Where Have you Been?!?!

Well...It's been months since my last blog post...(That kinda sounded like a confession!)and man a lot has happened over those two months!  We have been super busy.  If you follow us on Facebook you have probably seen what we have been up to.  Here is a short recap....

May 1st we moved into a small space at White Elephant (WE).  Sales were great our first couple of weeks and we decided this was a good direction for us so we started talking to the WE owners about more space.

Towards the end of May, we signed up for space at a new location in Springdale called Midtown Eclectic Mall. Not one week after we signed up for that space, WE had a large room available for us and we took it (no commitment issues here!). 

June 1st we moved into the space at Midtown and had a great first two weeks.  Then the owner at Midtown offered us a better space so during the 3rd weekend in June we moved our new booth into a newer booth space, within the same building.  The next week we moved our from our small space at WE in the big room they offered us.  So, we basically set up 2 booth spaces and then relocated them, all in 2 months,  (I wouldn't recommend this to just anyone!).

So, the outcome has been great.  Sales are amazing at both locations and we are really enjoying working on all our projects. We started out mostly buying and reselling vintage glassware, household and decor items, but have recently moved into restoring furniture and creating handmade items. 

Dan has joined us as a partner in this endeavor and Tyler is even getting involved more.  He is selling clocks, helping with some accounting work and is a great help when it comes to doing little projects.  Sam is starting to get involved too and I'm excited to get her input on some projects we have coming up.

We are still going to auctions, yard sales and thrift stores, but now with a new purpose. We have found a lot of great deals and love to pass them on to our customers.  We are buying cheap and keeping our overhead low so the typical person can enjoy our items without going broke buying them...this will remain our goal! 

We have really enjoyed spending time with the staff at both booth locations and  since we are at the booths so much, have starting building relationships with other vendors and the customer base.  One customer in particular has become a repeat customer and a good friend.

So when we first started the blog it was more of a "where to shop" and "this is what we like" kind of endeavor.  We have changed direction in the last few months.  We still do all the same stuff as before, but now with a new purpose.    

We really feel blessed to be able to do what we love.  It started out as a hobby but has turned into a passion and I'm so happy that it's a family effort.  We love having the kids involved and it's very fulfilling to create or restore something with your own blood and sweat, and have someone love it, buy it, and display it in their own homes.  We pray that we can continue to do what we love, with the people we love and turn a profit at the same time!

Below are pics of some of our booths and recent and upcoming projects...


Midtown, booth #1

Moving into larger booth at Midtown (caution...construction zone!)

Hutch, sold at Midtown, before & after

1940's vanity with mirror and bench, sold at Midtown

Shelves we painted at a customer's house

Moving into larger booth at White Elephant (yet another...construction zone!)

China cabinet, sold at Midtown

Pinterest inspired projects for Midtown & White Elephant (some are still available)

 Yardsale Treasures

New merchandise, just waiting for a little inspiration & a new coat of paint (or fabric)!

Follow us on Facebook for new inventory pictures.  We also have multiple listings on Craigslist.  We do custom orders and custom paint jobs on your own furniture.  Message us for detials.

Other BIG news!!...

We will be selling items at a outdoor vintage market in September.  We are very excited! See details below.

 AND....I would like to say congrats to my brother on finally popping the question to his amazing girlfriend (and MVA blog co-conspirator) Ashley (while on vaca in Puerto Rico)! 

And another huge congrats to Andrea & Stephen on the very very early arrival of Miss Ava Helena, born June 21st, 4lbs, 1 oz. We did a shower for Andrea just 6 days earlier...glad we got that in when we did!!

Busy Busy Busy

Busy Busy Busy!

We have been so busy lately.  Here's a little bit of an update on what we've been so busy doing....

Last weekend was the spring craft fair weekend.  Hundreds of vendors were in NWA at multiple events around the area, including War Eagle, and the big craft fair at the Sprindale Holiday Inn.  We are not huge craft fair goers, but did make it to events both Friday and Saturday. 

Friday night we visiting the vendors that were set up at the Frisco Station Mall in Rogers.  It started out as a trip to the Samaritan Shop there in the same location and it was just a bonus that the craft vendors were set up.  We met some very nice people and picked up a great selection of magnets.  A lot of these have already sold but you can check out what's left in our booth.

Prior to the Frisco Station stop, we hit up the Goodwill stores in Springdale and Rogers. We scored big in Rogers!  Springdale was good too!

On Saturday morning our intention was to hit up the 20 mile Hwy 59 Pickin' Time sale between Siloam Springs and Decatur.  Unfortunately the weather was cold and wet.  Most vendors decided to hold off on setting up so we just ended up hitting some of their local flea markets and antique shops.  We picked up some great deals there too!

After our stop in Decatur, we stopped at the craft fair in Springdale, visited with vendors, then went to Cornerstone Auction House in Avoca.  Cornerstone always has a nice selection and a friendly staff.

Sunday afternoon we went and checked on our booth at the White Elephant Emporium in Fayetteville. Lots of items had sold so we went back home, gathered up some new inventory and took it back down and did some rearranging.

Monday night we worked on painting and pricing from over the weekend. 

Tuesday after work I stopped back by the booth.  A ton of stuff was missing!  I was so excited!  I went home and Jim and I loaded the car back up and took another load of stuff back to the booth.  When we got home I started looking at my Spreadsheet (yes, I'm a spreadsheet junkie) and moved a lot of stuff from my inventory list to my @WhiteElephant list and also moved a ton of stuff from my @WhiteElephant list to my sold@WhiteElephant list.  I keep pretty good records of everything we buy, where it's purchased, what we paid for it and how much it's selling for.  This allows me to keep an eye on sales for the month.  So for our first 11 days At the White Elephant, we have sold over $300 in merchandise!  That made me very happy!  Not only to be moving product, but to be validated that other people like the same stuff we do!  The booth has proven to be a lot of work but a lot of fun!

Wednesday night Jim and I took a trip to Hobby Lobby for supplies, then I worked on cleaning up the work area.  Currently we have most everything in the living room(extra inventory, furniture to paint, tools & supplies) My 12 year old son informed me that it was time to clean it up!!  So I spent about an hour last night trying to organize everything.  I must say it's a much more pleasant place to be now.

Tonight we are going to go check out the auction in Eureka Springs @Eureka Auctions & Market.  I've been wanting to go for the past few weeks.  They have it every Thursday night. 

So that's what we've been so buys doing lately!  I hope the weather is nice this weekend!  I'm going to put together a yard sale list for Saturday morning and hopefully some of the vendors that go rained out last weekend will be able to have a sale this weekend.

Hope everyone has a great day!
Casey

MVA is at White Elephant Emporium!

Saturday we moved into our new booth at the White Elephant Emporium.  It was a lot of fun but also a lot of work.  I would like to send out a big hug and thank you to Dan and Jim. I would probably still be there working if it wasn't for their help.  So thanks again!!

This was my first experience at setting up a booth.  For anyone interested, my advise is do lots of planning ahead!  For example, we found a great wooden shelf at Potters House that measured 7' long and about 4'tall for the back wall of the booth.

 

I set up the shelf at the house Friday night and figured out all the glassware arrangement and snapped a photo on my iPhone.

Then on Saturday when we put the shelf in the booth, as we unwrapped the glassware, I just looked at the photo and knew exactly where to put each piece.  What I didn't want to have happen was to be arranging everything on the shelf 100 different ways during set up.  Dan was even able to help put items on the shelf by looking at the picture and everything made it to it's correct spot and none of my OCD had to come out!!

The coolest part of the day was having folks "ohh & ahh" at the items in the booth as we were setting up.  We even sold 3 things before we were done.  The space next to us was vacant, so we used it as a staging area.  We sold one of our most expensive pieces out of the staging area before it even made it into the booth!  It made me very happy because once we got the booth all put together, it was apparent that we wouldn't have had room for it anyway!

Jim and I checked back on the booth Sunday afternoon and another small piece had sold.  I guess we did a good job of picking and staging.  I hope the good sales continue!

So if you're in South Fayetteville and are looking for a bargain, come check us out at the White Elephant.  They are located on MLK kind of catty corner and across the street from Zaxby's. Our booth is downstairs and it has a big MVA sign in it.  Hope to see you there!

Casey