Picker Sisters Are Back!

This week I took a fast trip to Kansas for work- no picking happened, I did get a some free bulbs from my customer service rep- I love free plants. I stayed at a Hampton Inn in Shawnee KS and in the elevator was these signs - reusable fun! Great message.

Well I had to find the origin of the signed and found this website -

Yes I had to ride up and down both elevators 2 times to get these poor quality images! dedicated.

The trailer plans are coming along- a lot work will get done this week . . . but bigger news, the Picker Sister are back! I am not sure how we missed the Season Premiere on March 15th, but good news we can watch it online. Why am I excited about it? It has been so long since I had a chance to yell at the TV. It is a great release of tension and stress!

Since we do not pick for resale, we can always find stuff at estate sales, garage wales, the side of the road and more. These books came from an estate sale- I also go a garden statue with a broken foot - check it out on my other blog gardening not landscaping.

Our college friend Mike has started to get nostalgic, he has been emailing us old photos for fun- he sent us because he wants to know if his radio is worth anything? He still has it. I found it interesting because we still have lawn furniture like this and yes we paint it almost every year...

OK back to the radio, anyone know how much it might be worth? can he retire? He He

There is a reason fashions change and a reason we take pictures along the way - Yes in the 1970's Mike was cool! maybe he still is, want his no#? In the mean time watch the Picker Sisters and send us your reviews!

You would not think you would find such a eclectic and reasonably priced junk shop to be right in the middle of the French Quarter, but Greg's Antiques is that place!

The problem is we did not drive- but next year, when the trailer is done- look out- we can fill it up!

I always am drawn to lighting and these lights were cheep and fun- but they did not come home with me:(

Loved the iron . . .

yep more iron . . .

Of course we had to stop for a beer - after all we are in New Orleans. The Bulldog was a great option on Magazine Street. I loved the re purposing- of beer taps into a fountain!

They also had a fun way to keep warm

The Junque Shop was off Frenchman Street and had an interesting selection.

Frenchmen Street has some great music and interesting, art. Places to check out, for music Maison, for atmosphere, The Apple Barrel and for great food Adolfos.

I know the Pickers- American Pickers or Picker Sisters do not like to hit the typical antique shops, but there is sometimes some finds there- we will do it all . . . garage sales, auctions and estate sales as well- we are not Picky Pickers.

Great Gifts

Winter break brought some excellent surprises. First and foremost, the most excellent gift EVER . . . a vintage trailer from my picker sister and her hubby. Restoration has begun as documented with me in my most glamorous John Deere sweatshirt. Coincidentally, at my family grab bag gift exchange, I received a cookie jar in the shape of a vintage trailer! Adorable!!

Also, driving home from central Illinois, I spotted a real live bottle tree!!! I am working on my own, but have only seen pics.  This one was authentic and very decked out!! "L"

Refinishing begins

Not exactly dressed like Tanya and Tracy from the "Picker Sisters", Laura is more like an advertisement for John Deere. (Click on John Deere to link to their clothing central.) She is taking the last of the hardware off the cabinets.

It is a goal to have the trailer ready for a road trip by late spring, so that means we need to work on it whenever we get a chance. Here is a before and after sanding view.

We did the sanding in the garage, heated only with this one small heater. it was windy and 25 degrees outside.

We are using Minwax Pecan Satin Poly, very similar to the original finish, just not as shiny. After one coat, it is obvious it will take at least two more.

We also had to fill a few holes. We will need a lot more of Minwax Wood Putty on the walls.

When the doors were wet they looked great, but after they dried is when I noticed that they were going to need more coats.

Since the wood is in such good shape, we want to keep it original, but to brighten up the interior we are going to paint the inside of the cabinets and add lots of fabric. We grabbed some paint samples and I dug through some of my fabrics, Laura has been collecting vintage fabrics for years and both of our moms collect fabrics, so we should have tons of options.

This is Laura learning how to tweet. I also showed her the Pinterest site I set up so she could start collecting ideas as well.

Three auctions in three weeks, this is some kind of record for my husband and I. Two weeks ago the auction was in Indiana, then Illinois now this one in Stevensville Michigan. Scott is not much of a fan of estate sales, so he has been finding me auctions, I'm not complaining. There were so many cool items I did not know what to bid on, but since most of the items were very large, and we are not dealers, we needed to focus on what we could actually handle.

Scott got some comic books- 150. They were a big hit at his office party gift exchange.

The wooden and copper box cleaned up well and will be a Christmas gift.

Glassman Auctions ran this sale. They are a family run business and are professional and efficient. Check them out on their website and on facebook.

The Drewry Beer sign brought back college memories . . . this was all we could afford back in the day, unfortunately the sign was pricy and not the deal that the beer was . . . so it went to another home.

The Picker Sisters would have bid on this fan, and made it into a clock, but it went to high for my needs. BTW check out the Picker Sisters facebook . . . loyal fans continue to post and Tanya and Tracy never bother to ever post anything!

I loved this metal gate, I stopped bidding at $75 and it went for $175:( 

I always need to get some kind of lighting, Scott was not thrilled at having to rewire these.

Thanks to The American Pickers items like these signs went high, and hopefully will go to good homes.

 

One of the big draws to this sale was this 16 foot small trailer. Laura has been wanting one forever and some how Scott got it in his head maybe we need to help her in her search. 

When we got to the sale it was 20 degrees, pretty much everything was outside and there was already people checking out the trailer. The trailer was in good shape, so we waited 2 hours for it to go up for bid . . .

Almost everything looked original, it was an “Alma Trailer from 1950”. 

Well, the bidding started and we were actually going to try to get this, at about $600, I left it up to Scott,  after all it was his idea to get this, we bid $650 and bids were going up in $50 increments, the bidding stalled and we thought we had it, then the auctioneer decided to let them bid $675 and someone else jumped in . . . we did one more bid at $700 . . . oh my gosh . . . we got it!

Now the work begins, Laura and I will do the cosmetic stuff and Scott will need to get the electric, heat, water, etc working- Hopefully the biggest job will be putting a better floor in. Picking will take on a whole new twist next summer and no Laura will NOT be driving it any time soon!