Approaching New Years Eve

As we are approaching New Years Eve 2010, my mind is filled with many things. Number one, where did the year go? I guess the saying "time flies when you are having fun" is true! What a lot of fun this past year has been. We both have had the opportunity to be creative over and over again, and our thanks go out to all of you for that.

Dan delivered this custom made television cabinet to a customer in Petoskey this week. It contains pieces of old doors, old kitchen drawers, old shutter, and old window latch, and old curtain rods(!) all painted parakeet green. You all would be envious of the spot where it will live, between 2 windows with a view of Little Traverse Bay and it's amazing sunsets.

We also added lots of new product to our space and Then & Now (in Petoskey). Any kind, size and color of bin cabinet that Dan builds from old pieces continue to be big sellers. Above are a couple new ones, one with a big drawer in the bottom and one on a great old iron stand. The white sideboard server is so shabby chic and has all of the charm of a wedding cake. It has been a pleasure for us to be in their shop and to make trips up there. It is always a double delight for us to combine it with seeing family as well.

I have been digging into my stash of old fabrics again and I am loving working with wool and velvet - must be the time of year - my knitting is calling me too............

We will be at the Grand Rapids Antiques Market Jan 8 & 9. We hope you plan on attending that beautiful show. I will be giving a talk on decorating with antiques on Sat the 8th @ 1:00 and again on Sunday the 9th @ 12:00. for more info go to     http://www.grandrapidsantiquesmarekt.com/
visit our booth @ either Bluedoor or Eastown Antiques for a flyer with a $2.00 coupon off general admission

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!
XOXOXO
Dan & CJ

From Our House to Your House - Merry Christmas!

From our house to your house -Merry Christmas!

Our wish for all of you is that your homes be filled with love and joy.

We are grateful for all of you, friends, family & customers.

We will be heading north to Then & Now in Petoskey this coming week with a new load of repurposed treasures and one custom order and then our next show is @ DeVos Place here in Grand Rapids, Jan 8th and 9th.

visit their web site @  http://www.grandrapidsantiquemarket.com/

I will be giving a talk on Interior Designing with antiques - focusing on cottage furniture Sat @ 1:00 and Sun @ 12:00



Xmas Tree Cutting and Elements

Yesterday was our annual Christmas tree cutting party. Some good friends of our (Dave & Pat) invite a host of people to join them for a trip up to Lenderinks Christmas tree farm north of Grand Rapids were we all tank up on free hot chocolate before heading out into the tree farm  to select just the right tree. The highlight of this event is always the feast of goods that Pat puts together for all of us in the parking lot after we return with our trees. There is always the most marvelous food and drink spread for us on tables that would make Martha Stewart proud. One of my favorites is the scotch eggs on a plate at the front of the above picture-to die for!

However, one of the real treats for me when doing this event is to be able to share this event with family. My son Eric(pictured above) was there with us and so was my daughter-in-law Angela (pictured below with CJ). I remember all those tree cutting excursions with my kids when they were little and and it is a joy for me to carry on the tradition with them now as adults.

The 2010 Christmas tree!!!

When we were doing our open house a friend of ours (Patrice) gifted us with the above paper ribbon. She has a real talent and love with working with vintage paper. She so inspired us by showing us the many things she is currently creating that the next time we were at our local book store we picked up the below book called, Playing With Books. It is all about the art of upcycling, deconstructing, and reimagining of books. We are both working on projects in this book and hope to post them when we get them completed. In the mean time if this kind of creating interests you check out the book and also check out Patrice's blog which is listed in our list of blogs that we follow. The name of her blog is Elements and she sells on esty under the name of The Trophy Wife.

Happy Birthday CJ !!!

Today is my CJ's birthday!! I am so grateful that I get to spend my life with this special very thoughtful lady. A few things you might want to know about this lady-

1. CJ stand for Cathlene Joy.

2. Her favorite eating out food is a beer and a burger.

3. She like milk chocolate over over dark chocolate.

4. She loves Strawberry Cheesecake.

5. She is a great knitter.

6. She totally loves cats and has two-Hattiemae and Hannabell.

7. She once spent a winter on Nantucket Island for a design related project that she would love to tell you about.

8. She also once spent a winter on Mackinaw island as chief designer for the Michigan governor's mansion on Mackinaw Island.

9. She loves to collect primitive original painted furniture.

10.Most of all she loves me for which I am very grateful.