Every Husband’s Nightmare Spring Show

The show opens tonight for preview, from 5-8pm with a $3.00 donation.  The rest of the week, admission is FREE.  Parking is always free.  Now that the old exhibition hall has been demolished, the show is in the Cloverleaf Building, at the back of the fair complex.  Tuesday – Friday hours are 10am-8pm.  Saturday. 10am – 5pm.

I delivered MANY boxes and bins and old suitcases filled with inventory!  Turning that, into this:

I brought mostly farmhouse rustic decor to the show this year.  Including lots of crates and trays made from upcycled old weathered fencing:

Decorative shutters and shadow boxes too.

My items will be very easy to find.  Most of my product is displayed on the tables directly to the left after you enter the building.

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I didn’t make the weathered wood potting benches, but they are pretty fabulous!  Great for indoor decor use or outdoor garden work!  Those dried hydrangea are from my garden.

I brought quite a bit of Paris chic decor too.

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The rest of the displays were still ‘in progress’ when I left, so I didn’t get pictures of the rest of it.  Lots of great spring home decor and Mother’s Day gifts, vintage, hand-made and upcycled goods.

Hippity – hoppity . . . Easter’s on it’s way!

We had an amazing break in our winter weather last week that made me SO ready for Spring!  Our winter weather arrived late (February!) but hit HARD; as did my cabin fever.  Putting out the Spring and Easter product in my booths at Stars has really got me in the mood for ‘play outside weather’.

Since I’ve got the beach decor in my big booth, I put the Spring/Easter product in my wall space.  (Pardon that red bucket in the left corner.  It’s an OLD building and occasionally the roof leaks.)

Some cute vintage chicks and bunnies.  Ostrich sized faux eggs covered with vintage buttons.   Milk glass is great for using with your spring decor!

Vintage bell jars with hand shredded vintage book page ‘grass’ and gold leaf eggs.

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Custom blend of pink and gold paper shred to go with the packaged gold leaf and pink little eggs in the pink basket on the right.  Turquoise glitter eggs too.

More unique eggs for your spring display.  These are covered with ‘Paris’ themed paper.

Hand stitched felt eggs, embellished with vintage buttons and baby rick rack.

Gallon size mercantile jars filled with moss, nests and eggs.  Smaller jars with straw and eggs.  Big vase with nest and eggs under black wire cloche.

Cute mini take out boxes in Spring colors are perfect for filling with sweets to give to your friends at Easter Brunch.  Decorative faux cupcakes.

Plenty of cake and cupcake stands.  These are so versatile for use in your seasonal tablescapes for adding height and dimension.

Upcycled journals.

Reproduction vintage style chicks from an estate sale.  I gave them lace crowns and nestled them into some cozy nests.

Hand painted faux eggs in turquoise ceramic pots and buckets.

LOTS of new frames, big and small, just stocked.

LOVE this reproduction Gothic arched window pane.  I’m still on the fence about selling it.  It just might come home with me on my next trip!

Vintage white shutter with handcrafted twiggy wreath.

Youth size white rocking chair.  Vintage wash bowl and pitcher.

One of a kind little upcycled suitcase end table with ‘hairpin’ metal legs.

Black occasional tables.  The bottom one is distressed oak, the top one with  the scalloped apron and curvy legs is a satin finish.  Will be removing all the darker furniture in the not too distant future; replacing it with lighter colors for Spring and Summer.

Not quite matching pair of vintage canning jar lamps.  The jars are the same size but different brands.  The shades are the same color, but slightly different shapes.  Each sold separately; $29.00.

Vintage jewelry box with seashell motif paper.

Assorted crates and carriers; perfect for use with your spring decor.

Stars is open seven days a week; 11am – 6pm.

 

Ready or not . . .

 . . . . Thanksgiving, the Christmas will be here before you know it.  I’m getting a head start and brought in a few holiday decor things to my booth at Stars this week.  Then tomorrow I deliver to the ‘Every Husband’s Nightmare’ show in Hillsboro.  After that show ends next Saturday, I’ll have even MORE holiday goodies to bring to Stars.

Here’s what I’ve done to start off the season:

I think my decorating theme for this year is ‘simple elegance’.  Lots of pretty vintage glass baubles in jars and bowls with mini fairy lights give off a truly magical glow!

It’s almost impossible to truly capture the beauty of the little lights in pictures and in the well lit store; but you get the idea.  Some of these arrangements are ‘all inclusive’ pieces, where I have priced the container with the lights and baubles to be sold together as one item.  The rest of them are priced individually so you can just buy what you need.  If you already have the glass baubles and just need the container to put them in, OR if you have the container and just need a few more glass baubles.

SO many different ways to display these holiday lovelies.  Think outside the box and use what you have to place your ornaments in.  Or buy something that will serve multiple purposes.

This is actually a cupcake stand!  Pretty little boxes with bows always add a festive touch to your decor, and you’ll have a gift box handy if you need one for a last minute gift!

I’m pretty sure that the white metal stand filled with ornaments was intended for this very purpose.  But you could also use it at Easter to hold your colored eggs.

Milk glass punch and candy bowls look pretty filled with ornaments too!

You can even fill the dome lid of your cake stand with baubles!  It’s a bit of a tricky process and you have to be sure that no one inadvertently takes the lid off ‘to see what will happen’.  A mess.  A mess will happen.  Which is why I didn’t fill the ones in my booth with glass baubles!

I’ve got some awesome vintage crystal snack plates with cups for you holiday entertaining.  And some beautiful silver espresso cups and saucers.

There is never a shortage of Milk Glass dishes or vases in my booth!  The milk glass vases are really pretty with vintage glass baubles on top of them too!

Always a plentiful supply and variety of stoneware dishes too.  Be sure you have all the serving bowls and platters you will need for serving your holiday feast.

I hate to admit it, but my wall space become more of a depository for ‘all the stuff I can’t fit into my big booth’, as opposed to a theme planned vignette.  A few bits of fall still available in my wall space.

Stop on by and get into the holiday spirit.

Stars is open 7 days a week; 11am – 6pm.

Timing is everything.

Remember this cute little grey chest of drawers?  It’s been forever since I had any chests to put in my booth at Stars, so I was anxious to get this one painted and taken in.

Just DAYS after I had put it in my booth, I came across this adorable little SOLID OAK  hutch top /  cubby shelf, that looked like it would be a perfect fit to set atop the grey dresser.

I went to work on it as fast as I could.  Painting it in the same grey that I had used for the chest, and distressing it.  I was SO looking forward to pairing it with that grey chest!  Alas, when I went in the following week with the grey hutch top and some additional stock for my booths, the chest had SOLD!! Bitter sweet.  Happy for the sale, of course; but disappointed that I wasn’t able to display the two pieces together.  Lousy timing!

Here are a few other pieces that I’ve recently completed:

Off white oval three tiered night stand; painted pink and distressed.  This piece is available for purchase at Pink Door in Aurora, Oregon.

I had two of these child size chairs.  The seats were made of that white ‘dry erase board’ kind of wood, which as as you can see in the before photo, was slightly damaged.  While the damage did not affect the structural integrity of the chairs; my attempts to cosmetically repair them failed.  Pretty wrapping paper and Mod Podge to the rescue!  These have not yet been taken to either of my sales venues.

  The drawers to this cubby didn’t slide very well once I had re-painted it; so I set them aside for some other project.  Cubbies with the backing already on them are extremely time consuming to paint; hence, spray paint is my go to solution for such pieces.  A little hand sanding along the edges shabby it up a bit.  available to purchase in my booth at Stars.

Continuing with the grey color scheme on this small shelf and DVD rack.  available to purchase in my booth at Stars.

 This bar stool is BIG and sturdy.  It had a glossy finish on it to begin with, so I had to either prime it or sand it before re-painting it.  I opted for primer, which gave it an added dimension when I distressed it.  Some of the distressed areas show the white primer layer and others the original dark color.  I was very tempted to stencil something on the back, but I couldn’t quite decide what, and I really NEEDED furniture in my space, so I left it plain for now.   Available to purchase in my booth at Stars.

With two of the wicker drawers missing, I opted to just remove them all.  The cubby was in fairly rough shape, and since I had just painted the other cubby white, I decided to leave this one it’s original wood; just distressed it a bit.  It’s available to purchase in my booth at Stars.

The leopard print mannequin torso needed some ‘legs’.  I had a black wrought iron base and a tall curvy plant/candle stand.  Opted for the wrought iron base as the weight of it would make her stand steadier; and besides, her skirt pretty much covers the base.  I used nearly 100 yards of tulle to hand make her fluffy black skirt.  She is available for purchase at Pink Door in Aurora, Oregon.

A couple of smaller upcycled mannequins with fluffy tulle skirts; also available for purchase at Pink Door in Aurora, Oregon.

I’m ALWAYS on the lookout for vintage gumball machines to make over and fill with ‘fun stuff’ like seashells, spools of thread, jingle bells . . . . etc.  NEVER imagined that I’d come across a silver plated one!?!?!  It really wasn’t even very tarnished and required minimal polishing.  Such a fancy gumball machine needed some fancy filling.  Acrylic gemstones to the rescue.  They look prettier in person.   Available for purchase at Pink Door in Aurora, Oregon.

Somehow I missed getting a ‘before’ picture of this one.  It was dark brown wood, that I sanded painted and sanded again to distress.  LOVE the little drawer and the ceramic rose drawer pull that I put on it.  This piece can be purchased at Stars in Portland.

Could hardly believe my good luck when I found this set of three suitcases . . . ALL of them had beautifully CLEAN innards!!  The color is difficult to tell in the photos, but it’s a very, very pale pink.  Each is priced individually; and available for purchase at Pink Door in Aurora, Oregon.

Just waiting for the weather to cool down a bit and the outside air to be ‘breathable’ so I can get LOTS more painting done.

Adding some more Spring things

Out with the Easter decor and in with the Spring.  Here’s what’s new in my ‘big booth’ at Stars:

Jars of nests and eggs, jars of moss and bird cages.

This shabby white cubby is $68.oo, and includes the hardware for hanging it on the wall.

Making the most of every inch of display space; an old crate on top of the shelf gives me a little more room.  Shabby wood bird-cage and dessert stand with cloche top underneath the table that the shelf is sitting on.  More jars, big and small, of nests and eggs to the right.

Another little grouping on the back side of the table.

Very cool glass cake stand with extra deep lid.

Vintage, upcycled ‘breakfast in bed’ tray.

Tall glass cloches are perfect for showcasing childhood tap shoes and ballet slippers.

Moved a few things around in Sophie’s Annex.

Stop by for some spring decor inspiration for decorating and organizing.  LOTS of unique baskets, trays, containers and crates for making organization fun and pretty!

 

 

Beach cottage decor in my etsy shop

It’s been a while since I blogged about my etsy shop; so here you go!  A post about the great beach cottage decor items in my blog.

LOTS of Framed white fingerling starfish.

Great hung alone, or in a group.

OR hang a sea glass wreath with a couple of framed starfish.

 This is the very LAST of the sea glass wreaths that I will EVER be making.  I had stumbled upon a ‘once in a lifetime’ AMAZING buy on the glass to make these; and I’ve finally used it all up.

For as ‘simple’ as they appear to be; they are EXTREMELY time consuming to make also.  There is NO way I could actually charge for the amount of time I put into them. Lesson learned.   Even though they were so labor intensive that they can’t be make ‘profitably’; they really are beautiful in person.

When I first got the sea glass and was sorting through it, I had set aside a few ‘extra pretty’ pieces.  Some uniquely shaped; perfectly round or square or like gumdrops.  they were just too special to mix in with all the other pieces on the wreaths.  So, I put together some little ‘treasure’ boxes for them.

I custom blended this glitter for these mermaid crowns.

And of course, beach cottage SIGNS in my etsy shop!

Old lamps; new (?) shades

I HATE my living room lamps!  They have those deeply pleated shades.  You know, the kind that have LOTS of deep crevices for collecting DUST.  UG!! Have been wanting to replace them for EONS.  But I just haven’t found anything that I really LIKE. 

Then I found a shade that I really liked at Ross.   Have been seeing these ‘vintage document print’ fabrics on shades for a while, but they were always out of my budget.  Gotta love the prices and Ross AND senior discount Tuesdays!

It’s even pretty when the lamp is ON!

Dare I HOPE to ever find a similar or matching one for the other big lamp in the living room?!? 

 Not more than a WEEK after I found the other shade at Ross, I found this one at Goodwill!  I was originally looking at it as one to turn into a ‘skeleton’ shade, with all the fabric removed.  

But it was SO perfectly CLEAN and in such good shape, I decided to see how it looked on the floor lamp.  Not bad, eh?!? I’ve actually toyed with the idea of trying to stencil some old style lettering onto this one.  But then if I RUIN it, I’ll be worse off than I was before, with NO shade for it!

But if I ever do find a better shade for this lamp I will for sure try to stencil this old one.  And if I ruin the fabric I’ll just do what I was originally going to do with it and ‘skeletonize’ it!  

This is what the other living room lamps look like.  

Both of these are ‘thrifted’ lamps and shades too.  The bases are the same, but the shades are slightly different.  I really like the new trend of not having everything ‘matchey’matchey’!  

Pot of moss

I was originally attracted to this because of the POT.   Love the rustic fell and thought it would make a great piece for holding a bird nest.

Alas, the moss was NOT removable.  Hmmmm. . . .Do I want the WHOLE thing??  It IS half price . . (I’m conversing with myself in my mind!)

The yellow bare spots between the moss rocks (fake ones!) put me off a bit.  But the price was right and I figured I could ‘doctor it up’.  So I bought it.

I got out my bag or Dollar Tree reindeer moss that I’d been using for the little nests with eggs and grabbed my glue bottle.  squirted a bit if glue into each hole and shoved in a pinch of moss.

There were a lot more holes than I originally anticipated.  And after I filled the holes I noticed the GAP around the base on one side, so I filled that with the reindeer moss too.

The color contrast looks a bit extreme in the pictures, but it looks much more ‘natural’ in person.

I finished it off by using some of my new thin burlap ribbon.

Something simple and organic looking for the table centerpiece after Christmas.

Bold paint colors on walls: To paint or not to paint.

This post started out as a reply to a comment in my blog, but I decided it really needed to be a post.  Someone asked about ‘my beachy blue’ paint color because they wanted to paint some wall that color.

Here’s the answer to ‘what color do you use? ‘  Just in case anyone is wondering.

As much as I LOVE color, (obviously!) I would NEVER paint the walls in my home a bright color.  I’m not even a fan of accent walls.   My preference for wall paint is, and ALWAYS has been, soft neutrals.  And I KNOW the ‘real design world’ would argue profusely with me on this, but I have GOOD reasons.

1) The color you are ‘in love with’ today WILL change. Do you really want to have to repaint an entire room when you tire of that color?

2) The design trend WILL  change too! Used to ALWAYS be on the ‘sell this house’ make-over show that they DEMANDED all neutral walls in the homes they helped update for sale.  Then all of a sudden it’s RED accent walls in every home! What’s next?!?! Who knows!  The point is, it’s GOING TO CHANGE!

3)  Do you REALLY want to re-paint over those bright walls in a few years?

If you just can’t stand to NOT have some bright or bold color on your walls, at least start with just an accent wall.  ‘Live with it for at lease a MONTH before you commit to an entire room.  Better still, live with it for a YEAR before committing to doing a whole room.

You may LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE all that color in the sunny months; but it might be totally DEPRESSING come the long dreary days of winter.  (Especially if you live in the Pacific Northwest!)

4)  There are a bazillion OTHER WAYS to bring glorious color into a room.  Less permanent and overbearing  ways.  Less expensive ways.  Less time consuming ways!  AND more flexible ways!  With your ACCENT PIECES and accessories.

Personally, I even prefer very neutral sofas and bedspreads.  That way, IF I want to, I can change the entire color scheme and feel of a room on a shoestring!

If you are STILL really REALLY dying to paint a whole wall or room, try this first.  Go to the dollar store and buy 10 or so pieces of poster board for 50 cents each and paint them your color.  Hang them on the wall and see how you like it.  I know, it’s a little extra time and money to invest, but TRUST me; It’s a LOT easier to pull those off the wall then to re-paint over a red wall!

HOW do you bring color into a room if not on the walls or you primary piece of furniture?  Everything and/or anything else!  Throw pillows and comforters on a sofa.  Pretty curtains (even if there AREN’T any windows; you can still hang curtains!)  Hang colorful tapestries on walls.  PICTURES!  Gallery walls of colorful frames, JUST the frames with no backing or anything inside!

Small accessories on shelves can (and should be!) color themed.  Balanced with neutrals.  Pretty up your book shelves by covering your books with colorful paper.  OR turn the books BACKWARDS for a more neutral look.

Paint your other furniture!  Coffee and end tables, benches, stools.  Lamps?  Sure you can paint lamps bright pretty colors too!  I WISH I had examples to show you, but I think you get the idea.

Just BE SURE you really can LIVE WITH a color before you commit to painting a whole room!

P.S.  ONE Exception!  I DO like color on BATHROOM walls.  But they are pretty small rooms!

Long time, no blogging . . . catch up post; a little bit of everything!

Hallelujah! It is FINALLY cooling down. And even just started to RAIN (just as Michael and I were preparing to start on some ‘outside’ projects). But I shan’t complain. I’ll leave him in the workshop by himself, and I’ll catch up on internet stuff.

I’ll take THIS weather over THAT weather ANY DAY!!!

ESTATE SALE UPDATE:

It was a VERY busy day at the store yesterday with the estate sale. BUT, I had a LOT of stuff and there is still a ‘good amount’ (probably sold 1/4 of what we had) left. All the leftovers have been moved into the shop and will be available at 20% off.

Here are a few pictures of the sale all set up. I barely had time to snap them as it got busy right off the bat. Michael brought the truck and trailer and helped my unload and set up. He had gone to the bathroom before leaving and in the two minutes he was in there, the store FILLED with customers! He came out, and before he rounded the corner where he could see into the store, I whispered to him “Get out while you can!” WHAT??? I repeated and pointed into the store. He gave me a quick kiss and hightailed it outta there!

All the ‘big stuff’ sold. Both trunks, the wicker set, the little cabinet and table. I still have lots of dolls, pillows, stitcheries, and assorted wood smalls. Il” TRY to get by the store in the next couple of days and take a picture of the table of what’s left. We have a 6′ table PACKED full and three bins underneath that we have no more room to put out

LIVING ROOM UPDATE:

So, now my living room is pretty BARE!

As you can see from these two pictures of the entertainment center and shelf above it!

I’m going with lots of ‘neutrals’ this time. A simpler country look. But before I get going too much on the ‘decor’, we’ve got to get some FURNISHINGS in there! The two trunks we sold at the estate sale had been our coffee table and an end table. The wicker love seat and two chairs, our only additional seating, and the wicker table was our other end table!

Hoping to get the coffee table built today. Michael is making it ‘similar’ to this bucket bench he made (and sold) previously:

He gathered up some old white fence boards already. He used 2×4’s for the legs on the one shown, but thinks 4×4’s will be sturdier for our coffee table. Once he gets all the pieces cut to size, I’ll ‘drybrush’ on some light ‘sand’ color paint (I don’t want it so starkly white) and them he’ll assemble it. I’ll add a pillow or two for propping feet upon (we HAVE to put our feet up on the coffee table!!!) and we’ll be done!

RECENT FINDS UPDATE:

Not much time to hot garage or estate sales the last couple of weeks, with doing the Farmers Market and readying the estate sale. I did make it into Goodwill and found a few treasures. I’m ‘on a mission’ to go to GW EVERY week and track the ‘color of the week sale tickets, so I’ll know which color is coming up next. (IF they actually have an ‘order’ they do it in!). I’ve been trying to only buy things that are half off, especially of they the original price is over $3.00.

So, here’s what I found last week:

I have always LOVED this style of wicker chair! “I thought we were getting RID of all the wicker?!?!” Michael lamented. All the OLD wicker, I replied. This is totally different! The green is a tad faded on the backing. I’ll probably dry brush paint over the wicker parts with some antique white, and leave the legs ‘as is’; and add a nice cushion seat.

How cool is this VERY old folding chair!?!?! Even the legs fold in (it’s sitting on top of a small tale in the pic) Perfect to take to Farmers Market to sit on.

A white feather wreath!!!! Never in a million years did I think I’d actually find a white feather wreath that I could actually afford to buy! It was my lucky day for sure!

A neat copperish colored wire basket. It’s in the store filled with glittered fall fruits.

An old wire Christmas card holder that I plan to use to display TAGS on.

I better go see how Michael is coming along on the coffee table and get my paintin’ arm ready to go!