Raw Material

It's mid-week and the next to last day of January here in sunny Fort Myers Florida, a sure sign that my lovely winter here is now half over! The push is on to turn some of our "raw material" into actual ready-to-sell inventory. We'll be exhibiting nearby in Cape Coral this Saturday, at a really crowded  antiques street fair held in conjunction with a popular farmers market. So no travel this week at all, and home the same day. Nice.
Nevertheless, new items must always be added to the old, and it's uncanny how you, the public, always seem to know which are the new items, and buy those first. I bought a few nice things at the old Drive-In Flea market this morning, including a beautiful vintage watercolor of pine trees on the banks of a lake or river, and a charming round wicker occasional table just perfect for a seaside or lakeside cottage.
I might wind up painting the table white or green, but today the goal is to finish Rick's newest Bed-bench, (one with really high posts and cool finials, made from a damaged 1920s full-size four-poster bed,) then to figure out which pieces from the piles of iron furniture and decorative panels we've been collecting up should get completed for this week's show. Below are the photos of the "raw material" we are choosing from. Later in the week I'll add the finished product pictures. The bed-bench is already a work-in-progress as he began it yesterday.

Still a little more time to hit a few garage and estate sales tomorrow and Friday mornings, before our Saturday show, and scout around on the way home in case any "Gifts from God" have been dumped curbside on our morning route. Speaking of Curbside, have any of you noticed in your cities that Craigslist now posts "curb alerts" in the free category? Personally I've never  yet read of anything that sounded really tempting, but I still think this is a neat trend along the lines of "one man's trash is another man's treasure." I also like the Barter category on Craigslist.
It's all just part of keeping your eyes, ears, and minds open to all possibilities when it comes to merchandise, raw material, or other opportunities for buying, selling, and matching the right piece with the right person.. I hate to use yet another cliche here, but isn't there one about gift horses? Happy hunting and may we meet along the antiques trail!