Great Antique Stores Found On My Vacation

Hello everyone I enjoyed my vacation so much but as always glad to be home sleeping in my own bed. :-)


I thought I'd share the great antique shops I found while in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Yes, I know, you thought it was just another Branson, Missouri on steroids, but they also have fabulous antique shops in the area and a nice flea market that unfortuately was closed while I was there.


I found some great items including a pair of lovely, vintage, pressed glass lamps with pressed glass shades I plan to put into my bedroom I am re-decorating, a Gen. Robert E. Lee whiskey decanter for my husband (he collects them but he doesn't drink! lol), a nice vintage school desk, a beautiful Martha Washington style bedspread (also for the bedroom redo), and other odds & ends.


One shop I really liked was Castle Antiques. Below is a picture and it is on the main street where all the shows, rides, etc. are so it is easy to find. It was a smaller store but had very good prices.  If your like me you like to go to shops that aren't so fancy where you can dig through items and find the great bargains so I thought I would share the locations of the ones we found.


Here are the directions to find more great antique stores off the strip. From Interstate 40 take Sevierville/Pigeon Forge exit South drive through Sevierville into Pigeon Forge watch for Hwy #3 (they are numbered) which will be Wears Valley Rd. take a right. You will see the first antique shops in about a mile and then more about 10 miles out all along the highway. It is a beautiful winding drive that's worth the trip and everyone was so friendly. I wanted to buy one of those cabins on the side of the mountain and just stay there!


The temperatures were a little better there than here only in the 90's and less humid. I was not happy to come back to over 100 degrees plus heat index making it around 110!


Here is the pic of the first place I mentioned on the main strip in Pigeon Forge where I bought my lovely glass lamps with glass shades. I will share pics of the items I bought later.  The Antique Castle.

The next shop is on the Wears Valley Rd and if your interested the man who owns it is ready to retire and its for sale!  Wears Valley Antique Mall.

There are many more antique shops in Gatlinburg but unfortunately did not have time to visit all of them. (sigh). I hope this helps you on your next trip to Tennessee and if you have never been it is a wonderful trip their is nothing like the Smokey Mountains just beautiful.



Working Vacation and A Bedroom Redo

I haven't posted in a couple of days because  I have been really working hard so we could leave today for vacation.  We're headed for Tennessee with our daughter and her family. Yes, two grandchildren a boy six and a girl nine. I do not know if we are brave or stupid. (That was a joke we love those grandchildren).  Anyway we have one in each car and they have DVD players and games and food so we're good. LOL 


I wanted to talk a little about working on vacations.  When you do what I do its hard to stop. I'm always looking for a good flea market, a re-sale shop, or estate sale.  Unfortunately my husband is driving and he smiles and says, "Hey, we can't stop at all of them Peggy". The thing is for several years now we have always stopped at antique shops even when we went to Hawaii we went to a flea market!   I just have a love of anything old. I love the pattina from years of use. The history behind a piece of furniture or an old car.  The thing I love most though is the memories they invoke. Is it the same for you as well?  If it is we have a lot in common and I would love to be friends!
So for the next couple of days  I will try to send you a few pictures of  anything I pick up and any inspirational items I see. I'm looking for inspiration for a new project I'm starting in my home. 
I am planning on redecorating my second bedroom.  It used to be my sons and lets just say its in sad shape.  I did move in my father-in-law's bedroom set that is quite old but my husband says I can not paint it.(Party pooper.) Anyway I am considering adding a canopy over the bed and thought I would share a couple of pictures I have found of some styles I really like.

I just love this one what do you think? Ever who made this one (in her barn it looks like lol) has done a great job. I know you can buy these crowns but I think I would like to find something unusual to use or make my own.

This is a pretty common style that I really like. I recently saw one made like this with a front panel of seashells it was really pretty.

Then there is the center crown you could make this fairly easily and I think that the first picture will be similar to this one when put on the bed.

I will posting pictures of the bedroom before I get started and want to do a very feminine room all with flea market finds.  I really don't love the bedroom suit as is but cannot paint it so I am hoping the canopy will soften the lines. 

I would love my readers help in making decisions every step of the way.  Please send me your canopy projects.  Canopy bed projects only please.   All entries will be voted on by my readers and the winner will be featured on Monday, July 18, 2011. 

Please Learn From My Mistakes

Well, I hope everyone's week is going well.

I thought I'd share a little of my knowledge learned the hard way in re-furbishing and re-purposing vintage & used furniture.  I recently shared some sneak peeks of a piece I am working on but didn't tell you what it was.  It is an antique vanity I picked up at a good price but it needed a LOT of love.  Let me tell you when I saw this piece I just had to have it I had always wanted one and just knew that lots of other people would to and I just knew it would sell quickly.  I was sure I could fix it right up. Yeah, right up. Sigh.

I'd like to point out first that I am not in the restoration business I do not restore pieces but re-furbish them and the following piece would have taken quite a lot of money to restore if it could be restored it was in very bad shape.

Here's the lesson don't ever let emotion rule your choices when buying to re-sale.  Look the piece over is it sound? How much work would it require? Is it something people are looking for?  How much money would you have to invest in getting it in a salable condition? Will it take more money and time than you could get selling it?


So now I'm going to share the before pictures of the vanity.  It is not finished so I can't yet show you after pics.  I am waiting now on my chalk paint to come in so I can paint it.  Here they are:

 As you can see a lot of the veneer is loose or missing.  I wish more of it had been missing because even removing it the way the pros do is very time consuming.

At one time it had some lovely wood onlays on the feet but they were all broken except for one and though I had pieces they were in layers as if the onlay was made in layers and was almost impossible to re-apply.

This is after I removed not only the layer of veneer but the one underneath it. I had to remove both layers because a lot of the second layer was missing also. Whew!

Although the mirror has most of the onlays missing the mirror is intact as is the mirror that goes in the center of the vanity.  The mirrors being intact was one of the reasons I purchased the vanity even though it was in such disrepair.


So, my point is that the vanity will come out lovely when I finish it but I've had to put too much work into it to make a decent profit.  My emotions won out over common sense.  I would keep the piece but unfortunately I have nowhere to put it.  Don't get me wrong I would do one like this again but only to keep not to sell.  I have thoroughly enjoyed working on it.


I hope you will keep this information in mind if you are just starting in the re-furbishing business as it will save you a lot of time and money.  I can't wait to show you the finished product so please keep checking back with my blog to see the pictures.  


I would also like to say how much I appreciate my followers.  Thank you for your interest in what I do.