BolducsBasement

My grandmother is someone who has inspired me so much. She is 90 something young and just as spunky as she has always been. Her house is still the same from when I was younger -everything red and leopard print, her ceiling covered in glitter, vintage items everywhere. It is still one of my favorite places to be.

When I first decided to get into buying and selling, I started by refinishing old furniture. One of my first pieces was a large desk that someone had covered in a garish yellow. I stripped it, fixed up some of the wood, and repainted it a dark cobalt blue and changed out the hardware, something I think my grandmother would have loved. I hated to sell it, but knowing someone else would love it just as much I did made it easier.

I opened up a booth in one of my local craft stores, selling some of my own items. I opened up my business , Bolduc's Basement, and worked on it part-time while still being a full-time teacher. While working on my booth, I started talked to the other women there, learning about their vintage items, what their tricks were for finding bargains, and soon I found myself going to good wills and thrift stores looking for hidden treasures.

What I noticed was that I was, more often than not, looking for items that I saw in my grandmothers house. I'd see a anchor-hawking glass and know that there is the exact same one sitting in my grandmother's cupboard. I'd see an antique S&P shaker and know my grandmother had it in her collection.

I opened a second booth closer to home, and then when it became too strenuous with balancing my home life (taking care of demanding dogs and a cat, as well as my daughter before she went to college) so I just kept up the one close to home. When rent became too much, I started selling exclusively online.

To me, everything I have in my store is a treasure. Much like my grandmother's house, where she has some of everything, I hope that people can find a little bit of everything in my basement.