Settling in.....

After a month of testing the waters here in Southern California, I am very happy to announce that Ça va will no longer be a 'pop-up shop' but will indeed be a continuing presence at the various flea markets.  It has just been a blast this last month and it's hard for me to believe that I almost considered waiting until next year to begin selling.  One thing is for sure, I have no idea where I would have kept all of the inventory if I had decided to do so!  So yes, you will be able to continue finding me at The Rose Bowl, The Long Beach Antique Market, and The Irvine Flea Market at The Great Park/The Groves Antique Market and I am so very much looking forward to meeting more new friends.

On a personal note, I am currently in the middle of moving spaces so to speak.  I have always kept things minimal in regards to furniture but recently, I came across an antique Art Deco bedroom set with a price tag that I just couldn't pass up and so I bought every single piece!  The previous space I was occupying did not allow me to use either of the pieces so they've been in storage for the past few months however with my new space, I've been able to take them out of storage and have the coolest set up I could ever ask for.  Now if only unpacking my supposedly minimal collection of stuff was much easier to do than I previously thought it would be lol.  Maybe I will post pictures once everything starts to settle and after I've begun the painting process.  

Unfortunately because I've been so focused on packing, moving, and unpacking, I won't have anything spectacularly new this week at Irvine.  If you're in the market for antique love letters, I did happen to get a large amount last week and will at least have many more than ever before.  Until then, hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather and I'm sure Sunday will deliver perfect weather yet again. 

Stormy Weather at The Long Beach Antique Market

Making new friends is always a treat when I'm out selling and this past Sunday was a perfect day filled with new friends and faces.  Although the weather was a bit on the grey side and slightly drizzly, there was still lots of fun to be had for everyone.  I didn't expect a huge turn out because the forecast had called for lightening storms and such but the crowd was great and people seemed to be really enjoying the cooler temperature for sure.  I certainly know that I was anyways! 

I love that the attendees at the various flea markets here in Southern California vary much more than you would think.  I absolutely love working with the designers and such at The Rose Bowl because it's awesome to hear what they are going to do with the items they purchase from me.  The Long Beach Antique Market has a very young and hip crowd that is also fun to work with and boy do they know how to haggle, let me tell you! LOL However I am noticing that I am getting to work with many brides of all ages and it's really interesting to know that something from my shop will be such a focal piece in their weddings.  It's even more fun to hear of all of the different possibilities a bird cage can have at a wedding or how they are going to create a display with antique French postcards.  I love being creative and offering my help and I must have gone overboard because I was called a Wedding Planner not just once, but TWICE! haha Maybe I should consider adding weddings to my business card?...just a thought ;-)

So yes, Sunday was fantastic and I enjoyed every single customer that came into my stall.  I even sold out of one of the items on my "menu" board!  So exciting......

My next sale will be on Sunday, August 4th at The Irvine Flea Market at The Great Park.  See you there!

Here are some pictures of my set up from The Long Beach Antique Market

ugh....I need to work on my chalk skills

I really hope this looks great in the wedding it will be featured in!

Two of my new favorite items: An elegant French style side table and a vintage suitcase!

Such an amazing find!  This book is made up of bound Newspapers from 1909!  This guy is huge and is going to look great as wedding decor!

Antique mirror with custom cut and hand beveled glass

Everyone needs vintage french Elle in their lives and this solid oak antique blue coffee table!

Just one of the perks.....

While collecting items for my shop, sometimes I come across pieces that I want for myself more than wanting to add them to my inventory.  More than half of the time, the pieces I find that I feel I just have to have typically have nothing to do with my shop's aesthetic.  I think the most recent "have-to-have" item was a vintage Bodum French Press with matching cups and saucers.  True, I suppose that they would have fit in my shop but I definitely would have had a difficult time letting them go lol.  However there was one piece that I just could not say no to no matter how much I tried. 

size app. 63 x 47 inch

I magically found this original poster (in French of course)  for, in my opinion anyways, the best Audrey Hepburn film ever.  Not familiar with it?  It seems that most Hepburn fans aren't as Breakfast at Tiffany's and Roman Holiday are the two most popular films however there are other films in her oeuvre that deserve attention and this is most certainly one of them.  You get all of the classic Hepburn 'darlingisms' including the hair, the fashion, and everything else that makes her who she is but in this film, she completely steps up her game and fights off a psycho drug dealer killer all by herself (sort of but I suppose you should count Gloria too).  Oh, and did I mention that she's also blind?  Yeah, big game changer there and the total black out scene.......Intense!  I strongly recommend you check this one out if you have never seen it.

Here's the preview:

So yes, I absolutely love this original poster and can't believe I own it!  Now it's time to get back to work so I can have another fun set up for Sunday at the Long Beach Antique Market.  See you guys there!

Celebrating La Fête Nationale at the Rose Bowl Flea Market

I don't get to visit nor sell too often at the Rose Bowl Flea Market so it is always a blast every time I get to go.  This past Sunday which also happened to be Bastille Day was no different.  The weather was beautiful, sunny, breezy, and the people were amazing.  I do wish I had taken more furniture but because I was sharing my space, I was only able to take 2/3 of my shop.  Regardless of that, I had such a great time and really enjoyed meeting new people and hearing all of the girls gush over the antique WWII love letters in my collection. 

Here are a few pictures of my set up.

Forgot to mention that I got new business cards which are right in the center.

The windows, jars, and coffee table were my partner's pieces.  Great ideas and you better believe they sold everything in this photo before noon!

A very unique solid oak Hall Tree.  Handmade too!

backside of a cool garden door.  this little guy weighed a ton! lol

Decided to bring some posters this time.

Added these awesome tree slab chalkboards to my shop! 

I had a set of birdcages that I painted and filled with scrolls of Shakespeare plays, poems, and other writings I pulled from a vintage Shakespeare book that was falling apart.  I love the look and so did my customers :-)

A better picture of the Tree Hall.  Such a gorgeous piece and it went to a very happy family too :-)

 This week, I will be getting Ca Va ready for The Long Beach Antique Market.  I'll have some new items that I have yet to debut as well as some fun furniture too!  Thanks again to everyone this past Sunday at the Rose Bowl! 

First Day of Sales

Good lord, I don't know where to start!  I suppose I can start with saying that this past Sunday was phenomenal and made every second I spent on putting my shop together more than worth it.  Even with only half of a space to work with, I think I put together the best display I could by working with what little pieces I've had way before even conceiving Ca Va and also fixing in the newly acquired French imports that are at the heart of Ca Va.  Anyways, I won't get into great detail about the day other than to say that the customers were amazing, foot traffic was awesome, and I loved every minute of it.

Here are a few pics I took before sales started and all I can say is that most of what is in the pictures was gone before 11am and I had to create a whole new center display!  I'm also currently thinking of taking Ca Va to The Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena but am not 100% on the idea yet.  I'll have to see what new pieces I can put together in time and will update in a few days.

 

Vintage Posters

So, one day I decided it would be fun to have a vintage reproduction poster in my shop because who doesn't like a bright dose of color, right?  Well.........I'm not sure how this happened but I ended up with more than 1 and now I'm not sure which one/ones to take this Sunday lol 

Here are a few in my ever growing collection.  They are all printed on heavyweight Matt paper using "giclee" technique. The images are gorgeous and will look awesome where ever you put them.

Absolutely cannot get enough Art Deco in my life. Poster size is 15"x18"

Poster size is 24"x36"

Isn't this one great? Poster Size is 24"x36"

Poster size is 15"x18"

Poster size is 15"x18"

Poster size is 15"x18"

Again, I love Art Deco and couldn't resist this one!  Poster size is 24"x36"

oh, I almost forgot!

I found a set of 6 Cosco Mid Century chairs not too long ago and although they looked neat "as-is", I couldn't help but want to completely re-imagine them.  So, that's exactly what I did. 

First, I took the seat pad off and removed the original faded fabric.  Now that sounds simple enough, right?  Trust me, it definitely was not!  It took a lot of prying and man power to get the bottom of the seat to separate from the fabric portion but once I did manage to get all 6, the rest of the job was simple enough.  I simply sanded out the shine from the entire chair using a power sander.  Once I cleaned them all off, I took them each one at a time and used Krylon spray paint to give them a heavy dose of color.  After several coats at every possible angle imaginable, I took a sanding sponge and sanded off enough paint all over to give the chairs an very aged look.  I have to admit that the finished frames were soooooooooo much cooler than I expected.

I then re-upholstered the seat pads with another Jute fabric with a different print by using spray adhesive.  Once the fabric was in place, I re-attached the bottoms and placed the seats back on the chairs.  The overall finished product blew my mind.  I really love the fun use of color and the fact that they don't look like I just spray painted an old metal chair. 

I only have pictures of the Red chair at the moment but will take more as soon as I can.  I have 5 more in Cobalt Blue, Yellow, Mint Green, Raspberry, and Teal.  I will have all 6 at the Irvine Flea Market this coming Sunday July 7th! They are priced at $30 each but if purchased in multiples, the price is even nicer!

Just a few items

So I thought I'd take a few pictures of just some of the items that I'll be taking to the Irvine Flea Market this coming Sunday. I'm still finishing up some of the furniture pieces so if I have time, I'll post them before the show but if I don't, I'll definitely have pictures of my entire set-up. 


ps the Ottoman you see in the the pictures was one of the most unfortunate pieces I've ever come across.  I wish I had taken some before and after photos.  It was originally a terribly drab floral print on rough dark country green fabric with red and yellow stringy shag cascading over the edges.  The feet were also black and pretty much unseen thanks to the shag that hung over before.  What I did was remove the feet, completely re-finished them with a real copper based paint (not your cheap metallic Martha Steward craft paint!) and added a rusting agent to give them an aged patina.  I then removed the questionable shag edging and re-upholstered with Jute that already had a Fleur de lis print.  Voila!  This little Frenchy bad boy will be for sale and eagerly looking for a good home this Sunday :-)