Weekly Gift Idea: Antique Sewing Basket

With Halloween officially over, it seems Christmas season has begun. To get in the spirit we are starting a weekly feature on a specific piece that would make a great, unique gift.

To kick off this week we are featuring our musical antique sewing basket. It is perfect for any sewing, crocheting, or knitting enthusiast in your life. A surprise feature of this basket is the music box addition. Still in perfect working condition the basket will play you a soothing rendition of "There's No Place Lie Home". A one of a kind gift for the bargain price of 34.99! Can't beat that.

This little beauty got a fresh coat of stain and polyurethane. It looks as good as new. 

Red fabric inside and a pin cushion on top. 

Made in Japan. 

Come see it at Galeria CTR!

Newport Furniture

When we decided to start this crazy adventure and open a store we knew we needed to work with a great company to get our business going. We decided to start with Newport. They are a new company that opened in 2010 in Mississippi. In two years they have created a beautiful, stylish, solid line of furniture that we are proud to offer in our store. Working with companies that create more jobs for Americans and support environmentally conscientious manufacturing was very important to us. Newport does both of the those things from using recycled materials in their cushions, to keeping their manufacturing in the U.S. instead of overseas.
Here are a few of the Newport offerings we currently have in stock.

Newport Kane Collection Microfiber Set

Kane Chair 399.99 

Kane Sofa 699.99

As a set with sofa, chair, ottoman 1299.99

Kane Ottoman 189.99

Kane Ottoman

  

Marbella Love Seat on sale! 474.99 Sofa also available for 699.99

Dupree Recliner Sofa 794.99 Loveseat for 629.99 

Sofa, Loveseat, and Rocker available in Grey or Tan 

Dupree Rocker Recliner shown in Tan SOLD

Guiseppe Love Seat 694.99 and Ottoman 199.99 

More to come from this great company soon. Special ordering and lay-a-away available.

Jumping on the Mid Century Modern Bandwagon

It seems like everyone has become smitten with anything MCM lately and our little store is no exception. Our inventory is bursting with great pieces ready to help you create that Mad Men ambiance in your own space.

So here's a showcase of what mid century items we have available now.

Side table $69.99

Askel Kjersgaard Wall Mirror $199.99

Wall shelves $19.99

Nightstand $49.99

Hide-A-Bed $420

Bassett Credenza $450.00

Metal Shelf $29.99

And these are just what are available now. We have several projects in process right now. More beautiful mid century modern items to come!

The Finished Product

So here are the finished pictures of the little contact paper covered side table. 

I love the diamond pattern! What a fun surprise. 

All of this amazing refinishing was made possible by this product: 

So much easier than sanding down to the wood and restraining- this let's you sand lightly and combine the original finish color with whatever new stain you would like. So easy and as you can see- great results.

After using the Polyshade. I don't know why anyone would cover such a pretty top. 

 I am working on another piece using Polyshades. More to come on that soon!

Adventures in Contact Paper!

So last week we got a little table from a friend's garage sale. It had potential, but someone had covered the top of this little guy with contact paper, it did have a wood grain-like design, but WHY? No idea why it had been done. So it was my task to remove this sticky mess...and I didn't feel an urgency to apply all that elbow grease. But then yesterday a nice UIC student came in to purchase the table for an art installation and the table got moved to the top of my to-do list.

Here's my process and all the helpful things I learned.

So as you can see- this one's a fixer-upper. 

I went to the hardware store and asked their advice. The helpful employee recommended a rounded scraper and goo gone. So here's my first attempt. Very slow work. 

Then I had a light bulb moment- heat! That definitely sped up the process. 

Just a few seconds with my handy hair dryer set to high and the sheets came right off.

After removing all the contact paper the sticky residue was still there. 

I saturated the table with goo gone and let it sit 10 minutes. Then I scraped the majority off and used a cloth to rub away the rest. 

And here's the top contact paper-free! 

Now I just need to fix the missing wood trim. More photos to come of the finished product.

Fresh Finds

I've almost finished my first week of working in the store full-time. It's going to be an adventure, I can tell. Lots of consignment appointments, marketing strategies, and painting projects. I should have gone into business. Oh well, good thing I have had the help of so many great, supportive friends and family.

I wanted to take a minute to share some of our newest acquisitions. They are all pretty awesome.
Hope you like.

Retro Side table 79.99 

I love pieces with a story. An nice lady brought this hand carved trunk in. It was intended to be a gift for her son from her African safari. I guess it wasn't his style. Now it can be yours. 179.99

Sweet handmade birdcage 69.99

What I think is a very manly lamp 69.99

Classic cherry dresser with mirror 125

Our newest estate sale find. It was is the garage!  Sold it! 

Vintage distressed Ethan Allen chair with mustard yellow cushion 99.99

One of our more modern pieces- Glass topped coffee table 79.99 

Shabby chic vintage ice chest 129.99

1800s Mercury Glass Mirror 79.99

Dainty mid century modern Mosaic Side Table Sold it!

Faux Bamboo Nesting Tables 99.99

Antique Musical Sewing Basket 34.99

Repurposed Shelving Unit 49.99

So as you can see we have quite a variety right now. Pictures don't do most of these amazing finds justice. Come see for yourself in person. 2058 W Chicago Ave

As always more to come.

New Hours!!!

Starting a business is an adventure! All summer I have been working at a school in the morning and opening the store in the afternoon. It's been interesting to be a teacher by day and shop keeper by night. 

I'm definitely learning a lot about how to run the business and find the type of product our customer is looking for. 

We are so glad to have so many people stop by the store each day. It is so nice to get to know our neighbors and appreciate the hospitality and diversity of Ukrainian Village. 

This week I have been finishing up my previous job so that I can run the store full-time. I'm sorry to say this means our store will be closed until September 14th. However we are excited to announce that starting the week of September 17th we will have expanded our hours. One of the most common things people say when they come in is that we never seem to be open or every time they come by we are closed. Not good. 

Well, all that changes next week! We will be open Tuesday thru Friday 12- 6pm and Saturday 12- 5pm

So come stop by and see me. I'll be the one behind the counter with a big smile for you (and the one covered in paint most likely...)

Hope to see you soon.