Behind the Scenes of an Antique Shop

The antique business may come across as so glitz and glam (ha!) with all of the hob nobbing we do with estate sale people and such...


The fancy furs we wear...





The bling of the vintage jewelry...



The elegant handbags ...

But here's a behind the scenes look at what I'm doing to get things ready for "photo shoots."



My latest vintage china mugs and cups are in the "soaking process" before washing. Just to get the top coat of dust or dirt from years of storage. Sometimes adhesive from a price tag is left behind. And it all takes time.

Linens are also time consuming. They need to be washed and then ironed.

And did I mention I do not like ironing?

But when you find little sweeties like these vintage Christmas hankies... you can't help but take good care of them. There may be items that need repair... vintage toys sometimes get a trip to the "hospital" before making it to our antique booth.

Most of the time vintage items we buy are best kept in their current agey look... the old genuine patina on something shouldn't be removed in many cases... as in furniture or vintage papers.... and old skeleton keys.

It is really up to the dealer how to present the antiques for sale.

Part of the fun for me is setting up scenes for picture taking before items are loaded onto the Bella Rosa website. It is really not a whole lot different than what I used to do as a TV producer. This time however it is still pictures I am working with, not video.

And glamorous or not, it's what goes on, "behind the scenes."