Notes from A Cottage Industry

Making a real difference.

I got an email from my long time online friend Jenny last night and I felt compelled to share.
Terry Grahl is an incredible interior designer who is making a difference by transforming women's shelters into places of peace and possibilities.
Terry  designs cheerful and charming rooms and public areas via her non-profit business, Enchanted Makeovers. Terry transforms women's shelters into places of peace and possibilities. Her rooms are designed to lift the spirit and to help a woman feel whole and valued, less like a second class castoff herself. What could be better than that?
Her group also supplies shelters with heartfelt items, such as handmade cards, and offers consulting to folks who want to assist their local shelters.
Why am I sharing all of this? Martha Stewart is having a contest, and Terry is in the running for her generous deeds...and I think it's a wildly worth while cause. We all need to go to Martha's site and make our votes count! Terry (and her non profit company) could win $2,500. Just take a moment and think about just how far that could go.
Women like Terry inspire me to do more, and to pay better attention to others in need around me. We can all help. Simply click on the link and look on the right hand side of the webpage.(Now, go vote!)

Guest post today over at 4 Reluctant Entertainers...

You must know Sandy, right? If not, you will now. She's been my blogworld friend for...gosh, how long? Maybe two years? Maybe longer, now that I think about it.
We met (obviously) through our blogs and we have grown a wonderful friendship over the past couple of years. I love her style, her hospitality, and dedication to raising her family. I am guessing we'll get to finally meet in person at some point once I get moved to the Portland area next month!

Anyway.

Sandy graciously invited me to be a guest blogger on her blog, sharing a hospitality idea and I was happy to participate!As you can tell from her blog's title, she shares many, many wonderful ideas for entertaining, with the focus on what is really important...In short, she inspires me!

What are you waiting for? Hop on over and check my post out, and tell Sandy I sent you.

B L I S S .

     Mmmm hmm, that's what the new banners I created for the Tumbleweed Cotillion say. I liked the first one that I made so much, that I created it in a bit larger size, and finally, a sweet little square banner. How do you like them?

    All of the banners are done in sage green letters and florals in browns, corals, pinks and creams, although the picture of the small banner came out a bit more brown. I will try and re-take another shot of it later for a more true (truer?) likeness. The large size is perfect for making a grand statement, swagging a window, or a mantle, measuring about five feet wide when hung, printing one letter per 8.5 by 11 piece of cardstock. (My fireplace mantel is six feet wide)

The medium swag is about four feet wide upon completion, printing two flags per piece of card stock...(so cute!!!) ....and the itty bitty banner is a bit over a foot wide in it's entirety (and perfect for folding inside a greeting card or letter sent to a dear friend, which is why I love it!!)The itty bitty one's can also be used on the fronts of votive candle holders, like I did last fall with my Halloween kit...how cute would that be?!Of course I will be selling these delightful banners at this Saturday's Tumbleweed Cotillion right here in Reno, but once I had the banners completed, I decided to also make them into online email kits, available for purchasing, if you're so inclined. This way, you can make as many as you please; for yourself, your family and your friends!

You can get the scoop right here. I hope you like them!

God Bless America!

Land of the free. Home of the brave.
FYI- My kiddos, July 4,1989...Ready for the neighborhood 4th of July parade.(Note** My son didn't really have a mustache.)
Happy Independence Day!

Booth renovations, itty bitty, pink and pretty cuppy-cakes....and new developments at 41 Taylor.

Just another typical week around here....
The other Tracey and I gave up the smaller side of our booth at Junkee so we could focus on 41 Taylor and (hopefully) keep the one side of our Junkee booth nice and full and refreshed from now on. (Hmmm, we'll see how well we do with that. Life seems to keep getting in our way.)It's nice and full for the moment at least!

I had a cupcake order this week for a sweet lil' tea party.....and we've been going crazy down at 41 Taylor. Oh, so many ideas!! We've decided (as of last night) that we will be showcasing some of our newest vintage finds and re-creations at 41 Taylor each Wednesday through Saturday from 10-4 through the rest of the summer (Sort of a mini Tumblweed Cotillion...a... Tumbleweed Jr. Prom so to speak!) and if you stop by, there just may be cupcakes too.

Before and afters of the outside of 41 Taylor.

I thought I'd share a picture of the outside of 41 Taylor, but I forgot to take my camera with me Sunday to show all of the flowers completely planted. Oh well. You get the idea. Today the sign I painted up for our friend Laurie's salon at the back side of our little cottage will go in to the left of our porch in the skinny flower bed. Her salon is named "The French Twist". (Is that cute or what?!)

Anyway.

Here is what the little cottage at 41 East Taylor Street looked like when we first saw it, all bright white and Sani-Hut Blue trim, not to mention the two satellite dishes on the roof. (Did you know the Dish network folks won't even come and take them down? They informed us that they are "Disposable"!)
...and here it is after a bit of work! We still have a few more plans for the outside (window trim painted black to compliment the mocha and the shutters, a row of Arborvitae shrubs behind the sign in the yard...)
 
Now I am anxious for the flower garden to grow and fill in!

A tour of the loo with Elmer, Harlan and Roger.

       Meet Elmer Huss. He's three years old in this portrait. (His name and age were on the back of his picture when we bought it from a fellow vendor at Junkee) Isn't he just about the dearest little guy?! Well, I mean next to these two doll babies. That's my own Dad, Harlan, on the left and my uncle Roger on the right. Couldn't you just eat them up?
They are all residing in my most favorite room of the new place-yes, many of you guessed it! The bathroom. The restroom, the loo, the water closet, the library..whatever you call it, it's a room full of charm in the little cottage on East Taylor. I could hang out in there all day. (*note* It is very hard to get good pictures in a tiny place like a bathroom, so bear with me.)Oh, but wait. Let's go back to the beginning, about a month ago. (Wow! Is that all it is? We do work fast!) Here was the fabulous little room a few weeks ago....

Lots of mismatched tiles. And some rather interesting....modifications, like this one here...

Ummm...hmmm....I guess someone wanted to recess their toilet into the wall..? (Who does that?!)

    We had the challenge of how to make this little bathroom work for us, on a shoestring budget. We decided we loved the floor, which is all original and in perfect condition. And we loved the original-to-the-house medicine cabinet.

 Everything else? Notsomuch. The patchwork-y tile was bad enough, but that hole in the wall. Augh! We were just not sure what we could do about that. Luckily, Juan, our incredibly-inexpensive-and-reliable-painter guy looked at it and said he knew how to do tile repair, and..get this..he could "bondo" the cut out wood area to look like new. We said "go for it, Juan." And he did. Our first plan was to cover the tile over with bead board. Too pricey for us, and it would be quite a challenge. then, we decided to paint the tile. I researched it, and yes, it can be done, with a lot of sanding and oil based primer and paint. Then, we hit upon another idea. Our signature look! Book pages! we have done it on bookcases and dressers, why not the walls? The added benefit is that it can easily be removed if someone else were to take over the home and need to actually shower in here. Three bottles of liquid starch later, and a whole lot of books and here is the finished product... The sewing Queen set up her machine in the bedroom and bless her heart, sewed so much burlap her machine may never be the same. (I had no idea burlap was so fiber-y and lint-y. What a mess!) She made us a skirt and a matching shower curtain (and the table skirt in the parlor in a lighter shade of burlap!)

   There is still a little bit of tweaking to be done (replacing the shower head for a smaller one and seeing if the Sewing Queen is up for monogramming the towels with our name...thanks for the idea, Betsy!!!!)

*sigh* so there you have it- a tour of my favorite room in the new place. A bathroom with enough reading material (and charm) for anyone.

Vintage family tree

    I'm currently very drawn to all things timeworn, tattered in shades of creams and wheats and warm deep browns. The more tarnish and the deeper the patina on an item the better, I say. (Please excuse the lousy photo for this post. I couldn't get a good angle no matter how I tried) but this shows exactly what I am talking about.
     Here is my vintage family tree wall in the corner of my dining room. My grand parents, parents, and me, all there in shades of creams, browns and blacks.(that's me, bottom left, holding my teddy bear) The shades are neutral and warm so it can go with any color scheme, and it adds a richness to the room I think. The simple black two dollar frames (some with matting) from the local grocery store several years ago tie things together perfectly, and add a slight tone of formality as well.  
    The idea would work with newer photos as well. All you need to do is make copies of your favorite pictures of the family or pets in blaack and white or sephia tones and you're good to go. Now, why not go take a walk around your home and look at the spots needing a little update for springtime?

 I'm thinking if you've got a corner or a hallway needing a little personality, you might want to try this idea too.

A night stand for weary travelers

The new guest room is coming together, and I am so happy with my newly "created" night table that I wanted to share it. I got the luggage rack last Friday at the "Cattle Guard" Estate sale and I had the old suitcases from thrifting several years back. I put them together and it turned into the right height and size for a bedside table.

Pretty perfect for the room where traveler's stay, don't you think?

Meanwhile, the new workroom evolves....

  

     With the Antique faire behind me, and the next big trip to Alameda Point still a few (Three..yikes!) weeks away, I am plugging away, trying to get my new workroom settled and situated. Last night after work, after the other Tracey and I had moved a few items down to the booth at Junkee, I started tackling my center work table.
    It's a thrifted ($5 at a yard sale last summer) basic tall pub table, which I love because I like to work standing up and this is the perfect height to not stain my back. It was a cherry wood stain kind of color before, but I decided to paint it the same Robin's egg blue as the back of the new hutch-bookcase-y thing's back for a pop of subtle color. (I knew I wanted to paint it from day one, but just now found the time)
     The three suitcases hold all of my sorted photos and memorabilia from my three kids growing up. (um..ya. I am still attempting to get most of this stuff into albums to give the kids, hopefully before anyone turns 30, which seems to be approaching more quickly than I thought.Hmmm, well, at least I have them sorted, right?)
     The table is situated in the center of the room so I can easily get to any supplies as needed when working a project and then I can also easily put things away. (That's the plan anyway.) So far I am pretty happy with the way things are coming along in this new space, even if I am moving at a snail's pace.

Six days and counting until the Sacramento Antique Fair!

Can you believe it?!

If you're planning to be there and you email me to let me know you're coming by, there will be a sweet little treat waiting for you at the Tumbleweed Cotillion booth! You should be able to find us under the huge overpass in booth space M-13.We'll be the double tent booth all done up in vintage style, with shades of whites, creams, and Robins egg blue (just wait until you see the charming little dining table I finished late last night!)...with a splash of black here and there (Oh! So French!) for good measure.
We've got so many darling things that it's impossible to list them all, but rest assured, there will be plenty of eye candy!  

Northern California's storm blew into town yesterday afternoon, making it the perfect weather for me to work on pricing and packing small items for the booth next to a roaring fire in my cottage fireplace. I am having so much fun planning and creating that I get lost in each new project and I have to make myself stop to get to bed these days.

*sigh* So this is following your bliss.

A themed baby shower gift for a sweet friend

     I'm going to a baby shower for one of my coworkers today.(The bank is closed for the Presidents Day holiday, so it was the perfect day for all of us to be able to make it to the shower.)
See my post over at the HomeGoods blog. Just click here.

Foofy little ice skate rejuvenation

Ooh! Aren't these the sweeeeetest little skates ever?! I think they're positively yummy, that's what.

Of course, in the beginning, they were just an ordinary pair of old children's ice skates.(Have you got some of these laying around?) You can see the well worn spots, and they appear to have been quite loved. I changed out the old shoelaces for vintage seam tape and added some pearlecent glitter here and there ...and a pink glitter star.

(Can't you just see these a focal point in a snowy centerpiece on a dining table,on an old vintage basket in an entryway, or hanging over the foot board of a bed in a romantic bedroom?)

Mmmmm, too sweet for words.