Don't Panic! It's (Sort of) Under Control

Have you looked at the calendar?
Or the countdown clock on the side of this blog?

Thanksgiving Day is two weeks from today.

Today, people!

14 short, gone-in-the-blink-of-an-eye days!

They're on their way. . . .

You know what this means?  I am motivated.  Ah . . . adrenaline.  It's a beautiful thing.

2010, the "grownups" table.

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One of the most important things on my T.B.D.B.T. (To Be Done By Thanksgiving) List

is to transform this sorry looking space at an antiques mall into my less-sorry looking booth.

Yes, I am starting small, with a 6 x 9 foot piece of floor.  No walls.

Help me out here, my friends.  I am putting a rug down to help define the space,

cover the sad, sad floor, and give dropped dishes a fighting chance to survive.

This place definitely needs help.  Makeup!!!

So -- how to block out the area?  Screens?  Peg board?  Lattice?

Anything I put up to delineate my booth space needs to be able to support itself.

Ha ha, unlike the booth!

Howard and I are going to figure this out this weekend.  I'll take pictures.

Even if there are power tools and blood involved.

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So, what am I putting in this booth?

The more I wander around That Old House, peeking in cupboards

and lifting the skirts on round tables (eek!),

the more things I find I can live without, and they are marked for the booth.

Here are some of the things that will migrate from 

That Old House to That Old Booth:

Colclough red roses tea set for 4.

Huge glass cake pedestal.

Vintage silverplate, early-early 20th century.  6 each knives and forks.

I do sometimes use these, but I have so much flatware; time to divest.

Glass sherbets.

6 of them.

I don't use them, as I have some of my grandmothers', and am ready to bid them adieu, even though they do amusing tricks.
Like stand on their heads.

Vintage damask napkins.

Some of my old tablecloths.  I use many of them, but don't use all that I have.

My cute green Harkerware Pate sur Pate dishes, including the luncheon sets.

Love these 6 tea cups, but I can live without them.  I think.  Lustreware and gilt -- from Japan.

Limoges -- I have stacks of dinner and luncheon plates in this pattern, including some cream soup bowls, and a few platters.
Love them, collected them like a crazy woman a few years ago . . . and now I don't really use them.

With china, it really IS all in the details.

Luncheon (or dessert) set for 6; not sure about letting these go, but I love this delicious picture.  Is it lunch time yet?

Bird dishes, each different.  Adorable, but not used, so ... bye!

What a cute little tummy he has.

The only "good" china at That Old House -- Aynsley's Tatton Hall.
I only have 4 dinner plates, 4 cup and saucer sets, and two salad plates.  So to the booth it goes!

It does set a pretty table, though, doesn't it?  Ah, well, there are other dishes -- oops fishes! -- in the sea.

 Okay, I have strained your eyes and your patience enough for today.

Those are just some of the things from our house going to the booth -- there are more -- 

and I didn't include things I have picked up just for the booth, or the small pieces of furniture that will go there.

Next week, the booth -- transformed and revealed.  Fingers crossed, and your advice

and suggestions are very welcome!  Many bloggers are old hands at this; I'm a total newbie.

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Now, about that fabric for the pink guest room.

Turns out the pretty, old fashioned rose print was just too tame.

No get-up-and-go, no oomph!

 I loved this pattern, below, but after getting the sample I discovered it was

too stiff and unyielding for satisfactory draperies.  Which after all, must drape.

 So I followed my heart, and yesterday placed an order for this:

 Yes, the peacocks are coming home to roost in the Pink Room at That Old House.

By the time I ordered, there were only 23 yards left, so I took it all and hope it's enough.

I ordered, as I usually do, from Fabric Guru, and got 20% off my order with a coupon code.

That code is fall3 and anyone can use it, no limits on how many times, until Monday November 14th.

 Thank you for helping me decide on this wild and gorgeous fabric; so many of you loved it, too!

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Holiday items at vintage-goods booths sell well in these last two months of the year,

so I was thinking . . . should I put our last-year's grab bag win in the booth?

It's a (mercifully) rare Christmas Rocking Cow.

With attitude.

No, I think we'll keep Beelzebub Bessie at home.  Don't want to scare away potential customers.

Have a lovely Thursday.   I've got projects lined up and out the door!  -- Cass

Link Parties!

At From My Front Porch To Yours, it is Treasure Hunt Thursday.  Click here and visit!

No Minimalist Here hosts Open House Party Thursdays.  Click here!

At Coloradolady, Suzanne hosts Vintage Thingies Thursday.  Go for a dachsund fix today!  Click here

Tuesday Teas

I am very good at making lists.

My To Be Done By Thanksgiving List is necessarily shorter than normal this year.

Because I've got another list in the works.  It is my To Be Done For The Booth List.

(What booth?  Click here.)

I need to get to work on that today, because if my booth is empty I probably won't sell much.

But I wanted to do a tribute to my old, fallen comrade -- my Canon Power Shot camera.
It took some good pictures in its time, and here are some of them, mostly '09 and '10.

In the Parlor, a quiet tea for one.  That would be me.

I think these shots show that my old digital camera has been failing, as recent pictures are not as good.

A few of these pieces may end up in the booth.  But not my Meissen tea pot!  A gift from my in-laws.

This tea set is from Nepal, a gift from our daughter Alida to her sister Anne.

Felicity's cup.  Who has a colonial American Girl doll?  I do!  I do!

In the parlor, again, this time with Wedgwood, and a big wild sunflower tea pot, a gift from my girls.

Patrican pattern, with Bognor decoration.

Still going with the Brits on the china ... this time, Aynsley's Tatton Hall.  Tea pot from Windsor Castle gift shop.

I think this china, a thrift shop find of mine a few years back, will go to the booth.

I rarely use it.

And that's it for today, Tuesday, or Teas-day.  -- Cass

Link Parties!

Marty at A Stroll Through Life hosts Table Top Tuesday.   Click here.

Diane at A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words hosts 2nd Time Around Tuesday.   Click here.

And those Tea Parties:

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage, and Tea Time Tuesday.  Click here!

Wanda Lee at The Plumed Pen, and Tea For Two Tuesday.  Click here!

Wanda and Pam of A Breath of Fresh Air host Tea Pot and Tea Things.  Click here!

And ... it's also Tea Cup Tuesday at Artful Affirmations with Terri.  Click here!

Lady Katherine is hosting her Tuesday Tea Time Party.  Go!   Click here.

And now it's time for me to get my kiester off The Yellow Chair and start

really getting ready to stock my booth.  Tomorrow . . . a final acquisition adventure!

And now for something completely different -- a drunken perspective on a sober tea scene.

Death of a Camera, Birth of a Business

I knew it was coming.
For several months, its pictures weren't as sharp as they once were.
Its Macro setting would no longer Mac.
Its batteries lasted 12-and-a-half minutes before draining.


But on Sunday, when my little Canon Power Shot digital camera would not
take any pictures at all, insisting that every card I inserted was locked . . .

I knew it was time.

Goodbye, old friend.

And a temporary Hello to my nemesis, Howard's Nikon D3000, which I try my darnedest to use

like a simple point-and-shoot, because that's my level of expertise with cameras.

Admit it, that's one scary looking camera.

It's heavy, it makes me use the view finder thingy, it's cumbersome, it asks me to think . . . 

but it does make that nice, satisfying chunk-chunk sound when the shutter opens and shuts.

Like a real camera.

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 So, you say, what about this Birth of a Business stuff?

Well, you see, it's like this.

I really enjoy the hunt for old stuff.  Furniture, mostly, which is why right now there are way too many legs

in my sunroom, and only two of them are attached to me, and only four are attached to the dog.

The others are attached to oddball pieces of furniture that I brought home

because I couldn't not bring them home.

Does that make sense?

Dion DiPoochy, lower right, is not so sure about all of this.

 Last Thursday I went to Pennsylvania and brought home 3 small tables

and one old nursery rocker with a splint seat.

On Saturday, Howard and I circled New Jersey, and came home with a wrought iron patio table and chairs.

It's in storage now, but it will get fresh paint before Spring.  It is an old, very heavy set.

At that seller's, I spotted a huge and weighty old serving tray, silverplate, with gorgeous curves,

that had been painted white and was serving as the cover for their outdoor recycling bin.

The owner was very surprised when I wanted it.  Did I mention it was covered with mud when I spotted it?

Yes, it came home with us.  Wait till you see it; no pics yet, it's too gruesome.

Also found on Saturday: a small kitchen table, and four chairs that we are using

around the oak table in the Sunroom.  But that small kitchen table?  It's in storage, too.

On Sunday, we picked up some estate-sale leftovers.

Are you getting the picture?

From my PA trip -- a one-drawer stand with reeded legs.  Will be painted.

Also from PA -- a small table; it too will be painted,
but the top will be polished and waxed, left natural.

Not all veneer is bad veneer!

From PA - I love this table.  Arts & Crafts?  Asian?  Rustic?
Whatever it is, it's getting sanded and painted.  Black.

From the estate sale "dregs," a small trumeau mirror.
I can't bear to tell you how little we paid for this sweet old thing.

Yes, it needs a good cleaning, both glass and frame.
I will leave it in the old gold color - I think it suits.

Also from the estate sale leftovers - a professionally framed picture.
Ink and watercolor.  Just needs a bit of cleaning.

What brought us out spelunking for junk on Sunday was this table, found on Craigslist: 

 It's not often that my heart flips over for a Craigslist find, but this one was special.

It was listed at $25.  I called right away.

When I saw it, and realized that the top is just 3 wide boards -- one for each leaf, one for the center (although sadly

the top has a split for most of its length) -- and that it's got the wackiest pattern of use & abuse from decades past,

along with a fabulous color and patina . . . well, I had to have it.  This old gal is old.

"How much?" Howard asked.

"Ummm . . . twenty?" said the seller.

Sold.

I haven't yet turned this table upside down to get intimate with her and learn more of her story.

But I will.

Am I nuts that I love those old scars?

Don't answer that!  :-P

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So, what about that business tease?

I'm doing what I need to do so as not to end up on an episode of Hoarders someday:

I am taking a booth at an antiques mall not far from here.

This means that I can continue to hunt and bag trophies, and choose to either keep them

or pass them on to someone who will love them, too.

I'll share my process and my set-up with you; right now I'm still figuring out

how much I can fit in a little 6-foot-by-9-foot space!  Howard just shakes his head.

Happy Monday; I hope yours is sunny and your only blues are in the sky!  -- Cass

Open Season On Junk and Vintage Treasures

Ah, the thrill of the hunt.


Lately I've been into this big time, looking for the odd and the beautiful,
in the nooks and crannies of New Jersey and beyond.
This week, my searches brought me to wild and woolly Pennsylvania on Friday, all over God's good earth (aka New Jersey) on Saturday, and today?  It's into the untamed wilderness of Bergen County.

Sometimes I bring home the oddest strays.

Welcome to a Sunday Favorites post at That Old House.

This one was first published in August of 2010.

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(August 31, 2010)
We stopped at my brother's on Saturday night, on our way home from the beach house.  He and his wife have sold their Long Island home and are packing the camels and heading their caravan off across the desert, aiming for North Carolina.

Their new house is smaller than the house they are leaving, and that's why every once in awhile
I get a call from him:  "Hey, Cassy, you want the . . . .?" and I nearly always say, "Yes."

The latest thing -- an old oak office arm chair that our Mom painted
about 40 years ago, for the original Southold beach cottage.

She painted it glossy yellow.

Really yellow.

School Bus-Yield Sign-Crime Scene Tape-Screaming Yellow Zonkers Yellow.

This is the woman who, back in the early 1960s, painted the walls in our tiny summer bungalow kitchen in a tasteful pale creamy yellow, thereby lulling my father into a false sense of security.  She then painted the 1910-era table and chairs in brilliant watermelon pink and deep green, and slathered pink paint on the old  refrigerator too, just for good measure.

Mama was not shy about color.
I am still scarred by memories of her raspberry bathroom.

This chair's paint is showing its age.

There's a big chip on the back and scads of little bitty chips elsewhere.

My brother Lindy thinks I will strip this chair and restore it to its oak-y dignity.  He is delusional.

I think it needs a new and gnarly paint job, don't you?  Color ideas?

It's going to live at our desk, where I blog if I'm not using the laptop.

The chair is perfect -- comfy, and it makes me smile.

(Update from Nov. '11 -- the chair is still in its original yellow paint, and I'm sitting in it right now.
Right at this desk.  With a bright orange coffee mug on the left.)

Odd things do make me smile.
Like the next two thrifting finds . . . a pair of -- ummm -- lamps.

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When we were out at the beach house back in May, we went to a flea market at the

Museum Houses in Cutchogue.  I snagged two table lamps.

I say "snagged," as if I had competition for them.  I did not.

I think even the seller was surprised that I took them.

They are . . . interesting.

These babes are tall.  36-inches to the tops of the harps.

There are two lamps, but I only photographed one of them.  They are identical, and both are in perfect shape.

Loaded with painted, gilded, and molded detail.

Help me out here, folks.  What the heck are these?  They are not new, that's for sure.

Former oil lamps?  Buffet lamps?  Rococo?  What would you call them?

I haven't decided the fates of these old gals.

They may end up on either side of the high 4-post bed in the pink guest room,

where they are tall enough to shed light on a book being read in bed.

Or, they'll get listed on eBay and I'll leave them to their fates.

(Nov. '11 update -- I need to learn how to rewire lamps; these are still in storage.)

They do have a certain quirky charm.  Well, I think so, anyway.

The rest of my family is of another mind.

Annie and I sniffed out yard sales while we were at the beach house this past weekend.

At one house sale I bought this:

A 20-year old Fitz and Floyd bowl.

It's about 8 inches wide, about 3 inches deep.  Nice size.

I think it has a neat, woodsy, log-cabin-in-the-Adirondacks sort of look to it.

At another house sale, I found 5 old lamps, all porcelain, of odd and old
designs and shapes and colors and I was sorely tempted to buy them,
but my daughter Anne wisely shot me with an elephant tranquilizer gun
and dragged me away.  A narrow escape indeed.

 . . . sigh . . . . 

You always mourn the ones that got away.

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Thanks to Chari of Happy To Design for hosting the lazy lady blogger's favorite party --

Sunday Favorites.  Go visit, and see what other bloggers have dredged up from their past lives

to feature on this sunny Sunday.  Click here to visit!

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Well, at least it is sunny here in New Jersey.

And after Howard comes back to earth after his flying lesson today, we are picking up another

Craigslist find.  We had good luck on yesterday's hunting trip, including an unexpected treasure.  

There is a method to my madness.  Really, there is.  Enjoy the day! -- Cass