First A Dream

Fluffing the Booth

2012-02-09T01:37:00.000-05:00

I can't sleep. With the full moon, it's practically daylight outside. I finally gave up, got out of bed, and here I am... blogging in the middle of the night.

Today, I fluffed my booth. I had two main themes to work in the booth, neither of which are right for the time of year.

The first was a wooden flag my DH built and I painted. It's made from wood planks. The paint is layered in multiple colors and distressed. This is my first sign effort and I am fairly pleased. You can't tell from the photo but it's quite large - around 46 inches wide. I have plans for other board signs.

Here's the flag at home. I propped it in a chair just before putting it in the car. Miss Sissy struck a serious pose in front. This picture is far cuter than the one of the flag in my booth. Miss Sissy agrees. Oh, my goodness, how I love this cat!

The other thing I worked into the booth was a group of Easter things. I only meant to price the things and get them boxed up. Really. I wasn't going to put the stuff in til after Valentine's Day. I planned to play by the holiday rules. But then, after I had them packed up, we had all this warm weather. Spring Fever struck and the next thing I know, I'm loading the box into the car.

I put it all together on a table. These little bunnies and eggs and holiday knick-knacks are definitely not my usual style. They were picked up here and there over the last year and I ended up with quite a collection. I am shocked at how much I had. I think with each thing I found, I must have been telling myself that I would create a small Easter basket vignette. My booth look is moving in a very different direction these days, so I don't think I would choose these things again. What's crazy is, despite myself, I like this display. It feels happy. Apparently, others are affected, too. I had customers stopping by to admire. Spring Fever has rendered us all hopelessly tacky! Luckily, tacky is permissible in an Easter basket.

Unfortunately, with the red white and blues and the Easter pastels and the other assorted colors around my booth, including my small collection of Fiesta Ware that I decided to part with, I am missing a unifying theme. I hope to change that soon, but for now, it's just an eclectic mix.

I'm still not sleepy, but that's all for this post.

Spring in February

2012-02-06T07:39:00.004-05:00

Global warming has certainly made it's mark in Georgia. Spring is here. This is what I see as I come down the driveway. It's just the beginning of February. Everywhere I go I see things in full bloom. The temp was in the 70s yesterday. Now, I have a really bad case of Spring Fever!!!

A Fairy Tray

2012-01-06T08:48:00.004-05:00

I transformed a silver tray and a vintage picture by combining them.

I had a lovely antique picture of fairies. The original frame was broken. I put the print in an old, heavy, beautifully tarnished, silver tray using decoupage medium.

It was a match meant to be - I didn't even have to trim! It's sooooooo pretty. I wanted to keep it, but forced myself to take it to the booth, where I hope it will find a home with someone who'll love it as much as I do. Or maybe I hope that it sits there unsold and I have to bring it back home. If it's still there the next time I go over, I may have to bring it back home. I'm having seller's remorse!

Isn't this picture enchanting?

A Mantel and a Ladder

2012-01-06T08:47:00.003-05:00

I am trying to get better about posting my projects. Here are two that I took over to The White Booth just yesterday.

The biggest project was a very simple vintage mantel. By simple, I am referring to the lines. There are no frills or extra ornamentation on this one. I like that. It makes a wonderful stage for putting together a fresh, simple mantel vignette.

I also took over a ladder that I finished in a cottage-y style. I wish I had the before on this one. I love how fresh and clean it ooks. Mind you, it was a dirty ladder, but it had no character before. By the way, if you want to see why I get excited over ladders, take a look at this post.

Distressing Furniture with Denatured Alcohol

2012-01-03T07:10:00.000-05:00

I have always enjoyed exploring new ways to refinish furniture. I try them out hoping to hit on a new favorite to add to my bag of tricks.

Distressing is wonderful but I do it with sandpaper. By the way, the furniture in my house might as well be distressed. Our furniture tends to have more battle scars than most from encounters with our crazy dogs and cats.

Sausha at Show and Tell refinished a chest of drawers using 0000 (super fine) steel wool and denatured alcohol to distress, allowing the wood to show through.

This technique looks like it may give a better look than sandpaper, but it does require a finish coat of poly (she loves Wood Classics poly from Sherwin Williams). The finish coat is needed because the alcohol leaves a cloudy, dull area.

Sausha learned this technique from Christa at Stories of a House. Christa has a short video tutorial on the technique here. She also describes the technique in this post (with a few extra tips) here.

I can't wait to try out this technique. I'd also like to experiment and see if a coat of finish wax would do as well as a final coat of poly. I guess denatured alcohol will be on my next shopping list.

Clean Look Didn't Last Long!

2012-01-02T07:57:00.001-05:00

Well. If you didn't see the clean look header on my blog, it's too late now. I took a look this morning and decided the header had to have something more... anything. Since it's January and many years of teaching taught me to dream of snow days, I decided to pull out a pretty snow photo from 2010. It's my new header background.

I no longer have to wish for a snow day, though they are amazingly pretty. I can have a holiday almost any day I choose. Retirement is fantastic and the younger you are when you do it, the more amazing it is. I never understood people who have a fear of retirement. They wonder what they'll do. I tend to have so many things going that it's hard to reign myself in and focus. I never had trouble entertaining myself. That's obvious - just look at how much entertainment I have had thinking about my blog header.

By the way, here's the photo I used on the header. The snow made our little pond look quite magical. Does it make you wish for snow?

Fresh Start for the New Year

2012-01-01T22:06:00.002-05:00

Happy 2012!

Did you notice my very plain blog header? You probably thought you'd come to the wrong site! I had been perfectly happy with my previous header until today. Suddenly, it seemed very wrong. I have so many nice photos of our property. This photo certainly doesn't do it justice. And look how dark it is! What was I thinking?

Previous Header

I need something different and I have no idea what. I played around with a number of styles and colors. I created a number of designs - from wild to chic. Nothing seems quite right. It seemed like a good idea to wipe the slate clean, so to speak, for a little while.

I changed to a simple black on white title, a white body background and charcoal gray around the edges.

Maybe this change is stemming from some deep-seated yearning for cleanliness and simplicity. Oh, I hope so, because my house is a big mess! Maybe, if I get the house really clean, I'll be able to focus and come up with a fun new blog header. Let the cleaning begin! (Tomorrow. It's time to get ready for bed.)

Pink Crocheted Scarf

2011-12-31T09:26:00.000-05:00

I finished up one last project for 2011! It's a pink crocheted scarf. It's so pretty and I can't wait to wear it. It's really long, perfect for wearing in a European Loop.

I haven't crocheted in decades! I have been knitting a bit. A tiny bit. Washcloths. Do not be impressed. I used to crochet like crazy and even made some afghans in my day. Still, I was never a pro and I never was a perfectionist about it. A true yarn artist would be amused (or horrified) by my creations.

My mom made a scarf for my niece, Sarah, for Christmas. It was lime green - Sarah's new favorite color. It was fabulous. I fell in love and decided it would be such fun to try. I needed a TV watching project. This was a timely project. I have a winter cold and I've been a couch potato for the last couple of days.

The pattern had come from a free Hobby Lobby pattern card. I was able to find the pattern - Taffy Pull Scarf - online. The original pattern is for a striped scarf. The one my mom made was a solid color and I liked that MUCH better.

Over the summer I had come across a bunch of wonderful cotton yarns at - where else - a yard sale. Needless to say, I had a stash to pull from. I chose the pink. It's not as thick as the pattern calls for. Since I'm not a perfectionist, I didn't let that worry me. I had a number of crochet hooks. The pattern calls for size I-9. Didn't have that so I used a J-10. Close enough. But I should have compensated by decreasing the chain stitches at the beginning to maybe 200 or 225. I ended up with a lacier scarf than my niece's. Both are pretty. I am thinking that I'd like to make an ivory or gray one with a thicker yarn. It would be good to have a warmer scarf, too. The bottom line - it will come out pretty even if you don't use exactly what's called for.

When I printed the original pattern, the print was too small to easily read, plus there was lots of extra info about changing colors, which I didn't plan to do. I redid the pattern for one color. If you want the original pattern, go here. If you want solid, copy and paste this:

Taffy Pull Scarf

Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller "Bamboo Ewe™"
FINISHED MEASUREMENTS - Scarf is 6" x 85". (I didn't measure mine, but this is pretty close).

MATERIALS
177 yd - 3.5 oz (100 g) balls
I used 3 1/2 skeins of 115 yd - 50g - 1 3/4 oz - 100% cotton - Patons Weekender yarn in coral (looks like a dusty pink)
Crochet Hook: 5.5mm [US I-9].
Yarn needle.

Ch 256
Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across – 255 sc.
Note: I used a hook one size larger and my scarf is too long!
Rows 2 - 5 : sc in each sc across.
Row 6: ch 4 (counts as tr), turn, *skip 1 st, tr in next st, tr in skipped st; repeat from * across to last st, tr in last st. (Sounds hard, but is very easy!)
Row 7: ch 1, turn, sc in each st across, sc in top of ch-4.
Rows 8-9: repeat Rows 6-7.
Rows 10-11: repeat Rows 6-7.
Row 12: ch 1, turn, sc in each st across, sc in top of ch-4.
Rows 13-16: ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across.
Fasten off.

The triple stitches used in rows 6, 8 and 10 create the lacy bits down the center of the scarf.

FINISHING
Cut 12" lengths of different colors of yarn to add to long tails. Matching colors with row tails, fold lengths in half. Each Fringe should have 6 strands. Pull folded end of lengths through each row end. Pull ends of lengths and long tails through folded end.
Weave in ends.

GAUGE: 12 sts = 4" in single crochet. CHECK YOUR GAUGE. (I obviously didn't bother) Use any size hook to obtain the gauge.
Note: Scarf is worked lengthwise. Leave 6" tail when beginning and ending to add to Fringe.

ABBREVIATIONS:
ch = chain
mm = millimeters
sc = single crochet
st(s) = stitch (es)
tr = triple or treble crochet
* = repeat whatever follows the * as indicated

Two Booth Expansions

2011-12-11T21:00:00.001-05:00

Well, I've been pretty busy lately. First, The White Booth which I share with 4 other fab ladies, has expanded. The White Booth had been in two 10x15 booths. We now occupy three of them and our latest one is a corner booth. We were getting a bit crowded and really needed the space. We painted the floor and wall and moved in all in one 10am - 5pm day. Here's one picture and you can see more on my White Booth blog.

What's funny is that this weekend we sold lots of big pieces and a number of things in this photo are gone. But other things have been brought in.

Just before we expanded The White Booth, I moved my main booth from a 10x10 to a 10x15 corner booth. Mmmmm. The corner booths are nice! I really tried to convince myself that I was just fine in the cozy little 10x10. It was just too cramped. I asked to be put on the waiting list for a corner booth and amazingly, the one I wanted came open. That's crazy because people are fighting to get a booth at our store. It was meant to be.

As you can see, my main booth is the opposite of The White Booth. This booth is big on color and getting bolder all the time. The White Booth answers one side of my personality - the desire to be clean and neat and pure and sweet. But this booth is the real me. Bohemian and wild and changing all the time. This photo was taken right after I got everything moved. The next day I tweaked and made some nice improvements. This angle is not my favorite. Ninety-nine percent of our customers approach the booth from the opposite direction. I set up the booth with that in mind.

I love the charm of this round table and tablecloth in the corner. It looks really nice with the lamp turned on, but photos turn out lousy with the light. You'll have to use your imagination. Excuse the lopsided tablecloth... it's on straight now.

This enamel top table is was a favorite thing. It sold really fast. The legs and base had been wood colored. I knew that a little paint would give it a new lease on life. It did. In fact, I nearly kept it, but how many retro tables can one person have... without being considered a hoarder?

The stool in the photo above is another recent redo. I painted it with chalk paint. It sold quickly, too.

Once the green table sold, I brought in this little beauty. I had pictured it going in the booth in January or February, but sales are going faster than anticipated.

I wasn't crazy about the floor color, but there was no time to paint it the day I moved. Once everything was in, the floor color felt just fine. The wall was painted. It had been a mustard yellow. I seriously considered painting the wall silver. I came very, very close. If I had had to go to the paint store, that's probably what I would have gotten. My sister-in-law had leftover wall paint so that's what I used. Thanks, Nancy!!!

By the way, those things on top of the wall are not mine. They are my neighbor's - Kathy. She's also one of The White Booth girls. Someone asked if those things bothered me or if I wanted to use the ledge. The answers are no and no. I don't like putting things up high where they are hard to reach. Hard to reach = hard to sell. Kathy can have that ledge! By the way, one of these days I need to show photos of her booth. It's wonderful. Her booth is also a corner booth. It's set up more open than mine towards the center aisle, but customers are approaching her booth from a different angle. The customers in our store tend to start on the right side of the store and work around. I think it's very important to know where your customers will be when they first notice your booth.

One other improvement was the way my pictures are corralled. There's never enough room to hang them all on the wall. Many would end up propped on the floor. I brought in an old trunk that had been in my attic and now the pictures and frames stay grouped. They are easy to look through without sliding or toppling. Some have already sold. Now I've added some vintage windows. I'll share photos of those soon. I have some really nice chippy ones!

That's all for now.

Doorknob Towel Rack

2011-11-30T01:01:00.001-05:00

My dear, sweet, wonderful husband made a towel rack for me. I have been looking for a towel rack with character ever since we moved in (3 years ago). Little did I know we had everything we needed right in the barn.

He attached 3 very old glass doorknobs, which came from my grandmother, to a piece of very old, weathered, wood that came from his Uncle Clyne's barn. I love the distressed condition of the wood - great character!

He drilled recessed hole in back so the knobs would hold firmly, yet sit flat against the wall.

I had a painting that I've been trying to find the right spot for. It's in a barnwood frame my sister-in-law gave me. It's goes perfectly with the towel rack.

Unfortunately, my lousy photo doesn't do either justice, but trust me - they look wonderful!

Decoupaging a Divider Screen

2011-11-18T21:15:00.001-05:00

Every now and then, I do a project that turns out so good, I can hardly believe I did it. One of my most recent projects was to decoupage a divider screen. The divider turned out great and is now being used in my booth.

I bought the screen at a yard sale. It was in various stages of a redo involving paint and wallpaper.

I decoupaged one side with old yellowed dictionary pages. I used matte Mod Podge on this side. This side is facing my neighbor's booth.

The other side - the most fun side - was decoupaged magazine ads. I used old magazines from the 40's and 50's.

I found so many quirky ads. Even tough I personally chose and cut out and attached each ad, I still find myself browsing the screen to revisit them.

There were tons of ads for retro colored appliances - loved those!

Unfortunately, right now not much of the screen is showing in my booth. I have my booth pretty full. Oh well. It'll show better later. Meanwhile, it still makes me happy.

Mantel Redo

2011-11-17T05:41:00.001-05:00

The mantel I refinished this month just sold. It didn't last long in The White Booth.

I came very close to keeping this one. It doesn't matter that we don't actually have a fireplace. After all, I've seen loads of inspiration for Faux Fireplaces.

In the end, we decided against using it. Once that decision was made, a redo was called for. It looked lovely with the oak finish and I had some serious qualms about putting paint on a piece that looked this good natural. But the truth is, unpainted mantels don't sell as well as painted ones. And if I wanted to put it in The White Booth (TWB), then it needed to be a very light color. We use creams and greys in TWB, too, but, even though I'm on a gray kick right now, I decided to paint it white.

Here are some photos of the transformation. This isn't a redo where the before look is ghastly. As you can see in the before photos, it looked wonderful before. The only thing I didn't like at all was the faux brick. That came off very easily. Some people will likely think the before look is the best. It all depends on your style.

The people I bought the mantel from had gone to a great deal of trouble to removed years of paint and bring it back to its glory. Even now, knowing it came out pretty, I feel pangs of guilt. Too late now. And a sale was made to a customer I adore - Bonnie H. So that's enough remorse.

After one coat of primer, it looked pretty sad. This is always the low point in a redo where you wonder what the heck you've done.

Another coat of paint makes it look much better, but it was pretty bland.

All those details were just begging to be highlighted. What to do? Glaze? No. I wanted it to be white. Distress. Yes.

I liked this look. No need to do anything more.

After it cured for a bit, it was time for the debut in TWB. It was put in place right around our booth transformation date. The fall naturals had been pulled and the booth was very plain and clean looking. It looks really nice like that, too.

A few days later, TWB was transformed with glitz and bling. The booth looked great and the mantel was fabulous! Everything on the mantel sold within 2 days. It had to be re-glitzed.

Farewell, pretty mantel. I know you'll be happy in your new home.

Pillsbury Doughboy Bowl

2011-10-25T05:42:00.000-04:00

Holy Cow! I was ready to toss this Pillsbury bowl in the Goodwill pile. I got it in an auction lot with a few other things I wanted. I decided to look it up before I said goodbye and found that there are some serious Doughboy collectors out there. I had no idea.

Ignore the dish on the right. I already had this photo and am too lazy to take another.

This Ebay listing is for a bowl identical to mine. The condition even sounds like mine - PILLSBURY DOUGHBOY BOWL-HOME COOKIN-POPPIN FRESH-OVEN&MIRCOWAVE SAFE! ANCHOR OVENWARE-BOWL IS NOT PERFECT,NO CRACKS BUT SOME WEAR MARKS,VER USEABLE ITEM! NOTE:THESE ARE VERY HARD TO FIND AT BEST! It sold for $19.99 plus shipping a little over 2 months ago.

I figured that was a fluke, so I looked some more. I found another that lists for $25 on this site dedicated to Doughboy Collectibles.

Trivia -

The Doughboy (his name is Poppin' Fresh) was first introduced in a commercial in 1965.
A young Maureen McCormick (Marsha Brady) co-starred with Poppin’ Fresh in his first commercial.
According To Forbes, Poppin Fresh is the 12th most loved spokescharacter (didn't even know that was a word)

Want to know more about Poppin'?
His official bio can be found here.

More links:
Pillsbury Doughboy Collectibles
Offical Doughboy Site
The Doughboy's Official Facebook Page

If you are a Doughboy fan, please stop here. The next section is in very poor taste and you will find it humorless and tacky and disturbing and it's a bald faced lie! I mean it. Stop reading right now.

Still reading? Don't say I didn't warn you.
I found this obituary while searching. I didn't even know he had passed.

Please join me in remembering a great icon. Veteran Pillsbury spokesperson, The Pillsbury Doughboy, died yesterday of a severe yeast infection and complications from repeated pokes to the belly. He was 71. Doughboy was buried in a slightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out, including Mrs. Butterworth, the California Raisins, Hungry Jack, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, Captain Crunch and many others.

The graveside was piled high with flours as long-time friend, Aunt Jemima, delivered the eulogy, describing Doughboy as a man who "never knew how much he was kneaded."

Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with many turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, even as a crusty old man, he was still considered a roll model for millions.

Toward the end, it was thought he'd rise once again, but he was no tart.

Doughboy is survived by his second wife, Play Dough. They have two children and one in the oven. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

Oh my word. No wonder I can't get things done around here. I get lost for ages doing stupid stuff like this.

Pyrex - More Excellent Finds

2011-10-24T17:06:00.000-04:00

If you want to start a collection of vintage Pyrex, I can now say from personal experience that it's really easy. I have had incredible luck in the last couple of months. In the last couple of weeks, I have added to my collection and now am ready to begin letting go of some. I'm getting picky, which surely means I've graduated to Level 2!!!

The pattern for my first set is often called Crazy Daisy, but the correct name is probably Spring Blossom Green. There is a great explanation of the name controversy here. I have learned so much from this web site (The Pyrex Files)! This pattern is from the late 1960's and early 70's. On a personal note, in my younger days, I really wasn't a fan of green when it came to clothes or decorating. Now, I love it! The colors of this set are really nice!

I found 3 of these. Apparently, I have the complete Cinderella Round Bake Set, lids and all! The numbers on mine are 471-,472-, and 473-B.

Turquoise has always been a color I loved. I found this next set at an auction and had very little competition bidding on it! It was a farm auction, so there weren't many vintage-loving decorators to drive up the price. But I was swooning and refused to leave til it came up for bid.

This pattern is called Butterprint. It was introduced in 1957. The turquoise was the most popular and they made a lot of it so it's easy to find. See more info on Butterprint here.

I have almost the whole refrigerator set. I'm missing two lids.

I decided to use the top shelf of one of my cabinets to display these sets. One day, I may actually use them, but for now I just want to look at them. I am trying to change so that I only keep what I use, but I guess I'm not really there yet. Does a prominent display count as being used?

I forgot to take a photo of another small refrigerator dish and lid that I found at a yard sale. It's in the Snowflake Blue pattern and was produced in the late 1960's and early 70's. It looks just like the one shown below, which I found for sale online.

At the farm auction, I also found the two smallest bowls from the Primary Nesting Bowls set. Now, I just need the green and yellow. These bowls were produced form the 1940's to 1970's. At first the smallest bowl was more of a turquoise color, but later changed to a blue. I have the blue.

Check out this early ad I found on I Adore Style:

Cute White and Red Kitchen Cupboard

2011-10-22T07:22:00.000-04:00

I found this cute little kitchen cupboard yesterday I had thought about putting it in my house, but the size wasn't exactly right. Instead I did some rearranging in my booth and slid it right in. It looks wonderful. I'm more interested in it for display than a quick sale, so I put a semi-high price on it.

I did a really quick rearrange and I'm not real happy with the things I chose to put in the cabinet. I can definitely do better than that. I have plenty of new things to take in, so hopefully, I'll fluff this look next week.

Hmmmm. Now I'm wondering. Did I price it high enough? Shoot. If that thing sells fast, I won't be happy.

Chewed Up and Spit Out

2011-10-20T07:09:00.001-04:00

If you hate the look of brand new shoes and want a way to give them that vintage worn look FAST, I have the answer for you. Get a lab puppy.

We have two lab puppies. They are a tad over 7 months old now and NOTHING in or out of our house looks new anymore. Their latest accomplishment involved a pair of shoes I ordered online from Zappos.

I was at Rockin B fluffing my booth. My husband called and asked had I ordered something. Yes. A pair of shoes. Well, there are only bits of cardboard in the yard. A little while later he called back to say he found the shoes. One of our little precious darlings was throwing it up in the air and playing catch. They were a bit chewed up. Unwearable. Not even good enough to be paint shoes.

I'm glad I wasn't home. It would have been like an episode of Snapped, only the pet version. By the time I got home, I had calmed down to extremely irritated. It's a good thing I am madly in love with them.

These two, very cute, very lovable dogs, have chewed up soooooooooo many things around our house - furniture, rugs, cables... I love them dearly, but I will NEVER, as God is my witness, have puppies again!!!! I will rescue an older dog who is out of the chewing stage, but, read my lips, "NO NEW PUPPIES!"

My next online order may be a couple of muzzles.

More Improvements to My Booth

2011-10-12T18:33:00.000-04:00

Today I bought an old rustic wood table that is the perfect size for my new (old) blue metal shelf. I took down the bakers rack and packed it away.

A fold up bakers rack is such a good thing to have for a booth. When something big sells, it can be set up to fill in a space and hold lots of smalls.

I had been using the bakers rack to hold vintage table linens. Now, I have a display that is more "me". Rustic, chippy, farmhouse, vintage...

I love bakers racks, but I have to say, I find this crazy display more appealing for my booth. There are still improvements to be made with the display of the linens, but I'm definitely a step closer.

Once I moved the blue metal cart to the back, I needed to redo the front section. I finished and sent up front to get my camera. By the time I came back two big things had sold from it and I had to rearrange. this is the second arrangement. The platters look so-so, but I wanted to give them a little time up front.

By the way, those vintage orange glasses on the metal tray are so wonderful. every time I see them, I'm tempted to bring them back home. If they don't sell this month, I probably will. I need to take a better photo of them so you can see how wonderful they are.

On My Own in a Booth

2011-10-09T10:53:00.001-04:00

Martie and I have shared a booth at Rockin' B Antiques for over a year. Last week, we separated. We joke that it's an amicable divorce.

We were in a double booth (10x20). It was wide and spacious. Now we are next door neighbors and we each have a 10x10 booth.

Looking at our things side by side makes it apparent just how different our styles really are. Martie loves traditional and formal. She's well traveled and artsy. She's a born entertainer. Her booth turned out great - I should post photos.

I love beat up, hunky things. With strong vibrant retro colors. And a farmhouse look. Rust, chipped paint, galvanized metal and burlap are my friends.

I won't lie. My new booth is a bit cramped and after putting all my stuff in this space, my first inclination was to get a bigger booth. I even talked to the owner about it and began making plans for a fabulous corner booth.

But then, a funny thing happened. I began to love my little spot. I rearranged a little and made better use of the space. And I started thinking about the increased responsibility involved with a larger booth - the increased work responsibilities, working harder to keep the booth stocked, etc. Plus, I already have a 1/6th piece of The White Booth. Suddenly it made since to keep it simple. The last thing I need to do is take on something pulling even more on my time. Once that decision was made, I felt incredibly relaxed and happy.

Here are a few photos of the booth. Not everything in it reflects my style. That's going to take time. Heck, I'm still trying to figure out my style. It's a work in progress. In fact, I'm going over this afternoon to do some tweaking. I bought a smaller, taller table for one of the corners and that will give me more room for the medium size (easy for me to handle) furniture pieces that I plan to focus on.

Things have already changed several times since first moving in. I had a fabulous, chippy yellow farm table on the left. The color and style really popped. It sold. I had just finished painting this green one, so it went right in the same spot. It's pretty, but I miss the stronger color. I also had a colorful rug on the floor. It sold. I need to find another. Lots of my colorful smalls have sold, too.

In the photo above, you can also see that I have a spot up high on the right where I can hang a chandelier. So, guess what I'm on the lookout for!?!?!

I have three shelves that are not for sale - two on the right and one on the left (you can see just a little of that one in the photo below). I'm thinking about moving the one on the left to create more room for a transitional vignette. Eventually, I hope to replace those shelves with pieces that have more personality. Barnwood and wavy tin maybe?

In the corner, I covered a round card table with my pretty toile tablecloth. That's where the new round table is going to go. I wanted something smaller and sturdier that I could pile high with a fun display. The tablecloth will still work. I'll take photos and post them soon.

My back wall has a jut out in an odd location. At first, I hated it. I wanted a straight wall with no restrictions. But, again, I am actually falling in love with this odd little nook. It's 30 inches wide. I put a square card table in there (30 inches square) and covered it with my burlap tablecloth. It turned out fun and quirky, but I'm looking for something better.

By the way, don't you just love the submarine man poster sticking out! I may mark him up to some crazy price because it will break my heart when it sells. I really like him peaking out. He definitely grabs the attention of everyone walking by the booth. Maybe he needs to be $99.95! If it sold for that, I think I would be able to get over my grief.

Another Pyrex Find! - Black and White

2011-09-25T10:04:00.000-04:00

While out pickin' (I'm still trying to get used to that word. It sounds like I'm doing something crude.) yesterday, I found what turned out to be a fairly rare set of Pyrex. It was in a pattern I haven't seen and with a separate handle I've never seen. Even my friend, Nicole, queen of all thing vintage kitchen, hadn't seen that handle before. So, I was eager to find out more.

I came across a wonderful post on The Pyrex Collective, by Linda of A La Carte, telling me just what I needed to know! She said this dish is "a promotional item from Christmas 1959. It is a snack server with a handle. Again no official pattern name, but it is refereed to as Compass."

Linda also included some fabulous photos, much better than my hokey photo, of her black and white Pyrex dishes.

Her other dish is "a Fall Promotional Gift item in 1958. It doesn't have an official name but is called Barbed Wire." Ooohhhh. I'd love to find that one! Don't these look great for Halloween!

Black and White Pyrex is very pretty and quite showy in a group. I came across this wonderful photo collage by meetmeatmikes on Flickr.

It makes you want to start a collection, doesn't it!?!?!

Ebay has a fairly decent selection of black and white Pyrex, but I prefer to find mine while treasure hunting. That sounds better than pickin'.

Score! Vintage Pyrex

2011-09-21T20:46:00.001-04:00

While out pickin' last week, I came across quite a collection of vintage Pyrex dishes. Naturally, I showed no restraint - I bought it all. It wasn't exactly a fabulous deal in terms of cost. Just medium. But the pieces are colorful and fun. Most of them will be guests at my house for a while. Some may move in permanently.

Of course, one of the first things I wanted to do was to look up the pieces. I wanted to see how old they might be, the name of the pattern and piece... whatever I could find. This is what slows me down when it comes to getting things in my booth to sell. I probably won't get much faster because I really enjoy learning about these treasures.

As I researched, I often ended up on two particular blogs devoted to collecting Pyrex - Pyrex Love and The Pyrex Collective. Wow! What a treasure trove of information! I could lose myself in those blogs for weeks! One of my favorite pages on Pyrex Love is the Frequently Asked Questions page.

The Pyrex Files has a great page showing a slew of Pyrex patterns, their names and when they came out. Very helpful!!!

I also read that Paula Deen is an avid collector and often talks about it on her blog. I'll have to check that out.

Pyrex Love has a group pool on Flickr, too. It has thousands of Pyrex photos!

I also found out that Pyrex was featured in the May issue of Country Living. I think I remember it. Do I still have that issue around here somewhere?

Photo Disclaimer - I didn't want my photos to have a distracting background so I put the dishes on a white quilted background. I'm too cheap to buy a light box and too lazy to make one. The results aren't great, but are a little better than taking the shot on my counter like I usually do.

I bought a yellow 503 refrigerator dish with a clear lid. One benefit of Pyrex over Corning are the lids. They are flat, which makes refrigerator storage very efficient. On the other hand, without the knob, the lids require two hands to lift off. I'm going to play around with these for a while and see which ones I truly prefer. This was probably made in the 1960's or beyond.

Speaking of refrigerator dishes, I came across this little post singing the praises of the mini refrigerator dishes and how great they are for dieters. I might need to be on the lookout for the minis!

I came home with a large, heavy plate. It turned out to be the 795 underplate to go with the Friendship Promotional Cinderella Round Casserole Set. The Friendship pattern came out in 1971. This plate got me thinking. I am not completely loving my Fiesta Ware dishes. I like having more color, but I may have gone too far. I need to think on my plate situation a bit more. I had a swoon reaction to this little red and white plate and I can picture something similar looking just right in my kitchen. Oh, how fickle I am! It's a very good thing that I have a booth. On another page, Pyrex Love said, It is a bit more difficult to find this alternate Friendship promo casserole, and even more difficult to find it with the underplate. Woo-Hoo! I have a hard-to-find piece!

The most exciting (and most expensive) find was a 1 1/2 qt orange 043 Friendship Casserole and Lid 943C34. The dish on the right is a 1 qt casserole in the Town and Country pattern. I need to find a lid for it.

A whole page was devoted to the Friendship pattern in the May Country Living issue!

These casseroles are both turquoise and white in the snowflake pattern. The divided dish is a #10, the other is a #17.

I found another similar oval baker set in Blue Ivy. The dishes with the decorated lids always catch my eye, but when you put them in a cabinet, you don't see the pattern. Hmmmm.... I need to find some inspiration photos for displaying Pyrex.

And finally, I bought two pie plates in flamingo pink and Lime green. These colors are really fun.

All in all, I'd say it was a good find. It certainly gave me a thrill!

A New Member of the Pack - Cocoa

2011-09-03T05:59:00.000-04:00

Oh my. It seems my hubby is now the official alpha dog to a pack of fun and crazy pooches. We have only had Sadie and Annabelle a few months. They are so much fun and the house is much livelier thanks to them. And now, it seems, we have another. We've named her Cocoa, for obvious reasons.

We are still learning Cocoa's personality and making guesses about her story. We know that she's extremely smart. She uses her "smarts" for both good and bad. The bad generally involves food. She wants Cindy Lou's prescription cat food very badly and will go to great lengths to get it.

Hubby thinks she was tossed out by someone. She was a little thin, but not too much. She also may have run off - she can jump a fence with no problem. There are no Lost Dog signs or calls to the vet or posts in the newspaper.

In the photo above, she has a very serious look on her face. That's how she looks most of the time. She needs to be by the side of one of us. If I'm home, it's me. Most of the dogs prefer hubby. He's more fun. Cocoa and Buddy for some reason, are closest to me.

She is playful when we go for walks. She loves to swim and is often the first in the water. That's only because she's a tad faster than Sadie and Annabelle. In fact, she's faster than any of our dogs. She beats them all at any game of chase. The gazillions of squirrels who lived on our property seem to have realized that things have changed. Most of them have packed their bags and moved to the woods across the street.

She loves to play chase and fetch sticks and balls. The photo above is wild looking. She was really having a good time when I snapped that one.

Mostly, she is very serious about staying close to us. Cocoa may be worried about being left. She wants to be where she can see one of us at all times. She hit the jackpot when she came to our house. We'll spoil her and love on her the rest of her life... as long as she doesn't jump the fence and leave us. So far she's only done that once. She came back and has chosen to stay. The only worry is that she may jump the fence trying to follow us when we leave. We left her in the house when we both had to leave yesterday. That was a risk, but luckily she was good as gold while we were gone.

Cocoa, welcome to the family.

Inspired By...

2011-09-03T05:17:00.001-04:00

I have just a few pretty photos today. The first photo spoke to me because I am looking forward to fall weather so much. Summer in Georgia is just too hot and dry. We've had just a few cool mornings in the last week. We were able to open up the house for an hour or two. There's nothing like a change of season to make you want to do a little bit of redecorating.

As seen on Caught in Grace

I have saved many pictures the last few years of pretty table runners made with burlap or burlap-look linen. Here's another to remind me I still haven't made one. Isn't this one pretty?

As seen on The Charm of Home

I love, love, love this room designed by Cassity and Roeshel. I spent ages studying the photos to see why this room was so appealing. The more I look, the more ideas I see. They are asking for votes for their room for a contest sponsored by Shaw Carpets. Voters can win, too. I am happy to give them my vote! As usual, my favorite rooms are an inviting eclectic mix of styles and colors. This one is perfection.

As seen on Remodelaholic

Farm Tables - What Color?

2011-08-24T05:35:00.000-04:00

I have two small tables to paint and I am having trouble making a decision about paint.

I have two coats of primer on both. The first is a table I've had for years. It had been painted with crazy colors in multiple patterns. I had used it in my classroom in my past life as a teacher.

The second table is a good bit heavier and maybe a little older and more rustic. I fell in love with it at an auction, which means I bid a little higher than I should have. It also means there's a very good chance I'll keep this one.

The safe way to go would be to paint them both white. They could go right into the white booth and they'd definitely sell. That may be what I do with the first table. But the rustic farm table? White? Oh, I don't know.

The above photo is from Cottages & Bungalows magazine - the May, 2011 issue. I've been saving this photo since May. I fell in love with the strong green and blue, so much so that I bought a quart of paint in each color. I haven't used the paint yet. I've been waiting. I had thought to paint something unimportant and try it out. Nothing unimportant came along. Do I dare use it on my farm table? It's only paint. The worse that could happen is I have to paint over it.

The first place I looked for inspiration was my recent post on farmhouse tables. There are some respectable tables on that page in white. There's also a soft green. I definitely have green paint in safer hues.

But I needed more adventurous inspiration. I didn't find much, but I did find one similar table.

Carol Wingert had no fear of bright green tables. She didn't have to paint hers. I t came that way... all the way from France. That must be a sign. My ancestors came from France and the French are noted for their amazing style and taste. Can you see that I'm trying to work up my nerve to paint my table kelly green?

Here's another peak at a vignette on her table -

My original inspiration table is more distressed than this one and looks like it has a good coat of glaze as well. Plus it has sprinkles of tiny black dots. It looks like they used the toothbrush trick to create a spray of dots. That's a messy task, but I definitely plan to add that. You know - I think I've talked myself into it. I have nothing to fear but fear itself.

1930's Book - The Art of Drinking

2011-08-01T06:29:00.000-04:00

One interesting thing I came across during my latest thrifting adventures was an old book, The Art of Drinking by Dexter Mason. It was published in 1930 and is apparently a sought after book for those who collect bar-keeping and cocktail books.

The book itself was a nice find, but there were tons of little goodies stuck inside the book that are even more interesting.

There was a stack of attendance diplomas. Cross and Crown is church related, so a cocktail book seems an odd place to store these.

Most interesting of all were the old pamphlets with drink recipes stuck throughout the book. It's quite a collection.

I have no idea how old they are, but just guessing, I'd say they were from the 1930's, 40's or 50's.

I had originally thought to sell this book in my booth, but I don't think it would go to the right home that way. This seems to be something that a serious collector would most appreciate, so, I'm thinking maybe I should list it on Ebay or something. I feel responsible for finding it a good home!

Eat Cake!

2011-07-31T09:19:00.000-04:00

Eat Cake brings up a number of hidden meanings. On the downside, there's the tacky quote Marie Antoinette was supposed to have uttered in regards to the starving peasants - "Let them eat cake." It turns out that she didn't really say that. Ahhh, history..... Once accused, the charge sticks.

On the upside, Eat Cake seems to mean celebrate and enjoy life. I'll go for that, however, the last thing I need to do is actually eat cake. I am determined to drop some weight.

That's fine by me because I've found something related to eating cake that I like even better - vintage cake carriers. I have found two in the last two weeks.

First, I found this beauty by Regal. The top locks on with a couple of turn lock mechanisms. It's aluminum. I love the rings around the bottom of the cover. This carrier reminds me of all the wonderful cake bakers in my past.

Then yesterday I came across this one -

It's stainless steel and is a twist-lock style. It looks exactly like the 1950's-60's Everedy ones. It has the exact same USA brand on the bottom. But - it doesn't say Everedy. It was really dirty, but in good shape. It's shorter than the first one, but heavier. I still like the first one best - it looks older and more like the ones from my childhood.

Now I don't really need two cake carriers or do I? An idea took hold of me as I was looking these up on Ebay. I kept coming across really pretty cake carriers in all sorts of colors and shapes. Maybe I need to start a collection! I could put them on top of my kitchen cabinets. Maybe my friend Nicole (Queen of all things Retro Kitchen) would help me watch for them.

I'm not the only one who is smitten with cake carriers. I came across this collage on The Kitchn. She found these beauties on Ebay.

And I've always loved the Eat Cake letters in Tina's kitchen as seen on her blog - Cherry Hill Cottage.

By the way, I've been thinking about removing the doors below my sink and skirting it. I don't have a farmhouse sink, but I love the extra something a skirt under the sink adds.

Now, go eat cake!

New Treasures - Side Tables

2011-07-26T09:04:00.002-04:00

My thrifting lately has rewarded me with two great side tables.

Before I show you the tables, I need to point out a few disclaimers (excuses).

Disclaimer 1: The family room is not a room I am satisfied with in terms of decor. It's a major work in progress with all sorts of limitations. First of all, hubby insists that Lazy Boys (the old fashioned, hideously large, overstuffed style) are a must have and they must be positioned in a certain way in front of a television. Remotes and phones and such need to be close at hand. He doesn't interfere with too much in terms of decor in other parts of the house, so it's only fair that I meet this request. In order to make a Lazy Boy look right in this room right in front of the TV, believe it or not, I got two Lazy Boys and made a grouping. It's comfy, but definitely not my style!

Disclaimer 2: We live in a zoo. We have dogs and cats and they rule our life. Living with pets requires certain concessions. Delicate fabrics or knick-knacks are out of the question. Light colors are asking for trouble. Slipcovers are a pet owner's best friend.

Disclaimer 3: Even with all the limitations, I am confidant that one day I'll get this room looking pretty danged good. It just hasn't happened yet. I hate buying new - it's not much fun. I'm going slow and acquiring interesting pieces from yard sales, estate sales, auctions and other thrifting. That takes time! A good many things in the family room are make-do pieces. I know I'll find something better one of these days.

Sooooooooooooo ------Please don't judge my decorating ability by this room!

The first table is a retro beauty from 1946. I know the exact year because it had belonged to the mother of the lady I bought it from. Her mother had bought it when she first married in 1946. So the table has a known history.

That's Dolly posing in the chair.

One more disclaimer - I haven't had time to put the finishing touches on the table decor. First order of business - I'm considering lots of options for containing things on that shelf. And the lamp - I love the vintage base, but the shade really isn't working. It's another make-do. Also - the red caddy under the table holds pet toys. I want something more stylish for that.

I fell in love with this table at first sight and that baffles the heck out of me. I usually like beat up, sturdy, hunky, chippy pieces. This one has modern retro lines. It does have a bit of wear and tear, but nothing even close to "beat up". It has a maple finish, which I generally like to cover with paint. I appreciate that style, but it's not a look I typically swoon over. But, swoon I did and I continue to swoon as I look at it in my house. I'm thinking it must have some sort of magic. That's the ony way I can explain it.

If you look closely, you'll see Lulu peeking out from behind the shelf. Don't look too closely - you'll see tattered upholstery and dust bunnies.

Regardless of the style, the size and proportions are so much better in the room than the smaller make-do table we'd been using. This table is quite large for a side table - about 30 inches square. Hubby wishes it were a tad shorter. I told him he could cut the legs down a bit if he wanted. He seemed satisfied with that. Meanwhile, he really likes the table, too, and I hope the leg-cutting thing is something he'll never get around to.

I had always thought I'd have a painted table between the chairs, but I don't think it would be right to paint this one. It would take away from the look. That's surely more proof of the magic in this chair - I'll paint most anything!

The second table I found is one that I planned to sell in my booth. It needs just a bit of TLC under the shelf. Not much, it's it pretty great condition overall. Hubby is fairly busy right now, so I knew the TLC wouldn't happen for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I decided to put it someplace where it would be highly visible (and not forgotten by Hubby) but wouldn't be in the way. Well, when I put it in this corner, my plans for it changed. I really like it there. I may one day come across a piece that's better for the spot, but this is definitely a make-do upgrade!

Sissy (the sweetest, smartest kitty on earth) approves!

Fire King - Swirl Pattern

2011-07-23T21:27:00.000-04:00

Here's another nice Fire King piece I found. This one is a Swirl pattern mixing bowl in white. It's the 9 inch, which I think is 2 1/2 quarts.

Wikipedia says that Fire-King was originally produced in the 1940s for everyday use, rather than display. It was often sold in bags of flour as a promotional item or was given away at gas stations. Fire-King could also be purchased at local grocery and hardware stores.

More Specifically (from K & M Antiques): Fire-King was produced by the Anchor Hocking Glass Corp. of Lancaster, Ohio during the years from 1940 until 1976.

The swirl pattern came in a number of colors including jadite, azurite, pink, ivory & white.

I found a great post for identifying Fire King bottom stamps on Cobblestone Mountain. Here's a little tidbit from their page:

As a general rule, the less embossing on the bottom of a mug, the older it is – however one common exception is that “Fire-King Glass” is older than “Fire-King Ware” (one alphabetic character difference!) Also, though not specified in any of the descriptions below, the mugs made after about 1950 will usually have a 2-digit mold number embossed on bottom as well. These mold numbers carry virtually no collector value or meaning.

According to the post, my bowl was made in the 1950's. That was a good decade. I was made then, too. :-) My bowl has Made in USA under the WARE, but you can't see it in the photo above. Those letters are starting to wear off and my photo went dark down low.

Also, my bowl does NOT have Anchor Hocking on it. I read somewhere in my research that even though Anchor Hocking made all the Fire King line, they preferred to highlight Fire King rather than Anchor Hocking on the whole line of dishware.

It's very easy to confuse the Fire King Swirl Pattern with the Anchor Hocking Shell pattern. There's a great post about how to tell the difference on Jadite Kate. The shell pattern was NOT part of the Fire King line, so Anchor Hocking is the main mark on the bottom stamp for it. The shell pattern was made in both jade and white. Be sure to check out her post for a few more tips.

I found this on DepressionGlass.net - The Fire-King Swirl pattern was made by Anchor Hocking from 1949 to 1962 in Azur-ite, Jade-ite, Anchorwhite, Ivory, Rose-ite, and Pink. The ivory and anchorwhite also came trimmed with 22K gold (Golden Anniversary and 22K Anchorwhite). The dishes may be trimmed around the outside with Lustre (peachy bronze color), or pastels (green, pink, blue, yellow), or red (Sunrise). Plates, cups and bowls were often hand-painted by various artists of the time, or had decals applied. Fire-King's Swirl pattern has raised swirls around the insides or outsides of the pieces. The edges are smooth, not scalloped.

Another tidbit - The Shell pattern was produced later than the Swirl pattern.
Shell - 1965-1976
Jadite Kate says Swirl was made from 1949 to 1951. Depression Glass Net said 1949 to 1962. Hmmm. I actually found a good many differences of opinion on a number of Fire King points. My friend and boothmate in the White Booth, Nicole, has a book which may hold the answer. Yoo-hoo! Nicole!!!!!!!!!???????

By the way, Jadite Kate is a blogger who obviously loves Jade-ite dishes. I plan to explore her blog further. Here's a quick post on her retro kitchen.

Fire King - Primrose Pattern

2011-07-23T14:58:00.000-04:00

I found two pieces of Fire King in the Primrose pattern. This pattern has a red, pink and grey floral design on a white milk glass (Anchorwhite) background. It was popular in the 1960's.

My find consisted of just two pieces - a 2 quart casserole and a sugar bowl without the lid.

I noticed the brand mark on the bottom of the casserole is backwards. Is that how it's supposed to be??? Apparently so. I found this online on SPGlass's Fire King FAQ page-

Q: I have a pie plate with the Fire-King logo written backwards. Is this unusual or rare?

A: Unusual? A little. Rare? Definitely not. Some logos were intended to be read looking down, through the glass. When such a mold was used with an opaque slag, such as white, ivory or jade-ite, the backwards logo made less sense.

Stella from Our Vintage Life has a great collection of this pattern.

She also has a wonderful little article on the Primrose Pattern. I learned from her blog that this pattern was only produced from 1960 to 1962.

Even though this pattern was only made for a few years, you can still find them and they aren't all that pricey. Click here to see primrose pieces on Ebay.

Tom and Jerry Eggnog Punch Bowl and Cups

2011-07-22T19:22:00.000-04:00

I am not a retro kitchenware expert, but having a booth may get me to at least the intermediate level one day. Whenever I come across a cool retro item, I research it.

Today, I came across this fun milk glass set, which I assumed was a Christmas mixing bowl and some mugs. I wondered why it would have Tom and Jerry written on it.

It turns out it's a Hazel Atlas punch bowl and cups, specifically made for eggnog. A Tom and Jerry is an eggnog recipe traditionally served between Christmas and New Years.

Pierce Egan, wrote a book called "Life of London: or Days and Nights of Jerry Hawthorne and His Elegant Friend Corinthina Tom" in the early 1820's. To publicize his book, Mr. Egan concocted a variation of egg-nog he called "Tom and Jerry".

I even found recipes online, like this one on AllRecipes for Tom and Jerry Eggnog. The original was fortified with rum and brandy.

There are a number of different patterns for this series. The one I have is called Christmas Cheer, but some refer to it as Top Hats. There are a number of other Tom and Jerry patterns. They all look very similar, but the pictures are a little different. Sometimes the writing is red and pictures green or vice versa. Other patterns include Auld Lang Syne, Currier and Ives, and Colonial. You can see more of these on Ebay.

What I have not been able to do is find out if the different patterns correspond to different dates or what year/s my set might have been made. If anyone out there has more info, please let me know!

Hutches with No Doors

2011-07-22T07:33:00.000-04:00

Last week I did a bit of antique browsing in Hogansville, GA. One piece that I keep thinking about is a hutch with no doors on the bottom.

It was painted green inside and out. It was old. There had been doors at one time - you could still see the holes where the hinges had been. I really liked the look and I sure do wish I had taken a photo.

It caught my attention because I was looking for ideas for displaying smalls in my booth. Having an open bottom allows for more display space. The more I think about the door-less hutch look, the more I like it for booth AND home.

Than, this morning, while browsing some blogs I follow, I came across a link to this fun piece.

It's from B & B's Nest. She bought it to use in her flea market booth.

Here's a hutch top used as a stand alone with no doors.

from All That Jazz Vintage

I searched for a bit trying to find other hutches with no doors on the web. No luck. Here are some other wonderful, chippy hutches (with doors) I came across.

Junk Fest married two separate pieces to create this hutch.

High Street Cottage - Her husband found this fabulous piece at a pharmacy.

And finally... this is not technically a hutch, but from a post I ran across while searching for pretty hutches. The whole post has fabulous photos from a visit to Northwind Perennial Farm.

From an Urban Farmgirl post

Some Big Pieces in the Booth

2011-07-15T14:01:00.000-04:00

I have been super busy and have so much catching up to do on this blog. I'm not even go to bother to post in order. I'm just going to catch up randomly. I'll start with some new pieces I bought for my booth.

The previous post from a week ago shows photos of our new larger main booth. I'm thinking it needs a name. We call our white booth The B Hive. We call our first booth our primary booth. I also used to call it Booth 188, but we actually have two numbers now - 188 and 488. It's very confusing and all of those names are really dull! Anyway, once we moved the PB (Primary Booth) over to the new larger space, we had all sorts of extra space. And suddenly, I came across loads of big pieces. The booth is fairly full again!

My major find were three beautiful oak pieces. A lovely army family was moving out of state and downsizing. They had a sale and I was lucky enough to find it.

I wanted to keep all three pieces, but ended up keeping just the vintage fireplace mantle. They had used it to create a faux fireplace at a number of Army base homes. They put a screen in front of it and made it look quite real. When their friends would come over, they would all ask how they'd been lucky enough to get a base home with a fireplace. Knowing some of the stories behind this mantle will make it even more special. I'm so glad I'll be able to keep it.

I don't have a fireplace and have been really wanting to try a faux look. I've seen some amazing faux fireplace looks on blogs and even did a post on that topic last November. It's a great post with some wonderful inspiration photos. I'll be revisiting it when I make final decisions on setting this one up.

For now, the mantle is sitting upside down on our bedroom floor. I rotated the photos so you could get a better idea of how it looks. On the inside of the mantel, they used a faux brick panel. It has a bit of it torn off, but that doesn't bother me because I'm thinking of a different treatment.

The mantle details are really pretty.

It looks like I'll have a place to hang my stockings this Christmas!

The other two pieces I very reluctantly put in my booth. I hope they find a wonderful home because I really, really, really fell in love with the previous owners. So now, this sale is personal. Am I the only one who does that? I'm doing it a lot lately. I may need therapy.

This oak icebox was placed front and center in the booth. It's a great piece and has obviously been well cared for.

The chest of drawers is in the back, but it's actually in a very nice spot - it's not being hidden, for sure.

This photo was taken several days ago and the area around the chest has been tweaked a bit since then. I tried to put a few things on the chest to create a nice vignette, but left it sparse enough that the beauty of it still showed. It has a slight curve to it. Oh, my goodness. I wish I had been able to keep it. Even now, I'm thinking I'd like to bring it back home and move something else out. My hubby would not be amused. He'd have to be the moving man and he doesn't come cheap!

When we went to pick up the pieces, I ended up getting a tour of the lady's house and seeing some of her other vintage items. While looking at a fabulous Hoosier, I spied some fabulous tea towels. They had belonged to her husband's grandmother, but her husband had no interest in them. I'm a sucker for vintage linens and tea towels are my favorites. I seldom use new dish towels any more. She was willing to part with some of them and I came home with two tea towels and a pretty tablecloth (oops - I forgot to take a photo of the tablecloth). They will be loved and used by me!

I will think of my lovely Army family every time I use them.

Quick Look at the New Booth

2011-07-03T13:07:00.002-04:00

I stopped by Rockin' B for a photo session yesterday. It had to be super fast since hubby and I were on our way to the grocery store. I wanted him to see the new booth. It was a little messed up here and there, but there was no time to fluff.

The new booth is 5 feet wider and that 5 feet makes a world of difference!

This is our first style and it will definitely be finessed and improved on, but it looks pretty good as is. Our goal for last Friday was to get everything moved and set up before closing time. Martie and I made it... barely. There was no time left over to play around.

Once we had moved all the shelves and smalls to the perimeter, we set up Martie's table in the front as the base for a sewing vignette. We didn't put a whole lot on it so the smalls wouldn't block the view of the table, which needs to be seen well in order to sell. It's a great table - a pale gray. It looks like some things have already sold from the vignette. There was a vintage iron on top of the ironing board. I don't see it in any of these photos. And it seems like there was something else, but I can't think what.

The right side is the least visible side as you approach the booth. Good thing because all those linens are a mess! They were neat when we left on Friday.

We have two bakers racks on the right and another on the back wall. Folding bakers racks are fabulous for a fast spot to put smalls when a large cabinet sells, but they are not the best for long term small displays. A shelf unit holds so much more, uses vertical space better and you don't have to worry about things falling between the bars. We'll be on the lookout for better shelves or cabinets to replace these racks.

We seem to have a ton of fruit-and-vegetable-colored kitchen and dining items. We grouped those together on the back wall.

I didn't take a good photo of the left side, darnit! The tall shelf is filled with blue and white items, the second shelf has lots of red, white and blue things and apple dishes. We put a linen display in the corner. The photos are a bit disappointing. They really don't get across the pops of colors and the spaces here and there that invite you to come closer for a better look.

We bought the rug from Cynthia on Friday. She didn't have room for it in her new smaller booth and I knew it would look great with our concrete floors. It has a few bumps here and there from being folded, but we hope to make use of some double sided tape next week to help it lay flat. By the way, I'm so glad we didn't paint the floors. I love the simplicity of the concrete.

Speaking of painted floors, another vendor snapped up our old booth. She was already moving in!

My goodness, our old booth looks so much smaller.

Fifteen Feet Looks Like Twenty???

2011-06-30T08:45:00.000-04:00

I feel soooooo stupid! Martie and I have been in our double booth at Rockin' B for almost a year. A single booth is 10 feet wide. A booth and a half is 15 feet and a double is 20. We rented a double. Ha. By the way, this is not our white booth (The B Hive) that I'm talking about. This is the primary booth that I share with Martie.

There were a number of times when I've laid out plans on paper and worked out how we might rearrange, but it never seemed to come out. Once we would get into moving and realize that the paper plan wasn't working out, we'd quickly rearrange on the spot. You'd think that at some point I would have realized that it wasn't working out because we weren't working with twenty feet.

We knew when we moved in that both of our neighbors were over the wall line about 6 inches each. When we painted the floor, we couldn't go all the way to our edge, but we decided it wasn't any big deal. Both of our neighbors would have had to move a TON of stuff and we weren't going to insist on that. What we didn't realize was that we only had 15 feet, 3 inches. Hello!

Yesterday, one of our neighbors moved. It just so happened that I was planning to rearrange to move in a new shelf. That was a perfect opportunity to get back the extra inches on that side. After I moved over a bit, I decided to measure my booth and the neighbors to make sure I wasn't taking more than was due. I measured over and over. It was 15 feet, 8 inches. I pulled in the neighbor for her to see the measurements. Suddenly everything made sense and I felt like a complete idiot. We were in a booth and a half - not a double!

Lorraine, the store owner, was fabulous. She's giving us a number of options to set things right. That helped a bunch, but it didn't help with how stupid I feel. Fifteen feet does not look anything like twenty feet. It's not even close. Why had we never measured? I have long suspected I've been losing my mind and now I have more proof! Ugh!

Oh well. Maybe this is just another blessing in disguise because we are moving! It just so happens that two single booths right beside each other are coming open. That's rare. In fact, that's such incredible timing that it seems this was just meant to be. I love the location - it's right at a center intersection. Not only will our booth show well walking up the aisle, but it will also be seen from the opposite aisle.

You can see the two booths in the above photo. One wall is a very pretty grayish blue. The other is white. Lori was in the grayish blue booth. She moved to a larger booth yesterday. Cynthia is in the white booth - #110. She plans to move to a smaller booth tomorrow.

Martie and I will paint both walls white. I love the blue gray color, but we have such a varied color palette that it's really best for us to stick with white. I have been debating a lot about the what to do with the floors but haven't had much of a chance to talk to Martie about it. I thought about creating a faux wood look. I thought about creating a tile look complete with sprinkles. I thought about another swirl pattern. All of this would take time. Yesterday, painting the floor seemed like the way to go. Today, I started thinking that I really don't care about making the floor special. Plus, I really happen to like the look of concrete, just as it is - very urban, modern. Leaving it as is, would mean we could move in faster with a whole lot less hassle. I hope Martie likes that look! This will all hinge on how the floor looks under Cynthia's rug. If it has a big ugly stain, then we'd have to paint. I really don't anticipate any floor problems.

Another bonus is the hanger thing above the pegboard walls. That will be ideal for hanging a chandelier. Mine sold, but maybe I'll find another soon.

So..... it looks like all's well that ends well. We'll have a fresh start in a new location. I'm looking forward to a new look with a lot more space!!!

Inspired By... Farmhouse Tables

2011-06-29T08:38:00.000-04:00

I came across a picture of a farm table in an April issue of Family circle magazine. I fell in love with it and it has set off a new obsession. Here's the table I saw -

I love tables. I enjoy painting and, best of all, distressing tables. I love the look of rugged, imperfect, well-used tables. The Family Circle one has a nice chippy look. It also has a stainless steel top, which is cool, but would add a bit too much $$$ for me to seriously consider at this point.

When Googling, I came across a post on farmhouse tables from one of my favorite bloggers - Donna at Funky Junk Interiors. She featured some beauties, including a farmhouse table / desk that she built.

Donna also featured a table by another of my favorite bloggers - Miss Mustard Seed. She's my painting and refinishing guru. I love her farm table. Mmmmmmm... I wonder... could I possibly? Oh, my wheels are spinning.

She calls this her "Frankentable" because it's a combination of two tables. I call it Perfect! I love that room, too, by the way.

I guess you can probably tell that my favorite farm tables do not have smooth even tops. I like the rustic ones best. The ones that look like someone just nailed some boards to the top and called it a day.

Here are some more -

This one is a great homemade table from Show and Tell, made from a bunch of old weathered wood she got from her dad. Be sure to click the link to see the transformation.

Googling led me to this 2009 post on farmhouse tables from Studio M Designs. She found some beauties. Here's my fav -

This is one that I had saved from a magazine for years. I'll bet the clipping is at least 10 years old. These tables just don't go out of style.

I came across this one on Barn House

That's enough. I could go on, but I have things to do, places to go and people to see. :-D

More Pup Pix - Taking a Walk

2011-06-26T16:27:00.001-04:00

Annabelle and Sadie have really stolen our hearts. Rudy is taking them for walks around the property three times a day. I've joined him each time possible. It's so much fun.

We start by the barn and work away around so that we end by the pond. There are five dogs in tow. Two senior citizens - Lou, Lou and Buddy. The teenager - Jack. And the babies. They all love the walk.

They stop and talk to the neighbors along the way. We have dog neighbors on almost every side. Some are more talkative than others. A couple are a bit grumpy. All are exciting to see.

Once we get close to the pond, the pups get real excited and take off. They know the routine now. Rudy and I start gathering sticks.

After Sadie and Annie get wet, then the games begin. First, Sadie plays fetch for awhile. She's so amazing. I've never seen a puppy this young be so good at fetching. She no longer wades and swims after the sticks. She leaps and swims. She's also learned how to leap without letting her head go under. She brings the sticks back and puts them at our feet. If for some reason she loses the stick, she whines and worries about it. This is a very serious game.

Jack is still a bit embarrassed at his lack of nerve where swimming is concerned. He wants to get in the water. He watches the pups. He thinks that maybe one day he'll try it, but not yet. The pups keep urging him, but he's not quite ready.

Jack's favorite part of the routine is a rousing game of chase. Those puppies are fast so Jack has to go full speed to stay ahead. He has a smile on his face the whole time. It's so much fun to watch.

There's a good bit of wrestling and jumping and carrying on during the game.

At the end of the walk, Rudy and I sit in chairs outside. The pups wrestle and play and act crazy a little more.

Jack plops down, exhausted, for a much needed rest... for as long as the pups will let him.

Table and Chairs - Before and After

2011-06-26T07:23:00.000-04:00

I completed a table and chair set and it *finally* turned out well.

I put the set in The B Hive Booth at Rockin' B. The chairs sold in a couple of days. Wow.

The chairs were my first set after I got married. Back then, pine furniture was the rage. I used them like that for several years. I stained them dark when the next style came along. At some point their rush seats became tattered and I put the chairs in storage. I have no idea why I didn't get rid of them all this time.

Now that I have a booth, I knew it was time for me to give these chairs a new lease on life. First, I wove new seats. I wove them out of drop cloth fabric and they looked pretty cool. I hate painting chairs and was hoping I could get away with leaving these dark. I put them over at Rockin' B and waited. Every time I looked at them, I felt a pang of regret. I should have painted them. And they didn't sell. Once we started the B Hive Booth, with everything white and cream, I new the time had come. I needed to take those chairs back home and paint them!

Painting took a bit more time because now I had to tape off the woven seats. In the end it was worth it.

I love, love, love them, and even thought about keeping them. After a firm talk with myself about not keeping everything I like, I took them over to the booth.

The table was just a butcher block top with painted legs that was so popular 10 or so years ago. It's sturdy and well made. I love the size of it - just right for a small kitchen table. It would even work great as a desk and I considered keeping it for that. But I was firm with myself again and didn't. I needed a table to go with my chairs.

The table turned out nice, but the distressing wasn't as striking as the chairs because the under color was not dark. It was still pretty, don't get me wrong, but it didn't go perfectly with the chairs. Still I prefer the look of the chairs and think I may play around with painting dark undercoats the next time I paint a light piece of furniture.

In the end, it didn't matter that the table didn't quite match the chairs. The woman who bought the chairs already had a table. Now I'm thinking of setting the table up to look like a desk. All it needs is a great chair to put with it.

By the way, most everything on and around this table sold within a matter of days. The chairs, the tablecloth, the bowl, the chandelier... sold, sold, sold, and sold. This booth is loads of fun, but it sure is hard keeping it full. That's a wonderful problem to have.

Annabelle and Sadie at the Pond

2011-06-21T18:36:00.000-04:00

Baby number one came with her name - Annabelle. That really fits her. Rudy calls her Annie. Baby number two finally has a name - Sadie.

We have realized that our first impression of their personalities was not correct. Annabelle is not the outgoing one. Sadie is. Beth (the one who gave us the dog) told us that Annabelle had a mothering personality. That is true. Annabelle is a bit apt to study the situation before jumping in. I mean that literally as well as figuratively. Take a look at some of their latest adventures.

They both love the water... once they get there. Sadie will follow us anywhere, almost any time. Annie doesn't like to get out when it's hot. I can't say I blame her. But if we go to the pond while the sun is high, Annie needs to be carried. If you put her down too soon, she'll run back to the house. The house is base. Sadie likes to be carried as well, but if you put her down she'll keep following.

Once at the pond, Sadie is first in. Ooooh that cool water feels good.

Sadie is likely to be our trick dog. She loves playing fetch. Balls, sticks, you name it. She'll fetch. And fetching a stick from the water is her favorite. This shot shows a peak at Sadie's pointing abilities.

She swims way out to get it. The first couple of times, she didn't want to venture too far from the edge, but now she's going 10 or 12 feet away and is very comfortable swimming. It's amazing.

Both Sadie and Annabelle love to jump and splash at the edge of the water. They are a bundle of energy!

They can get pretty wild.

This is one of my favorite shots. Rudy has just thrown a stick out into the pond. Look at that classic pose. That's Sadie. Right after this, she dove in and fetched the stick.

This is their favorite toy. It's jack's rope. It's pretty big and Sadie and Annabelle are perfectly happy to chew on it at the same time. They'll fetch the rope, too and they'll both hold onto it as they bring it back. I wish I'd been able to get a good photo of that. I'll keep trying.

For now, this is the best I could do. Notice that our porch is pretty devoid of decor. We quickly realized we needed to do some rearranging. The cute stuff has been moved to screened porch areas. We put some chairs and things on the front that were most likely to survive puppy chewing. Pillows are a no-no. It doesn't look very attractive, but maybe I can come up with some creative ways to add color. It's a small sacrifice for having such joy and happiness. Puppies are such fun!

By the way, we highly recommend getting two puppies together. There has been no crying or whimpering from missing mom. They comfort and entertain each other. They are happy as can be.

Puppy Love

2011-06-19T18:30:00.000-04:00

Happy father's day! We have two new babies in the house. They are totally sacked out right this minute just a few feet away from me and I can hear a little puppy tummy growling. I had almost forgotten how wonderful puppy breath smells.

They are sooooo cute, but then all puppies are adorable, aren't they?

They look almost sad in this photo, but that's not the case. They are pooped. They were both asleep just a few minutes after this shot was taken.

They are almost identical except for some small white markings and a little bit of a different look in their face. Annabelle has a little bit of white on her chest. The other one (we can't make up our mind on her name) has a little white on her back feet. I'd like to call her Lily, but Rudy is holding out for something better. I'm going to refer to her as Lily in this post. It seems disrespectful to not use a name for her.

This is Annabelle. She's a complete lap dog, as you can see here. Once we got them in the house, Rudy sat down in the floor in our coat room. She crawled right in his lap and feel asleep in no time. He stayed there for ages, missing golf and racing and baseball. That's puppy love!

We got both dogs from Beth, a friend of a friend (Sharon). Beth is the one who came up with the name Annabelle. I loved that name immediately and it has stuck. Sharon has one of the sisters and has named her Onyx.

Lily is a bit more reserved but very loving. She'll crawl all over you and follow along on walks and sit in your lap, too, but it takes her just a minute or two longer than Annabelle. Annabelle is more fearless.

I am totally in love with them both. Rudy is a puddle of mush.

Tiny Houses... Again

2011-06-10T06:46:00.000-04:00

Cynthia wrote a post on her blog, A Love of the Past, that has sent me back into a longing for a tiny house. She found some beauties, too!

These two aren't necessarily my favorite ones, but they are the ones I can actually see myself living in. They are dream-able!

This one is move-in-ready!

My hubby would be perfectly happy here, but I consider it a fixer-upper with loads of potential.

Both of these houses would need an addition as well. I see a screened porch as a non-negotiable essential.

A number of the houses are actually sheds or pool houses, but I don't let that stop me from imagining. Click here to see the rest of them.

My house is not big, but it is definitely larger than we should have built. That is a huge regret. I drew it out. I thought about how much room I'd like to have in each room. It seemed great on paper. I know now that it was wasteful... for us. Nothing we can do about it now. But it has caused me to daydream about tiny houses a good bit over the last couple of years.

I try to picture myself actually living in a tiny house. I'm not sure how tiny I could go. Anyone with a husband with high testosterone needs plenty of room. Without some space of my own, I might end up on an episode of Snapped!

Some space is needed for function, too. The tiny kitchen in my previous house drove me crazy. No storage space in my previous house drove me crazy. Maneuvering through rooms with dogs and cats underfoot drove me crazy. Tiny doorways that were not wheelchair friendly drove me crazy when I broke my ankle. Remembering my previous house does impede on my tiny house daydreams a bit.

On the other hand, the layout of the previous house was not good. Maybe I can lay the blame there.

So I keep dreaming and planning ahead. I am slowly downsizing my "stuff". As I find things I've loved for ages, but no longer need, I either take them to Goodwill or I sell them in my booth, if suitable. I picture someone new getting joy from them. By the time I get to move to a ~~tiny~~ small house, hopefully, I'll have a lot less to have to move.

If you, too, dream of living in a tiny house, then you'll love My Shabby Streamside Studio and Tiny House Blog. I have links to those on my sidebar, too, so I can visit when I need a tiny house fix.

Bowl to Birdbath

2011-06-06T17:34:00.000-04:00

At a yard sale a couple of weeks ago, I bought a very large bowl and stand. I did not plan to use it like this. I had other ideas.

That same day, I also bought two plant stands. They were slightly different sizes and I just knew one of them would work for what I had in mind...

A birdbath!

Hey! That geranium on the left is not dead. It looks nothing like it appears in this photo!

I can't feel completely smug about making a purely decorative piece useful. Since we have cats, we don't actually want to lure unsuspecting little birdies to their death. So I keep emptying the rainwater onto my flowers. As dry as it's been, I really haven't had to do that very often so far.

Beautiful Flower from a Friend - Clivia

2011-06-06T16:38:00.001-04:00

My neighbor, Pat, gave me this beautiful plant two years ago. It blooms every spring --- around mid-May.

I had forgotten the name of it and had to really do some serious Googling before find it.

It's called Clivia.

Pat told me to keep it indoors when it gets cold. When it's warm outside, Clivia is very happy outside, but must be kept out of direct sunlight. My north-facing front porch is perfect.

This photo is from 2 or 3 weeks ago (which should be a clue on how seriously behind I am on EVERYTHING in my life). Isn't it a beauty? I wish I had picked off that little dead bit. I never seem to notice the flaws til I view my photos.

White Hutch Makeover

2011-06-03T12:12:00.000-04:00

I finally finished the white hutch and got it into our white booth, which I'm trying to remember to call by it's new name - The B Hive. The hutch turned out really nice.

It previously had a maple finish. I'm sure it was nice in its day, but it sure looked dated and unloved when I got it.

The white is not a stark white. It's sort of ivory. Once I sanded in key spots, the hutch looked more cream colored. That distressing sure does make a difference. At that point it looked so good that I decided not to stain over it with wax or gel.

The hutch was moved into the booth a week or two ago, at least most of it was. We were doing the initial booth arrangement and a hutch is no easy thing to move around. And this hutch is really heavy! I'm sure I developed a hernia or slipped disk or pulled muscle or something from the strain of lifting!

The doors were not ready - they took twice as long - two sides - and I wasn't rushing them. It was no big deal having the doors off. We merchandised the open spaces.

Finally, yesterday I got it all in place. The hutch actually has four doors, but everyone felt that the hutch looked great with the top two doors off, so those are tucked in a drawer for whoever buys it to use or not.

I'm pretty pleased with this makeover. My only disappointment is that I cannot find my before photos! Shoot! I know I took them. but that was before the old computer crashed and everything was moved to the new laptop. Oh well. You'll just have to take my word for it - it looks sooooo much better.

The are removable shelves in the side sections. I have one in place and the other is on the bottom of the section.

The photos don't do justice to the side columns. Those are really nice. Also, I love how the old hardware looks - especially the pulls.

Here it is in the booth. I'm glad I have these photos because I don't think it will be there long. I had lots of people inquiring about it even before the were doors on.

More White Booth Photos

2011-05-30T07:38:00.002-04:00

We are now calling ourselves The B Hive. Bees are also symbolic of hard work and industry as represented by the common phrase "busy as a bee." To see bees in your dream, symbolizes wealth, good luck, harmony, creativity and bliss. Alternatively, the dream represents the things that are happening in your life or something that is buzzing with activity.That seemed to be a good fit for us.

This venture has already proved very successful. Things are flying out of the booth. There are six of us and every time one of us goes to the shop, the booth needs fluffing because things sold and left empty holes in the vignette. We're going to have a real hard time keeping it full.

Here are some more photos -

Martie's white table sold. She has another ready to go.

The ceiling tiles at the top of the peg wall all sold.

Cynthia mantle looks great!

My rabbit chairs on either side of Kathy's vintage desk sold.

Update:

We now have a blog about The B Hive (our white booth)!

The White Booth - Phase 2

2011-05-22T18:30:00.001-04:00

Below are some more photos of the white booth. Don't get too comfortable with this look. Things are already changing. There were 4 of us in the group. Now there are 6 and we are doubling our space. It's great. You can see the floor and wall are already painted in a couple of the photos. Moving day is tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have another post of photos for you soon.

Update:

We now have a blog about The B Hive (our white booth)!

The White Booth - Phase 1

2011-05-19T05:44:00.002-04:00

I am now part owner of a second booth at Rockin' B Antiques. There are lots of vendors there that I have a good time with. They have loads of talent and personality. Five of us - (Nicole, Martie (my boothmate in booth #1), Cynthia, Kathy, and, of course, me as #5) somehow came together with a fun booth idea I've been thinking of for some time.

Back in November, I helped to set up what I called The Winter White Booth at the front of the store. It was so pretty and really did well. Since that feature booth was dismantled, the white on white market has not being tapped very well at Rockin' B. A month or two ago, I pitched the idea to the decorating team that they should have a feature booth up front that stays set up with mostly tones of whites and creams and an accent color that changes. They didn't exactly jump at the idea, so I pitched it to some other gals who happen to need a little more booth space and the rest is history. The whole deal has come to fruition so fast and easy, that I know it's the right thing to do. And... I'd say the white on white market is now TAP DANCING at Rockin' B!

It's in the Starter Booth phase right now and already looks AMAZING. And we're selling out of it about as fast as we can decorate. In fact, we're hoping to talk to the owner today about expanding the space. We need a little more room for some more big pieces.

The pictures in this post are the results of just Nicole and I playing around. This is before we have all our major pieces ready - two hutches are coming soon. We pulled all sorts of little shelves and things in. We wanted to quickly set up the booth to look as finished as possible so we could start selling.

Yesterday, I stopped by and saw the booth after Cynthia put her English / French things in and truly, I swooned. I don't have photos of that yet, but I plan to take lots today, so stay tuned for updates. Martie and Kathy will be putting their touches on it today, too.

We have a schedule planned out for monthly accents. This month, our accent color is green.

Without further ado, here are some photos from Phase 1 -

Oh my gosh. Seeing these photos and knowing how much better it looks now makes me hesitant to even publish these. Come back in day or two and you'll see what I mean! Come back in a month or so and you'll see lots of other cool ideas we are working on!

Last, but not least, I woke up to an exciting email this morning from Stephanie at Under the Table and Dreaming! She featured my porch rockers redo on her blog! I'm famous! Would anyone like an autograph?

Update:

We now have a blog about The B Hive (our white booth)!

Mr. Wheat's Rockers

2011-05-15T08:32:00.002-04:00

Mr. Wheat replaced his front porch rockers. He gave the four old ones to me. The bones were good and sturdy but had definitely seen better days. Time for a bit of rocker resuscitation!

The first step was to remove all the seat rushing. This was no small task. It was messy and dusty. Mr. Wheat keeps a spotless home, but anytime furniture is left outside, even on a covered porch, the are places that even a clean freak can't clean. Between the rushes is one of those places.

Next I painted the rockers white. Painting chairs and rockers is very tedious, so I decided this was a fine time to finally try out my new power spray paint gizmo.

That may have been my first and last time using a power sprayer. I have a love/hate relationship with the thing.

LOVE:

It covers in no time.

HATE:

It uses up paint at a shocking rate.
Each time the container gets a little low (which is very, very often), the paint spits out, making blobs that need to be touched up immediately.
At one point I didn't screw the container on correctly and when I picked up the sprayer, the container dropped and paint went everywhere.
I used three large dropcloths. (The photo above doesn't show them all. I had already started moving stuff when I remembered to take a photo.) Three dropcloths was not enough.
The sprayer should not be used when there's any wind at all.
The sprayer needs to be cleaned up very, very well, otherwise it won't work well the next time you use it. It takes a long time and a lot of water to clean all the parts.
By the end I was exhausted and covered in paint from head to toe. I am not a power sprayer kind of girl. I'll stick to my nice and slow and slightly meditative old fashioned painting. But the chairs turned out great.

Note - If you had two very organized people working together and you had a lot of things you wanted to paint the same color and if you were willing to use up a lot of paint and if you had a great place to paint with lots of drop-cloths, the power sprayer could be a very good thing.

Once the paint had thoroughly cured, it was time to weave the seats and back. I have a chair-weaving tutorial in a previous post.

Even though I stuck to a color palette of red, green, tan, and white, the pattern is still a little busy. I'm not worried. Once I add pillows and cushions, not so much of the pattern will show up. Meanwhile, the pattern hides dirt and fur.

Once I sat in the chairs, I realized that they weren't all that comfortable. They could use some cushions. Not a problem. I came across four old cushions at a yard sale that fit perfectly.

The cushions are weathered and worn, but that didn't concern me. I'm planning to make covers for them in a pretty fabric. That means I can't mark this project off my list. I also want to add small pillows on the chairs. That's not a huge rush. I'm keeping my eye out at yard sales. Maybe I'll even come across some that don't need to be re-covered!

I have shared this post on the following link parties:

Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Favorite Things Saturday at Bargain Hunting with Laurie
Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello

Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming

Martie and Bob go to the Opera Ball

2011-05-10T22:04:00.000-04:00

Martie is my booth-mate at Rockin' B. This past weekend she and her husband, Bob, went to the Opera Ball in Washington DC. Martie emailed a few links about the ball and her daughter found Martie and Bob in one of the photos. They are famous!!!

Don't you just love the scarf that Martie is wearing? That's how her daughter was able to spot her.

I circled Martie and Bob. Click here for more photos of the ball. This photo was the last one on page 2.

Vintage Tumblers

2011-05-10T21:27:00.000-04:00

When I say vintage tumblers, I'm not talking about an old acrobatic troupe. I'm talking about drinking glasses. Collectors call them tumblers. I also hear them called Swanky Swigs.

I am a novice collector. If an expert (or even an intermediate collector) reads this and sees something I have wrong, I would appreciate corrections! My collection has begun because I want some color in my glass front cabinets.

I love retro, so these colorful glasses are perfect. I enjoy an eclectic look and am not at all concerned with having matching sets. My main criteria is that I find the design and colors appealing. As you can see from the photo above, I even have a Tervis Tumbler in a retro design alongside the vintage glassware. My easy criteria makes it pretty simple to build a collection I like. I started a few months ago and am pretty pleased with what I have so far.

As I'm collecting, I'm trying to learn a little about these fun glasses. Glasses were easy to come back back in the 1940's and 50's and a bit beyond. Companies used to offer a premium for buying their product. This came mostly in the form of a drinking glass. Sour cream, jelly, peanut butter, spreadable cheese all had glass giveaways. The product usually came right in the glass. Often gas stations would give a free tumbler with a fill up. Glasses even came in boxes of laundry detergent! I remember growing up with lots of what we referred to as jelly glasses. Who knew that years later they would be so popular. The good news is that they are still fairly easy to find and they aren't too pricey. Best of all, they are such fun to drink out of. I love having multiple designs to suit my moods.

Geraniums on the Window Sill

2011-05-09T21:04:00.002-04:00

I found three very pretty metal planters at a yard sale a few weeks ago. They were perfect for a project on my to-do list. I have thought of having several geraniums on my kitchen window sill for awhile and now I finally have them... in the perfect containers for the space.

Yeah baby!!! I love them.

Blue Yard Bench

2011-05-09T07:46:00.000-04:00

I bought a weathered old bench at an auction back in March. It's a bit worn, but has good bones. One of these days, my hubby will probably redo it, but for now, I just wanted to use it in the yard for a bit of color.

I started my redo by spray painting the metal bits black. They had been a dark green.

Then I brushed on the blue - Behr Ultra in Glass Sapphire. See this post for my bench inspiration.

I'm hoping to find two planters to put on each side of the bench. A couple of ferns or pretty flowers would look nice there. I see this bench from the windows on the back of my house. I hope to keep improving that view over time.

Vintage White Sewing Machine

2011-04-16T05:40:00.000-04:00

I think our house is finally getting back to normal after our bout with the stomach virus. And I have a lot of blogging to catch up on. I'm starting by showing off a pretty vintage sewing machine that I bought at a yard sale just before the evil virus struck.

It's a White, Model 24 with a Champion motor.

I've had a hard time pin-pointing when it might have been made, but it may be from as far back as the 1930's. It's electric and has a swing away lamp. It still works!!! Or rather, it runs. I didn't actually sew anything with it. That would require trying to figure out how to thread it and I wasn't up to that.

What I love most is the way it looks. All those decals are gorgeous and they are on every side and surface. You know how car makers sometimes come up with a new model with a vintage look? Well, I'm thinking sewing machine makers should come up with a new new model that looks vintage. I'll bet there would be a market for them.

The case is still in decent shape, which is amazing.

I put this beauty in my booth. I hope someone gets it who will put it out where it can be really appreciated.

Post Virus Cleaning Frenzy

2011-04-13T08:35:00.000-04:00

Hubs and I are just getting over a nasty bout with a stomach virus. We have avoided this little bugger for years, but our luck ran out this past weekend. I am getting my energy back and have been on a mad frenzy to rid the house of germs.

I'm not a clean freak, but you wouldn't know that to see me the last day or two. I've been sanitizing everything. It's nowhere close to being done. I have to clean a little, then rest, then clean a little more. The problem is, the more I clean, the more I see that needs to be cleaned.

My eco weapons of choice are a steam cleaner, hydrogen peroxide and vinegar.

I came across a great article about using the peroxide - vinegar combo. The article (from Eco Child's Play) really hit home. Before reading it, I was tempted to temporarily give up my eco friendly ways and go buy some bleach. Here's an excerpt:

Keep white vinegar in a spray bottle, and 3% hydrogen peroxide in another. (The bottle containing the hydrogen peroxide should be opaque, as it will degrade in a clear bottle.) Spray your contaminated surfaces with the vinegar and follow with the hyrogen peroxide. This lethal (to germs) combination has been shown to be as effective as chlorine bleach, killing 99% of bacteria.

You can even clean fruits and vegetables using this method!

A word of caution - Do not mix the vinegar and peroxide together in the same container. That forms peracetic acid, which is caustic.

The article has a link to a list of the top 10 places where germs hide. Here's the list:
   1. Refrigerator doors and handles
   2. Bathroom faucets
   3. Doorknobs
   4. Remote controls
   5. Light switches
   6. Telephones
   7. Dishwasher handles
   8. Salt and pepper shakers
   9. Toys
10. Your hands!

I was very proud. The only one on the list that I hadn't sanitized were the salt and pepper shakers. There are no kids in our house, but I counted the computer as a toy.

I will be buying new toothbrushes as soon as I can get myself to a store, but meanwhile, I'm soaking my toothbrush in hydrogen peroxide between brushings. The soaking is probably not necessary. Swishing it in peroxide (or vinegar) just prior to use, then rinsing it well is apparently just as effective.

Laundry. Oh my. It sure does pile up during a bout with the flu. I have a special setting on my washer called Sani-Wash. It takes almost 2 hours per load. Does it work? I don't know. Does it make me feel better? Yes. I'm really paranoid right now and all of our towels and washcloths look like they are holding a zillion invisible virus germs. Since each load takes so long, I may never catch up on the laundry. What's making it worse is that I don't want to use any towel, washcloth or dishcloth more than once for a while.

At this rate, my house might have a tiny chance at being almost as clean as my sister-in-law's house. Linda has the cleanest house of anyone I know at any given time. Truly, you could drop over to see her at any time, day or nigh, and everything would be spotless. I totally blame her for this cleaning frenzy. She told me she knew of a family who had this virus go through their house twice!

Vintage Napkins and Removing Stains

2011-04-07T07:16:00.000-04:00

I love vintage napkins. I love new cotton napkins. I hardly ever set the table in a pretty tablescape, but I love admiring them. I really enjoy looking at blogs with pretty tablescapes. However, if I have a get together, it's usually a buffet thing. I'm not a formal, sit-down-at-the-table, kind of gal. Am I totally odd? Don't answer that.

I do satisfy my love of tablescapes somewhat by buying dishes and tablecloths and napkins and so forth for my booth. Lately, I've been coming across lots of napkin sets. Some are quite old, some are probably from the last decade. As long as they are cotton and pretty, I don't care.

And the good thing is, even if I serve buffet-style, everyone will still need a napkin.

I love these vintage turquoise and white ones. Very vintage. Very good condition. I had to keep them, right? Do you blame me?

These pink ones were really pretty. I soaked them overnight in Biz and then washed them, and carefully ironed them. The photo is how they looked when I bought them. Not bad, but they had a couple of stains that I wanted to work on. They look even better now.

I'm putting them in my booth with the pink Texas Ware dishes that are left. We have a whole pink thing going in one section of our booth. It's pretty nice, actually.

This was taken a month or so ago. There are even more pink items there now.

These red napkins are Ok and they'll look good with some patriotic things I have. They had sticky tags on them that were a real pain to remove. I had to soak and scrub like crazy to get the tags off. The napkins had obviously never been used. The original tags must have melted in place. On the other hand, the blue and white check tablecloth is fabulous. It's fairly small, but mmmm, nice and definitely vintage.

I've come across a number of napkin rings, too. I grabbed these because I thought they'd look good in our pink section, but was in such a hurry that I didn't notice the chips. Luckily they were cheap, but I still wish I'd passed on them.

These white ones, on the other hand, are nice and will be very versatile. There are 7 which is odd, but that's OK.

And then there's this vintage tablecloth. It is stained. I have had some luck removing stains in the past and I was hoping my luck would continue.

What in the heck IS this? Biz didn't touch it. I soaked it for days. What can be done with a badly stained tablecloth? Is this going to become a really fancy rag?

Removing Stains

I did a bit of research on removing stains from table linens. I think the Whink product may be my best hope with the weird stains on the red and white tablecloth. I have nothing to lose. Here are the tips I found:

I have found that nature is the best bleacher. Hanging tablecloths from a clothesline or laying it outside on a sheet in the grass after washing will do a beautiful job of lightening yellow stains. Vintage Tablecloth Club
On more robust linens I use Oxy Clean, my new best friend, followed by a normal laundry soap or Ivory. Em's Heart
For rust stains, try Whink Rust Stain Remover but don't leave it on too long. This is strong stuff. Just a drop or two will make most rust spots vanish before your eyes. Read the label carefully before using it. It works great! It also helps remove blood stains and anything else with a high iron content. Em's Heart
Lemon Juice and Salt - Usually if nothing else works, this will do it for me when cleaning white fabric. I first dampen the fabric and then wet the stain with fresh lemon juice, cover the area with table salt. Lay your fabric in the sun. You have to keep the lemon juice wet. The material will dry fast so be attentive. Sometimes you will see the salt take up the stain. This can be a long process, but it usually does the trick. Sometimes you will see yellow spots left from the lemon juice. Hand washing in your normal detergent will take care of that. Catherine's Vintage Style
Linens Cleaning Formula.- Mix equal parts 20 Mule Team Borax, Biz and liquid detergent with color safe bleach. Use hot water and soak the fabric for five or six hours. Rinse well and repeat the soaking if necessary with fresh water. When the spots are gone, rinse well till the water is clear. Do not wring or twist. Lay flat or hang to dry. Use plastic clothes pins as wooden pins can stain your fabric. Catherine's Vintage Style
1 Quart Buttermilk, 1 Gallon Water, and 1 TBS Fresh Lemon Juice - Soak linens in the buttermilk recipe for up to 24 hours, rinse twice, then launder as usual. TipNut
1 Scoop* Biz, 1 Scoop* Oxyclean, and 1 Gallon Hot Water - Soak in the hot water for up to 48 hours, then rinse and launder as usual. Use the oxyclean scoop. After washing linens, give it a good vinegar rinse to remove as much of the soap as possible. Use one cup of white vinegar per gallon of water. After the vinegar rinse, rinse again with plain water a time or two. TipNut

Bar Stool Color Burst

2011-04-04T17:28:00.000-04:00

I've been going a little wild with color lately. And for some reason, I haven't been hesitant about it. In fact, I'm just plunging right in with abandon.

I think it started with wanting green chairs at my dining table. That's still a work in progress.

Next I found some wild fabric that I love. You'll see that in a minute. It's what I used to cover my bar stools.

Then, I went to an estate sale that was amazing. It has haunted me. I think the man who had lived there was a decorator... a really good one and his house was wonderful. It was very livable, not stuffy at all. He used color in just the right amounts. It wasn't overpowering (like my house will be if I keep bringing in crazy things). I find myself thinking about him a lot and hoping he had a happy life.

I spent a small fortune at that sale. Some things I put into my booth. Lots of it has already sold. Some things I'm keeping. One is a colorful framed poster.

It is a reproduction of a vintage French advertising art poster for umbrellas in Paris, France by Italian artist Leonetto Cappiello (1875 – 1942). It is entitled ' Parapluie Revel'. I found conflicting information about the words. Parapluie is the french word for umbrella. No conflict there. But some say Revel is the name of a french umbrella company which doesn't exist anymore. Another source said revel means 'to take great pleasure or delight', so basically the poster says "Umbrella-Delight".

I also bought some wonderful Fiesta dishes. They aren't terribly old - most are from 1997 to 2004. I had been thinking about changing my white dishes to colorful Fiesta ones. Now, the transition is in full swing. I need more. I can't decide if I should go buy some new pieces or just wait til I come across more when I'm out thrifting. Somehow I don't feel confident about finding many of those secondhand.

I'm really enjoying using them. My salads look so much more exciting on a Feista platter than in a plain white bowl.

Now to my main topic - the bar stools. I have thought about recovering them for months. I'd thought about using a grain sack or something. But then I found this crazy fabric and decided to head in that direction. The fabric has my green in it.

The fabric that was on them was pretty, but didn't fit my current decorating mood.

I'm still getting used to the new look. They make me feel good to look at them, but at the same time, I think they may be a little too much. I'm keeping them this way until they wear out or I get tired of them. They're fun.

The rugs, on the other hand, need to go!!!

By the way, I had lots of assistance from Sissy while recovering the seats.

She's very helpful.

Wild Hail Storm

2011-03-26T18:30:00.000-04:00

We just survived a wild and woolly hail storm! It was quite impressive. It was spectacular and I enjoyed the spectacle until it occurred to me that our vehicles were outside uncovered get pummeled. After that, I thought of all the damage occurring all around and the fun was over.

This piece was about golf ball size. It was on our porch. There were biggger ones in the yard, but I wasn't about to go out there to pick one up. My hubby went out when things calmed down a little and he saw some that were baseball sized.

It looked like snow on the ground. Lots of it blew onto our front porch. I had been taking pictures from there but needed to move to the screened porch to keep out of harms way. By then, the yard was turning white. Not quite covered, but almost. Unfortunately, my pictures through the screen did not turn out.

It lasted over 10 minutes, but seemed like forever. The dogs were freaking and the cats were traumatized. Sissy cried and howled through the whole thing. Our poor little Cindy was outside when it hit. She hid under the porch and I couldn't get her to come out til it was well over. She's still recovering.

Our vehicles were out in the open and they're dinged up pretty well. The barn roof is dinged up, but we think/hope our house roof is OK. We need to take a closer look to be sure.

More bad weather is expected later. The first round was crazy, but thankfully, we're all just fine. Hopefully, the next round will be dull and UN-extraordinary.

Yard Sale FUn - Turn on the Lights!!!

2011-03-26T08:09:00.001-04:00

I had a precise yard sale plan mapped out when I left to go yard sale-ing yesterday. There were 5 sales in a very swanky area that I was going to make a beeline to. I had a printed map with the quickest route for all. I had maps of others in the area that I could go to after the big 5. But... my yard sale plans are always apt to change. There was a wreck on a major road. As I inched forward, I realized that I would pass by the road to one of my extra, less important sales. I decided to go there and hope that by the time I left, traffic would be moving. It was fate. I got 95% of my treasures at this one sale. Most of the treasures were lamps and shades. Lots of nice ones!

The best was a stained glass, Tiffany style lamp.

I had planned to sell it, but... it looked good on my kitchen counter. :-D

Another lamp I planned to sell was this lacy one. But then, I turned it on to make sure it worked well and, mmmmm, it was really pretty lit up. The Battenburg lace shade did wild and wonderful things to the light and the details on the base were highlighted, too. It's a keeper.

I really am going to sell some of them. The tall lamp (on the left) is going to my booth. The shade is very interesting. It's red on the outside and has a swirly black pattern on the inside. Why didn't I take a picture of that? The base is pretty, too. The short bronze lamp (on the right) is going into my holding area. I don't want to have a million lamps in my booth. The shade on that one is really nice. It's so ice I thought about keeping it, but it's more formal/traditional than my decor.

Some of the lamps came without shades.

I went into my stash of shades and made matches.

It's good to have a stash of shades!

This lamp didn't have a shade or a finial. I had one extra finial lying about and it was an ugly brass-y mess. Black Sharpie marker to the rescue! I colored it. It looks great and looks wonderful on the lamp. This lamp is nice, but I'm not keeping it. I have a couple of lamps in a similar style and that's enough. I prefer to mix it up and have different ones.

I got three pairs of extra shades as well. And they are really nice. All are lined and have extra details that make them look pricey and elegant. Those are in my holding area just waiting for some pretty bases to come along. I had one base with no shade. None of these extra shades would work with it. A shade will come along for it one day. Note, there are two of the gray shades, too, but I didn't photograph them together.

I had some other good finds as well, mostly from that same sale.

I'm keeping the Appolia gourmet sunflower dish. It's nice!!!

I'm keeping the framed roses... at least for a little while.

I'm keeping the shams. They've already been cleaned and put into use.

The chair, I'm going to paint it my green and use in my dining room, 'til I find chairs I like better.

The basket is a keeper, too. It still had the tags on it.

That's all. I'm headed out the door for some more thrifting!

Yardsale Bliss - Seeing RED

2011-03-22T05:23:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday was really nice outside and warmer than usual - 82 degrees! With the warmer weather, more and more folks are having yard sales and I went to some nice ones. I came home with lots of goodies and most of my favorite items were RED.

My amazing deal of the day was a teapot, which it turns out is probably a coffee pot. The lady selling it was selling a few other vintage items, but I didn't think the teapot was old or particularly special. I just thought it was pretty.

Warning:

I've included lots of info on this coffee pot in this post.

It's interesting to me, but could bore someone else to tears.

You may want to skip over this section.

Once I got home, I decided to look it up. The first one I found was priced at $212. Holy cow! I kept looking. Most of the ones I saw were over $100. I found one for $58, but that was the only one less than $100 and it had different markings on the bottom.

I think I paid $3 for mine. Or it might have been only a dollar. I paid a bundle price (a whopping $15) for lots of items so it's hard to remember.

After lots of research, I am still confused on a few issues. I found that it's made by Hall China in East Liverpool, Ohio. They were the largest producers of teapots in their heyday. They made this model for the Tricolator Company, Inc.

The style is Buchanan. Some call it a coffee pot. Some call it a tea pot. Which is it? Judging by the sources, I'm pretty sure it's a coffee pot. The originals were made in the 1930's. The Buchanon came in two different lid types. A screw lid makes it more rare - mine has a screw lid.

I found a drip section for the coffee pot on Etsy. Description: A very unique vintage aluminum art deco style drip coffee maker circa 1920-30's. Built by the Richheimer Tricolator Co., Patent date of 1923 engraved in filter. Top cap has "MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE" and "GOOD TO THE LAST DROP" stamped into it. This early drip "crown" was designed to be placed on top of a serving pot. Ground coffee is placed in the basket and hot water is then poured over the grounds. The coffee steeps and drips into the pot below.

I found this complete set on GoAntiques.com. It lists for $95.99 plus shipping. The vendor dates this as 1923, which conflicts with the other dates I saw. Regarding the bottom stamp on the pot (there was no photo of this), the description says, The tea pot is marked "HALL" on the bottom and stamped "Pour Right." It looks like the Buchanan style. Again, more questions.

Richheimer Tricolator made the top metal parts for coffee makers, so this is very likely the company Hall made the pots for, even though another source called it Tricolator Company, Inc.

NAGGING QUESTIONS

The teapot looks so good. I wonder. Is this one of the newer replica's? Hall has been producing replicas of some of their patterns. I didn't see the Buchanon for sale now, but maybe they produced it for a short time and then moved on to other patterns. I don't know. On the other hand, all of the Tricolators up for sale look equally good. Maybe they held up really well. Hall, after all, was famous for their amazing techniques with china.

My Tricolator - Screw Top Lid & Bottom Stamp

On the other hand, my stamp looks exactly the same as the one selling for $212. It looks the same as the ones over $100. HALL is not stamped on the bottom of any of those.

The $58 dollar Tricolator had a bottom stamp very different from mine. The Ebay description claims it, too, is vintage.

I'm guessing a newer version would have Hall on it since they would no longer be making it for another company. I'm keeping this little jewel, at least until I find out more about it. The good news is, even the replica's seem to go for around $50 or so.

More info on Hall China:

Hall China and Chinese Red and Hall Teapots - Ohio River Pottery (Note - This was my source for the ads!!!)
Hall China - Yahoo Groups
Tea or Coffee: Hall Had it - by Antique Week
Hall Chinese Red - Replacements.com

I picked up a number of other

red items at this same sale:

DAZEY wall mount can opener Model #85 in a fire engine red with chrome and Bakelite handle - 1940's - sells online for around $26
A vintage egg beater/hand mixer by Maynard. 1950's. This one is really nice and it works great! I already have a red vintage beater that belonged to my grandmother. The Maynard one works better. I'm keeping it. These sell for around $10 to $20 depending on the color and condition of the handles. My handles are in perfect condition! They've obviously never been tossed in the dishwasher.
Small red cast iron utensil holder. All the old utensils were crammed into this heavy pot.
The chrome and red dish drainer is probably not vintage. I think this one may have been sold by Ikea at one time. I'm going to use it as a display rack in my booth.

And as if that weren't enough, I also got these from the same sale.

They aren't red, but I guess that's OK. :-D

I've joined these link parties:

Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm
Three or More Tuesdays at The Gypsy's Corner

Inspired By... Spring Decorating

2011-03-21T07:07:00.000-04:00

Spring is in the air! Literally and figuratively. The pollen is out. If you are outside and hear someone gasp, it may be because they can't breathe or it may be that they just saw something else in bloom. Living in Georgia (which has to be the worst place in the world when it comes to pollen) means ignoring the yellow haze and admiring the breathtaking spring show all around. It is Beee-autiful!!! So of course, the posts I was most drawn to this week had something to do with Spring. Take a look -

Debra at Common Ground went to a Spring Open House in Ozark. She found some really nice things and the displays were lovely. I don't use the word lovely much, but doesn't it sound refined and classy? I can pretend, can't I?

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch did some Spring Sprucing on her Porch. Her porch is fabulous. She hung sheers out there 3 years ago and says they have held up perfectly. She's only had to wash them once. They are polyester and dry immediately after it rains.

Becky at Buckets of Burlap planted a wonderful herb garden in a wine barrel. I'm ready to start planting!

Maria at Dreamy Whites visited one of her favorite shops - The Antique Gardener - and came away with some wonderful inspiring photos.

Last, but not least, this Spring Garden post from Carolyn at Aiken House and Gardens will be my inspiration next fall when it's time to plant bulbs! Seriously! I'm putting a link to this post on my calendar! One look and my body will jump into action planting lots of bulbs! At least that's my hope. My body doesn't often jump into action.

Side note: Lulu, one of our old dogs, has been sleeping on the floor beside me as I wrote this post. Mostly she's been snoring, but she must have also been having an interesting dream - she was barking in her sleep.

Chair Weaving Tutorial

2011-03-20T21:06:00.002-04:00

Here it is. The much requested how-to on weaving chair seats.

Preparation:

Find a chair that needs a new seat. Ladderback chairs are great. Lots of rockers are suitable. Remove all the old chair weaving. Clean up and paint or stain if necessary. If you paint it, give it plenty of time to cure before weaving. The yellow chair in this post came from a recent yard sale. It was already an interesting chippy yellow so I didn't even bother to repaint it.

Find material - lots of it - and rip or cut it into strips. I usually make my strips about 2 inches wide, but you can vary that for different looks. I mostly use old sheets, but sometimes I use tablecloths, curtains, or nice fabric. I love finding sheets at Goodwill or yard sales to re-purpose. You can use a wild assortment of colors. Sometimes it looks good. Sometimes it looks obnoxious. I've done that in the past with awful results. You can use a single color. (I recently did a set of 4 chairs with dropcloth fabric.) My favorite thing is to use a limited color palette for a more coordinated look.

Weaving:

Find a good movie to watch. You're going to be here for awhile.

Put all the fabric strips where they are in easy reach. Have scissors nearby.

Start tying the strips across and under the chair. If the fabric has a good side and bad side, make sure the good side is facing out where it'll be seen. Don't worry too much about loose threads. You want the strips fairly tight, but there's no need to be obsessive about it.

I like to tie the knot on top where it's easy to get to then slide the strip around so the knot is on bottom. You can only do that for the pieces going across. (Is that weft or warp? I've forgotten weaving terms.)

Scrunch the strips together towards the front (widest end) as you go. Keeps adding more strips til you get to the end. I ended up with 12 strips front to back on this particular chair. There will be a lot of knots with pieces hanging down underneath. I cut those ends to about 4 inches.

Now for the weaving. You have to know at least a little about how to weave because I don't think I could adequately explain that to somebody who has no idea at all. If you ever did a paper weaving project in elementary school, you probably know enough.

Top

I weave a few strips on top, then turn the chair upside down and weave it on the bottom. I weave so the ends meet somewhere in the middle of the bottom and then I tie the two ends together.

Bottom

I cut the ends to about 4 inches and tuck them under so they don't show from the top or the bottom. Try not to put all the knots in one spot. Try not to put any knots too close to an edge.

Turn the chair back over. Scrunch the strips together. Weave in more strips. Keep adding more strips til you finish. Clip the loose threads. Stand back and admire your chair.

By the way, this is not my favorite chair that I've done. This one is very chippy and rustic. I'm in love with greens right now and the last green chair I wove is probably one of my favorites. I have 4 rockers that I hope to do soon. I'm thinking about doing them in a similar look.

How does it hold up? You won't believe how well! We have cats and dogs. I have rockers with woven seats and backs that have been on a porch year-round for over a decade. The fabric is a bit faded, but the seats (and backs) are still strong and sturdy. They are comfy, too!

If you use this tutorial to weave your own chairs, I'd love for you to let me know how it came out. Send me a photo if you can!

I've linked this post with the following blog parties:

Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Favorite Things Saturday at Bargain Hunting with Laurie
Air Your Laundry Friday - Freckled Laundry
DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Auction Finds and Bench Inspiration

2011-03-12T20:24:00.000-05:00

I did it. I went to another auction. Maybe I've turned a corner. I bid more and won more. The corner I turned may not be the best corner on the block. I spent more on most of the items I won than I should have. I came away with some things I like and a few things I plan to keep.

My first win of the night was another vintage wooden ironing board. This is my fourth. Now I have one that I actually use to iron, one for sale at Rockin' B, and two waiting on a small makeover. This new one( the lightest colored one) is great shape. Interestingly, all four of my ironing boards have different ways of opening and setting up. I like the legs and opening mechanism of the newest one the best. My first board (the medium colored one) is the widest and for actual ironing that's a big deal. The newest one has some sort of paper covering stuck to it. I hope that comes off easily with water!

I am still in love with re-purposing vintage ironing boards. If you haven't seen my post on ways to use them, please take a look! If you like vintage things, then this may leave you in search of an old board for yourself. The good news is, they are still fairly easy to find.

My next win was a tray of 4 bird figurines. These are china or porcelain or pottery or something. I fear I am really at a loss when there is no mark on the bottom to at least get me started on a little research.

Only one of the pieces had a mark - Goldcastle Made in Japan. After a little Googling, I found out that this piece was made in the 1950's or 60's. I did a quick rinse on it at night, but after looking at these photos, it's obvious I need to go back and do a better job.

I'll probably keep on or two of these pieces, at least for a while. My hubby seemed to like the brown speckled one that looks like a bird feeder. I'll keep it if I can figure out a good spot for it. I'm also keeping one of the bird pairs. It'll probably be the one without the babies, but I have to say those babies in the nest are adorable. I generally don't like having a lot of knick-knacks around, but I'm having a hard time resisting bird things right now. I hope I don't end up a little old lady living in a cluttered cottage surrounded by a million bird figurines!

I won a metal garden urn. It's large - around 30 inches tall - and chippy in a perfect sort of way. I saw it and fell in love. It came with the fake flower in a clay pot that you see in the photo. I paid too much. Apparently, someone else was also in love with it. If I decided to sell it later, I might break even, but that's about all. I don't plan to sell it anytime soon. I'm picturing it with a lush red geranium inside. Or maybe a purple trailing something or other. Should it sit on the ground or be placed on top of a table? I don't know, but I look forward to playing around with it.

I bought a wig stand. Ordinarily, this might be a very odd thing for me to buy, but my mom has breast cancer and is going through chemo. She's right in the midst of losing her hair and I must say she is handling all of that extraordinarily well. We got her a wig (mostly for wearing to church) from the American Cancer Society. The wig is beautiful but it looks really sad just laying down. Now it will have a nicer spot to rest when it's not being used. I was determined to win the stand. Again, I had to battle it out with another determined person.

My largest item was a park bench. I fully intended to fix it up to sell, but I think I might keep this, too. (Oh dear. That's becoming a very bad habit!)

Most benches like this have wood that's stained. I want it to have some color. Maybe even a bright pop of color. I was having trouble envisioning this bench painted, so I searched online for inspiration. Truthfully, the cutest painted benches were all wood. I did find a few painted park benches (cast iron and wood), but not as many good examples as I was hoping for. Here are some of the painted benches I came across. After lots of browsing, I think I'm leaning towards something in the blue family.

PhotoLori's Flickr site
My Crazy Container Garden - This wonderful gal has paint and isn't afraid to use it!
Country Living
GreenCulture
Gates of Vienna - I got lost in this post and was completely sidetracked into the world of sonnets
Sixaguilar's Flickr site
Coach O's Flickr site
Rosalind Creasy - You'll want to plant edibles all over your yard after visiting this site
How Did I Do It? see also Life in Sugar Hollow .

While searching, of course I was inspired by things other than color.

Brittany, from Pretty Handy Girl, did a wonderful tutorial on turning a headboard into a bench. I see these benches often at the store where I rent a booth. Plus, I have one that I picked up at a yard sale.

This bench from Eden Maker has a French poem verse written on the back.

I would love to see a close up view.

I also came across a fun older post from Working Woman's Guide to Domestic Success about wishing she had a cottage by the lake. She illustrates her dream with some really wonderful photos, all of which are wonderful. Here's one of my favorites. It illustrates my love of having a totally unexpected color in a room.

I found the photo of a coatroom with a blue bench on CreateGirl. The bench isn't anything like mine, but I love it.

Last, but certainly not least, I came across a wonderful post from Erin of The Painted Garden. Erin is a painter. She creates her own inspiration in her garden. She has been featured in tons of magazines. This article was about her feature in the magazine, Container Gardens. You know - I think I read that issue!

Inspired By...

2011-03-07T05:00:00.001-05:00

Here are the things that making me swoon this week. I sure do swoon a lot when browsing my favorite blogs.

Take a look at these whitewashed concrete eggs made by Vintage Skye. She says they are pretty messy to make. She sells them on her Etsy site.

Speaking of eggs, check out these pretty newsprint eggs from Homeroad. I can think of a million ways to use them. She also has a bunch of other pictures of faux eggs on this same post.

I came across this wonderful vintage grocery cart on A Decorating Passion. She had painted it white and her goal is to fill it with vintage tablecloths. Now, that's a goal I could be very enthusiastic about!

Big entertainment centers are easy to find and they are pretty cheap now that most folks are switching to flat screens whenever they have to replace a TV. I have been seeing a good many creative ways to repurpose them, but this idea from Fresh Cut Flour takes the cake. What a cute cute idea!

Here's a wonderful laundry room makeover from Show and Tell. She made (with no help) the stand for her washer and dryer to sit on. It holds her laundry bins. Very nice!

Another laundry room idea came from Beneath My Heart. She made askirt to dress up a plain old utility sink. I have one of those and it really needs some help!

Chairs with Fabric Woven Seats

2011-03-05T06:42:00.003-05:00

That title sounds horribly dull, but hopefully the post will be interesting! Years ago, I figured out how I could re-do chairs that had damaged woven bottoms without having to take them to someone. I could weave new bottoms and/or backs from leftover fabric or worn out sheets or dropcloths.

I recently wove a set of four ladderback chairs using dropcloth fabric. I put them at my store. They aren't in my booth. Another vendor had a vintage library table from Auburn, Alabama and the wood from that table went perfectly with my chairs. The look great together.

The dropcloth fabric was a real mess to work with. It ravels horribly. On the other hand, the messy edges of each strip really give the finished seats more character.

The color and texture look really nice with this dark wood. It looks a bit like linen, but of course it's much tougher.

I wove another lone chair with brighter fabrics. I used to use a real mix of fabrics and colors. The last time I did that (see my Rocker Re-Do) I decided it turned out way too busy to suit me. This time I stuck to a bit of a color palette - red, white, and pale green. It's bright, but in a nice folksy way.

It's in my booth on top of a table. There's another photo of it in yesterday's post.

You might recognize the green paint on this chair. It's one of the ones I painted while trying to find my perfect green. (See Experimenting with Green Chairs and one of my favorite posts - Smitten with Green) I really roughed this chair up, going for a very chippy vintage look. It was fun to do. I put the chair out on my porch for a photo and almost didn't have the heart to take it to my booth. I'm selling it for $24, which is ridiculously low for the work I put in it. Oh well. It was fun. I saw a similar version on Etsy for $140 plus $30 shipping. I wonderful if she has ever actually sold one of her chairs for that much. I should probably mark any future chairs I weave a little higher.

The woven seats hold up well. I have one that I wove over a decade ago. It has been on a porch the whole time. The fabric shows some fading but is still very strong. It's in better shape that a chair with a rush bottom would have been!

The next seats I weave will probably be for me. I have four wonderful, large, oak rockers given to me by a friend, waiting to be cleaned up, painted and woven. I'd really like to tackle that project in the next month or so.

I've linked up with these parties -

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Frugal Friday at Shabby Nest
Show and Share Day at Just a Girl
Flaunt it Fridays at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous
What I Made This Week... at Simply Designing
Air Your Laundry Friday - Freckled Laundry
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello
More the Merrier at DIY Home Sweet Home

A SMALL Booth Update

2011-03-04T12:14:00.003-05:00

When I first started renting an antique booth last August, I was told that smalls would be my bread and butter. They would pay my rent even in a very slow month. Smalls are what they call the knick-knacks or chotzskies. Our booth is overrun with smalls and they sell well.

On the other hand, large pieces are selling well in our store and that’s where the big money is. Through observation and experimentation, we are finding that people buying the large items don’t like to look at them if they are covered in smalls. They are reluctant to ask someone to clear off the piece so they can take a better look. The boothies who sell the most large items don’t clutter them up. They put their large items out front where they are easy to inspect and easy to move in and out of the booth.

So, how to have the best of both worlds? Martie and I share a large 20 foot wide booth. We thought we had come up with a wonderful idea. We were going to make a small 8 foot wide area for smalls. It would be a sort of wide hallway lined with shelves. We were calling it our treasure hunt area. It would have a 4-5 foot walkway, open shelves on one side and several lamps to keep it from feeling confining. We would fill it with smalls. the larger area would feature our largest pieces. Genius… or so we thought!

We met yesterday and tore our whole booth apart, making a huge mess all around us. We moved our shelves and a million bakers racks in place for our treasure hunt area and hated it. Neither area would be appealing.

It was a good exercise because it led to a better idea. We are now lining the perimeter of our booth with shelves and the center space will be filled with our larger pieces. We tried to put very little on those pieces – just enough to draw the eye and make it feel decorated. We had two large tables so there wasn’t as much walk around room as we hoped, but we were both very pleased with the outcome!

This is the view customers have when they approach our booth.

Martie’s table is one of the items highlighted in the center of the booth. We tried not to put too much on it. There might be a bit more than we planned, but we just couldn’t help ourselves. We had a lot of yellow smalls in our booth and we started putting them together and loved the look. We scattered yellow around the perimeters and featured it on this table. Since the chairs had black seats, we added a bit of black on that table top. Our goal was to feature the table and make it appealing. By the way, it looks like there’s a smudge on the table, but that’s a price tag.

My table ended up with less on top, but more around and under it. We had a lot of medium sized pieces to work in and that was the best spot for them. Having two tables to fit in was tricky. I love my green chair on top of the table. I just finished that chair this week, along with four others. I need to show them off in a separate post. The table was one that I found back in September, but I didn’t show it for sale for very long. We ended up putting a fabulous tablecloth on it and using it for display in our booth most of the winter.

Martie took home her large wood shelf to paint, so we were in need of fast extra shelving. We both brought in extra bakers racks from our homes. Those are life savers in booth – they’re light and easy to move.

This shelf has a few Easter things and colors to coordinate.

The tall quilt rack was made for me by my sweet hubby years ago. It’s now home to a collection of tablecloths, which keep selling like crazy. Most of the tablecloths have come from Martie and she has sold quite a few that I have been very tempted to bring home with me.

There’s an odd corner jut out in our booth. We maximized the space by fitting it two bakers racks. The one with all the blue on it is one that I re-did a while back. Right now, it’s display only, but I’m going to put it up for sale soon.

The chest of drawers is one of our large items that we just didn’t have room for in the middle. Once a table sells, if this piece hasn’t sold, we can move it to the middle to be featured more prominently. The wicker shelf is for sale, too, but I’m not in a hurry for it to sell. It’s a fun display shelf for the booth. The wicker lamp in the upper left corner sold. I just brought it in. Now we need another lamp in that spot.

This display ended up with lots of pink, including the set of Texas-Ware I just got from Susan.

The white bakers rack is one we are using on loan from the store. It belongs to Lorraine, the owner. We’ll return it a.s.a.p. so it will be available for someone else. These extra shelves are great when something big sells – it keep the booth from having a big empty spot. This side of our booth is the least attractive. It’s not ugly, but it’s just not a coordinated look. By the time we got to it, we were having to use what was left. This is not the side that is most visible to customers coming down the aisle.

We could have kept improving, but we ran out of time. It doesn’t matter – after the weekend, hopefully, there will be plenty of gaps from where things have sold and we’ll need to move things around again. A booth doesn’t stay the same for long! Having a booth is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done in my life! My only regret is that I didn’t discover it sooner.

Texas Ware - Melamine Dishes from the 50's

2011-02-27T09:19:00.001-05:00

One thing I really enjoy about having a booth at an antiques mall is that I am learning about vintage items I might not ordinarily get for myself. A couple of days ago, my friend Susan gave me some Texas Ware melamine (aka Melmac) dishes that had belonged to her mother. I have seen similar dishes, but didn't really know much about them.

The set had some basic pieces - dinner plates, cups and saucers, bread and butter plates. There were also several different serving dishes and a large 14 inch platter.

I am not planning to keep them, but I found myself really enjoying learning about them and I hope that whoever gets them has as much fun with them as I have.

The dishes had been briefly used by her daughter, Katie. When Katie was finished with them, she carefully wrapped each dish in newspaper. I have come to despise anything wrapped in newspaper and after yesterday, I am even more firmly against it.

Newspaper residue can be cleaned off fairly easily from glass and ceramic and china. But melamine? Oh, my. I spent hours gently cleaning each dish with dish detergent and a tiny bit of baking soda, being careful not to add scratches or damage the pattern on the white dishes. I also used a very soft old green scrubby pad on the toughest spots. Even though it sounds like drudgery, I actually enjoyed this task. I felt like a retro period archeologist. As each dish was cleaned up, I knew I was giving it a new lease on life and it would go on to be loved and appreciated by someone new.

Newspaper ink is very, very messy. It occurred to me that there was no need to have wrapped plastic dishes anyway. They aren't apt to break! I guess, it's just ingrained in us that when packing dishes, they must be wrapped. I must say, the dishes were really nice once cleaned up!

Most of the dishes were a fun shade of pink and would look great in a retro kitchen. Some of the dishes were white with pink and blue flowers. It was very popular to use several coordinating colors and/or patterns together. I tried to find out what this pattern was called. I saw zillions of other patterns, but not this particular one.

Melamine was introduced in the 1930's, but didn't become popular with the public until after WWII. Texas Ware was one of a number of brands. It was founded in 1946 and was the largest producer from 1957 through 1996. Some collectors feel that the best examples are from the 50's and before - the melanine heyday.

Texas Ware dishes are all tapered and designed to be stackable. That was promoted in their marketing. They are also practically unbreakable. The were inexpensive - a three bowl set went for less than two dollars in the 1950's. They were around 5 dollars in the 1980's. Even now, these pieces are very inexpensive to collect. I won't get much for them in my booth. Who cares. I have had fun playing with them.

On the downside, they should not be put in the dishwasher. They would be damaged if put in the microwave or oven. Acidic foods can cause damage.

The stamp on the back of each piece gives you a clue about when it might have been made and more. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get a lot of information about that. I'm planning to ask Nicole, Rockin' B's queen of retro, if she has any info.

There were a good many different stamps in this set. Of note is the piece on the top left below. It uses the term MELMAC. If you were a plastics molder, you would have to buy Melmac molding powders from Cyanamid or else you could not use the word Melmac.

The number indicates the size. There are letters inside a circle towards the bottom. What do those mean? I'm still trying to find out more about these backstamps.

I read that the oldest dishes have the following information in the stamp: Plastic Manufacturing Co., TEXAS-WARE, Dallas, Texas, USA. Texas Ware was on every piece. PMC was on every piece, but none wrote out Plastic Manufacturing CO. I didn't see Dallas, Texas, USA on any of the dishes.

This is an example of an older stamp -

I found a number of old ads -

Want to know more?

OK.

Moxie has an amazing collection of Texas Ware bowls in the splatter pattern. Some people who collect Texas Ware only look for the splatter patterns (also called confetti or speckle-ware). These bowls were made with leftover bits and now they are the most popular of all. Rachel Ray collects the old ones and sells new lookalikes.

Flickr has a whole section devoted to photos of Vintage MelMac and LustroWare.

Retro Chalet - MelMac Central has loads of info on melamine dishes.

Want to buy some?

Texasware on Etsy
Texasware on Ebay

I'm hooking up this post with the following link parties:

Vintage Inspiration Fridays at Common Ground
It's a HodgePodge Friday at It's a HodgePodge Life
Friday Fun Finds at Kojo Designs
I'm Lovin' It Fridays at Tidy Mom ~ what you’re lovin’ this week!
Junkin' Finds Friday at A La Carte ~Wow - she just posted about Texas Ware, too!
Favorite Things Saturday at Bargain Hunting with Laurie
Pink Saturday How Sweet the Sound

Inspired By...

2011-02-24T08:10:00.001-05:00

I'm really enjoying catching up on some of my favorite blogs! Here are some of the inspiring tidbits I found today -

From Common Ground --- a door + a table + a shelf = a hutch

Fabulous LOCKERS from Milk and Honey Home

How to Make Neat Mitered Corners from No Big Dill

Back Porch detail from Songbird

Catchiest Post Title of the Day:

Contrary to What You Have Heard, I am NOT a Stripper

from The Magic Brush

Nate Berkus Giveaway of the Day - Door Magnet Board

Easter Felting Ideas from Betz White

If you've never felted, I highly recommend it - very relaxing!

Felted Eggs - here and here and here

Cashmere Bunnies

Zippered Bird Pouches

Inspired By... C. Dianne Zweigg

2011-02-23T08:12:00.000-05:00

I was browsing through some old posts on C. Dianne Zweig and came across a couple of fun ideas. Check out this dining room cabinet makeover -

The glass sides were missing and they replaced them with chicken wire! I love it! It makes the piece seem so much more friendly! I am a casual girl and being around things that are too fancy makes me nervous. My nerves would be just fine with this piece! I see similar cabinets at auctions and sometimes they are pretty beat up. Next time I see one, I'll do my best to bring it home!

In another post, a curvy fence rail section is used to display framed art and trays.

That's not the kind of rail that you can find just anywhere, but you can bet I'll be paying a lot more attention to all the rails I see in the future.

For my final ode to Dianne Zweigg, check out her post on Cottage Style Shelves. There's something wonderful about re-purposing. It makes my heart flutter!

This is totally unrelated, but who cares. The weather in Georgia is amazing right now. Yesterday, it was in the low 70's at my house. Doors and windows were open. Gentle breezes wafted through the house, taking the stale winter air with it. Daffodils are blooming up the hill near our driveway gate. I have the most acute case of Spring Fever ever! Today's forecast - Sunny - 68 degrees. A look at the 10 day forecast shows more of the same with just enough rain to keep the pollen from becoming unbearable. Oh, honey, it's fabulous!!!!!

Auctions, Goodwill and Thrift Stores... Trying to Find a Bargain

2011-02-21T07:16:00.000-05:00

Finding a treasure at a bargain price is really challenging in the winter. I've really been on the lookout for some big pieces of furniture since my big pieces sold from my booth. I'm really having a hard time finding anything.

I've been going to auctions for the last few months and you know... I really am not crazy about them. The prices are too high, thanks to all the Atlanta dealers coming down and I just don't like making decisions that fast.

I always preview and thoroughly inspect the pieces I'm most interested in. Apparently, I have good taste. The Atlanta dealers (or fellow Rockin' B dealers) like the things I like. The price usually goes way over what I want to pay on my favorite items. The deals usually come about on things I didn't look over well enough. I keep coming home with some small things that are OK, but they aren't really worth the time and energy and gasoline I've wasted.

My time is stretched thin right now, so I think I might stay away from the auctions (unless they look REALLY SERIOUSLY, AMAZINGLY tempting and there are things that I'm willing to spend more on).

Yard Sales are my very favorite bargain hunting resource. They take time and lots of traveling, but I almost always have great success during the warm yard sale months. I am starting to see a few sales here and there, but haven't been tempted to get out so far. Yard sale-ing is best in pretty weather, when I can find lots of sales within a fairly close area.

Estate sales stink. I've tried plenty this winter and they are overpriced. Even on the last day, when prices are cut in half, most of the prices are still too high.

Goodwill and thrift stores are my best hope right now. Both of those are more expensive than yard sales, but better than auctions or estate sales.

I haven't tried flea markets yet, but there are some Rockin' B dealers who seem to have good luck. Unfortunately they aren't close by.

I think this year during yard sale season, I'm going to try to get enough to last me through the winter! I thought I had sort of done that this year, but this year I'll be targeting lots more furniture. Then, in the winter, I'll swing by my favorite thrift stores a bit more often. I'll leave the auctions and estate sales to others who are willing to spend more money.

Meanwhile, here are some of the piddly treasures I've found recently-

I bought several old cans at an auction last week. Two of them were unopened and still had the turn key thingie attached on top.

I bought another vintage ironing board at this auction. It's very sturdy but the top needs just a bit of TLC. I plan to try something different for this ironing board redo. When I finish, I'll be sure to post about it.

There was a more popular auction going on the same night and they had some great pieces. I thought that I would try going to the less popular one - maybe I wouldn't have so much competition. Wrong. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with that idea. Oh well. We had fun.

I found a few things at good prices at one of my favorite thrift stores. This store is a little inconvenient since I moved to a different county, but I was over that way a couple of weeks ago. I was getting new tires and the thrift store was within walking distance of the tire store. Browsing in a thrift store is lots more fun than sitting in a waiting room! I was excited to find 5 Currier and Ives plates. I have a set of matching mugs already in the booth.

A trip to Goodwill turned out to be interesting. Sometimes Goodwill can be overpriced, but on this trip, the things I bought were pretty reasonable. Most of what I found were small things to put out in Valentine's Day and Easter displays. Just some smalls.

The platter on the left was a Christmas item. It's pretty big and nicer than it looks in this photo next to the heart pet bowl.

I put these three items in a Spring / Easter vignette. The bowl was larger than you'd expect from the photo. I put vintage linen napkins inside - they happened to have colors that went rather nicely with the colors on the bowl. The white planter has holes around the top and I wove a ribbon through those.

I pulled all the straw stuff off of the bunny and then he looked quite sweet. In fact, I'm going to my booth today and if he hasn't sold, I think I'll bring him back home. He looks like he'd be very happy on my porch, which I hope to really jazz up this spring.

Speaking of the porch, we've had some amazingly warm weather this last week. I am already getting Spring Fever and I'm sorely tempted to start pulling things out onto my porch. I'm having to use all the restraint I can muster because I know we'll have several more cold spells before winter truly says goodbye. The daffodils are already blooming here and there. Spring is exciting!

South By Southwest - Interesting Vintage Book

2011-02-13T20:11:00.000-05:00

Two weekends ago, I went to an estate sale and bought a few small items. One item of particular interest was a vintage book, titled South By Southwest. It's by Richard Ellis and Walter Cronkite. The copyright is 1983, which to me seems like yesterday, but it's 27 years ago.

The book is in perfect condition, other than missing it's dust jacket. I like to take a glance at old coffee table books when thrifting. You never know when you'll find a gem. As soon as I opened this one, I knew it was coming home with me. The art is what grabbed me.

Once I sat down at home to really take a close look, I saw Walter Cronkite's name. The book is about two friends, Walter Cronkite and Ray Ellis, traveling down the Eastern Coast traveling the Intracoastal Waterway, from the Chesapeake Bay to Key West, Florida. Each recorded their impressions, Walter through writing, and Richard through his art (90 paintings!) I had not heard of Ray Ellis before, but it turns out he's quite an artist!

The book is huge - each page is 15 inches wide by 12 inches tall. Some of the paintings take up two pages.

I looked the book up online and saw it for sale for as low as a few dollars and as much as $600. There didn't see to be any rhyme or reason to the price variations. I saw lots for a few dollars (plus shipping, which can be fairly high since the book is so big) and lots for over $50 and a good many for over $100. I'm going to put my copy for sale in my booth in a few days. My price will be very reasonable - probably $10. I hope whoever gets it enjoys it as much as I did.

I took some photos of the paintings. My photo quality is not good. I didn't even bother to take time to flatten each page. That little mistake can make things look oddly crooked - some of the buildings appear to be be leaning. Here's a peak at some of the beautiful paintings. Enjoy!

Gettin' Nekked

2011-02-07T07:07:00.000-05:00

Did that title scare you? You'll be happy to know that it's referring to my booth, not me! My booth (actually, I should say OUR booth - I share with Martie and Beth) had to be rearranged twice this weekend because two big pieces sold.

SOLD!

I got a call Saturday saying my sweet little cream hutch sold. When a piece of furniture sells, all the smalls are taken off and put somewhere (sometimes on the floor if there's not another surface available) and there's a big gaping whole of nothing left in the booth. That's a good problem to have. Sales are good! Change is good.

Yesterday afternoon I went over and did some rearranging to give the booth "balance". I borrowed a bakers rack just to have another place to relocate some of our smalls. The new bakers rack works fine for now. I like that it's white and the shape and size worked great. It was lucky that there was one on hand to borrow! It was missing the bottom piece of glass so I propped some containers on the bottom.

The white bakers rack is not what people see first as they come down the aisle. They see the dramatic black hutch. I love how it draws your eye and invites you in.

It was almost closing time, the booth looked good and I was getting close to going home when we got a call. A customer wanted to know if the black hutch was still there. She wanted it and was coming to get it. She and her husband would dash right over and get it before closing time.

Oh Dear... SOLD!!!

OMG. Nekked booth! By the way, I know the correct spelling is naked, but for some reason, we Southerners get a kick out of saying nekked. It's more fun.

There was no time left to think about focal points and drawing your eye and lovely vignettes. I had to fill the space and find something to put all that stuff on! Amazingly, there was one more bakers rack not being used. Those racks are almost constantly in use and to be able to have access to two of them at one time was very lucky!!!

It looks like I'm going to

need to find some big pieces!

Fun, Fun, FUN!

Experimenting with Green Chairs

2011-02-05T21:24:00.000-05:00

In my quest for dining room chairs I love, I am experimenting with green finishes. I found a green paint that I find very appealing. I had several chairs in my attic waiting a new finish. I am using those to experiment with.

Back in the summer my sister-in-law and I came across two vintage chairs just waiting for a makeover at the bargain price of 2 dollars each! They are sturdy and well made.

First I painted them with several coats of Behr Premium Plus Ultra Paint and Primer in One, custom mixed to match Martha Stewarts MSL106 - Rhododendron Leaf. I have really been liking this paint. It has ceramic in it. I've only needed two coats for everything I've done so far. Plus, it seems really tough.

At this point, the green is pretty, but it's a little boring.

I did some distress sanding, then mixed up a glaze. I didn't waste a lot of time fretting over my glaze. First I mixed a brown I liked by using a bit of medium brown craft paint I had on hand and adding black to make it a darker brown.

Then I added the glaze mix. I had a ratio of about 2 parts glaze to one part paint. Even so, I had less time to play with it than I would have liked. I would also rather have a glaze mix in a container that was easier to pour.

Glazing is OK, but I think I like using Howards Citrus Wax in mahogany better for adding a little age and character. (I'll show that technique in a post coming soon about an end table I just finished.) I also might try the dry brushing technique used by Miss Mustard. I talked about that and linked to it in my last post.

The photo below shows the two chairs in two stages. On the left the chair has been sanded, but not glazed. On the right, it's finished. My glazing was fairly subtle. I wiped a whole lot off. It's not all that easy to see a difference, but it definitely looks more aged after the glazing. These chairs didn't have a lot of nooks and crannies for glaze to accentuate. The dry brushing technique probably would have been more appropriate. Unfortunately, I came across that idea after I had already glazed.

On a funny note, after my husband saw the distressed and glazed chairs, he said they looked like chairs that needed to be painted. He was trying to push my buttons. I swear, that man lives to aggravate me! And clearly, he doesn't recognize that he is in the presence of an amazing artist!

Here's a closeup. Again the one on the right is glazed. The one on the left is not. The closeup shows how the glaze got into the imperfections just enough to add age and character.

I moved the chairs to the dining room to live with the color for a bit. (Sorry, no photos) I like the color and I like what the color adds to the room. These two chairs are not the style I'm looking for.

What kind of chairs am I looking for? I want chairs with tall backs and solid seats. They need to be heavy and sturdy. And they must be comfortable. I know I'll find MY CHAIRS one of these days. I have a feeling it won't be long.

Inspired By...

2011-02-04T21:04:00.000-05:00

I've been doing so many Inspired By posts that you'd think I'm not doing anything by surfing the web. Truly, that's not the case. It just seems that I'm seeing a ton of great things online in a very short period of time.

One blog I like to take a look at periodically is Queen of Tarte. She's just opened a new store in Oregon. This post and several others leading up to it have a few photos. Cindy has been working on getting it ready for the last couple of months. She has such flair. Check out my Booth Inspiration Page for another great photo from a previous booth from Queen of Tarte. It's one of my all time favorites.

Miss Mustard Seed did a wonderful post on how to find the best stuff on Craigslist. I often peruse Craigslist so I thought I knew what I was doing, but I still found some good tips in the article. I also found a number of additional tips in the comments. Several folks recommended using CraigEasy to search easier by seeing the photos. I definitely plan to try it out.

Also from Miss Mustard Seed - check out this desk and ottoman she just redid. Don't you love the wonderful slouchy look of the ottoman? I also like that she made the top of the desk wood. Sometimes having an entire piece painted the same gets boring. There are a number of interesting tidbits in this article. FOr instance, she didn't do any distressing to the desk. She just dry brushed with antiquing glaze. I was also excited to see that the paint color she used was Sherwin Williams Creamy. I have that color! Woo Hoo! We think alike! (I wish)

My Re-Purposed Life has a great post - Blog Tips for New Bloggers. I'm not a new blogger. I have over 300 posts. Even so, I came across a few tips that I will likely use. Plus, I have a few friends who have just begun blogging and I know they would find this article useful. She's really big on Windows Live Writer. I have seen a number of bloggers recommend it. I looked into it a while back and for some reason, didn't go with it. I don't remember why. I might re-investigate when I get a chance.

I came across a new blog with all sorts of tips and advice and inspiration for my life as a booth renter - Selling in an Antique Mall. One thing I found out is that home magazines are a tax deduction. That's a source for keeping up with style and color trends.

That's all for now. I usually post in the mornings when I'm fresh and energetic. I'm getting a little sleepy! Early to bed, early to rise...

Cynthia Moves to a New Booth

2011-02-02T20:47:00.000-05:00

My new friend (who feels like a friend I've known for ages), Cynthia, moved to a new booth. The new booth is about a foot or so wider and that foot makes all the difference in the world! The new booth is also at the end of an intersection of aisles, which gives it greater visibility and the light is really nice. This move has given her a much needed lift.

What really amazes me is how fast she was able to move everything from one spot to another and come up with a completely different, beautiful arrangement. It took her less than two hours I think. Gee, maybe it took one. I don't know for sure, but it was fast. This girl is good!

Her booth has a bit of a European flair - French and English. She has a blog, too, which is always beautiful - A Love of the Past. You'll love it, I know.

There are a few more things you may need to know about Cynthia before you look through these photos. One - she is a breast cancer survivor, with two years of being cancer free. Two - She just lost her husband and love of her life. Less than a month ago. She's still reeling from that loss. She is just beginning to move about in the world and hasn't quite found her footing yet, but this new booth is, maybe, a glimmer of light in her life.

Here are some photos of her booth. Enjoy! And when you're done, if you have a moment to spare, visit her blog and leave her a comment!

When I admired these eggs, Cynthia tried to give me some. I couldn't take them. I nearly bought the bird and eggs, but couldn't do that either. They looked so pretty in her booth. If they're still there in a week or so, I'll probably give in, but for now, they are there to make her booth a special place. I'm not much of a business woman, am I?

First A Dream

Fluffing the Booth

Spring in February

A Fairy Tray

A Mantel and a Ladder

Distressing Furniture with Denatured Alcohol

Clean Look Didn't Last Long!

Fresh Start for the New Year

Pink Crocheted Scarf

Two Booth Expansions

Doorknob Towel Rack

Decoupaging a Divider Screen

Mantel Redo

Pillsbury Doughboy Bowl

Pyrex - More Excellent Finds

Cute White and Red Kitchen Cupboard

Chewed Up and Spit Out

More Improvements to My Booth

On My Own in a Booth

Another Pyrex Find! - Black and White

Score! Vintage Pyrex

A New Member of the Pack - Cocoa

Inspired By...

Farm Tables - What Color?

1930's Book - The Art of Drinking

Eat Cake!

New Treasures - Side Tables

Fire King - Swirl Pattern

Fire King - Primrose Pattern

Tom and Jerry Eggnog Punch Bowl and Cups

Hutches with No Doors

Some Big Pieces in the Booth

Quick Look at the New Booth

Fifteen Feet Looks Like Twenty???

Inspired By... Farmhouse Tables

More Pup Pix - Taking a Walk

Table and Chairs - Before and After

Annabelle and Sadie at the Pond

Puppy Love

Tiny Houses... Again

Bowl to Birdbath

Beautiful Flower from a Friend - Clivia

White Hutch Makeover

More White Booth Photos

The White Booth - Phase 2

The White Booth - Phase 1

Mr. Wheat's Rockers

Martie and Bob go to the Opera Ball

Vintage Tumblers

Geraniums on the Window Sill

Blue Yard Bench

Vintage White Sewing Machine

Post Virus Cleaning Frenzy

Vintage Napkins and Removing Stains

Bar Stool Color Burst

Wild Hail Storm

Yard Sale FUn - Turn on the Lights!!!

Yardsale Bliss - Seeing RED

Inspired By... Spring Decorating

Chair Weaving Tutorial

Auction Finds and Bench Inspiration

Inspired By...

Chairs with Fabric Woven Seats

A *SMALL* Booth Update

Texas Ware - Melamine Dishes from the 50's

Inspired By...

Inspired By... C. Dianne Zweigg

Auctions, Goodwill and Thrift Stores... Trying to Find a Bargain

South By Southwest - Interesting Vintage Book

Gettin' Nekked

Experimenting with Green Chairs

Inspired By...

Cynthia Moves to a New Booth

A SMALL Booth Update