Bella Rustica Barn Sale 2013

Hello friends! What a busy weekend!  

Gosh was it Hot!!

Saturday was spent mainly outside in Lebanon, Tennessee at Legacy Farms. I enjoyed a Hometalk Blogger Meet-up with some area bloggers at Bella Rustica, a vintage marketplace and barn sale.

It was at a new location this year. If you remember I was a vendor last year. My booth was Micucci Designs. I had a blast but it was tons of work! This year I decided to shop instead! 

I wish they kept it in October because it was a hot one and made it difficult to really get into it. With that said, there was still a lot of great booths and wonderful rusty junk!

I missed my blogger friends from last year. Donna from Funky Junk Interiors and Sandra from Sawdust Girl kept me laughing and we got to know each other on a more personal level that just behind the screen!

So we got to the gate and waited for it to open.

And What was the first thing I saw?

My Ticket Sign from my Etsy Shop!

Back From Bella {Barn Sale Recap} Part 2

 Part 1 Here


Did I tell you how much work went into this? Whew! I had so much fun meeting so many of you but it sure was a lot of work. I don't like to do things half way so making the booth look good was a top priority. In the end, I would have change a few things to lighten it up a bit. I did have a ton of compliments on the design and pieces that filled it so I take that as a success!

This was the after Picture courtesy of Angie The Country Chic Cottage

Remember the before?

I wish I would have taken the after sale picture and you would have seen how much was gone. Lots of small pieces. The largest thing sold was that chippy cabinet. Next year I would not bring so many big pieces of furniture.

So I left of with the dinner on Friday night with all the area bloggers and the gals that came in for a visit.

We took a group picture of some of the bloggers that were there. You may recognize a few!

This picture was taken by my friend Michele from The Scrap Shoppe.

Note to self: Do not take pictures when covered in barn dirt and after several weeks of no sleep!!

Several bloggers participated in a blog panel. They even went to area booths and create a room with the merchandise they gathered.

Saturday was our busiest day with lots of customers and purchases! It was also the day we sold most of the smalls we had left.

I spent some time with Sandra from Sawdust and Paper Scraps. She is a sweetie!! She made me laugh modeling around the barn!

She is too cute!

Sunday was wrap up. Sales were slow and the thought of packing up made me even more tired!!

It was hard to say goodbye to my new found friends! I will miss them.

Here is some eye candy for you!

I didn't sell that clock and I am glad because I am using it in my Halloween Mantel!!

Hope you enjoyed that post!

Back From Bella {Barn Sale Wrap-Up} Part 1

Another event that truly whipped my butt! It was a lot of hard work but extremely rewarding at the same time.

I arrived on Tuesday at The Milky Way Farm with 20 something pallets to install with my friend Dan. That is when I got to meet a wonderful lady and friend to the blog world Donna from Funky Junk Interiors. 

I looked at and lived with a room full of stuff for weeks. This is my dining room that I cleared out to fit all my stuff!!

On Wednesday we arrived with a loaded down trailer full of furniture and smalls. Dan helped measure out the spaces with the coordinator Linda.

This was the booth before. As we started setting up the pallets to create the space. Anyone that does this, pallets are a real inexpensive way to build a structure.

This is the after UGH! Now we had to start displaying and organizing. We arrived on Thursday morning to start our creation of our space!

 Building was tricky since there was nothing to bolt on to. I had two 14ft old ladders that we leaned up to the rafters to make an A frame out of. We put a 4x8 across it to hang lights. I added my arbor from my backyard to create an entrance for interest. I also had a place to hang my sign. I attached an old crib rail an hung the sign from that. Then I created some of my brown paper flowers to hang around it. This was a huge success since it could be seen as you entered the barn.

 I shared this space with my long time friend Vonda. She has always been very creative and I knew we would fit well together. She has started a blog too! Please go send her some love and a nice welcome at The Brassy Begonia

This was the set up of the ladder. Don't you just love that light!!! It was hard to get good pictures with the light coming in from those windows.

Friday was opening day! It started with the early birds.....and it wasn't us! We showed up a little late and I was rushing to get caught up all day!!! It didn't deter us though! We still had tons of customers and sales!!

Friday night some area bloggers and others like Rhoda from Southern Hospitality and Sandra from Sawdust and Paper Scraps joined us at dinner. We enjoyed talking and laughing about our blogs and all the opportunities that come in to play. I even shared a dessert with the group!! Donna enjoyed it the most!

She is a hoot!!

It was so much fun to spend time with these fabulous people! Don't want to bore you with too many pics so I will end it here.  Or you can click here to see part two!

I am still cleaning all the dust and dirt off everything from the barn!! 1st time = learning experience!!

What have you learned from participating in this kind of event?

Would you do it again?

I would love to hear!!

Guess Who I Just Met?

In the midst of all this chaos, I had an exciting day. This is what makes all the work worth it! Meeting great people and sharing your stories. As bloggers that is what we do everyday.

Some of us are lucky enough to actually meet the people we talk to on the blogs. I feel I have made some wonderful connections with so many of you. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to even meet some of you at Haven and other blogging venues.

So yesterday I took a load to The Milky Farm in Pulaski, Tennessee. Let me tell you it is one of the prettiest places I have ever been to.

The farm is huge! The sun was setting as I turned into the complex. I had to snap this picture. The ironwork was beautiful. Of course the sun was in my eyes but it was still beautiful!

I traveled down a gravel road to the barn. My partner's husband Dan was hauling our little structure ahead of me. Just then a deer hopped over the road and disappeared into this tree line. Couldn't get the camera fast enough. I could stay here taking pictures all day!!

When I got to the barn a woman was bent down on the ground taking pictures. As I walked by I shouted out a friendly hello! Then she turned to me and said hi.

I have to admit, I was a little excited to see who it was. 

Donna from Funky Junk Interiors!

Then I asked the creepy blogger question!!  "Can I take a picture of you? I have to blog about this!"

We had both been working all day and well we looked tired. So we grabbed our glasses so we could look more presentable for the picture. LOL

Donna was just as friendly and nice as she is in her blog. She is funny too! I felt like I have known her for years.

Then we had fun with a photo shoot.

Donna started posing all over. We laughed and laughed! The pictures came out great though!

This one is titled: The Tourist

(because everyone that visits Nashville thinks they need a cowboy hat lol)

The Poser

(look at the chair)

Peek-A-Boo

She is so funny! It was only half a chair she posed with!

and my favorite....

Bag Lady/Junk Queen

Thanks Donna for a great time!!

Then we went to work!

Dan helped Linda and Donna measure the spaces for the booths.

Another time my tape measure came in handy. Remember the HGTV shoot? I lent my tape measure to Kevin and Layla from The Lettered Cottage! Always be prepared!

It was a great day and there is so much more to do.

If this is any indication of what Bella Rustica is going to be like, I am in for a great time!

Come out and shop the barn!!

I will post more soon!