Change is good!

Change is good... in retail the experts all say "change is good"! It keeps merchandise fresh and customers interested. So.... because of some family obligations, time restraints,  etc. Antiques and Uniques  decided to leave The Galleries on Williams Street in Chattanooga effect January 2012 and put  all our inventory and resources back in  The Galleries on Gordon in Chickamauga. Change is good, change is good, change is good. It is hard work leaving , both physically and emotionally  but I'm sure I'll get over it ...in time.

Christmas in the Streets!

Tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 10th,  is our local "Christmas in the Streets"  promotion in Chickamauga, GA. Come see us! There will be sales, food vendors,  parade, Santa, everything in the middle of Gordon Street, downtown Historic Chickamauga, GA! 10am -7pm

Creative time!

We've had a rainy few days here in Georgia, so I've been busy creating for the shoppes! Just finished this new net wreath, don't you just love red and lime together? I know I do! Are you decorated yet?

Christmas Open House

We had Christmas Open House at The Galleries on Gordon in Chickamauga ,last weekend.We have a designated Christmas Room this year and Santa came by on Saturday to check it out!

This year there are lots of woodland themes  around, this tree is  a great example of a natural theme, lots of birds and snowy type items. Just lovely, don't you think?

Christmas is a comin....

Our annual Christmas Open House started today and will run through Sunday, Nov. 6th  at The Galleries on Gordon, 111 Gordon Street, Chickamauga, GA. This picture is in my booth area there, Antiques & Uniques mixes vintage with new creating a unique look to your everyday decor or  your Christmas decorating!

November 1st is the day!

November 1st is the first day of our Holiday Open House in Downtown Chickamauga, GA. !That's next Tuesday!! I better get busy and decorate my area! If you are local, come to see us, Nov.1st -6th, we'll be serving refreshments on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 5-6. On Saturday, Nov. 5th, Santa will be in the house, bring your own camera and get a photo of him with your little one!
Hope to see you there!

OOOoooooooops!!!!

Sometimes I just over commit! I don't mean to but we get  just too busy, as we've done now, and we  are going to have to cancel the Fall Tag Sale as don't have the time to paint furniture and get our stuff cleaned up enough for a sale right now. Hopefully, we can reschedule later!!Whew , that feels better already!

I Iuv technology!

I love technology and right now I'm enthralled  with  my latest purchase, a simple Cricut machine. I realize everyone else in  Blogland has been using one for ages, but I had not. So recently, I bought one as well and have been busy making cute gift items to sell such as these cute acrylic wine glasses!

Plain and Simple, final step

We finally finished up the nice chest of drawers we redid. Last step, waxing with Minwax Finishing Wax  and giving the outdated pulls and knobs a touch of Rub n Buff! Voila!

It starts tonight!

For the past several years, Antiques and Uniques has been having quarterly tag sales, that means one in the summer!! We've had record breaking heat around here for days, but we've trudged on preparing for this week's tag sale, we've got 30 something pieces of furniture ready to sell!  It starts tonight but we must be crazy!
Tag Sale 6-8pm tonight, Thursday, July 14th and all day tomorrow, July 15th 8am-6pm. . We'll be in the garage, we'll have the fans on and giving out water! Come see us!

Summer Tag Sale Coming Soon!

We're getting ready for our Summer Tag Sale... starts next Thursday nite, July 14th, 6-8pm! 

Lots of cute furniture and home decor!!Come see us!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July!! Thanks to all our service men and women!

Who knew?

Do you know the name "Harry and David", as in fruit of the month clubs? They make candles, potpourri and room spray too! We started carrying several of their fragrance lines at the Chickamauga store recently.  The "Mission Fig" fragrance is just yummy!!Who knew? Did you?

Nashville Flea Market

We love a good flea market and the one in Nashville Tennessee is a great one! Some bad  weather brought our day trip on Saturday to a quick close but we managed to pick up a few treasures before "running for cover" !Love the  tall, industrial stool, isn't it cute, perfect condition!

It takes some time.

It takes  time to acquire and prepare inventory for each  Antiques & Uniques quarterly TAG SALE  but so worth it!!We like to have 25-30 pieces of furniture for any given sale. We love gathering treasures, painting furniture and "sprucing and fluffing"! Our motto is: " Unique Treasures for You and Your Home" and that's what you find at our TAG SALE! Here are a few pieces we're getting ready.

!950's solid wood dressing table, painted glossy black, can't wait to put a sweet little chair with this and send it home with a "princess"!








Cute and simple, white child's bookcase. I may paint the back wall of it a color or add some decorative paper to  give it a little punch!

Plain and simple Step 3

Step 3: We've tried numerous types of paint and primers over the past few years. We're presently using the Behr Ultra  brand with paint and primer mixed together from Home Depot. Great paint! Wonderful coverage!! We highly recommend it. Most of the time , it takes one complete step out of the restoring process!In these pictures, we've got one coat of black satin( by far the most popular amongst our customers) on the base piece and all the drawer fronts. Doesn't it look good? After 24 hours, we'll assess  whether it will need another coat or if it's"good to go"!

Plain and Simple, Step 2

Here's the second step we take with a chest of drawers such as "plain and simple". We always take the drawer hardware off before we paint. Some people do not do this !!At this point, we look at whether we'll be  putting the old hardware back on ( with a face-lift of course) or getting some new. If you decide to get new and it 's a different size or type( maybe knobs as opposed to pulls) , then you may need to fill the present holes with filler and then know you'll need to make new holes for the new pulls.Stay tuned.....

Time flies!

Wow, where have I been?? I can't believe my "blogging break" took so long. I did have a change of scenery for awhile but I'm back!!

We're now gearing up for the July Tag Sale.... got to start getting things ready.Here's one of our first projects, plain and simple, that's what we call a chest like this.So many people ask me, "where do you start"... let's talk this week about what we'll do to this chest, step by step, to get it ready to sell. We found this chest at a local "pickin place".It's very sturdy, the back on it is good, drawers are all there!! Step 1: we've cleaned it, vaccumed out the drawers.It is sitting on ready for an overhaul! Come back tomorrow for step 2! 

The Colors of Summer

What colors  say "summer" to you ? Most days,  the bright  hues of hot pink, turquoise and purple say summer to me. But some times, it's the pale soft colors of the beach, white, tan and lovely color of aqua! Today, we're getting ready to take some exploding color to the store! A turquoise rocker and "Paris" theme pillows with a hot pink basket!!

Tables of Spring 2011

Both stores we are involved with have so many fun things planned for 2011! The next one is planned for this weekend, this is our 2nd Annual Tables of Spring. The different booths set up tablescapes within their booth to show off their Spring wares and how they can be used on tables. Last year was such fun, we had one with a mannequin in a bridal gown , the gown was the tablecloth and the bridal gifts for sale were scattered across the gown! Then we had a "wine and cheese" party  with wine glasses, wine stoppers, other accessories for sale as the "hostess" poured some wine for each customer! This year is going to be fun too! I set up my table tonite as I have to be out of town this weekend. It's a "Teddy Bear Tea Party" as my booth sells teas and  tea accessories!

Springtime in the Carolinas

We had a great time at The Metrolina in Charlotte, NC last week. We loaded up with goodies to resell at the shops! Even though the weather itself was still cool, we saw tons of Springtime at the show. Outside the gates of The Metrolina, flowers of every color and description lined the walk! How tempting they all look ,straight from the greenhouses! Here's one of the many displays we saw over the weekend , this shows everyone that Spring is certainly in the air!

It's time!!

It's that time of year again for the Spring Extravaganza at the Charlotte Metrolina, Charlotte, NC!! This is an event that happens twice a year, its a flea market/antique show  and we're headed there tomorrow.You'll remember we were there last November as well, http://antiquesanduniques.blogspot.com/2010/11/well-definitely-go-back.html.  After a very successful spring TAG SALE here at Antiques & Uniques, we're in need of lots of furniture and goodies to sell!!Wish us luck!

If you're around....

If you're local to NW Georgia, we're going to have a fun time tomorrow night in Chickamauga , GA!!

Girls Night Out,Chickamauga - Style will be held tomorrow night( Thursday) from 6-8pm at The Galleries on Gordon, 111 Gordon Street, Chickamauga.Several of our neighboring shoppes and restaurants will be open, as well!!!  We're having refreshments, sampling dips and punch, we've got a goodie bag for each customer, we put together a GNO gift basket valued at $250 with goodies from the shop, this will be given away!Come see us and introduce yourself and I'll give you a free gift!

"Frenchie" Chair

I'm linking to Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Fridayhttp://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2011/03/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link_17.html This has to be one of my favorite chair re-dos of all time. When we took this old chair apart, my painter/restorer/fixer( aka hubby)found horsehair under the upholstery it was so old. So... I kindly kept that horsehair in place as I brought my chair into the 21st century, covering the seat with a burlap sack that I had stenciled. I loved this chair!!

Simple Before and After!

I love chairs!! Big chairs, little chairs, soft chairs even hard chairs! I especially love having an odd chair sitting around a room. I love having a spare chair in the bedroom, where you can sit to put on your shoes or stack some laundry. I love having a spare chair in the kitchen to pull up for an extra person to join us for a meal! I love having an odd chair in my keeping room where I use it as a side table for a cup of coffee or an unfinished book!Here I took a simple odd chair, added a little paint and a 1/2 yard of cute fabric and made it look so different!!

I stand amazed!

I continue to be amazed at the difference a can of spray paint can make in an object. This vanity chair we just finished was a brassy gold from the 1980's when we started! Now a light coat of silver spray paint and some girlie "high heel" fabric for a new cushion  and we've got a winner!What have you transformed lately?

Spring Tag Sale

We're getting ready for our first Tag Sale of 2011! We've been collecting goodies all winter and the sale starts next Thursday nite, March 17th from 6-8pm and then all day the next day,March 18th from 8-6pm..

Are you a "Do-It -Yourself" type?

Are you like me and love the satisfaction of saying"I did it myself"? If so, Kristy at http://4theloveofwood.blogspot.com/p/tips.html has some great DIY tips for you!! In fact,she's compiling a whole page of tips. There's even one from yours truly  about the wonderful qualities of liquid de-glosser! Go check it out, tell her Carol at Antiques & Uniques sent ya!!

Comin' right along!

My Mom used to use this term when I was growing up, "comin' right along". We might have been cleaning house, packing for vacation, whatever, we were moving to the end of the project! That's where we are with the TAG SALE projects... comin' right along!

Today we're looking at before and after shots of one of the  saddest  rockers we've ever worked on...

Dreaming in Black and White

We're working every day now to get ready for this year's first TAG SALE . Bought a cute large metal sign recently" DREAM" , probably 4' in length but a dull white, and little rusty. A nice fresh coat of glossy black paint makes a world of difference!!This would look great in a young

girl's room above her bed!

Feature Friday !

 I'm linking to Miss Mustard Seed's blog for "Feature Friday" at http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/
with this dresser we  refurbished last fall.

Tag Sale Time!

Just another month til the first TAG SALE of 2011! We're painting, repairing and doing general clean -up to get ready for the sale! Hope you can join us!This chest is so sweet, it has just the right amount of "shabby". You can see three different colors that the chest has been over the years.Good sturdy piece of furniture and to make it look even more darling, I lined each drawer with a sweet paper covered in spring flowers, not put in permanently though.

We finished the chest , now onto repairing a rocker that needs lots of TLC!!

Happy Valentine's!

Happy Valentine's Day, give away a kiss or two today!!

Storage Drawers

This tutorial is about making more storage for your home.Who doesn't need more storage?? Lots of people store unused items under their bed but sometimes those are difficult to retrieve when needed. Don't ask me how I know this! Heresay! hehe
Anyway, I had these 2 odd dresser drawers left from a project so I decided to make some under the bed storage. We painted one of the drawers white , one black and added casters to the corners so they can be easily pulled out from under the bed and then returned.

The first drawer I lined, the white one, I used black and white check wrapping paper, just thin cheap wrapping paper. You could use left over wallpaper, wrapping paper, contact paper, sheets out of an old book! Lots of things would work. I adhered this wrapping paper to the drawer with liquid starch as my gluing agent. I've used starch for numerous projects over the years. Liquid starch  works great in a project such as this. Advantages? Cheap, the leftover starch can be used again( I pour mine right back in the bottle), very forgiving. It will  even adhere fabric to a wall and will stay for years !This project is quick , easy and useful! Here are  the "tools of the trade" and the first drawer completed!

Just around the corner!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner...
do you remember just your sweet heart? What about the love of a child?
Or do you remember the love
of a good neighbor or a dear girl friend? Add someone new to your
list to remember this year, make their day! Send a card, take some cookies,
maybe just a quick phone call. Share the love, you'll be glad you did!