 14th and 15th.

Several customers told us with big grins on their faces that they are loving our new occasional shop status, because of how much new stuff we have every month. (We are loving it too!) We can't begin to tell you how much we appreciate the support. This could have failed miserably, but thanks to our great customers, it is going much better than we could have imagined. You all rock!!!