Wibbly Wobbly Time & Mastering It All

I just read an article on Yahoo news about how time is subjective. Police officers can see bullets in slow motion when their adrenaline is running high. I believe this. I know that time goes all wibbly wobbly around the holidays, planning a wedding and when children are around. Apparently Dr Who was right. 

The biggest contributors to wibbily wobbly time! My 3 girls. 

I'm pregnant with our fourth child at the moment. It honestly feels like each day is 32 hours long. I don't think my due date is ever going to arrive! And then on the flip side, we just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary and it seems like college wasn't that long ago. Time isn't static. 

I swear this is at its worst! Add this to the goal list: clean office

On that note, I have some major goals before the new baby presents itself. Like many vintage sellers/collectors, I have more inventory than I can quickly manage. So this summer I've decided to get it all listed, come baby or high water. So far I feel confident: this past month my assistant Hannah and I have added 310 items to our Etsy shop. Now only 2500 items to go!! 

Organizing aprons and assessing condition is easy with the right tools

This vast buildup of inventory sounds dramatic I know. You're likely picturing one of those hoarder houses from the Discovery Channel. So far, it hasn't affected the house too much. The biggest item in our home is the many bookshelves that are overflowing but I don't see those as a problem. To me books are as necessary as oxygen! But my garage is a different story. Wander into it and you could be seriously delayed by antique oil paintings, 1920s coffee grinders, old tin wind up toys, more books, and tons of more estate finds. You wouldn't starve though-my freezer out there is full and the pantry is full of summer canning. 

How I tend to negotiate with myself to get things done! 

The biggest hurdles that I've had to argue with, climb up and conquer have been motivation & consistency. Researching, describing & listing 3 similar items for sale is fine. But when faced with 40 like items, the fun seems to evaporate. I keep trying to remember this when I'm out buying from an estate. All that red & white 1940s enamelware looked so cool-but hauling home 12 boxes and inventoring it all wasn't much fun at all. Funny how our minds work! 

So tempting at the estate sale, but harder to deal back at the office

So now I'm opening a box and not stopping for any reason until it's cleaned, researched, photographed, listed on Etsy and put away in inventory. This has been a challenge, but for the last month I've been sticking to it and look at the progress! 310 items is nothing to sneeze at. If I can get it all listed by October, I'll be tickled pink. 


How do you deal with the fluctuations in time and all those tasks you've set aside? Or are you already basking in the glow of accomplishment having tackled your goals? 

The Face of Vintage

One aspect I enjoy the most about my job is the hidden views I get. If you go to an average sale, it's being held by the grandkids or a dealer. When I go in a week before the sale, I meet the woman who lived a life surrounded by the vintage beauty we all now adore. 

Here's one of my charming clients, Irma. She's 87. She lost her husband a year and a half ago. Now she's moving out of her house to be closer to her children and needs to pare down. She was referred to me via her friend who happens to be one of my clients. It's been so much fun to teach her about the values her items have. To see her face light up in surprise is such a blast. I love this part of my job.

Antique telephone exchange box! Click here to see more photos. 

What I find fascinating is what she has and how it relates to her personally. She has a wicked sense of humor, is very down to earth, I'm selling her memories, her life momentos and the vintage beauty she's always surrounded herself with. The piece above was a memento her husband always kept on his desk to remind him how times change. 

Sift-Chine Sifter, well loved. Click here to see more photos. 

This sifter is from her kitchen when she was first married. She met her husband during the war and they married while he was on a brief leave. She remembers keeping her bedside light on all night long for months, somehow hoping the light was keeping him safe from harm. 


He returned to her in early 1945. Imagine the fun she must have had sifting flour for bread, knowing she was going to be feeding her husband at last! I so admire the grace and patience these war wives had in waiting for their mates to return.

1920s silk crepe de chine Wedding dress. Click here for more photos. 

This was her Mothers wedding dress. Her mother, Dorothy, was married in 1922. What a blast to experience the fashions of the roaring 1920's! Her Mother came from a well to do family, thus this silk layered creation with giant roses on the hems. I'm hoping to find a picture of her Mom wearing this! 

Early 1900's Gibson Girl photograph. Click here for more photos. 

This is her Mother, Dorothy. I love that she's wearing the trendy Gibson girl hairstyle so popular in the early 1900s. In this photo she's 17. Just imagine the life she led. Married in 1922, gave birth to her first daughter in 1924, then twin boys in 1926, then another daughter in 1928. By the time World War II rolled around she was a grandmother living in rural New Jersey. 

1950s Ladies Fascinator Hat with Veil. Click here for more photos. 

Irma remembers this was her favorite hat. She says that when she wore it people would always duck down to look into her eyes. It made her feel mysterious when she wore it. I think hats go a long way to adding mystique & intrique into relationships-let's help Kate Middleton bring them back into fashion! 


Keep in mind that Irma isn't sad to let her items go. She's tickled pink that people think her things are worth having!! 

Vintage Church Sale Time!

I almost missed my favorite church sale! I've been so busy that it just missed my radar completely this year. Fortunately, my aunt couldn't pick up her weekly farm veggie box in the regular spot due to some church sale. That tipped me off. Let's hear it for farm boxes! 

Crowd gathering to get in. We started lining up around 7:30.

Boy am I glad I made it. For kicks I brought my husband along for the first time. He's very much NOT a vintage treasure hunter. He loves old things, but he wants to buy them once they're all repaired, cleaned and looking fabulous. This digging around I do just seems dirty to him. (Which is always great when he asks: where did THAT fantastic piece come from? and I remind him of the original condition that he laughed at.) 

The outdoor area held everything except vintage & books

At least 350 people were waiting to get in. I enjoy people watching and even more, people listening. I know, I shouldn't, but if they're to talk that loudly in a close crowd, how can I help it? Since I was standing behind all the old time dealers in my area, I got an earful about their sales, their scores and the best things they'd found. Right up my alley! 

Nobody ever thinks of Christmas & Halloween as special at these sales. 

Long yellow ribbons stretch across the parking lot, signalling not to go further. At 9am the ribbons were cut and the crowd started sprinting, running and toddling toward the various areas. The book dealers all ran to the right, into the church Sunday school. Thousands of donated books awaited them. The Moms with tots in strollers sprinted off the left to find clothes & toys. (Mine were home with the very accommodating baby sitter, who arrived at 7:30am) And by far the biggest group, the vintage hunters, aimed for the building straight in front. 

Crowds! I'm not used to this! I get into estates before the crowds, usually.

Long tables greeted us, filled to the brim with all manner of things. Hard to remember that vintage only means 20 years old. I still can't get my 39 year old brain around this fact!  It was everything from working 9-5 mugs from 1984 to 19th century teacups. Kitchen blenders mixed with mid century mats. Silver plate flatware sets next to modern collector dolls. Quite a random mixure. 

Inside the church community building. This is just a tiny portion-it was huge! 

I had fun and my husband did a great job of finding some cool pieces. Here's what we found: mid century mushroom trays, two industrial protractors, a 1950's Christmas tablecloth,  Christmas napkins & mats, a potato chip tin, a hand tooled antique leather purse, a late 19th century celluloid chicken wearing a top hat baby toy, an abacus, a ceramic silver Egyptian cat, a skirt measurer, a mid century decanter & glass set, a California pottery planter, mid century sterling cuff links, 1920's orange glass earrings, a large antique wood box, an old gold & white dish with roses, an old American flag AND a bulls skull! Cause who doesn't need a bovine skull?!!

Where You'd Least Expect It

A good sign that Vintage is near!

Being that I'm an Estate Liquidator I get calls all the time. I've learned that the standard perceptions of nice neighborhood and not so nice neighborhood don't apply to Vintage. 

See that house in the back? That's it!

Take for example this house I was called to earlier this week. Built as a farmers staff cabin with two small rooms, it was enlarged in the 1930's to be a full size house. The exterior is very practical for fire country: it's build of cinder blocks. The yard is filled with junk, trash and overgrown plants. I hesitated for a few minutes before going in-I just wasn't confident about what I'd find.

The front entryway. I was a little nervous...

Wrong! I walked into a vintage home stuffed to the gills. Amidst all the clutter I found Victorian jewelry, gold pocket watches, 1930's enamel soda advertising signs, 1930's deco statues, a 19th century quartersawn oak & bevelled glass phone booth, mid century art by well listed artists and a delightful 75 year old woman who lived amongst it all, Beverly. 

A corner: note the steamer trunk being used as a file cabinet! 

Hard to spot, next to the fireplace.

One corner of the dimly lit living room

I'm going back in 2 weeks to gather all that up and see what else she's unearthed. Apparently she has a full basement filled with her treasures AND a huge barn. Woo hoo! It is so much fun to explore, dig & unearth treasure. I get to be like a vintage Indiana Jones!

Behind the Scenes

While I'd like to show you my antique brick loft filled with vintage, that just ain't my reality. We're bootstrapping a business so the office is actually a big room in the back of my house. There are 4 glass desks from Ikea, a shipping table (that's actually an old flour bin table), a huge 12' long chalkboard, indoor/outdoor carpet, and  a view of the backyard. Not exactly my dream space, but it functions well for now. 

This Haley. She's in charge of our inventory & shipping. She wears about 25 hats around here and helps out with a little bit of everything. 

Several people help make Nachokitty what it is. I've assembled a fantastic team of people to help grow our little business. We're evaluating items, taking inventories of estates, meeting with clients, doing appraisals, listing items on Etsy, and shipping. It's never boring around here, especially when you add the curious 2 year old into the mix. 

My desk is a hodgepoge of little tidbits I find interesting. The silver plate top hat reminds me of Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland. (I really liked him!) The Danish modern witch on her broom and wooden rabbit are neighbors. Along with the wood Nachokitty, these items all sit on top of my giant Mac screen. The owls, hat form I got from tippleandsnack, and grecian goddess scored at the thrift store are all photo props. 

Down in front is a collection of items I need to identify that I also like a lot. A small porcelain jointed doll with silk clothing, a sterling, marcasite & onyx beetle, & a brass bear. (the bear is more for looks-I don't think he'll find his way into my shop.)

Here is Kaelle, researching a cool blue & white porcelain vase. Lately she's been the queen of dollhouse furniture. We all have to be really flexible, because we never know what's going to come in from an estate.

The view outside our office is fabulous. Chickens wander by occasionally, the dog takes in some rays, and my children frolic. Right now we're photographing old quilts on the closeline. 

And here's a cartoon that pretty much sums things up. A happy zoo around here, filled with vintage goodies, laughter & good music. 

Mommy Vintage

Plans. The best laid plans. 

Today was to be a big estate sale day. Head out to sales, score items, come home and photograph and generally just get ahead. 

Then my sweet 8 year old looked rather green early this morning. She wandered in around 6:30am and whispered, "Mommy, I don't feel very good." Uh oh. 

What often happens when my children are sick is they don't want to lie down. They want to sit on my lap at my computer. They want to make Treasuries on Etsy. They want to be glued to me. I do wish I had the healing powers their bodies seem to expect from that closeness. 

So today was a day of surfing the web, kid style. We looked at lions on the National Geographic site, goggled openly at a rare old Snoopy ornament that sold for $331, saw those new images of hidden pyramids & overall had a very relaxed, cozy, educational time. 

Stocking the Shop: Estate Sale

Heidi and I hopped in the van and headed down Hwy 49 to Auburn, for a meeting with a collector. She had a hand-painted antique Chinese rice winnower for sale. We negotiated price but weren't able to find a common ground. We ended on a positive note, snagging a few smaller items for the shop, and promising to stay in touch.

19th Century Rice Winnower

On the way home we saw the small, handwritten sign: "ESTATE SALE." Weeds sprouted alongside the driveway of the luxurious yet unkempt home, and an untended spring garden overflowed the rock walls. The elderly lady had moved in with family, and her daughter (herself getting on in years) was running the show: "It all has to go! Mom was a collector. It always drove me crazy."

This is going to take a while to list! 

Our eyes popped as we scanned room after room of vintage & antique dishes, glassware, jewelry, clothing, uniforms, furs, games, collectibles, handbags, gadgets, tools, shoes and furniture. Within minutes our arms were full.

Small Collection of Steiff Handmade Animals

"Where can we put this?" She reserved an armchair for us, which quickly disappeared under a mountain of treasure. She had several elderly girlfriends helping her run the sale. After close to two hours of gaping, and trooping back and forth to our armchair, we were ready to check out.

Whole Set of Metlox Aztec Pottery!

One of the lady helpers was irritated and conflicted: she was annoyed by having to package so many items! At the same time, she was happy that we were buying so many items. It was funny to watch her face as she struggled with her feelings.

Treasures we kept for ourselves! 

On the way home the van had an air of celebration. Of course we picked up a few things for ourselves: an antique ivory bangle for Suuzi, a ceramic Venus de Milo for Heidi, an antique fountain pen ink case for Heidi's husband, a cast iron enamel pot for the kitchen and a hand-painted serving platter for Kelly, who cheerfully stayed behind with Heidi's kids at home! Sorry Kelly. We'll take you next time!

The Male Side of an Estate

Often when I clear out an estate, it tends to lean towards the feminine. Sterling, jewelry, china, linens, etc. All wonderful things that I adore, but I am always still on the lookout for what men like. (not that men don't love what women love & vis versa. I'm generalizing a bit) I know men love vintage. I'm married to an antique fountain pen collector who also loves old books, antique wood boxes, old space toys, etc. etc. He's taught me to keep my eyes open.

Yesterday I headed 3 hours back up north to pick up more items from the rare estate I'm handling. I was able to get a sneak peek into the male side of the estate and boy, what a peek it was. He's into cars. Lots of cars. He has 3 warehouses and one stock yard. Over 100 cars in the stockyard that are waiting for restoration. Then they head into the first shop for cleaning and evaluation. After that they go to the second warehouse for disassembly. Finally, they go into the third warehouse for restoration.

I was given an informal tour of the final warehouse. I was only able to see a few autos, but what beauties they were. A crew of the nicest guys work on these cars daily. What a great job!

The reason I ended up at this warehouse was due to all the antiques stored there. Since each warehouse is huge, he has lots of extra space for whatever he picks up at auctions. Apparently he stores a ton of antiques. His crew kept rolling their eyes behind his back and mouthing "you have NO idea!"

It was so quiet inside the warehouse when I was there. There was a fine layer of dust on all the cars. I felt a sense of anticipation when I saw all those cars there-as if they were ready to roar to life off to some big adventure.

In this car bay, I was shown a glass sided commercial icebox, a giant scale that must have weighed around 300 pounds, an old turn of the century butcher store block, old metal signs, a china cabinet and early 20th century coffee grinders. (yes, more coffee grinders. He was at one point really into them)

I'll head up again in the next two weeks. It's such an adventure. It's made me realize I need to invest in a box trailer. Renting trucks isn't cost affective at all. Now I just need to figure out how to ship all these heavy antiques!