Unexpected Necessities

Yesterday, I wrote about This Old House , a new antique mall on Trent.

One of the vendors with an 8-foot by 8-foot space there is Unexpected Necessities , which is run by Kathy and Jennifer Walker, a mother-daughter team.

They’d been selling their treasures at high school craft fairs for years, when Farm Chick Serena Thompson spotted their stuff, liked their style and asked them to take part in her annual sale.

The Walkers keep busy selling at craft fairs and via their Etsy shops ( Kathy’s and Jennifer’s ), but have always wanted a permanent space. When they saw that This Old House was looking for vendors, it seemed like a natural next step.

Kathy and Jennifer divide their duties based on their interests and skills, with Kathy creating the sewn objects (such as aprons and pillows made from vintage fabrics) and Jennifer reworking many of the furniture items they find.

The Walkers love the thrill of the hunt. Jennifer says her best find was an old buffet-style cabinet she bought at an estate sale. It had its original hardware and was painted white, although the original green paint could be seen in spots where the white was chipping. In other words, it was perfect.

“I thought, ‘I’m not going to ask how much they want. It’s going to be way too much, it’s such a cool piece,’” Jennifer recalls. “I finally got the courage up to ask, and he said, ‘How about two bucks?’”

So how much did she turn around and make off of it? Not a dime.

“I kept it,” Jennifer says.

Despite the economy, Jennifer says sales have been good lately.

“Last year, at the Farm Chicks, we were really concerned about the economy,” she says. “But we rented a trailer, had it packed (with merchandise) and by the time the show closed, we’d completely emptied the trailer. We had to come home and rummage for stuff to sell.”

She says two of her biggest customers were two women from California who walked into their space and said, “‘I want that and that and that.’” They hauled to stuff home to sell in their own brick-and-mortar store at markup prices Jennifer doesn’t want to know.

Jennifer and Kathy write a fun blog where you can keep up on their latest merchandise and see the objects that inspire their creative process. Check them out there and at This Old House. You can also purchase their sheet music flowers (see photo above) at Buttercuppity fabric store, in Steamplant Square, downtown Spokane.