Create

Recently, I was at my friend Susie's house~~most of you know her blog~~From My Home To Yours and I saw this fabulous INSPIRE banner that she had won in a giveaway HERE.


Well of course I had to have one for myself... So sweet Lisa at Tarnished and Tattered blog made one for me. My banner says "Create". I hung it in my studio above the window where the afternoon light makes it positively glow. I love it so much.

Thanks Lisa....

Evidence of GOD

I have the most fabulous story to share with you....

Forgive me...

I have no pictures. I had no idea what we would witness.

Mr. Sweet Pea and I set off today to Palm Coast FL, a quaint little beach community about an hour north of Daytona Beach, to pick up a buffet that I purchased from Clair~~the coolest fellow junker that I have met in a long time. So you exit off of I~95 and go due east to A~1A which runs right along the beach on the eastern coast of Florida. Just as we come up to A~1A, I look up and there it is... The ocean.

Mind you, I am not a beach person. There was the initial fascination when I moved to Florida, but that has long since gone by the way. There was just something about it today that awakened me. It was all you could see. Vast. Impressive. It demanded my full attention. I fell in love again...

After we left Claire's we decided to have some lunch along the beach. She recommended a place and were it not for that recommendation we would have missed the second part of this story...

As we drove south on A~1A we saw people along the dunes obviously checking something out. I had seen a few dolphin come up out of the water going to Claire's but this seemed different. We pulled over and walked across the highway and there before our eyes was more evidence.

Whales....

Just there in the ocean for our entertainment. We were in awe...

We reluctantly left the dune and had our lunch. We could still see bits of them from the beachside place that Claire recommended.

It was a good day...

Thank you Claire.

The Day The Music Died

Sorry if you are missing the music from my playlist, but I have decided to delete this feature from my blog after a frantic incident tonight while adding to my playlist. Be warned, this could happen to you...

I have very good anti-virus software on my computer. In fact I just renewed it one month ago today. Tonight, after adding some new songs to my playlist my computer went crazy and I had all these warnings pop up that my computer was infected with viruses, trojans, spyware and adware. The pop-ups wanted me to run software to clean my computer. DO NOT DO IT.

I called McAfee and after an hour on the phone with a techie that almost cost me another $89.95 found out I had NO virus. It was a trick to get my info and access to my computer. This came from a downloaded song site and I decided it wasn't worth the chance. I deleted my playlist and my account on playlist as well. Maybe an over~reaction but oh well.

And so now you'll get the sounds of silence... Or you could hum.

Checkin' You Out

One of the pieces we took to the Fall Marburger show was this big, clunky counter made from old salvaged wood that used to live on our back porch. I decided it ate up too much space and therefore should find a new home. I was practically giving it away, but no serious interest. Alas, I believe it wasn't meant to be. Can you see it under all the stuffage?




Why, you ask, wasn't it meant to go to a new home?

Because it's been reborn as my new check~out counter for the shows...


Mr. Sweet Pea and I make a great team, if I do say so myself. We took the huge boards off the top and used an old tongue and groove door that I have had forever as the top. Next we added old ceiling tin as an accent and three fabulous iron table legs as brackets.




So when I'm checkin' you out at the Spring show I'll be behind this fabulous counter. Sorry it's strictly NFS.

WHITE WEDNESDAY~~WORDSMITH

Wordsmith, noun, a person who works with words.

Welcome to another WHITE WEDNESDAY. As always thanks to Kathleen at FADED CHARM for hosting this.

I love words... Old fonts, faded signs, old ephemera... Please enjoy some of my collection...

What You Didn't See

I was fortunate to have the sitting area of my basement renovation featured in the July 2009 issue of Better Homes and Gardens (click HERE for article) and basement bathroom in the winter 2009 edition of Kitchen and Bath Makeovers (click HERE for article).  The articles featured many wonderful pictures of the completed projects but did not to show some of my favorite features of the renovation. Here is what you missed.
To get to the basement before the renovation we had to enter through this door.  It was constantly being left open by the kids. As it is located in the main downstairs hallway, it really got in the way. 

After much thought, we decided to open up the wall to make the basement more accessible and to make it feel more a part of the rest of the house.  Here is how it turned out.

The only minor adjustment that had to be made was moving the light switch down a few inches. The columns on either side were made to match the rest of the woodwork in the house. 

 I also was able to find this wonderful little light on Ebay to install at the top of the landing.  Less expensive than a comparable new light, I love how it adds a touch of character to our home.

Another major change was the stairs entering the basement itself.  As you can see, they were standard, enclosed pine treaded stairs. (Isn't that sofa pretty!)

I really do not like carpeting, especially in high traffic areas like steps.  One of my absolute requirements for this renovation was to have the basement stairs match the stairs in the rest the house.  This meant oak treads.  We were lucky that our builder was able to pull out the old treads and simply slide in oak treads instead of rebuilding an entire staircase. You can see a few of the treads missing here already.

The new basement staricase looks like this now and is very similiar to our staircase upstairs.

Here is the before looking back towards the the stairs.  Notice the steel columns.

Here is what it looks like today. Steel columns wonderfully concealed and a little bar area under the stairs.

As part of this renovation we also replaced all the door knobs in our entire house with vintage crystal knobs bought on Ebay.  I was able to find retro fit kits, also on Ebay, in order to use them on my existing doors.  They are available in regular and privacy sets.

The basement renovation also included a bedroom.  The colors of this room coordinate with the rest of the basement, making it one cohesive space. I do not have any before pictures of this space, but here is what it looks like now. You can just see the bottom of the other crystal chandelier hanging above the bed.

So that is the compete tour of the basement as it stands today.  There are still parts that are not finished.  The floor is just painted concrete except in the bedroom and bathroom.  I am thinking I will eventually use a prefinished hardwood but I may end up changing my mind.  In all honesty the concrete (although a bit cold in the winter) with a few scattered area rugs, has worked just fine. We do not have a place for the TV so it will remain sitting on a small bookcase until we have an entertainment center built.  I would also love to add some more furniture. 

Scenes From Arcadia

So I am happy to report that the antique show held monthly in Arcadia FL is worth the drive, though it was kind of wham~bam~thank you~maam. We arrived at dawn and had about 45 minutes to throw our booth together. It wasn't one of those cute booth shows for sure, and mostly table after table of smalls. There was the occasional piece of furniture here and there, and that is what I sold except for one or two small items. It's so funny, when late afternoon hits and the first dealer starts to pack up, it's like a domino effect and pretty soon it's a hive of industry. We packed up pretty quickly and were on our way home at 3. I fell asleep about ten minutes into the drive leaving poor Mr. Sweet Pea to drive Miss Daisy once again.

I did make a sweep of the show and snapped some interesting items...


This little wire rack was cute

but...





Nice cupboard top.


Nice old sign.


Wee shoes.


I love old books.


Any mounties needing a hat?


Short and to the point...


Loved the fabric this Boy Scout pack was made of.


Cute cupboard.


Love street signs.


Be still my heart.

HOPE FOR HAITI

So I should have gone to bed long ago, as we have to get up at 4am and drive 2 and 1/2 hours to the show in Arcadia but I have been watching the telethon for Haiti. I made my $100 pledge and actually bumped it up a bit. Did you watch? Did you give?

I was one of the callers who got to talk to a celebrity! I talked with Debra Messing of Will and Grace and many movies. She was very sweet. It was hard to talk because I was very emotional about the children who are alone and scared and hungry. Imagining my grandbabies in that situation. If you can give, please please do. Even a little. As Stevie Wonder told his caller tonight, "A lot of littles equals alot".

Amen.

Arcadia FL Antique Fair

If you're looking for some fun in the sun tomorrow, stop by our booth at the Arcadia FL Antique Fair. Arcadia is a quaint historic mecca of antique shops and every 4th Saturday they host an antique fair on the main street in front of the shops and in the parking lot on Oak Street in downtown Arcadia. I've wanted to test this market for years and so here we go! Wish me luck...

Go here for more info. The fair starts at 8am and we are in the parking lot past Glass Antiques at the end of Oak St.

Hold Those Papers!

I am happy to announce the new line of paperweights I have recently completed. Simple and fun, they are a great way to add some character to your office or work space.  They are also a neat way to organize all those stacks of paper.

Sold in sets of three, each paperweight is made of vintage feed sack cloth, filled with rice and features a hand sewn vintage wool applique. These sets can also be customized.

Other paperweights in the collection include a charming starfish and fish.

To see more, visit my Etsy store HERE