Hello friends, it feels so good to be back after a two-week hiatus. I was a vendor at my first outdoor market on May 23rd and was burning the candle at both ends leading up to the event. Oh my goodness, despite the cold and rainy weather, I had so much fun!

While I received loads of compliments about my larger furniture pieces and many patrons returned a few times to take a closer look, what sold were the smaller furniture pieces and almost all of my home décor. One of the most popular items that flew out of my tent was candleholders and I learned that next time I need to bring triple the amount of those.

Refreshed Candle Holders With White Paint

Especially this one! I refreshed all the metal candleholders just a few days before the event and in my haste, completely forgot to take before pictures. If you can imagine this one being a dark bronze color. It immediately came alive with just a few coats of Rust-oleum Painter's Touch in the color Heirloom White and paired with a pretty 3-wick key lime candle, it's perfect for Summer nights alfresco.

I wish the next candleholder came in a set but that didn't stop someone from buying just the one. It was also a bronze color but once spray-painted in Heirloom White, the pretty details just popped. I hit it with 180 grit sandpaper to distress the raised parts so the details were even more pronounced.


The next set was IKEA candlesticks picked up at our local thrift store. They had a dark wooden stem with metal silver tops. To unify the two, I sprayed them with Heirloom White and distressed the wooden stems only. The pretty blue PartyLite tapered candles were also scored in a package of four for $2.00!


The next candleholder really didn't need much refreshing and could have been left alone. I dry brushed Simplicity White chalk paint over the bamboo and cleaned up the top. The bronze metal banded candle was also a thrift store find along with the framed origami samurai costume art and the sushi set.


I did manage to take a before picture of this candleholder...


What a difference white paint makes to quickly refresh some candle holders. If you like these candle holder makeovers please share them with a friend and/or save it on Pinterest.



Another thing I learned from my day at the market; leave plenty of time for set-up because you never know what unexpected surprises await. We didn't anticipate gale force winds picking up our tent and moving it to the next stall, a few times.  Another lesson - buy market tent weights!

Thank goodness we did a tent mock-up at home the day before because once we battened down the hatches, we knew exactly where everything needed to go.  Sadly in our haste, we completely forgot to take pictures!

Here are a few photos from the mock-up. Imagine there being tent walls surrounding the displays rather than purple painted ones from our daughter's childhood bedroom (which we still haven't painted). The photos were taken with my phone so I apologize for their quality.
It was great meeting so many locals who braved the cold and I so appreciated the show of support from family and friends. My hard work and efforts were paid off when I received numerous compliments about how pretty my tent was.