Treat Yourself For Valentine's Day: Latest Finds, Just Listed!

There are times when you just want to treat yourself to a little something.

Maybe that something is in our just listed items this week:

 A lovely Delinieres Limoges France nappy or bon bon dish.

Circa 1894-1900

This sweet petite Degas print is from my own personal collection.

Now that I'm typing this I am wondering why I have listed it for sale.

Hmmmm....

Very long black crystal beaded necklace.

About 120 beads in the entire strand.

If you've ever priced the beads in the craft store,

then you know this is worth it!

 The artistry in this old Easter postcard is great! Love the vibrant colors.

 Antique German shaving mug.

 Beautifully made gold filled heart pin. I call it "Two of Hearts"

 Lovely mint green crystal bracelet. There is nothing like vintage!

 Hummel figurine from West Germany. This one is called "Little Gardener"

 I've never seen a nautical/navy pixie before. Too cute!

 A set of petite mantel books for a romantic vignette.

 Remember these?

 Vintage printer blocks or stamps.

 Colclough fine English bone china teacup

 silver pin cushion

 Sheffield covered butter

 Van Dell carved rose bracelet. Nice larger size!

 This postcard is from the mid 1920's and reminded me of the style of artist Mary Engelbreit.

Am I right?

 Pink wooden shoe stretchers

 Antique rose postcards

And a pretty "peaches and cream" colored rose covered pitcher.

Unmarked so I'm not sure how old this piece is.

I hope you enjoyed my finds this week!

They can be found, just listed, here.

Walls of Pictures

While I was looking for samples of dining rooms on Google, I came across the photo below. It caught my eye immediately due to the color scheme and the wainscoting looked similar.

Besides the dining room project (among others) I've also had in the back of my mind a project for family photos in the hallway leading up the stairs of our home. What do you think of this layout?

Here is what KOVELS Antiques had to say about walls with multiple pictures:

Walls of small pictures are in style. Use frames that complement each other. One decorator says not to use gold and silver frames together—gold and wood or black and white work better. (We think any frames that are similar in size will work if arranged cleverly.) Hang with about 1 1/2 inches between them at the top, bottom, and sides to form a large rectangle or other pleasing shape. You can mix paintings, prints, and photographs if the shapes work.

I'm thinking of using vintage photos from our family's ancestry, on both sides. From the looks of it, I'd better start planning now!

Dress Form Redo

Today I'm joining the Polka Dot Closet for a dress form party!

http://www.thepolkadotcloset.blogspot.com

In 2011 I showed my dress for makeover but I can't seem to find the close up photo.

These will have to do for now.

I started out with just the torso ... without a stand.

It was not this dress form, but the one below. I just wanted to show you how it sat on a table, without a pole. This particular dress form is in my shop currently.

Now here is a photo of my dress form, in our antique booth.

We took a lamp stand and used it as the base!

Spray painted it silver to match the metal supports/frame in the mannequin.

And voila, a dress form became new again!

I'm happy to report, it sold!

Check out the other dress forms at the big party going on over at the Polka Dot Closet.

Should be a fun time at Carol's place today!

When is an Antique Not An Antique? (And a thank you!)

When is an antique, not an antique?

When it is clearly a reproduction.

This past weekend Hubby and I were shopping in Kirkland's...still hoping for some inspiration for the dining room. Either "Just the right mirror" or curtains.

 I had to giggle when I saw these faux antique cameras, typewriter, and iron work pieces. They were cute but why not just use the real thing?

 Here are more examples I found. How about the gears wall art?
Kinda cool, actually!

But this was my most favorite find of all! A small "mason" jar perched a top a pressed glass candlestick holder. Place three side by side and put your favorite candies inside for a cute display in the kitchen or movie room.

I see this as an EASY PEASY craft project for some of you...I've seen the candlesticks in every thrift store this side of the Mason Dixon line (no pun intended) and well, new Mason jars are available at the grocery store if you don't feel like hunting down an antique! If you make one, I'd love to see it.

While we did not find any mirrors that we liked... we did buy curtains at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
I'm deciding between two different panels. How many of you do the same thing? The woman at the check out said she sees a lot of people use this method...buy a few different choices knowing you are going to return the one that didn't make the cut!

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A BIG THANK YOU

Thanks to all of you who left such wonderful, supportive and kind comments on the blog last week when we took my Mother in for surgery. She did really well and the doctor was amazing.
She has another surgery in a week but we are taking one day at a time.

Your prayers, love, and support were MUCH MUCH appreciated!

I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Prayers Please

Taking a little break from blogging and listing the rest of my new items this week. I thought I could get it all done but the realization hit me this past weekend that it will have to wait.

My dear Mother was diagnosed with breast cancer recently and my Sister and I are taking her for surgery. The doctors say this is a slow growing cancer so she should be okay. Singing praises it is not an aggressive form!

Just simply asking for your prayers this week as we move forward.

Thank you all, my friends!

Be back soon.

The Big Dining Room Reveal: The Impossible Metamorphasis!

It is finally here! My big dining room reveal.

Joining with Thistlewood Farm to share my reveal.

Doing the impossible is the theme!

What seemed like impossible became well, a real vision.

Big thanks go out to my Sweet Hubs.

He did a lot of work on trim, crown molding and three different paint colors.

We used Behr from Home Depot.

Without further ado we have the before:

Quite cluttered  and not very well thought out.(This is how it looked right after Christmas)

We had moved in almost six years ago and when the furniture was delivered we weren't ready for it nor had we painted yet.

Then time flew by and the next thing you know, I'm pregnant and the dining room took a back seat.

Well, more than a back seat...it ended up in a remote location in Siberia because that is how impossible it seemed that we were ever going to tackle it.

Then out of the blue, hubby was inspired and decided RIGHT AFTER CHRISTMAS, he was going to get it done.

So, not wanting to wait any longer, I said "OKAY, Yes!!!!"

And now drum roll please......

Are you ready? Are you ready?

Here it is:

 We went with a brown color from Behr called "Soft Chamois" and added a chair rail.

We moved the china cabinet to the other side of the room which was questionable since the wall was so much smaller. I just had to try it out because it felt like the cabinet overwhelmed the room  before.
I was so pleased when it seemed to fit "just right" here!

 I'm still working on adding in some deep reds. Like for the curtains and maybe here in the table runner. More to follow in the near future!

 Love the detail on the chair rail.

 Sissy cat wanted to share in on the big reveal today too!

 The ceiling is painted a lighter taupe to offset the crown molding.

We haven't decided on a new chandelier just yet.

I'm still mulling it over.

After shopping in several stores for a new mirror, I ended up using my own mirror from the living room.

 Just look at the faux wainscoting hubby created! It was a lot of cutting, painting, and arranging.
These are not full panels that you just nail on....he had to create the look piece by piece.

 This is the view from the windows.

My china cabinet was full of figurines, mismatched plates, etc.

I decided to start editing out pieces to create a more "cohesive look."

China plates, goblets, and crystal were staying.

I have my eye on a corner curio for my figurines and special pieces.

I'm really happy with the new cohesive look now!

It felt really good to clean out and streamline.

(There is a cheetah figurine still sitting there, I decided he could stay since he fit the color scheme.)

From Kohl's, mahogany wood frames filled with black and white photos of a teapot...

and a teacup from my shop.

So, there you have it.

I really enjoy being in here now!

I hope you enjoyed my reveal.

It really was a big deal for us to accomplish this.

I'm usually too busy taking care of Bebe or running my website to stop and work on my house. It felt good to get it done!

Check out the other projects and impossibilities over at this really amazing blog Thistlewood Farm and her partner blogs!

I'm off to hang out in my new dining room.

Also linking with Metamorphasis Monday.

I'm so excited I actually have a project like this so I can join the party!

(Update: I can't seem to find today's post on Between Naps on a Porch for MM?

Not sure what happened to her linky party today.

I'll try again later...)

Valentine Gifts Using Antiques Like... Old Skeleton Keys and Other Fabulous Ideas

The other day I was searching for a Valentine's Day card template online for Bebe's preschool class. Of course I was distracted and happened upon a BHG page about making your own Valentine gifts.

And of course I couldn't tear myself away when I discovered they were showing how to use antiquey things in the gift presentation.

I just HAD to share them with you for Pink Saturday!

We'll start off with the skeleton key gift topper. Love this idea...and well, I just happen to have some old skeleton type keys for sale in my shop, here.
As in "Here is the Key to My Heart."

Now why didn't I think of this one? Buy a pretty arrangement at the grocery store and present them inside a vintage teapot or creamer. Or even a vase!

Beautious!

(I also have some lovely and unique vintage china to check out at BellaRosaAntiques.com, in case you're looking.)

 I'm not sharing my age here but I do remember playing 45's on a little turntable when I was a kid.

This idea of using an old record with a love song title like Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" is just precious!

And making up a crafty box of neat little supplies looks like a lot of fun to do!
Wooden spools are hard to come by these days....fill it with vintage buttons and ribbons too!


And there are more projects to make here, on the Better Homes and Gardens website.


Have a super Pink Saturday! Check out the rest over at How Sweet the Sound.

Budding Photographer

During the holidays we were having fun.

Decorating, baking, laughing.

 I even let Dear Bebe try out my pocket camera.

 Should I have been surprised when the shots turned out like this?

Or this?

OR maybe this lovely portrait of moi.

I can't believe I even put this one on the internet.

But this one she actually did pretty well with.

It is so different with the digital age.
We don't have to worry about "wasting film" like we did back in the day.

And she really enjoyed it.

Who knows? I may have a budding photographer in the making.

I love my little Sweetpea.

And I'm so thankful for everyday I get to be her Mommy.

How to keep your Antiques when you really want to Declutter

It's January.

It is cold in many parts of the country.

What else is there to do except examine your home?

Your stuff.

Your clutter.

 Thinking about getting rid of that collection you've been working on for the past 15 years? Wait!
There's still hope for it yet...

 Make an arrangement out of it all!
Group like things together and take advantage of your walls, shelving, or like below, a dish rack.

 While this rack was advertised as being from Ethan Allen for $679 I know a few handy andy's out there who are out of work and could use the extra money. Why not hire someone who needs a job?
Or maybe your hubby dear is a bit handy?

Or in this case, nothing needed to be built at all. The article itself became the dresser.
This neat stack of vintag suitcases we've seen before but a reminder of how much storage
is available INSIDE them is always handy, especially this time of year!

I'm taking a look at my own stuff to see what I can do to declutter... it's the perfect time of year!

All the images were found on Countryliving.com's Antiques and Collectibles category.

I hope they helped you come up with an idea or a plan .... or were just a source of inspiration.
I'll be back later this week with some updates on my dining room...I've had to declutter in order to get the look I want. And then I went mirror shopping again. Wait 'til you see what I came up with for my final decision.

PLUS, a few more finds and fabulous jewelry listings this week. Stay tuned!