I felt equal parts fascination and horror the first time I walked into a goodwill outlet. Although I’d heard about the outlet by word of mouth, I found myself there by accident. It wasn’t until a GPS instructed to “take us to Goodwill” routed us to the outlet instead of the Goodwill mega-store a…
Setting your prices can be one of the hardest parts of having a flea market booth. How you price determines how quickly your inventory will turn over, which impacts how customers experience your booth. If items catch the eye but the pricetag turns them away, the customer might not stay in your booth and shop!…
“Free inventory.” At the mere mention of the phrase, you might think of curbside finds or perhaps a way to rid yourself of bad Christmas gifts. However, over the years that I have maintained a flea market booth, I’ve located a surprising number of consistent sources of free inventory for my flea market booth. Below, I’ve…
Vintage C Clamps are great for adding a bit of a not-too-harsh industrial vibe to your home or office. Once only used for woodworking and similar construction projects, C clamps can be used to support shelves, add hooks, or secure items where you need them. C-clamps blend well into interior decor and can be a…
In the Midwest, cute vintage luggage can be a rare score in flea markets and thrift stores, but in Seattle, it’s been easy enough to find that I can be a little picky. When I’m buying a vintage suitcase for marker storage, I try to only buy luggage that smells nice on the inside.…
It’s no secret to anyone who visits my home or business that I love equestrian decor. Even so, I used to be surprised when my birthday rolled around each year and casual friends seemed to always think the perfect gift for me was a picture or painting of a horse. It made logical sense, I…
In 2015 I took the plunge, downsizing my life to adapt to a new adventure. As I began the process of selling my business in early 2014, I began preparing for the life transition the change would bring. 2015 dawned with me living in a 3,000 square foot home with 2 garages, a workshop,…
I’m almost as excited to share this project with my readers as I was to complete it for myself! Creating this vintage train case turned marker holder has been my goal for a while, but it’s taken some patience to find the perfect train case and marker holder that fit without wasting a lot…
Last Updated: From 2010-2015 Hawk Hill’s stable was inhabited always by a horse or two and I ran a tack store out of a warehouse building on the property that was designed to look like a barn, so it seemed appropriate for both my use of the property and the design of the buildings themselves…
I grew up in the world of craft shows and flea markets and never realized how many trade secrets I knew until I started my own flea market booth in my 30’s. In this post, I’m excited to share some of my secrets with other sellers and vendors. Note that most (but not all) of…
Last Updated: Last fall a friend purchased a fantastic property with an old 19th century stone barn still standing. When I remarked on the old horse collars resting under a thick layer of dust in the old tack room, she immediately gifted me both. I knew right away I’d make wreaths with them, and thanked…
Last Updated: With one natural ingredient, it’s easy to remove rust from heavily corroded antiques, artifacts, and tools. A few months after I sold my first horse, I was walking through the pasture and found a shoe he’d lost sometime in the year before. Looking at it, I thought it would be a nice keepsake-…
