The wait is over! The Spring/Summer issue of Flea Market Style is on newsstands and in the hot little hands of eager readers, yours truly included!

Packed with great project ideas, beautiful style and creative new purposes for castoffs, this issue brims with features that celebrate the flea market aesthetic and the people who practice it.  As an FMS team member and blogger, I am fortunate to work in support of an incredible team: Executive Editor Ki Nassauer, who also founded Junk Revolution, which produces the annual Junk Bonanza; Art Director Stacey Willey; Writer Christine Hofmann-Bourque; project builder Cammie Metheny; blog administrator Margo Arrick and appraisal king Tim Luke!

It’s an amazing alchemy at work. Ki dreams up the best projects (the hits keep coming!), and Cammie makes them real. Stacey brings laser-like attention to detail along with a polished and charming eye for color, type and design. Christine not only makes the words sing; she orchestrates harmonic convergence!

Other highlights from this issue: Gorgeous, inventive sewing projects by sew pros Karla Cunningham and Nancy Polacek, and a picture of fabulous Carver junker Jane Hall perched atop a stack of steamer trunks in the Top 10 Collectibles feature!

Lark Nest Design gets a nod, too, with a music cabinet-turned-portable bar project, and a styling credit on the Collectibles piece. More on the bar project later this week. But for now, congrats to the hugely talented Flea Market Style team members on their rockin’ issue!

Kim

Getting ready for a market sale is like waiting for Godot. It seems as if the waiting is interminable! Meanwhile, my living room becomes a crazy staging area for all the stuff that will eventually make its way to the Be Mine Market on Saturday!

(Did I mention that my family is incredibly indulgent?!)

Wanted to give you this peek at the creamy table I finished yesterday. Just needs a coat of poly. Don’t you love the detail everywhere, and the angled legs?

Those are parts of a few fabric boards showing in the background. More pix to come! No one should be surprised to know that I am off to the hardware store!

Kim

This door frame caught my eye in August during Gold Rush Days in Oronoco, Minn. From northern India, about 100 years old, with original hardware and frame, it was a handsome piece. It exuded charisma, even in its disembodied state!

All good things come to those who wait, and I had been searching some time for the perfect display piece for FC’s living room!

FC — Fabulous Client — is a veteran traveler whose collections lacked suitable display. New pieces seemed too sterile. Glass-fronts too formal. Standing seven feet tall amid several pieces of architectural salvage, this was something that could carry a room!

Here’s what the door and frame looked like closed, but FC loves to look at her collections. So I knew whatever storage we devised would be displayed doors open.

This was perfect! Doors on both sides had a fabulous patina…

…and original hardware inside and out.

Next stop was to the carpenter’s, where Alan worked his magic on my sketch and specs.

The original door and frame were four inches deep. My design called for extending its depth by eight inches, in order to make room for display shelves. The extension required the addition of a back, a coved top and a stabilized base extending from the original door jamb running the width of the door’s bottom.

And just like that, the armoire took form!

Here’s Alan with the armoire before staining. He used reclaimed wood from a building being torn down in Minnetonka. Shelves and sides were pegged when attached so no nails would show. (See more of Alan’s great craftsmanship at The Porch & Atelier, where he is the go-to guy for great custom work!)

I’m average height, but felt diminutive next to this captivating beauty!

This photo shows how the sides were extended from the original frame…

…and how the extension flowed from the curved top.

As is often the case with architectural salvage, even the curves weren’t “square” ! So small, individually cut sections were pieced in to extend the coved, curved top.

The finished armoire sports five shelves plus the bottom, and provides ample space for FC’s pottery, metalware and other souvenirs. Finally, the piece was stained to match the original wood, and waxed to match the original finish.

Recently installed in FC’s living room, the armoire commands attention and adds gorgeous texture. It’s beautiful, functional and one of a kind.

A door to adore!

More to follow once FC’s house project is fully photographed!

Kim