she's at it again...

just received a new shipment of my mom's custom made skirts.  they're adorable!  they're one of kind 'marriages' between jean skirts and hippy skirts.  i don't know how she does it, but each new skirt is better than the previous one as i'm pulling them out of the box.   

    

 and for only $25, they're a real bargain!

pimp my ironing board...

with an abundance of old ironing boards on hand, i decided to turn them into displays.  they're a little hard to see, need to remove some retail stuff from the lower shelving.  but with the aid of old tool trays, wire baskets, fencing and hooks, they turned into a great display area for all the marigold items i've been collecting for the past year.  it took me all day to get it put together and heaved up onto the wall.  that's the way it usually goes when my better half is out of town.  it would've taken him less than an hour to complete it.  needs more work, but after several hours up and down a very tall ladder...well, i'll think about it tomorrow.

more digging, more stuff...

these old signs were found in a pile of lumber.  looks like they were on the way to being kindling for a good warm fire in the wood stove. 

beds galore.  they probably all came from up above in the hotel.  i'll say one thing for the past owners, they were hoarders...thankfully !

i'm just sure if i plug the television in, i love lucy will be on.  hate to admit this, but i can remember watching a similar tv as a kid.  the chest on the left is in need of some tlc, but will make a great piece up in the hotel.  each day brings new discoveries...which also add to the work load.  but how can i complain, it's all a labor of love!

time travel...

with a little spare time on my hands today (how often does that happen?) i decided to browse the online denver public library photo archive.  in my never ending quest to find photo's of the hotel, i was thrilled to find several!

the year is 1904.  this is indicated by the mob of miners in front of the union hall, just to the left of hotel and plumbing store.  a dry goods store and shoe store occupy the lower level of the hotel.  not much can be seen as to what occupies the plumbing store.

although more of the miners union hall is visible, there's just enough of olympia furnished rooms sign on the upper side of hotel to identify it.  the plumbing store still isn't giving up any clues.

with this picture, the other end of painted sign is visible and the barber shop is identified as oak barber shop.  plus...the word 'the' and 3 letters, 'bru...' on the front of plumbing store really have my inquiring mind begging for more information!

this one is taken mid century, 40's - 50's?  it's a shot up north 4th street with the victor hotel first and then the olympia...now sporting a billiard, pool hall?

a little work on ancestry may afford some more clues.  but for now, these pictures from the past are making me so happy!

some assembly required...

what started as a simple his/her project of assembling a set of lockers for the hotel bathroom led to an idea for a great new reality show.  it would be called 'some assembly required'.  competing couples would be given the same project to assemble.  slowest couple gets voted off.  each week the project would get harder with more vague instructions.  we found ourselves pretending we were the contestants as we were assembling the locker by goading each other that the 'other' couples were getting ahead of us.  it sure made the 'testy' project of working together go alot smoother!  we actually did a good job, didn't have to backtrack one time like we usually do.  just hate when that happens! 

the beauty of chippy paint...

i can't stop looking at this cabinet everytime i pass by it in the old plumbing store.  and the apple green color of the bead board below tugs at my heart strings.  i'm sure it's painted with lead based paint...but i don't plan on licking it so i'm safe.   i'd like to take it off the wall and put it my house, but for now there's no room... i'll have to be satisfied with appreciating it right where it's at.

lighting up my life...

after squinting to see things on my desk for the past month, we finally made it to lowe's to pick out a light for over the desk.  we found the right configuration that would provide plenty of light, but didn't like any of the shades available.  that's when my husband said, hey, let's use mason jars.  i looked at him in astonishment!  had he been reading my flea market magazines again?  i loved the idea, so we bought the lights and he hung them.  but with so much stuff still packed away, i couldn't find the jars i wanted.  my trusty bed springs are never far away so we made a little change in plan and were both very pleased with the outcome.  now i just have to get some edison light bulbs to complete the look.  i swear, that man never ceases to amaze me.

what we found...

just discovered another door to different area of basement.  it was covered with snow when we first looked at the building and didn't know it was there.  now it's open...let's go in!

first discovery, this great old ladder, plus i think we counted 5 old farm house sinks and backs.

found this stuck up on a ledge.  so far we've found 4 old screen doors, one of them will soon be decked out with this rainbo bread screen!

this was an area of basement that we didn't know existed.  it's completely separated from the front basement by rock, although we thought we could see light through the rocks.  but we never expected to find such a great space with more treasures!

digging in...

as i'm looking around, i'm feeling like i'm the luckiest girl alive.  everywhere i look, as far as the eye can see, is a sea of junk.  this is a shot of the parts room in the old plumbing store.  first off, i'm in love with the bins, they will be great for display in the vendor boardwalk we hope to open by fall.  then i start looking in the bins...

a bucket of old escutcheons...

a boxful of old stove dampers...

another bucket of knobs and doodads...

boxes and boxes of old ductwork and stove pipe.  these will make great dividers on the boardwalk. 

 with marigold mercantile well on it's way, i do my usual 'ready for something else' routine.  i can hardly sleep at night, keep my thoughts straight or take time to eat.  it's all just too wonderful! 

hubby wants to trade up...

after seeing this custom chopper in las vegas, terry announced he was ready to trade in his harley on it.  good luck with that.  although i'm not a big fan of cycles, i had to admit that this was truly a work of art.  in fact, i'm not a big fan of las vegas either.  i've hardly ventured out of our room, just long enough to try and find something under $20 to eat.  but it's been great to be with family and get to watch the grandkids while adults lose their money as fast as they can.  terry is still searching for the .99 cent shrimp cocktails that he remembers from the early 70's.  he's just sure they're out there somewhere...good luck with that also!

after 5 days of intensive bookwork at my sister's in washington state, hibernating in our room has felt heavenly.  every  year, i take her a boat load of transactions to figure out.  in looking back over an insane streak of buying/selling/trading over the last 2 years, it's a wonder anyone can figure it out. 

 it all started in march 2010, when the love affair with victor colorado that started in the early 80's began to bloom.  we purchased our first fixer upper, sight unseen, over the internet.  a fixer upper to us would qualify as a 'needs a good bulldozer' to most people.  but it turned out great, so we purchased 3 more.  then we traded the first one for the building we opened our store in and renovated it.  then we renovated the 2nd one to move into since we traded the first one we were living in.  then we sold the 4th one to my brother.  then we traded the 3rd one for another building downtown.  then we bought an old hotel and adjacent plumbing store. 

so, the moral to this tale is that, truly...love is blind.