Junking with Ki

Treasures to be found

This past week was filled with 3 junking excursions with my sister Ki from CA. With Ki’s knowledge, ideas and enthusiasm we always have a great time!

 The first two excursions we went on are two of my favorite flea market/junk haunts. Excursion #1: The Mt. Dora Extravaganza in Mt Dora is held three times a year. At the Extravaganza, not only are the inside year around buildings open, but a huge wide grass field is filled with vendors from all parts of the country. Excursion #2: The local salvage yard here in Ocala. With the “salvage stock” ever changing, I always find something cool and unusual there.

Cowboy Junction, Lecanto FL

Excursion #3:  Cowboy Junction, in Lecanto FL., a new flea market for us that Ki had heard about from one of her readers of the Flea Market Style Magazine. Open only on Tuesdays during the winter tourist season, Cowboy Junction is set up in a former Outdoor Drive in Movie Theater field. We arrived at around 9 that morning and found that many of vendors where still setting up. When I asked one vendor how late the flea market stayed open till he replied ”We pretty much leave whenever we want”. I took that to mean if business is good they’ll stay and if it’s slow they’ll pack up “whenever”. The day we were there we saw a wide range of items for sale and we found most of the vendors to be friendly and helpful. We left close to noon and the market was in full swing by then. Check out more pictures here of Cowboy Junction.

Having gotten my fix of Flea Markets, Ki left for CA, with me promising I would come visit her in February where we would go to some of her favorite CA junking haunts. I’m looking forward to that trip!! See you soon Ki!

Happy Junking,

Karla

The Maple Bed That Was.....

The Maple Bed That Was

A few blogs past, I wrote about an auction that my sister Ki and I attended. The bidding at the auction was as sluggish as the weather that day.I had no intention on buying a bed that day  nor did I have any use for a single maple bed, but when the auctioneer started pleading for someone to buy this bed, I raised my hand and it came home with me for a mere $10.00.I called DBH to bring the truck and we loaded it up along with a lot of other things that I didn't need. We brought it down to DBH's  "Hardly-Able Workshop" and there it sat.

Sewing Room

Again a few blogs past, I wrote about my sewing room. Like our house, my sewing room is always in constant change. I needed more storage for my small odd bits of trinkets, locker tags, and numbers. That's when the idea came to me, repurpose that maple bed into something useful for me.

Swirls and Curves from the Headboard 

DBH and I discussed my idea for the maple bed. We make a great team, I'm the idea person and he makes it happen. I wanted to incorporate the shape and swirls of the headboard into my idea. He started cutting and doing his magic when I discovered the Stickley imprint on one of the solid maple side rails. My $10.00 bed was suddenly worth a lot more! Sadly, we were past the point of no return.

Stickley Bed Side Rails

The solid maple side rails of the bed were repurposed into an ashtray/organizer of sorts that I sell on my Etsy site Blue Gate Vintage. The only part that I have yet to come up with an idea for is the big heavy gorgeous legs of the bed. Does anyone have any ideas for the legs? I haven't yet decided how I will finish the maple wood on my wall shelf. Should I stain the maple with a dark stain or just oil it with either Howards Beeswax or Watco teak oil? The wall shelf was made to have a back on it but I can't decide if I want one or not. What do you think back or no back? Your thoughts and suggestions are welcome here!

Thank you, DBH for making the magic happen!

Karla