Author: peterb51

22nd January 2019

I spent a lot of time on the low dresser scraping off the paint stripper, washing down and adding more stripper. In between this I was out in the garage breaking down old Shaky and removing the back panel. The top was held on with nails, that I eased up carefully but not carefully enough as a piece broke along a glue line, which is not the end of the world. It was really cold today at -2C so my time periods in the garage were dependant on whether I could feel my fingers or not.

Kelli and Greer went off for a girls day out, leaving me and the dogs to fend for ourselves. I have to let them out several times for a piss, sniff or a bark, but often I get distracted, and forget to let them back in again. Regularly I will get a text message reminding me to check that they have not frozen solid on the step.

Kelli kept up the Goodwill visits with another collection of flotsam and jetsam. I know she likes going there alone as I usually make facial expressions at the things she finds. This is because my imagination cannot appreciate how these pieces could ever be re-sold.

I trust Kelli, as often many go very quickly, and others will eventually join the growing pile gathering dust in the garage. On the positive side, she will often go through them again, and re-paint them and find a buyer.

There have been the occasional crazy piece that can never be sold, these become legends, and the subject of me teasing Kelli mercilessly.

21st January 2019

Today is Martin Luther King day, and like most minor national holiday the Americans would rather earn a dollar than have time with their families. We are no exception, with the truck full with the hutch and freshly painted shelf drying in the back we headed off the Hudsonville. The panic, as usual was due to a dresser selling, so we were off to rearrange the booth yet again.

On the way, a text arrived on Kelli’s phone informing us that another dresser had sold. This was great news! it was one of our favourites, it had been there over a month, and we were worried that we would have to either lower the price (again) or paint it another colour.

Amongst the smaller items to sell over the weekend was the section of a picket fence with a small wreath attached. This was a knock-together item of things we had in the garage that Kelli thought might look good. Well yet again I was aghast that someone else thought it was cool enough to buy it.

We even had lunch at the Winery to celebrate.

On a rare occasion we didn’t stop at Goodwill, I was eager to start stripping the top of a low dresser. Now that we didn’t have any backlog I wanted to get ahead, again.

Kelli decided to open a bottle of wine that had been left on the sideboard since Christmas.

I wasn’t sure if it was another celebration, or it was taking up valuable storage space, anyhow it went down a Little too quick for my liking.

20th January 2019

There are times when the close relationship we have surprise me, things occur that catch me out, and I stop in my tracks open mouthed.

Such an occasion happened this evening when we were chilling out. Kelli has started watching the latest season of Grace and Frankie, and I drift in and out of thinking about forthcoming projects.

I started thinking about toast, I fancied a slice or two, a couple of seconds later Kelli turned to me and said “ I fancy some toast, but I don’t know what I want on it”

At this point my mouth dropped open. Kelli is not a bread person, so to hear those words uttered by her was very rare. I immediately said I was thinking the exact same thing, and accused her of infiltrating my brain. We both laughed out loud because this happens so often. It is our thing, a cosmic occurrence, proving that we are really made for each other.

We both had some toast, although my definition was a little different from hers. Toast, in my understanding is not warm bread, there has to be a bit of brown on it. With a little bit of experimentation we agreed on a standard colour. Thus concluded another lesson in US/UK convergences.

Talking of a cosmic occurrence, tonight was a red moon. So round about midnight Kelli dragged me out in the bloody cold to watch the phenomenon. I am not that interested in astrology, so the whole thing was not high on my chart, I was hoping that there would be different coloured moons happening, now that would be fascinating.

We managed to finish the hutch, after placing the shelf into position it only rested on three pins because it was badly warped. That meant that I needed to make a new one. Fortunately I had a cedar plank that I was able to use, but as it was late I had to wait till tomorrow to run it through the saw at Dave’s.

19th January 2019

Woke up this morning with a thick layer of snow outside. At last I have the chance to really freeze my ass off.

We had a few errands to do and a house to look at. From the pictures on the agents web site it looked interesting, so Kelli arranged a viewing for 3.30. We got there early, so took a drive around the area. It was on the other side of Lake Macatawa to where we are now, but you could see the water. The moment the front door was opened it smelt bad. Obviously it had been empty for a long time, but it had some potential, the layout and the room sizes were good, but it would have to be stripped back so much just to get rid of the smell. So we closed the door on that one.

Another visit to Goodwill resulted in the acquisition of a low dresser that had been marked down, it was painted dark brown but once that is stripped off it will be a little gem.

18th January 2019

We are now desperate for new projects. Painted Farmgirl is fully stocked with cool furniture, but we anticipate a strong level of interest both in-store or on Marketplace so we need a constant flow of new things.

This brings up the subject of what our customers value, and what they are prepared to pay for a piece. This is a common point of discussion between Kelli and myself.

On Kelli’s side she wants to move product quickly regardless of the cost, and often reduces the price slightly to make the sale.

I understand her position, but only agree when there is minimum work done. Some of the pieces have been extensively renovated and are greatly undervalued.

This is a subject we cannot agreed on, and may never, but whilst we are in Hudsonville the value ceiling may be fixed.

Whilst we were picking over the new donated furniture at Goodwill, we saw a dresser that had been there a week. This is a long time in Goodwill speak, but the reason was the price.

The condition was a bit rough, so we had discounted it, but as it had been a while, we thought we could get it cheaper. So we looked it over try to find all the things wrong with it. Firstly the drawers looked like they had dropped at the back, not a difficult problem to solve, but was it enough to get a deal? Next I pushed the side to check the integrity of the case. There was a lot of movement, so this could be our winning hand.

We were able to talk to the manager and Kelli showed the sloping drawers, the manager didn’t seemed convinced so stuck by the price on the ticket. I stepped forward and demonstrated the wobbly case. Suddenly the price dropped a lot, a bit above what I was going to offer, but close enough to make a deal.

With old “Shaky” in the truck we drove home.

17th January 2019

It’s all action today, first a stop at Lowes to buy screws to fit the knobs for the Kelli’s technicolour dream dresser. I searched out a man and explained what I wanted. He smugly replied “ you want a 10-32, all knobs are that size” I explained that I had done all that, I had many screws of that size and they locked up after a couple of turns. I suggested it might be a metric screw. He spluttered as if I said a dirty word, but sure enough it was an M4 thread. “ Up yours Chuck” I said under my breath.

We set off for Hudsonville with the truck weighed down with the new pieces.

After arranging the space yet again, I took the usual series of pictures. I even managed to take a picture of some stuff we were taking out. I thought it looked interesting, but Kelli just looked bemused, she knows all about the weird stuff I do.

We headed out to the Winery(again) for some lunch, and a beer, can’t remember the drive back, must have been good then!

16th January 2019

I needed a hair cut, so off we went to improve my appearance. Kelli came along as we had errands to do afterwards. She was making suggestions to the girl with the scissors, and clumps of my precious hair fell to the floor. My hair does have a mind of its own, every day it is different. There is the shark fin, the pineapple, the side wave and the Ken Dodd. I have grown used to it just doing what it wants, and my feeble attempts to keep it under control have long gone. However with the girls finally agreeing how I should look, a dollop of cream later and I exited the place able to withstand the strongest winds without a hair out of place.

A lady came round to collect the dresser we brought back from Hudsonville, so we had some cash to play with. A phone call later and Kelli announced that we had sold the two side tables that we took in on Saturday. There was nothing else finished, The hutch was a little big for the space at the moment, so the next in line was a multi-drawer dresser that I had started to strip the drawer fronts. I found them to be made from cedar, which was a pleasant surprise. We dragged the dresser into the house so Kelli could work on it. A few hours later she had worked her magic and transformed a boring piece of furniture into a funky coloured triumph. This is now known as Kelli’s Technicoloured dream dresser.

We stopped off at Goodwill (like we do every single time) and found a large rustic box. It looked like it was built by Stevie Wonder. Rough was an understatement, I got splinters just standing next to it, but Kelli thought it had potential so we got it and loaded it into the truck.

As it had been painted white, Kelli attacked it with the sander to give it a rougher look than it already had, if that was at all possible.

15th January 2019

Another drive to Hudsonville to remove a dresser that Kelli sold on Marketplace and replace it with “pinky”. The final coat of paint was still drying when we loaded it into the truck. This is often the time when you see the places missed, and therefore out comes the small brush and the steady hand.

This trip allowed us to see what had sold at the weekend, which was a bit of a disappointment, but as we had a sale in the bag it wasn’t all bad.

Not pinky anymore.

Whilst in the area we drove to another place called “Changing Times” which was just along the road in Grandville. One reason I wanted to check the place out was to see our friends John and Patty’s booth. The people who run these places have no idea how to present their vendor’s pieces in the best possible light. Painted Farmgirl is a little better, but by no means perfect. Changing Times is a shithole, another place filled with clutter and junk. Everything mixed together, with little thought for the customer experience. Fortunately there is a large car park that I would use to build a large bonfire and burn most of the stuff. There are some good furniture, but they’re hidden down strength-sapping corridors, so by the time you get to the end, you’ve forgotten why you went there in the first place.

We had the chance to discuss our visit with John and Patty when we met up for dinner at the Winery. They have been in Changing Times for eight years, and it used to be one of their best outlets, but they agreed the place has got worse over the last few years.

As we chatted, we found ourselves in the middle of the Winery bingo night. So our conversation was interrupted by the caller shouting out numbers and telling bad jokes.

One that I can remember, (there were so many but the beer was taking effect)

A man was talking to his buddy, “ Our wedding anniversary is coming up, and my wife said that she wanted something with diamonds in it, so I bought her a pack of cards”.

On the way back we stopped off to pick up two cushions from a home seller. Now when someone mentions cushions I automatically have a visual in my mind of what to expect, but these were small, more like the size of a teabag. I don’t understand what these would be used for, unless, for keeping your armpits warm on a cold night. They are more likely to get lost down the back of the sofa, so expect to hear a cry of “ I can’t find my cushions!” Very soon.

14th January 2019

Back to the ice box to work on the drawers for the dresser. Some needed repairing and I used the chemical stripper to remove the finish.

The electric heater is not very effective, I could get more heat by rubbing two Boy Scouts together, but I think that is illegal here.

Today you get the same effect by using a Republican and a Democrat.

There was our usual dilemma of selling something before we had anything ready to replace it. So at about nine at night, we dragged the “pinky” into the living room, and Kelli painted it with a primer. The kitchen had the base of the hutch in it. The poor dogs had to negotiate an obstacle course of drawers and paint pots, but that’s what we have to do.

13th January 2019

After the hectic events of yesterday, today was a more sedate day, with little activity. I painted some doors for the hutch, and took some timber up to Dave’s to cut up for more projects. In the early evening we took the dogs to Point West for a walk along the beach.

It was strangely calm, and the ice formations on the walkway were striking.