Penny Sweeney, also known as the One Legged Rooster has been digging in old barns looking for treasures for years.  She realized her passion for primitive pieces when she visited a family friend’s farm and their entire front and back pasture was full of “great looking crap” and the old farmer’s name was Scrap.   She loves helping others experience the country life in either strong character pieces of furniture or the delicate conversation pieces.   A piece could be a bowl full of rare drawer pulls or a massive hutch with lots of space or unique little doors.

Every month you will find furniture collection of dressers, dining buffets and cabinets painted with unique color blends and styles.  Her primitive flair may be old crusty buckets, metal iron pieces or plain old wood tools.  In her own home you will find over 40 rolling pins and a fun collection of old cutting boards.  Penny always remarks that “everything has a story and everything is a treasure to someone!“

I have always had fun finding unique pieces of furniture and refurbishing them for my own home.  Friends would ask me to find something for them and soon my passion turned into a much bigger adventure.   I’ve been picking, painting and repurposing in the West Bottoms for seven years – the time has flown by.  I love taking old pieces that some would toss and breathing new life into them.  The real pleasure is to watch items get picked up in the store and loved. 

At GJJ you will find a hat trick of items from the Rooster.  Painted furniture dating back to the early 1900s, primitive tables and kitchen items or trinkets and my biggest love of all – crusty, rusty galvanized items!  It seems that old mirrors, buckets or anything that can be used with industrial lighting will find its way in the trailer.   I travel all over the Midwest area trying to find the most unique pieces I can.  If I find it in a barn – you can bet that it’s going home with me!

There are months that I struggle getting started for the sale and then I find a piece that I can’t wait to get home and refurbish or pick the color that will bring it back to life.  Sometimes my entire sale will be focused on that one piece.  For instance, one month I found an old box filled with World War I soldier letters, stamps and flags – that month it was a historic memorabilia month.    You just never know what is going to move you and get your creative juices going.

I have always said… It’s not what you look at that matters…it’s what you see!  

Want to see more of Penny's incredible work?  Check out her Facebook page!