Falling for Freshly Fixed Up Furniture

Hello my friends!  Happy Fall to y'all... I have

been working diligently in my shop these past couple

of months getting it set for Fall.  It is easy with the

beautiful stone wall we have as a backdrop.

 

 

I also bring in darker colored furniture and change out lamp shades to brown and gold tones. Then for the Christmas season I bring in lighter colored furniture. Really sets a different tone when I do this.

 

My hubby found this hall table at our local auction house.

He transformed it into this beautiful piece. We are still

using Country Chic Paint which makes it easy to achieve

these beautiful results! The lower portion was painted in "Vanilla Frosting" and he used "Smoky Quartz" glaze to make it look aged.

 

 

 

Our resident artist brings in his Fall themed paintings which

add a really nice touch to our mix.

 

But before Fall officially hit and as we moved from August to September this gorgeous buffet received a complete fix-up! Some of the veneer was missing, loose, the top was in need of major TLC... it used to look like this:

 

 

 

We found this piece up in the Adirondacks...luckily we had a truck with us on this trip! Would have been a tight squeeze in the van! Yikes! We could see its potential.. and so did one of our customers. She bought it and selected her two colors from our CCP inventory.  "Pop the Bubbly" and "Piece of Cake." Lovely choices!

 

 

I totally loved this piece after it was finished!

But of course it was a custom order so we had to

say goodbye as it was delivered to its new home.

 

 

I'll be back to give some more updates on the shop...

my daughter and I are very involved with our local Nutcracker production so I am working on the show program.  My blogging skills of editing graphics and photos have come in handy creating ads for the dancers.
Bebe performs as the Nutcracker Doll this year!

 

I'll be back soon with more shop updates! 

 

 

 

 

Latest DIY Projects - Vintage Desk, Dresser, China Cabinet, and Hutch Makeovers!

 

Hello my friends! I am stopping in to Blog Land for a quick update on our latest shop projects.

 

This vintage desk received a makeover by using

Country Chic Paint in "Cobblestone."

The top was stripped, stained and varnished by my hubby.  I loved the tone so much that I decorated it with vintage Industrial finds.  The display turned out great using vintage movie theatre film reels, old phone, desk lamp, and suitcases.  It sold already so I was bummed my display didn't last too long but hey, a sale is always a smile bringer!

 

 

This piece is from a china cabinet. The top piece will get a makeover too sometime in the future. For the lower half we painted it with Country Chic Paint in "Sunday Tea."  The top was stripped, re-stained, and then varnished. These china cabinet bases are great for using as a large TV screen stand and media center.

 

 

This piece is so charming! My hubby took

a piece that was in rough shape and turned it into

something beautiful. One of my Instagram friends said it looked like the vintage Wedgwood porcelain pieces.

 

And let's not forget the gorgeous arched window

sitting there on top of the dresser! It must have been a corner cupboard door because it has a knob on it.

It must have been a very big cupboard because this window/door is not small in size. We were thrilled to find

it and now it has found a new home.

 

(This was the before)

 

 

 We've had a good turnover of vintage china cabinets and hutches. The Farmhouse style is still very popular in this area and I can't really keep them in stock for very long. This one was painted using Country Chic Paint in "Crinoline."  They usually only last a week or so in the shop. Again, a smile bringer!  

  

 

This piece turned out so neat! I selected the Country Chic Paint colors Cheesecake, Pebble Beach, Sunday Tea, and Driftwood. They all went together so well which made this mid century dresser new again!

This piece was purchased by a woman who owned two air B & B's.  I never imagined my creations would find their way to such interesting destinations!

 

I'll be back to share our latest escapades in picking, refinishing and anything else DIY.  Hope you are having a wonderful SPRING!



Let's Talk Vintage: What is Selling in Brick & Mortar Shops?

Hello friends!

 Hope you are as excited 

about SPRING coming as I am! 

Today I'm sharing what things are moving 

in our brick and mortar shop. Now, that being said, 

we are in the North East, and what is selling here may not be selling out on the West Coast. But it is fun sharing and reading about it all so let's keep going...

We sense a revival, an awakening in the shop, as folks come out of the winter season ready to work on their homes. It is really an exciting time. The landscape changes and so does our mood, thanks to Mr. Sun!

So what is selling in the vintage 

world of brick and mortar shops?

We've noticed home decor, DIY projects, 

and spring things are moving right now.

Farmhouse items are still moving. Signs, accessories, kitchen scales, ironstone, industrial lamps, metal containers, etc.

What really hasn't been moving for some time now, is china.  Most folks are downsizing and the younger generations aren't acquiring any of it. People come in and tell me they have tried to give it to their children and they say "no one in the family wants it." Same thing with glassware. I'm sure there are some who collect it, but the majority are passing on it.  Will this trend change? Only time will tell! Things do have a tendency to come back around. And there are true classics like the Blue Willow above!

Signs are still a popular item! Hand crafted or mass produced, they are always a hit.  I did not make the one above, but I am working on creating my own.  I bought a Cricut and it is a whole other world that I am starting to get into. I'll do another post on that later!

Upcycled and Repurposed Items 

Anything that has been made from something, out of something, or a creative re-use is very popular. 

We've made chalkboards out of old cabinet doors,

old doors into signs, wire baskets into shelves, 

old wooden ironing boards into storage caddies, etc. It can be a lot of fun being creative and watching them being discovered by customers is a great reward for a job well done.

Greenery and floral items are also always ending up at the check out counter. 

I love decorating the shop with it too! A win/win this time of year.

Enjoy the birth of a new season and I'll be back to share some of our furniture makeovers and sign making projects!

As We Journey Into 2019, A Belated Happy New Year!

Hello! I'm back after a long pause from blogging.  We had a wonderful Christmas season. It was all so busy and it went by in a FLASH.

This long pier was where I was the day after Christmas... so I thought it appropriate as I write my post today for the first one of 2019.

Where will this year lead us?

So far the store, Bebe, the house, and taking care of my Dad are all we seem  to be able to keep up with so I'm wondering if this year is just a continuation of the same.

I try to look at things with a positive outlook, which is something I had to learn how to do actually.
Not so hard though when you have guidance from a good Father who loves you... my Faith has really kept me grounded.

So, for a review, after we had my Step-son's wedding back in early September, we had Bebe's 10th birthday.... (can you believe this?)

 

Right around that same time she was also fitted for her first pair of pointe shoes! (A rite of passage!)

Then we had Thanksgiving,

the Nutcracker performance,
(Yes, that is Bebe in the party girl dress!)

We had the store to run for the holidays,

and then we hosted family for Christmas.

Whew! I'm all kinds of tired!

I do hope to continue to pop back in and blog on occasion... I know I can't keep up with it like I used to... but I still enjoy it.

One of the things I plan on doing soon is updating you all on the store and the things we are doing there. So, keep your eye out for another post!

Happy new year, even if it is arriving a little late.

Let's Talk Vintage: We Picked the Pickers in Nashville!

Well hello my vintage lovin' friends! It has been AWHILE since I have posted for y'all.  

Today's "Let's Talk Vintage" post is not really a

link party... being that it was the Pickers I was blogging about, I just had to give this post an LTV title.

Feel free to leave a comment so I can

click on your blog and comment back!

We were in Tennessee for my Step-son's wedding.

It was a beautiful no, make that GORGEOUS wedding!

And I do have to tell you I may have picked up a slight southern accent ever since we took a side trip to NASHVILLE.

We had a day with extra time to kill so The Hubs

thought we should try and see Mike Wolf's store. It was a little bit difficult to figure out, 

I have to tell you. Once the GPS told us we had 

arrived, we still couldn't tell which store front

it was from the car. We heard a bus tour going through

and the driver announced "Antique Archaeology" so we

knew we should just find a parking spot and walk around.

 Bebe and the Hubs checking it all out. Mike's store is two or three shops down from here.

It was located in some old brick buildings that were 

the industrial factory type. 

We knew we had arrived when we saw the 

car door pointing the way!

This is what you see when you first walk in.

There is cool stuff everywhere,

 even Mike's trademark bicycles, 

hanging from the ceiling.

It didn't take me long to notice this checkered shirt and "matching" guitar.

Also really cool was a dress Loretta Lynn wore onstage.

There is a photo next to it with her wearing it. You can 

kind of see it at the bottom of this photo.

Then there was this awesome Dolly Madison Ice Cream and Soda sign. It was picked in NJ. (Rootin' for the home team!)

And who wouldn't love an American Icon like this. Seeing it

made us remember we have one made of heavy duty cardboard that we've always wanted to frame.

This collection of apothecary jars caught my eye.

It was neat because I started remembering different episodes where these items may have come from.

And if you look real close, you may even think Elvis is in the building. I love the old microphones.

This is the check out desk. So much to see!

We ended up with some fun touristy items... a t-shirt for Bebe and I, a hat for the Hubs and one of their PICKERS license plates. Total touristas! 

We really enjoyed our quick stop there and then headed off to Broadway St (Ave?) in downtown Nashville for something to eat. I highly recommend the restaurant Merchants if you are not in the mood for loud Honky Tonk.

 Plus, you can watch everyone go by on the Beer Bar pedal Trolley cars next to Honky Tonk Central. 

It was totally crazy and worth a view!

(And the food at Merchants was delicious!)