Wild Hail Storm

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!!!

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

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

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

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

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.

1. PhotoLori's Flickr site
2. My Crazy Container Garden - This wonderful gal has paint and isn't afraid to use it!
3. Country Living
4.  GreenCulture
5. Gates of Vienna - I got lost in this post and was completely sidetracked into the world of sonnets
6. Sixaguilar's Flickr site
7.  Coach O's Flickr site
8. Rosalind Creasy - You'll want to plant edibles all over your yard after visiting this site
9. 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...

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!