Notes from A Cottage Industry

Dream job.

 I spent a fair part of yesterday organizing my booth inventory, and I am thrilled to tell you that I can once again park my car in the garage! (At least for this week)   I've got some charming vintage pieces, some waiting to be re-done, others already complete; most of which will be making their premier appearance in Camas Antiques front window display, which I will be creating after Mother's day.

I still can't decide what I like more; the junking part, the re-inventing part, or the arranging the booth space part of this business. It's just so good to be doing what I love.

Little decorating details make all the difference.

 I know I haven't yet shared too terribly many pictures of my new place, but I was thinking about it last night, and it's really the little vignettes in each room that make it home.

For example, I shared a post about my dining room a while back. Since then, I have begun a collection of vintage white-to-cream stoneware dishes on the wall opposite the window in the dining room. You see, there really isn't room visually for another large piece of furniture, and it seemed like the logical solution. (Dishes..dining...you get it.) I will add more platters and plates as I find them, but I am off to a pretty decent start.  Across from the wall with the dishes, sandwiched between the nice big window and just to the right of the front door, I put my treasured vintage secretary. It adds character and weight to the room, and I like the effect of adding a piece of stained wood furniture to the mix of painted items in the dining room as well. As you look down the entry hall towards my great room (By the way, that open door is a powder room) you will notice I put a very large large entry table that I had lusted after at Camas Antiques for months. (even before I made my move to the Pacific Northwest!) I adore it. Love it to pieces. 
It's bigger than it looks in these photos, but I couldn't get the camera to capture the size for some odd reason. Again, it adds weight and some vintage style to this otherwise very new looking townhome. (And it adds a place for me to drop my cell phone when I get home. Adding details like these to a room give it age, character, style and a sense of warmth...anyway I think so. 

I hope this post and these pictures inspire you to add some vintage charm to a room in your home, whether it's new or old.

2nd Annual Where Bloggers Create Blog Party is coming soon!

Karen Valentine at My Desert Cottage
is hosting the second "Where Bloggers Create II party"

I somehow (how?!) missed this blog world party last year, and I want to be sure and participate this time! (Yet another reason for me to get my office/workroom all the way unpacked and dialed in....)  I am sharing this news because I am betting lots of you will want to join in the fun as well.

Rush over to Karen's Blog and sign up
if you haven't already... See you there! 

Can you do this?

Me neither. (At least not without tipping over after 45 seconds)

(Um...here it is, from the front view...in case you're interested.) 

 

Junkin' in Twenty-ten.

 See that adorable vintage twin bed in my photo? It's just one piece from this weekend's big junking haul. I think it's incredibly charming. (And, it will be in my booth at Camas Antiques on Tuesday morning!)

That's not exactly what I wanted to share today, but..well, you know... I like to start my posts with a picture.

Anyway.

I am so happy to be living in this age of amazing technology. I mean, cars with seat heaters, DVR on our hi-def televisions, and an app in your iPhone that looks up garage sales within a 5 mile range of anywhere you might be. Could it possibly get any better? 

Well, yes.

And it has.

This past weekend, I found this incredible site that not only will show me garage and estate sales in my area, (like that cool iPhone app) but, it will also let me map them out in any order I desire and give me step by step (corner by corner?) directions to each one, along with the entire ad for the sale. (If you already knew about this site, from eons ago, and I am apparently the last Junker in America to discover it, please don't burst my bubble by telling me.)

I was so thrilled with this site that I felt compelled to share it with all of you, my fellow Junkers. (the ones in the US anyway..I am guessing there are sites for those of you outside of the US...just google yard sales or boot sales and your town or city)

Now, I ask you...How cool is that?! Okay, maybe I am especially partial to this site because I am directionally challenged and being a bit of a new-bee here, I am still trying to find my way from one bridge and/or freeway to another here in the Pacific Northwest, but I was pretty wow'd by this website.

*sigh* All this technology. You've gotta love it.

Weekly words to Live By - week 165

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

                                         Ben Franklin

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   If you'd like to join me in sharing your own "Weekly Words to Live By", use the Mr. Linky tool below to link your blog post to this week's specific Words to live By post, and please remember to link back to this post here on Notes From A Cottage Industry. 

Gramma Cupcake brag post.

....again. (I can't help myself!)

We had both of the babies together for the big birthday bash this past weekend, and I was able to snap a few (...ahem!) pictures.... Since I live here near Mr. C, I have shared pictures of him a few times, so it's only fair to share a few more pictures of our little Princess-in-training....

Miss Isabelle has grown so much since we last visited at her first birthday this past January!She was really fascinated with the Mickey Mouse birdhouse in the tree at her cousin's house... 

Our little Miss has already begun to develop her own style... the wardrobe...and the shoe collection. (I wonder where she might get that from?)

  

Having a special moment with her Auntie....

Thank you for indulging me one more time. These little guys are the light of my life. 

A successful treasure hunt.

Here is the lil' peek I promised I'd share from today's thrifting adventure. Actually, this is only part of the pile of goodies I scored for my booth space.

Probably my favorite find of the day was the set of six parfait cups. They are in mint condition and incredibly charming.

I love the detail of the harp design on the stems, don't you? I can just picture them filled with berries, or sorbet, or ice cream.
I'm pulling a late nighter (an early morning?) tonight, painting a couple of new large pieces for my booth, polishing some vintage silver and pricing my latest goodies. It may sound like I'm a crazy woman to some of you, but this is a fun way for me to spend an evening. I go to sleep feeling happy and content and oh-so-grateful that I have been given the gift of opportunity to follow my bliss.

A peek at my booth before I go thrifting today...

I'm heading out for a morning of thrifting and I will be sharing my finds later today. (That is assuming I find some treasures!) Anyway, for now, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of some of the details in my booth this week. 

Each time I pop in and check on my booth space I feel surprised to see what has sold, and what is still in the booth...

So many ideas, so little time.

There are not nearly enough hours in each day for me. Do you ever feel this way? 

I make a game plan in my mind, and start to work on the things on the top of the list to accomplish the game plan.Then, somehow, along the way...I don't know...I get sidetracked, and another new project begins (or one that I got sidetracked from days earlier and suddenly rediscover for who-knows-why). Maybe it's because I have some sort of undiagnosed type of ADD, or...maybe it's simply that I love a new project.

At any rate, if you ever wonder why some days I do not have a post up, or I post later than usual, it's most likely because I have a project...or projects going and I have gotten myself all upside down and sideways...sidetracked...and haven't gotten to my post.

Epic cupcake fail.

 The past four days have been a bit of a happy blur, filled with surprises and events and family and friends. My daughter's thirtieth birthday was the reason for all of this hoopla. Plans for the birthday festivities began last January, and you would think that would mean that every detail was handled and things came off without a hitch...and for the most part, that was true.

Actually, the details that were handled by my other daughter were organized, thought out, and did come off without a hitch. The few details left to me, however, were a bit..er...scattered. You see, ever since the move to the Pacific Northwest and all of the stuff that came with it (taking the ginormous leap to following my Bliss very nearly full-time, and moving two times within three months) I have been substantially more disorganized than I was in the past, if that is possible.

I spend a lot of time working on items for my booth space at Camas Antiques, and when I am creating, or pricing, or whatever...I am rather...messy. Consequently, my dining room looks like command central for a mail order house most days, and the vacuum, while it seems to always be sitting out in plain sight, rarely gets turned on to do it's job.

I make to-do lists and lose them, and I simply cannot seem to get caught up on things, let alone get completely unpacked. Because of this, I am mortified to share with you that had a houseguest all weekend that had to clear a spot on the sofa to be able to sit down, and who shared a spot at the kitchen counter to eat with piles of vintage items in various stages of prepping and pricing. All I can say is thank God it was family.

Far worse than this however, was the biggest goof up I have pulled in years. As you can guess, I was in charge of the birthday dessert- cupcakes of course. Easy peasy, right?

Um...apparently notsomuch.

I wasn't asked to do too terribly much for the party, so you would think I'd be all over it, but...I am not sure if time got away from me, or I had too much other stuff going on in my head, but somewhere between a week ago Sunday and yesterday, I experienced a major fail in the cupcake arena. 

I managed to bake and freeze cupcakes for my daughter's party a week before the event,(it was last Sunday, but it feels like it was years ago to me...) So far, so good, right?

Ya. That's where it ended. Somehow, as the week progressed, and company arrived on Thursday morning, I then forgot completely that I had baked them, or was in charge of birthday cupcakes or anything remotely related to the cupcakes for the party. To add insult to injury, you should know that the day before the birthday party, we had stopped at a sweet lil' cupcakery and all shared "pre-birthday" cupcakes. (It didn't even jog my memory a teensy bit.) I only realized my faux pas midway through the party when one of the birthday girl's friends asked where the birthday cupcakes might be hiding. 

Mmm hmmm. A birthday party with no cake.

You cannot imagine the horror I felt. Oh. My. Ga. 

Since the party was in a restaurant in downtown Portland, there was no time for running all the way back home mid-party to thaw-make frosting-decorate and drive back to the party. Nope, not a chance.

Thankfully, the restaurant owner (God bless him!I think he felt badly when he saw a fifty something woman crying like a two year old) ran to a nearby grocery store and got a sheet cake, added 30 candles and hopefully no one (besides me) suffered any permanent mental trauma.

*sigh* The only silver lining (if there is one here) part of this unfortunate story was that my houseguest and I had cupcakes for a midnight snack last night. 

...And they were yummy.

Weekly Words to Live By - week 164

And thank you for a house full of people I love.  Amen.          

                                                                  ~Terri Guillemets

*I just had to share this photo I took recently of my daughter with her favorite nephew....Happy birthday Lindsey! You are one in a million.*

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   If you'd like to join me in sharing your own "Weekly Words to Live By", use the Mr. Linky tool below to link your blog post to this week's specific Words to live By post, and please remember to link back to this post here on Notes From A Cottage Industry.

The reason I thrift.

 The thrill of the hunt. The satisfaction of turning trash into a treasure. Yes, those are good reasons to junk, but for me, the ultimate moment of pure and complete nirvana is when I find something exactly (or very nearly exactly) like some piece I have created, for sale at some insane price somewhere.

That's what happened with my fabulous free-coz-I-traded-my-old-set-and-reinvented-this-set dining room table. Mmmm hmmm. I got a Horchow catalog in the mail last week, and there it was....page 23 to be exact...my table...or very nearly my table. (I am going to be weathering mine a bit more with sandpaper this coming week! I love that look!)  For the price of $2400 delivered, you too may have one of these lil' beauties from Horchow.

Now, that's what I'm talkin' about.

Spooning.

I've always and forever had a thing for table settings. It began with a love affair with dishes, and has branched off to vintage linens...(anything from tablecloths to napkins to cutwork doilies....) and then finally, on to serving pieces and flatware.

Oh, me oh my.

Over the past several months I've come across some charming old flatware pieces, and I have decided to group them into mismatched place settings to use for entertaining, or just for dining by myself. (Six of one style fork, six of another style spoon, etc...)

My latest find was just this past Sunday evening at a local thrift shop. I couldn't believe my eyes when I discovered them. There they were, six perfectly matched Rogers Silver soup spoons. The old, wonderful, big, perfectly round soup spoons that make eating a bowl of soup or chowder extra special. Oh, I had planned to put them in my booth space, but then, as I washed them and polished them, I realized that I had fallen in love with them, and decided, that, at least for now, they need to stay in my home.

*sigh* They are the perfect comfort accompaniment to comfort food, if that makes any sense.

More than just a vintage linen chest.

 Here is the finished vintage linen chest...at least I'm calling it finished for now. I am still debating on whether to add words on the front of each drawer, in a faded black print...maybe French words for tablecloths, napkins, bed linens? Or numbers, either written out in English or French, or simple numbers themselves...?

The reason I am not sure if it needs more detail work is that I am not sure I want to keep it in my booth space at Camas Antiques, let alone sell it. I am working on my fabulous workroom currently, and it could be an amazing addition to the room. It could hold papers, or fabrics, or who knows what all else, and looking spectacular all the while.

This is one of the challenges of being a professional junker. It's always the same...do I love it too much to sell it, or do I put it in the booth so my space looks fabulous, and I earn some good money? I am always torn.

Anyway.

I adore this piece. So versatile and functional and charming, even if it is missing one drawer and the cupboard doors. Perfect, in a tattered kind of beautiful way.

Not-your-usual-Sunday morning, and an update on my letter dilemma...

 Somebody, pinch me. Pul-eeease!

I had a very exciting (for me) and eventful morning yesterday. Sunset magazine is doing a story on the Barn House Boys, and they were doing a photo shoot at Camas Antiques to capture the great window display! To make matters even more exciting, there was a chance the photographers for Sunset magazine would be taking photos of a few of our booth spaces, thanks to Joe and Jermonne putting in a few nice words about Camas Antiques. (These guys are the real deal. Honest. Good. Kind. People.)

Everyone in the mall spent lots of time this past week foofifying their booths, and adding nice little details. (I was no exception...)

 

That was why I was in such a quandary as to where and how I should display my signage in my booth space. Here is what I ended up doing with my letters...

....although, I am thinking I will move the letters back up to the higher shelf location, and add some deep mocha brown to the edges to outline my letters. They just bug me there on my wall for some reason.

Anyway.

The shoot was really fun to watch. I brought along my signature bird nest cupcakes to share with everyone. (Mmm hmm, there I was, yesterday morning at 6:30, frosting cupcakes. What can I say? It's who I am.)
 

On a side note--- Actually, I was so excited about watching the shoot that I arrived nearly 30 minutes early. (I am such a spaz that way.) I parked and then realized I had left my camera all the way back at my home, so I had to turn around and head back to pick it up. (I guess it was a blessing that I was there far too early!)

Back to the shoot....

There is so much set up, prepping, fine tuning, working on placements of merchandise...and people in the photographs. (By the way, the photographers use a MAC for looking at the photos.)

 

 It's quite amazing that it takes literally hours to get a handful of good shots, that are then whittled down to a single shot for a magazine article! At any rate, the article is hopefully going to appear in the July issue of Sunset magazine. I can't wait to see it!

Weekly Words to Live By - Week 163

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

                                                                                             Albert Schweitzer

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   If you'd like to join me in sharing your own "Weekly Words to Live By", use the Mr. Linky tool below to link your blog post to this week's specific Words to live By post, and please remember to link back to this post here on Notes From A Cottage Industry.

Night table reinvention how-to.

Thanks for all of the ideas and input from yesterday's post on my color dilemma! I'm still debating about my Robin's egg blue letters in my booth, although, I must admit I am leaning towards adding dark brown edges to them, or making them more of a weathered chocolate brown, and I will share any updates. In the meantime...

A copy of weekends ago I snagged two matching night tables at an estate sale. I like the simple straight lines of these miniature dressers; plenty of storage and still small enough for the tiniest of bedrooms. I knew what I wanted to do with at least one of them.(I've shared my technique before, but it's worth sharing again...)

...First, I removed the drawers, and the knobs, and I primed everything with KILZ. (Sold at most hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowe's in quarts and gallons)
Then, I painted everything with my signature Robin's egg blue paint.(It's a pale blue with just a subtle hint of green...although it's hard to tell in this photo...)

....and, here's the recipe for my Robin's egg blue paint in a gallon size with a medium base. (I used an eggshell finish enamel this go around.) The pale blue doesn't photograph nearly as well as it looks in person, and I am not sure why...maybe it's the lighting?
Finally, I antiqued the entire piece, as well as the lil' knobs with my tobacco colored glaze. I use one part dark brown paint mixed into three parts Behr Brand glaze. Paint it on, rub off lightly, and you're done painting.

Lastly, I finished this little baby off by decoupaging old book pages inside the drawers and on the back of the night table for a finished look. To do this, all you do is tear old book pages from several different sized books, and dip them in liquid starch. Wipe the excess starch from the page and apply the page to the drawer bottom or back of the dresser, smoothing out all bubbles and left over liquid starch. Let it dry and you are good to go.

This little treasure will be making it's way to Camas Antiques today. If you've got an old plain piece just sitting around your home looking like it wants a makeover, try my method, with any color you like, or a shade of white or cream. (I still have some copies of my Furniture Painting kit available here, if you feel like you need a more in depth tutorial.) I think you'll be happy with the results!

Letter day at Camas Antiques.

 I'd love your opinions here.

I know, I know. I had planned to share my completed vintage linen chest on my post today, but...I got sidetracked. (you're shocked, I know.) On a trip to the craft store I had discovered some fabulous cardboard letters in various sizes and it gave me an idea for my booth at Camas Antiques.

I bought the letters and took them home. I debated on which color to paint the letters; blue or black? After a long debate in my head, I painted them in a weathered fashion with my favorite Robin's egg blue paint....(another shocker, I know.)

I lined them up on my kitchen counter. Yes! I loved the look of the blue paint and the variegated sizes in the letters.
I took them down to my booth, and....Hmm. I am not sure the blue was the right color choice. I am now wondering if the black would have "popped" more up there on the shelf. Now, I am debating about going back down and taking the letters home and repainting them in the weathered black. Here is a look at the back of my booth...
 

And here is a closer look....
 

So, here is what I need your opinions on...shall I leave the blue, or would the black be more visible and give a better look? I need to decide and have whatever color I choose, completed by this Saturday evening...I'll share my reason why later..as soon as I can!

Pressing and folding and pricing, oh my!

 ...still working on the miles and piles of linens...and painting the most incredible vintage linen chest evah! (See part of the drawers holding my linens in the photo above???) I'll be sharing the finished project in my next post, but for now...back to work!

Miles and piles of vintage linens.

 The spring cleaning, unpacking, organizing my new home and pricing for my booth continues here, although I somehow feel that I am not making much progress. It's seriously like the items in the unpacked boxes (vintage linens to be precise) multiply at night while I sleep and each box I open appears to be more of the same things I just unpacked the day before.

Apparently I have a thing for linens and hadn't even realized it until now. To complicate matters, upon discovering a new box of vintage lines, I want to keep them all (The detail! The workmanship! The beauty!) to create fabulous tablescapes and such, and I am constantly reminding myself that no one (not even me) needs 72 sets of vintage napkins.

The Sewing Queen is up visiting for Easter, and little did she know she's be spending her morning coffee time....ironing. 

Thank goodness she's such a good sport.

Weekly Words to Live By - week 162

  Where man sees but withered leaves,
God sees sweet flowers growing.
Albert Laighton

Hope you are enjoying a blessed Easter Sunday!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   If you'd like to join me in sharing your own "Weekly Words to Live By", use the Mr. Linky tool below to link your blog post to this week's specific Words to live By post, and please remember to link back to this post here on Notes From A Cottage Industry.

Where women create...er...will be creating soon.

You've heard of this publication, right? It began as a brilliant book, and then turned into a quarterly so-much-more-than-just-a-magazine, and I look forward to each new issue. Such inspiration. So many talented women, and over the top creative work spaces!They have a pretty incredible blog as well, in case you didn't know... Oh, and now, one of my most favorite blogger-photographers, Elizabeth Maxim, is working for them! (It just keeps getting better..)

Anyway.

I am now getting (finally) to the point where I am very nearly ready to get my office-slash-work space dialed in completely. I have been truly blessed with an absolute dream room situation here in my new place. It began, as you may recall, as Mr. C's dream of a nursery.....
(mmm hmmm. Ya, that wonderful room!)...and I am looking through all of my issues of Where Women Create for inspirational ideas for this room, and my mind is so full of ideas that I am operating on complete creative overload. Does that ever happen to you? So many ideas spinning around in your head that you cannot even sleep? It's the same feeling I used to get as a child the night before Christmas.

The wall colors are perfect for me, and the room is full of natural light and storage space. I plan to share my progress on this room creation over the next couple of weeks, once I finish unboxing all of my oodles and toodles of crafty supplies and get to the fun part of setting up the room itself!