True North Interior Design & Antiques (Formerly VanDaff's Interior Design & Antiques)

Pale & Interesting, Road Trip-Picking

2012-01-24T16:57:00.000-08:00

We received a new book in the mail today. Pale and Interesting is the title. It is a book about decorating with whites, pastels and neutral. It had a lot of great picture of farmhouses with white wall and floors. We loved looking thru it together and had to recommend it in our blog. So check it out.

Saturday we decided to take a road trip. It was a beautiful day and I have been struggling with a pinched nerve in my shoulder so we decided to take it easy by doing something like taking a drive. The drive was a perfect opportunity to look for vintage farmhouses, old trucks and other vintage/antique finds for our business.
We headed out along the lake shore of Lake Michigan south thru the city of Holland, Saugatuck, and Douglas. We made a stop in Holland at a local antique mall and than for lunch. After lunch we headed for one of our favorite primitive antique stores called Nob Hill at the south end of Holland. It is located in a wonderful vintage building. When we got there the business was closed for the season but there was also a for sale sign out in front of the store. This building would be any antique dealer's dream to set up a business in. So we had to take a few pictures to share with you.

How could you not help but fall in love with this! After we stopped long enough to take a few pictures we got back on the road again and headed for the next antique mall we intended to visit in Saugatuck.

Going thru Saugatuck we saw this great Chevy pickup in front of a garden center. Because of my weakness for vintage Chevy pickups we again stopped to take a picture of this wonderful truck being used to advertise this garden center.

After Saugatuck and the Blue Star antique mall we headed out south of Douglas for awhile enjoying seeing lots of great vintage houses. The one the really captured our imagination though was this white farmhouse with plenty of porches. What a classic!

Me made one last stop for the day at a fun antique store that was located in an early 1900 wood frame store. After talking to the owner of the business I found out that he had an old barn fill with lots of vintage that he was more than happy to give me a tour of this coming week. So today I meet him at his vintage old barn and spent a couple of hours digging thru 30 years of collecting and found some treasures that should make it into our spaces in the next week. So our day "off" proved to be a very successful day for us.

Trends in Interior Design

2012-01-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Sandi Garrison of Rhubarb Reign suggested late last summer that I consider blogging about my Interior Design business and that she thought it would be interesting to read about. I have to admit that it has been buzzing through my head for several months now. There are a couple of issues for me in writing about Interior Design. First I respect my clients privacy and will not mention names - you most likely will know who you are! Second it is never ethical for me to give away design advise when that is what people pay me for. So given all of that it took me a while to formulate how to do this in an interesting fashion. Here goes, hope you enjoy this.

One of the BIGGEST trends that I am using in Interior Design right now is Pinterest.

I first leaned of it from my Interior Design students that I teach at Kendall College of Art & Design Continuing Studies Youth and Adults program. I am now addicted! Pinterest is an online bulletin board where you can "pin" images of things you like under categories or "boards" that you create. I first started with pinning images of things that I like under a board that I titles "my style". That's easy anything I saw that I liked - right. Then I added one of "great ideas", things to make, recipes, on and on. My students use it to create "boards" for the projects that they are doing for class. We look at them on their ipads and iphones. It amazes me how useful those tiny pictures are! I now use Pinterest to create boards for my client projects, pinning fabric, furniture, lighting, room ideas etc. On Pinterest they can follow me and I can also follow them. It is so cool, they can almost see what I am thinking and vise verse.

The photo at the top of the page and the 3 above are from Sarah Richardson, of HGTV and Country Living fame. I love her style as do several of my clients. I think if I had to give you an overview or summery of her style it would be sophisticated, monochromatic comfortable - however the images that I have chosen of her work to share with you have more color - more my style. After all I'M writing this! And it is no secret to any of YOU that I love color! I think that her style of design is livable and has great character. So always fun to have a client who is inspired by here.

I am working on a bedroom right now that was inspired by this bedroom that she did.

So stay tuned and possibly I will be able to share with you a photo of "our" interpretation of the Sarah Richardson bedroom.

Yesterday to my astonishment Mary Emmerling started following me on Pinterest. I of course started following her back and picked up several other noteworthy people for follow!

It truly has been so much fun and such a great way to stay current on trends in design, color, fashion, you name it. Amazing for me to see what everyone pins!

I saw this great scarf on Pinterest and pinned it to my board, clicked on it and learned that it was a pattern that I could purchase in a PDF version. I did!

So then I pinned this item from my Etsy site that I had for sale, to one of my boards titled "Vintage" and sold it in one day.

So can you see why I am addicted!!!!

If you would like to follow me go to Pinterest search for me CJ Pluister Zondervan.

Our Vintage Very Snow Neighborhood-Heritage Hill

2012-01-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

CJ and I have the privilege of living in a very beautiful neighborhood here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The neighborhood is call Heritage Hill Historic District. It is one of the largest and oldest historic districts in North America. CJ has lived in the neighborhood when she came to town to go to Kendall College in the 1980's. I have lived here off and on for years and built a construction business that specialized in restoring houses in this neighborhood for a number of years.

We now live here together and often love going for walks at the end of the day. We both love old houses.

This week our unusually warm weather ended and about a day ago we started getting a soft gentle snow fall and much colder temperatures. After two days of snow we have a regular winter wonderland.

So late this afternoon we went for a walk when I got home from a day of working in my shop. Everything was so beautiful, quiet and snow covered that I couldn't resist taking some of these pictures of house we passed as we walked.

All of these houses pictured are when in two blocks of our house. It is a wonderful thing to be surrounded with some much beauty.

We hope you enjoy these few pictures of our very vintage snowy neighborhood.

Chalk Paint, Furniture Painting/Refinishing, and the Reorganizing of the Work Shop

2012-01-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

The dust is still settling from my major work shop reorganization. I am now working in a space about half the size as my old space. It may take me awhile to get everything just right but the space is feeling very comfortable. This new move is already producing some good results. I am feeling that the smaller space will force me to be more selective about future projects, it is also forcing me to process my projects quicker rather than leave them standing around to long periods of time, I find that I tend to lose tools less frequently because my tools are less spread out across the shop, and it is also making me look at how I finish or refinish our furniture projects.

For some time now I have been spraying furniture that we refinish or paint. In this new smaller space this has become more difficult. I have had an interest for some time in both milk paint and the new chalk paint that seems to be growing in popularity. So I have taken this work shop change as an opportunity to look at how I am finishing furniture and play around with some of the finishes I have wanted to try, and go back to doing more furniture by hand rather that spraying my finish. In my smaller space going with product that don't fill the air with paint has become important for my health.

The new Annie Sloan chalk paint has really intrigued me so I paid a visit to a dealer and purchased a can of French Linen, a can of the dark wax that top coats the product and a color chart. The paint is a wonderful soft matte finish, is a primer and paint in one and is water based. I painted a small primitive buffet I had in the shop and found that it meet all my expectations. Easy to use and easy to clean up, it covered in one coat and after I sanded it out I applied the wax. I brought the piece of furniture in to Bluedoor and found that it sold so fast that I didn't even get a chance to get a picture of it. So I went back to the chalk paint chart to look at some of the other colors to see what else I could try. After years of painting furniture in cottage white, black and a variety of greens and blues I found myself loving some of the colors on the chart like Country grey, Paris grey, Old ochre, French linen, Versailles, and even Emperor red. Some of these similar colors are also showing up on the Pottery Barn winter paint color palette.

As much as I loved the chalk paint I found that there were some draw backs for me in using this paint. First was the cost, second was that there are no dealers here in Grand Rapids were I live and third you can only purchase it in the colors available on the shelf or chart. So I decided to pay a visit to my local Benjamin Moore paint dealer and found that they have a new paint product called Regal Select available in a flat or matte finish which basically claims to be very similar to chalk paint. So I had a gallon mixed up in black, my white and the color called country grey(actually very close to a pottery barn color). The cost of the product was much less and when I painted the above two pieces of furniture I was very pleased with the result. Once the paint had dried I lightly sanded the furniture to give it the right amount of distressing.
The next part of the process was to wax or find a process that would duplicate the wax process. Now, I do love the wax however we have found that over the years wax can sometimes make it difficult to change colors and can sometime attract dirt. So I purchased some water based glaze from the paint store, tinted it with very dark brown paint, applied it to the painted piece and then wiped it off with a wet rag. The results were very close to the results I got with wax.

The two above pieces of furniture were the result of my second round of experiments. I finished off all of the above piece with a matte clear water based product to give them a final clear coat.

I also tried the above two chairs in the pottery barn red which is very close to Annie Sloan red. Again, I like the result and I also like the new palette that I was developing for my furniture.

I have also done a bit of furniture refinishing and have decided to add a few more pieces like the interesting old pine church bench pictured below.

I love how the finish plays with some of the new colors I have been experimenting with. So you will most likely see more of my new color palette along with some more natural finished pieces, as well as some of our old standby colors like black and white. The one thing I want to try next is layering different colors as is suggested on the back of the Chalk paint chart.

We have also always tried to collect great architectural items as a part of our love. So about a week ago a came across the two fabulous items pictured below.

The items pictured are sections of vintage cast iron handrail that came out of the old city hall here in Grand Rapids that was torn down in the 1960's. Aren't they great!

All the items pictured above are currently at Bluedoor. So come down and see our ever changing collection of vintage finds.

The New Year and Resolutions

2012-01-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

We hope that all of you had really great holidays and are now quietly at home putting away Christmas like we are. New Years always seems to bring with it resolutions and so we have asked ourselves what should are resolutions be. If you are in business for yourself you are always asking yourself how you can do to do your business better, what are the trends you should be following, and what areas should we focus on. As a result, one of the things we hope to do in the new few weeks is to ramp up our ebay and etsy listings.
Are esty account in called True North and are ebay account is called Hattiemaevandaff(named for our cat). We have had both accounts for awhile and feel that it is far more productive for us this winter to focus on listings to help us increase our sales over the winter when our sales slow some. So if you have some time check us out on both locations and see what great finds and creations we come up with over the next few weeks.

This past year I have also made a resolution to reduce the size of my work shop. I have had my space for about 15 years and at various times I had a crew of people using the shop when I owned a construction company so I needed alot of room for the construction of projects and for large pieces of machinery. However, much of the machinery is now gone and so is my crew. So, over the past few years I have filled my shop up with lots of vintage stuff that I intended to fix, repupose, or upcycle. I have manage to collect much more than I could possible work on or use and so I decided to reduce the size of my shop and attempted to organize my shop so that we can save some rent money as well has making my workspace a more efficient space for me to work.

This is not any easy task for me because I love my "stuff" and I would not have hauled to to my shop if I had not seen some value in it. But, by New Years day I had vacated half of my shop and am now working on putting some assemblance of order to all the remaining stuff. About now I am sick of cleaning, sorting, and throwing stuff out of my shop window and am ready to get involved in some new projects including some projects I found while going thru this very large change.
So keep an eye on us this year. We are talking about lots of ideas and potential changes and are very excited about our business possibilities this year.

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to let the dog outside and be hold there was snow on the ground. There was none perdicted for this weekend so it was a surprise. Much of it has disappeared by tonight by it did put us in the Christmas mood.

This week I did a search for vintage Christmas photos. I came up with some really great photos from the 1920's that I would love to share with you.

It is rather amazing to me how bushy trees were back than. I wonder when we got the idea that they all needed to be trimmed to be pointed.

Cj and I both wish you all a very Merry Christmas this season and hope you all have wonderful holiday. We are grateful you all you you that are friends, for reading our blog and supporting us. Thank-you!

Creating Christmas

2011-12-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

We picked up a copy of the new Mathew Mead Holiday magazine in the last week. It is full of alot of great recipes and holiday creations. Creating is important to both of us doing the holidays. We are grateful that our occupation as antique dealers and as an interior designer allow us to be creative. We love both receiving and giving handmade creative gifts. There are some many wonderful creative people on Esty these days. Our hope is that if you can't yourself create that you will be supportive of those who do so by purchasing from such people on Esty. and artists that live in your community.
Cooking from scratch has to be one of the most wonderfully creative acts in the holidays. Try making a pie from scratch, make your own fudge, or gift wrapping. It will enrich your life and lives of those around you.

I week or so ago we went to our annual tree cutting party. My son,Eric and his wife, Angela went with us. We had already cut our tree so we accompanied them on their quest for the perfect tree. After the tree had been cut we headed back to the parking lot for all the homemade goodies that had been loving prepared for us by our good friends Dave & Pat.

This is not a feast to miss. We are always grateful to be invited to this celebration and make it a part of our holiday celebrations. It is a wonderful example of how creatively prepared food can be a real gift.

CJ has been busy with design work this whole Fall and Winter season. We have are having one of the best months we have ever had at Bluedoor this month. It is a season to be grateful.

Our Vintage Christmas

2011-12-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

I can't resist sharing a few pictures with you of our house after CJ spent most of last week putting together Christmas at our home. We had a neighborhood party at our house on friday that we wanted to be ready for. So alot of effort on CJ's part went into cleaning and bring Christmas up from the basement. We always have a great spot for our tree in our large front living room window. I few years ago I built a box to elevate our tree. After we mounted the tree in it's stand and put it on the box, CJ covers the box with vintage fabric and then the whole tree gets decked out with our collection of vintage ornaments. It than gets topped off with an angel from my childhood. This vintage plastic angel tree topper dates to the 50's or early 60's . I remember as a child my parents putting an angel just like this on the top of their tree. So a few years ago I found a duplicate of it on ebay(don't you just love ebay).

The fireplace mantel got the white treatment this year. We brought in greens and pine cones salvaged from outside. A chippy white mirror off an old vanity became the focal point. Candles, mercury glass, a vintage porch spindle with candle on top, cake plate with glass dome were all added to the mix. It is takes on a magic of it's own when we light the candles and fireplace at night and turn out the lights.

The side table next to the sofa has our collection of choir candle people. The vintage church sitting on the table is a duplicated of a church that my German Grandmother had set up in her living room every Christmas(again another ebay find). The church winds up and plays Silent Night, Holy Night.

Our old chipped green paint cupboard between the kitchen and the dining room has CJ's collection of glass tree toppers on it along with a collection of vintage Christmas houses I have collected and given to CJ over the last few years. My criteria for buying a house is that it has to have both a Christmas tree and a snowman on it. Houses that have both are not so easy to find.

We got our first dusting of snow this week and because it turned colder it has stayed around. We are beginning to catch most of our favorite Christmas movies on TV. CJ managed to fill almost every nook and corner in out place with Christmas. Most of our shopping is done. We have successfully had our first Christmas party and downed our first glass of eggnog for the season. So I think our Christmas season for 2011 is off to a great start. It really is a wonderful life isn't it.

Christmas, Bluedoor and Elements

2011-12-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

I needed to add this wonderful picture of this 54 Chevy with christmas wreath and snow to our blog. I once owned a 54 Chevy and when ever I see one it tugs at my heart strings. This old red truck with wreath all covered in snow appeals to my holiday mood. I even noticed that the latest Sundance catalog that just came in the mail yesterday had a red 54 chevy pick-up on the front cover.

Speaking of Christmas, we have Bluedoor looking ready for the holidays. CJ went in last week and bought a great christmas look to our booth their. We have lots of handmades from vintage and have been making a real efforts to increase the volume of our vintage small items. So we have plenty of product for the holiday shoppers.

One of the things we realize about our business is that you can never have enough small vintage items. They seem to be the bread and butter of our business. Over the last few months we have been looking for markets were we can find more vintage smalls and as a result we have been able to offer alot more smalls in our markets. We have been delighted with the results and the response to our offerings.

We have also been putting more product at Elements here in Grand Rapids. This wonderful store is owned by our good friend Patrice(see our side bar for Elements blog). The store is located in an old brick furniture factory. This setting gives the store a great funky vintage feel.
Patrice main mission is to be a gift and home accessory store that emphasizes vintage. In the store there are two spaces rented out to other dealers that compliment the look of the store. We are providing Patrice with vintage furniture items and architectural items that she mixes in with her own product.

We like the look and feel of her store and encourage all of you to check it out over the holidays. Patrice also just opened her store Wednesday thru Sunday. She intends to make this permanent and so she will only be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

We hope all of you are enjoying the holidays. It really can be such a beautiful time of year. Blessings to all of you!

Happy Brithday CJ!!!

2011-12-03T17:42:00.000-08:00

I can't let today go by without mentioning that it is CJ's birthday today. The above picture is one of my favorite pictures of CJ and was taken when she was somewhere between 15 and 17 years of age. At the time she had an art teacher who inspired her to get into pottery and so her dad made her this potters wheel that she is using. The picture was taken at an art fair in downtown Boyne City. So you can she that her creativity goes back along way.

She has a love of the creative and encouraging creativity in others including me. This past summer one of her friends that has known her since they were girls together said that she had never known a more authentic genuine person. These are qualities that I am blessed to live with. So Happy Birthday CJ and thank you for sharing your life with me.

Computer problems and Christmas at Blue door

2011-12-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

We are back on line as of a few days ago and are just now getting time to blog. Our computer crashed two times in the last couple of weeks and than seemed to develop other problems that tied up it up in the repair shop. So we are so sorry that we haven't been communicating by blog. It really is wonderful time of the year and there is so much to tell but won't try to do it all in this blog other than to tell you all we are back in the land of computers.

The holidays are in full swing at the various locations we do business at. We will post pictures of our very Christmas like locations for all of you soon. In the mean time I am posting some holiday creations of our good friend Connie Maitland at Bluedoor here in Grand Rapids.

We value Connie's friendship and have always been inspired by her creativity. So we hope you enjoy these few photos of her work until we can post again.

Happy Holidays to all!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T16:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We have had two computer crashes in the last couple of weeks. Hope to have the computer and a new post by the weekend.

Seasons, Tin Ceiling, and Other News From the Front

2011-10-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

This time of the year CJ brings out all the books we have about the coming holiday season. Many of the books are about Christmas and we spend some time pouring over these books looking for projects and holiday inspiration. Some are favorites that she has had around for years. One of the most favorite of these is a book entitled Seasons at Seven Gates Farm. It it a book that was published by Country Living about 1996 however it has a very timeless feel to it which is why we still love looking thru this book. It takes you thru the year of a 1830's circa Maryland farmstead. There are pictures in this book of a garden that would be the envy of any green thumb including beautiful winter scenes of the garden covered in snow. If you are looking for a little inspiration for the holidays I can guarantee the the final chapters of the book that cover the upcoming holidays will not disappoint.

We have both been busy working these days. CJ has had plenty of design work for which we are grateful and she as also been creating for the the up coming Beneath the Wreath show. I am also busy trying to get many of the projects sitting around my shop done. I find that it is more easy to sometimes find projects than to get them done. One of the projects I am finishing is this really great industrial work bench. It has great cast iron legs and a maple top. It should be available in the next week.

Another of the things I am working with is vintage tin ceiling. I purchased a rather large quantity of tin ceiling from someone this summer and for the most part have been very happy to just be selling pieces of it. However, I am seeing alot of people creating with tin ceiling so I have been giving that a try in my shop.

This past week I finished up a bunch of stars that I mounted on vintage bed springs. They are free standing all by themselves or can be used as tree toppers. I also used the leftover scrap to wrap picture frames with. Both should be available and make their first appearance are the Beneath the Wreath show.

I have also been playing around with making cake plates out of vintage light fixture parts and tin ceiling. This have been both fun and frustrating at the same time. I spent a lot of time working out a lot of problems. In the picture below you can see the end result still drying from the coat of milk paint I put on them. Because of how much time these took this might be the only edition. Some if you are interested these will be making an appearance at the Beneath the Wreath show as well.

My next big goal is to get my shop moved into about half the space that I currently occupy. It will be easier to heat this winter and will be cheaper rent. I can assure you this will be no easy feat with all the stuff I own. But, it is a goal that has forced me to be creative with my space, how I organize it and how I use it.

Junior League of Grand Rapids Beneath the Wreath 2011

2011-10-26T02:35:00.000-07:00

We are counting down the days to our next event. It is Beneath the Wreath a Charitable Shopping Event presented each year by the Junior League of Grand Rapids. It is Thursday November 3, 1:00 - 8:00, Friday November 4, 9:00 - 8:00

and Saturday November 5, 9:00 - 8:00

at DeVos Place.

15% of all sales go to the Jr. League.

This is a juried event and we are so pleased to have been selected.

Dan & I have been working on all kinds of new up cycled handmades for this show including holiday gifts and home decor along with all kinds of vintage finds.

Please come see us at the show and support this local charity.

Somerset Magazines and More Thoughts on Abandon Houses

2011-10-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

We have always loved the Somerset magazines. They are like buying a book everytime we pick one up so we don't buy them often but when we find good ideas for things to make the investment becomes very worthwhile for us.

In about a week and a half CJ will be doing the Beneath the Wreath Show here in Grand Rapids(more on that from her later). So we have been looking all over for good ideas for things to make using vintage parts and pieces. In our search we came across two Somerset magazines that had some great ideas.The first magazine we found was the Holidays and Celebrations magazine. If time permits I found at least three things I will be making for the show. It is really a great holiday magazine and worth checking out the next time you are at a good book store. We always love the book stores that have coffee shops in them. That way we settle down together with a stack of magazines and a good cup of coffee and get inspired together.

The second magazine we found was the Somerset Life magazine. The great card/pictures holders made from doorknobs on the cover was hard to resist. We may attempt a few of these for the show along with one or two more ideas we found inside the magazine.

We have always loved hand crafted items around the holidays and love even more items crafted from vintage.

A week ago in my last blog I talked some about an abandon house we passed on our trip up north. The blog seemed to touch something in many of you. So I decided to share a few more pictures with all of you and some additional thoughts. I will end by posting two poems that two of you sent.

I have a long love affair with old houses. Some of you know I was a contractor for more than fifteen years and specialized in historic renovation. That business was born directly out of my love of old house. Over the years I have gone thru many old houses, many of them abandon.

For a period of six years I worked as a construction manager for a non profit housing developer here in Grand Rapids. One of my jobs was to go thru and assess all of the houses the city got thru the tax reversion process. Most were empty and often boarded up. Sometime they were filled with stuff people had left behind and sometime they were completely empty. Many of my experiences still haunt me yet today.

One of the reasons I love old things is because they come with a history. Sometime you can actually feel this and old houses are often convey that same feeling when you walk thru them. It is almost like people leave behind something of their spirit in places and with things. Often finding personal items left behind such as pictures or letters add to the mystery of a place. One time I remember finding in a attic of a house stacks of old business ledgers. The house had been owned by a family that had owned an old hardware store only a few block away. The ledgers were dated 1880's thru 1920's. They were all old , wonderfully hand bound, and full of hand written inqueries. There were stacks of these and I think of them often these days when I look at what vintage ledgers sell for these days on eBay. But, back then the vintage paper ephemera craze that is going on today had yet to catch on.

However, many of my most haunting old house experiences however do not involve the city. I originally moved here from Minnesota. Over the years I have had much cause to travel back to that area and even make trips into North and South Dakota. Most of the country I lived in was filled with family farms and small rural towns. Many of these farms were settled by northern European immigrant families in the late nineteenth century. Yet, as our economy has changed over the years the family farm has been slowly disappearing. The landscape as you get out in western Minnesota and the Dakotas is filled with empty farm places and abandon buildings. There are even many towns in North Dakota that are completely empty.

For those of you that have been to this part of the country you know that this is often very flat,

treeless country. This means that you see what sometime feeling like a forever horizon. The site of an empty farmhouse in such an environment with often the only sound being a creaking windmill or the sound of the howling wind has been for me a very haunting feeling.

My mother's family had a farm in Minnesota that fell in to disrepair after the land had been sold. I remember each time I went home I would visit the place. The farmer who had purchased the land slowly cut down all the trees and than one by one tore down all the buildings until eventually all had been converted into a field for raising corn. One day when I was home for the holidays I made a trip to the family farm and all I saw was a plowed field with only a water pump left that had once been a part of the farm yard. Eventually even this water pump disappeared and now all that is left are two very large cottonwood trees by the road that marked were the approach ways to the driveway once were. The images of all of this loom large in my memory.

THE HOUSE

Because we lived our several lives

Caught up within the spells of love,

Because we always had to run

Through the enormous yards of day

To do all that we hoped to do,

We did not hear, beneath our lives,

The old walls falling out of true,

Foundations shifting in the dark.

When seedlings blossomed in the eaves,

When branches scratched upon the door

And rain came splashing through the halls,

We made our minor,brief repairs,

And sang upon the crumbling stairs

And danced upon the sodden floors.

For years we lived at peace, until

The rooms themselves began to blend

With time, and empty one by one,

At which we knew, with muted hearts,

That nothing further could be done,

And so rose up, and went away,

Inheritors of breath and love,

Bound to that final estate

No child can mend or trade away.

-Mary Oliver

THE HOUSE WITH NOBODY IN IT
Whenever I walk to Suffern along Erie track

I go by a poor old farmhouse with its shingles broken and black

I suppose I've passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute

And look at the house, the tragic house, the house with nobody in it.

I have never seen a haunted house, but I hear there are such things;

That they hold the talk of spirits, their mirth and sorrowings.

I know this house isn't haunted, and I wish it were, I do;

For it wouldn't be so lonely if it had a ghost or two.

This house on the broad to Suffern needs a dozen panes of glass,

And somebody ought to weed the walk and take a scythe to the grass.

It needs new paint and shingles, and the vines should be trimmed and tied;

But what it needs most of all is some people living inside.

If I had a lot of money and all my debts were paid

I'd put a gang of men to work with brush and saw and spade.

I'd buy that place and fix it up the way it used to be

And I'd find some people who wanted a home and give it to them free.

Now, a new house standing empty, with staring window and door,

Looks idle, perhaps, and foolish, like a hat on its block in the store.

But there's nothing mournful about it; it cannot be sad and lone

For the lack of something within it that it has never known.

But a house that has done what a house should do,

a house that has sheltered life,

That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife,

A house that has echoed a baby's laugh and held up his stumbling feet,

Is the saddest sight , when it's left alone, that ever your eyes could meet.

So whenever I go to Suffern along the Erie Track

I never go by the empty house without stopping and looking back,

Yet it hurts me to look at the crumbling roof and the shutters fallen apart,

For I can't help thinking the poor old house is a house with a broken heart.

-Joyce Kilmer

Fall, Old Abandon Farm Houses, Petoskey, Steve Jobs and my Birthday

2011-10-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we made a trip up to Petoskey to redo our booth at Then & Now. We spent two days making this trip and stayed over night with CJ's parents. The trip was also a opportunity for us to take in some of Michigan's fall color. The color was about at it's prime about halfway up to Petoskey. It was outstanding! We even sat on Mom and Dad's back deck because of the warm weather and watched the leaves fall.

I also never take a trip without checking out old building and farm places. One of the places we always drive by when traveling from Petoskey to Boyne City is this wonderful abandoned farm house on Horton Bay Road. Properties like this always tug at my heart strings and the romantic side of my imagination. We had to stop and take a picture. The very red Virginia creeper growing up the side of this house added a wonderful touch of Fall to this picture.

Almost five years ago I took this picture about this same time of year of an abandon pink farmhouse in Minnesota. This house really spoke to me when I saw it. I have always wanted to paint this picture. It just will have to get added to my many lists of things to do.

I know that there as been many quotes by Steven Jobs floating on the Internet when he died last week. But, I need to share one of the quotes that moved me and I may just have to make it my mantra. You see tomorrow is my birthday. I will be 56 the same age as Steven Jobs. I feel blessed to live the life I am living. Even though the last few years have been difficult financialy for many of us I believe that I am living the life I was meant to live and becoming the person I was meant to become. I am so grateful to be alive and living my life. To those friends and family that have supported me the last few years I will be forever indebted to you.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinion's drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you want to become. Everthing else is secondary."

-Steve Jobs

Circle of Life

2011-09-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

It was the most beautiful late August summer day, that Dan took this picture of Grandpa & I and I will always cherish it. Maybe the last picture ever taken of him, at least of the 2 of us. Grandpa passed away on Wed evening at 97. He lived a wonderful life and we all marvel at what he saw in his lifetime and of the changes in our world that he experience. We have had marvelous conversations about all of it and it passed through me like a great movie with scenes so amazing. I have been blessed to have been able to spend lots of time with him throughout my life and have been privy to the "stories".

Family is gathering and that is such a good thing.

But all of that said I will NOT be doing the show @ Everlasting Blooms, this Saturday Oct 1st.

We will instead be celebrating Grandpas life.

Thank you for your understanding and I will keep you all informed of our next hurrah.

Everlasting Blooms Flea Market this Sat. Oct 1, 9-5

2011-09-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

Is this not the cutest place!

Everlasting Blooms on Spalding off Cascade Road in Grand Rapids.

Dan & I are doing their first ever Flea Market this Saturday Oct. 1st from 9-5.

We will have lots of Fall decor and a lot of our handmade repuposed items with us. We will be set up in the greenhouse and from what I hear in GREAT company. Marcia and Sandy will be there from Nest as well as the girls from A-Gladstone-Company.

Hope to see you all there!

Happy Fall

2011-09-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

We received this great picture from CJ's Dad yesterday. The leaves are changing and there is a Fall feeling in the air.

We will be making a trip up north this weekend. I have spent the day loading the trailer for Then and Now in Petoskey. We are both a little sore and tired from the Country Living show. But, the one constant in this business is that there is always more to haul.

The bonus to our trip up north is that we get to see the start of Fall color and are going to spent the night on friday with CJ's parents. It is always a treat to be able to go home to Mom and Dad. I have been married twice and both times I was blessed with ready great in laws.

We also found a really wonderful magazine this past week. Autumn by Matthew Mead. This man is considered a regular male Martha Stewart. The magazine has mostly recipes and some decorating ideas all displayed with beautiful photos. The magazine inspired me to check out his blog and website both of which were equally inspiring.
It is such a beautiful time of the year. I celebrated today by baking an apple pie, went for a walk, looked up at the sky, and bought pumpkin ale. Life is good!!

Report from the Country Living Fair

2011-09-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

It is now Saturday night and after a second day of the Country Living Fair we are tired. The crowds have been huge and the whole experience of being here has been everything we expected and more. Yesterday our sales exceeded all records for any previous one day of sales.

This morning before the crowds arrived I took a few pictures in the town green of this lovely historic village the show is being held in. The historic setting of the show adds a wonderful element to this show and combined with the wonderful Fall like weather it is truely a picture perfect place to be.

See if you can pick out our space as it looked first thing this morning in tent number 5. We are the people with the famous stacking pumpkins that everyone seems to want to photograph.

I picture latter in the day with CJ holding sway over the corner of our harvest table that has become the corner we use to write up our sales.

After the show today we made quick trip to see Sobo Style. We managed to also catch Joe and Sandy from Rubarb Reign doing a trunk show at the store.

One of the highlights of the weekend was a get together we had last night at the invitation of Katie owner of Sobo Style. Joe and Sandy were there of Rubarb Reign, we got to meet Mary Ellen of Twisted Style, and many other fine people including numerous friends from Grand Rapids. Diana Korhorn and Karen Kelder were at the party and were emotionally so supportive , Patrice of Elements in Grand Rapids was also present with here husband Stan. We were most grateful of the presence of Sue and Hugh Hufnagel who came down from Grand Rapids to help us at the show. We have never been busier at any show and couldn't imagine what we would have done without there help yesterday and today. Thanks Hugh and Sue you really rock!

Enough for tonight. I have to get to bed. One more day to go. We love the Country Living Fair and wish you could all be here.

THE PILES - On Our Way To The Country Living Fair in Columbus!

2011-09-14T05:51:00.000-07:00

The piles of merchandise have been forming here like you can't believe. We leave today for the Country Living Fair in Columbus.

Stacks of completed projects have been boxed and packed.

This is really one of the first times that Dan & I have created this kind of quantity. We set goals for ourselves, made lists, crossed things off and added more. During this process we also worked hard and being mindful of the end result and honoring the creative process. For example one item that I was making I had on my list to make 20 of them, I put together 19 that I thought were fabulous (!) but number 20 just wasn't coming to me, so rather than making number 20 just to make number 20, I stopped. So I'm here to tell you all 19 ROCK!

So what were those 19 items? Ask me at the Fair!

And come see what we do with this bale of hey!

See you @ the Fair!

Country Living Fair this weekend

2011-09-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

The truck is almost packed. Just a little more to go. My body feels every walk up the truck ramp at this point. We have borrowed a truck from Mike Dykhouse from Eastown Antiques for the use of his very large truck for our Country Living load. Thanks Mike!

It looks like right now we are scheduled to be in tent number five. We will be setting up on Thursday and open for business Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We are excited to see all of you that show up to say hi.

Pumpkins!!!!

2011-09-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

OK, we wanted pumpkins to take with to the Country Living show and we found that our favorite pumpkin patch just opened for business. So we purchased our pumpkins and along with them two bales of straw. We truly looked very funny driving down the road with two bales of straw on the top of CJ's car. Yesterday we also made a stop at one of our favorite areas to cut hydrangeas and we gathered some nice bunches to put in some of the many containers and sap buckets we are taking along.

A friend on face book also posted this really great quote about creativity. Since we are in this huge creative burst trying to get everything done this quote was wonderful to read so I couldn't resist sharing it with all of you.

It's really true!!! Tomorrow we start to load!!

Creations for Country Living, Flea Market Style, Annie Sloan's chalk paint

2011-09-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

We have been working on many creations for Country Living. I just finished making numerous wire picture holder's out of old door knobs and cast iron shoe lasts.

I also finished three of these very colorful pharmacy cabinets. I am very pleased with how they have turned out. I was inspired by a vintage cabinet someone had showed me that had been painted in a similar style. The base coat of paint was black, I than applied bright machinery implement colors which were wiped off with rags soaked in paint thinner to expose the black. It was a very fun process.

I am also finishing some really great chalk boards made out of some great architectural trims and fragments.

With our lives being so consumed with so much creative activity you might wonder if we have time for anything else. Well, it just so happens that we do need to read a little at night in bed together before we can relax our brains and go to sleep. One of the magazines we have picked out the last couple of weeks that we have enjoyed is Flea Market Style.

It is full of lots of great ideas and projects. We found a few ideas we really liked and have added a few projects to our list of future projects.

We also picked up a new book called Creating The French Look by Annie Sloan. In the book she introduces us to a new paint product called chalk paint along with some really great projects. If you read many of the blogs we are related to, you realize that there is a bit of buzz about chalk paint these days. It reminds me of milk paint which I have been playing around with lately. I will have to give this a try in the near future.

Well, time for bed. It is just a few days now before we pack. So the excitement builds!!

Happy Labor Day!! Laboring for Country Living on Labor Day

2011-09-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

We have been busy all weekend. Cj has been home in her studio giving her sewing machine a good workout. I have been in my shop making alot of sawdust and paint fumes. Most weekends we find ourselves working however with the Country Living show only about ten days away we have a new sense of urgency in our work. We have never made, created, or found so much for any one show and are planning on this being the largest load of product we have ever taken to any show. So our Labor Day weekend has truly been a weekend of labor.

This past week I finished three harvest tables I am planning on taking with us. The one pictured above in my paint spray booth was made out of a vintage plank door with porch columns for legs. About a week ago I found some really great apothecary cabinets that came out of a drug store in a town not far from here. I am readying all three for the show.

Today a friend showed up with a trailer load of vintage items he wanted us to take to the show. You have to love friends like that that just show up at your doorstep.

I found a couple of really great vintage cast iron urns that we are hoping to fill with pumpkins for the show. That assumes that pumpkins are ready in ten days. I did check my patches of bittersweet and it look like we will be able to take some bittersweet with us.

We are very excited about all of this. We hope that we get to see many of our friends/clients and hope to make lots of new acquaintances. Just counting down the days!!!

The Hopeful Gospel Duet & The Country Living Fair

2011-09-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

OK, so I am sewing like crazy, creating something new out of something old and talking to my Mom another lifetime sewer about what I am working on and she asks me if these items are for someone in particular. So first you need to understand that the antiques part of our business is different but connected (how's that for clarity!) to the Interior Design part of the business. When something is being sewn for an Interior Design client it is a for sure sale. Designed and fabricated especially for them. Quoted and paid for (ya, I like that too). But....... what I am creating these days (& Dan as well) is based on HOPE. We are hoping that all of YOU coming to the Country Living Fair in Columbus will like our creations, new things from old, and buy them! So Dan & I have come to call ourselves The Hopeful Gospel Duet after the Hopeful Gospel Quartet with Garrison Keillor. Hope is a wonderful thing! We are both very excited about this opportunity. So hear we go "on a wing and a prayer" as another saying goes.

See you at the FAIR!

Country Living Fair, Columbus Ohio 2011

2011-08-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

OK so many of you know that we are so excited to be doing the Country Living Fair in Columbus Ohio, Sept 16-18. And many of you know that we specialise in up cycled, handmades from vintage pieces and parts. Dan has shown you what he is up to, so I thought that I would show you what I have been up to ( and a little more from Dan :-) )

Some of you might remember "the bag" as it has become know as, that I made earlier this summer, using a piece of rug hooking that I had done as well as vintage ticking & upholstery webbing. Well is seems most everywhere that I go people comment on my bag and at the last Petoskey show many people spotted it hidden behind the table and wanted to buy it. So OK I got the hint and I am making LOTS of them to bring with us.

I am using wonderful vintage needlepoint, crewel embroidery, cross stitch and linen children's books for the front centers. Her is a sneak peak and some of them in progress.

I am also working on jewelry!

Spooky and some not so spooky vintage post card garlands.

Dan has also been making these must have photo holders using old door knobs, vintage shoe forms and.....................

the rest is a secret!

Can't wait to see you all there!!!

Until then

XOXOXO

(sleepless in GR)

Saturday Night News

2011-08-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since we have blogged. We are discovering that since the Petoskey show(pictured above) that we have been working overtime to get ready for the next big show in September which is the Country Living Fair in Columbus Ohio. The Petoskey show however, was fun for us to do. The numbers of people that usually come to this show seemed to be down. The main parking lot on Sunday was never full and it almost always has been full in the past. We however still sold lots of product including our two largest items- a rattan sofa and a rather large harvest table.

Having done this show now for a couple of years we get to meet many regulars that attend this show. We are also finding good energy between the show and many of the people who shop our our space at Then and Now in Petoskey which is just up the street from the fair grounds were we set up at to do the show.

Speaking of Then and Now, we have had a couple of the best months we have ever had at any antique mall. We are so gratful for all the hard work of Tracy and all the people that work our space for us.

About the time we did the Petoskey show we also took the Train from Grand Rapids to Chicago to pay a visit to the Gift Market. We love doing this to see what new product is out there that we could benefit from for the design business. We also love being inspired by what we see and try to collect ideas for many of our repuposed products we do. We are also discovering that some of the vendors buy vintage to use in their displays. In fact, the people who do KD Vintage (above) have purchased from us at Allegan Antique Fair.

The day we returned to Grand Rapids from the Petoskey show I managed to acquire about 13 antique arch top vintage windows. There were a few more than I had planned so as you can see packing my small cart with them was a bit of a challenge. They came out of a wonderful old farm house. The grey haired gentleman who sold them to us told us that his grandfather build the farm house and his grandfather's name was written on the side of the windows. I have brought a few of these windows over to Elements here in Grand Rapids where this past week I hung one of them from the ceiling. It looks spectacular!

We also purchased a number of these iron/metal legs benches from someone and have recovered the seats in vintage grain sack material.

This load of vintage casing and bead board also was something I picked up this past week. It all came out of and old school house that burned. Some of it is painted white but most of it is painted red and blue. Wonderful colors to work with for creating our vintage frames and caulk boards.

I also just clean this vintage drafting table and old school lockers which can now bee seen at Bluedoor.

So as you can see there is plenty to keep us busy. We are also now regularly bring items to Elements here in Grand Rapids(See blogs we follow). As we get ready for the Country Living Fair we will keep you posted on the finds and creations we come up with for the show. We are planning our largest load ever. So much to do and so little time! We have heard from a number of you that you are planning to attend the show in September. This absolutely delights us and we hope you all stop by to say hi.

Antiques at the Fairgrounds, Petoskey this weekend

2011-08-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

Dan & I are working like little bees this week getting ready for the Antiques at the Fairgrounds show in Petoskey this weekend. We are excited about the product that we are bringing. Lots of re purposed up cycled furniture and decorative items. Great antiques, cottage and garden.

So here is a sneak peak @ some of the product we are bringing along for the show.

Dan & also were in Chicago this week for the gift and accessory show @ the Merchandise Mart and we thought you might like to see a few things that totally inspired us!

We loved all of this color!

This was a great line of furniture and accessories. Wonderful styling and great color.

The other "trend" that we love is quite opposite - a rather lack of color.

We loved bleached driftwood color on this set of wicker trunks and what's not to love about French grain sacks!

OK so back to work and hope to see you all at the SHOW!!!!!!!!!

Various Thursday Night Thoughts

2011-07-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

People often ask me were we find alot of our product. Well there are many places and ways that we often find stuff but one way that often gives me great pleasure is dumpster diving. The great blue casing in the above picture I found this week in a dumpster. I just love getting something so cool for free. They had such great color! I turned the casing into some really great frames for some vintage oil paintings I had in the shop.

The wire baskets under the casing was purchased at a local auction. They have such great shape and character. I pretty love anything vintage wire.

We have always loved vintage architectural and this past week I came across one of the nicest stairway newel post I think I have ever found. This find happened because someone walked up to me outside my shop and asked if I would be interested i n buying some things. I think that is my second most favorite to get product. It is hard to beat someone knocking on your door offering items to sell.

We also obtained this 1940's/1950's rattan section sofa with original fabric and a really great glass reverse painted beauty shop sign most likely from the 1930's.

Most of these item are currently on display at Bluedoor along with lots of great finds so we hope you take some time to check us out if you haven't done so recently.

If you are looking for something to do this weekend we have a great suggestion. A good friend of ours in opening what we think will be a very exciting store here in Grand Rapids. Her store name is called Elements and if you are interested in checking her out you can find more information out about her and the store on her blog which is also called Elements. Elements is listed on our side bar of blogs that we follow. It is a gift store in a wonderful old industrial setting that promises to showcase her love of vintage, recreated, and repurposed items.

Rules? What Rules? Who makes the rules anyway? Make your own.

2011-07-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

We got a copy of this book this week. It is called "A bit of Velvet and a Dash of Lace" by Robin Brown of Magnolia Pearl fame. Many of you might recognize the name because Robin was featured on the cover of the magazine, Where Woman Create, last Nov./Dec./Jan. That is how we got interested reading more about Robin and her very unique style. The book was published in 2008 so it isn't new but it was new and inspiring to us.

Robin was born a true child of the hippie 60's culture with parents that were very creative. So her life story is very fascinating for someone like me. I came from a very opposite culture that was very black and white. My very strict religious culture that doesn't encourage much creativity. Change and new things were discouraged because that was just too scary after all. But, Robin seems like a person who embraces a love of creativity with her love of vintage and then uses her vintage finds to create new. She seem very fearless about her artistic creations and her willingness to explore new ways of using old. I enjoyed reading how she and her partner purchased an old farm house, removed all the old siding and trim from the outside, reinstalled all the wood inside their house and then applied vintage tin ceiling to the outside of the house.

The book is also filled with many wonderful quotes- Live the life you love, The heart is the boss....love it, Rules? What Rules? Who makes the rules anyway? Make your own.

So, check out this book, her website and blog. I found this just plain fun.

I have to picture this great vintage storage cabinet I picked up at an auction last week. I love these great multi-drawer storage cabinets. The cabinet needs a little work but all the drawers and hardware are in good shape so I hope to have this done this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, I will be busy in my shop trying to getting many projects done but CJ will be up in Petoskey. Then and Now will be having a very large tent sale on Saturday so CJ has decided to go up and work our little space in Tracy's wonderful store. So stop by and say hi if you are in the area.

Trip back up north

2011-07-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

We no sooner got back from our trip up north over the forth of July than we were already planning another return trip to north country. One of the main reasons for our trip up north this past weekend was this great salvaged set of kitchen cabinets that came out of a house here in Grand Rapids. Like many of the projects I haul to my shop this cabinet was in many pieces and I rebuilt it using all the original old wood. I did make the upper cabinet a little bit shorter, put glass in the doors and built an open arch area in the middle rather than putting a door back on the cabinet. It was great fun and best of all was delivered to a new owner inm Petoskey this weekend.

Was also brought along some new pieces to restock Then and Now. We left our space their packed very full. We also started stocking for the next Petoskey show which is the first weekend in August.

When ever we go up north this time of year we always stay with Mom and Dad Pluister. They really are the best bed and breakfast and we always have a great time with them. Dad has been helping us by making picture/chalk board frames from us out of old casing and bead board. He has also been making parts for the many hook racks we make out of door panels and sell at Then and Now. I am very grateful for his help at this very busy time of year.

Cj's Mom and Dad have lived in Boyne City for many years and when we stay with them we have to make about a twenty minute drive into Petoskey. There are a couple of favorite routes we like to take. The county is so beautiful that every chance we get we love going for drives that let us see some of the beautiful spots between the two towns. Often we take Horton Bay Road which takes us thru the village of Horton Bay which has this great inn and bookstore. I love this sign and the old house that houses the book store. So I could resist taking some pictures this time on a trip to Petoskey this past Friday.

Then of course there is the Horton Bay General which is right next door. Stepping inside is truly like stepping back in time. Great baked goodies which is always an excuse to stop.

After we got back in the truck we drove down the road about a half a mile and found the lavender in full bloom at Lavender Hill farm. So we got out and walked the grounds farm and fields. This is a beautiful vintage farm were the owners grow fields of lavender and sell lots of products make with their lavender at a store on the farm site. Last Fall I meet the owner when I delivered a counter I made for the store. She is truly all about lavender and is also an avid beekeeper evidenced by the many bee hives in the lavender fields.

Right about now the field are in full bloom. If you are ever in the area this is a stop worth making. There are places on the earth that are a bit of heaven and this is truly one of them.

So, we are now safely back in Grand Rapids, it is Sunday night, and it is time to think and plan for this week. Many things need my attention in the shop this week. I am planning on going to an auction and flea market this week. Then and Now is having a big sale next weekend. We are thinking about trying to be their for that. We are getting ready for the next Petoskey show and Country Living show in the middle of September, trying to restock Bluedoor here in Grand Rapids. Plus, we are planning what additional shows we want to do this Fall and Winter. So CJ and I are about to sit down and make lists to trying an keep track of everything and above all we are trying to stay cool as we are experincing one of our Michigan summer heat waves this weekend.

Great Time in Petoskey & Boyne City

2011-07-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the antique show this past weekend in Petoskey. Thank you to all of our wonderful customers. It was beautiful weather, we couldn't have asked for it to be any nicer. Sales were strong and we are so grateful.

We had a grand time with my family attending the 4th of July festivities in Boyne City, you just can't beat a small town 4th of July. The parade went on over an hour! ending with a chicken BBQ in the waterfront park and we watched the fireworks over the tree tops from Mom & Dad's deck.

We just can't thank everyone at Then & Now in Peroskey enough - they all do a fantastic job of selling our items. We restocked 3 times while we were there! It is always a pleasure to meet the people who purchase from us and we had the opportunity to do that both at the show and in the shop over the last several day. Thank you everyone!

We made a delivery in Traverse City on the way home, met with a wonderful long time client in Frankfurt, spied this amazing field of baby's breath and stopped along the way at a couple of fruit markets.

Dan is shown above with Chet, who asked where we were from and we said Grand Rapids and he said "oh do you know the antique shop Lost and Found? My son Mark owns that shop" ! Small world! I was wearing a necklace purchased there. Marks shop is really great if you have not been to it on Century Street is is a must see. We bought gorgeous raspberries from Chet along with maples syrup - can't wait for Sunday morning buckwheat pancakes! We also stopped for cherries and strawberries.

We made strawberry jam last night and I have another batch of raspberry jam started now.

Ah summer..............

This blog also ushers in a new era for us. We now have a new name for our business. We have been for sometime trying to find a new name that both of us like and reflects what we do together as a couple. We hope that our new name will best reflect the new identity we are now are now creating for ourselves. "Sometimes in the winds of change you find your true direction or ture north"

Antiques at the Fairgrounds, Petoskey, MI July 2 & 3

2011-06-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

Dan & I are excited about the upcoming antique show - Antiques at the Fairgrounds, Petoskey, MI., this weekend. July 2nd & 3rd.

http://www.antiquesatthefairgrounds.com/

It is always a wonderful show for us and we get to spend time with family and enjoy the 4th.

Here are a few photos of what I have been working on.

I have wanted to a long time now to slipcover a vintage office chair. I loved this vintage fabric that Dan found for me & how cute is it on this chair!

I also have been making these chic earrings from vintage chandelier crystals and vintage pearls. So I will have lots of these to choose from.

And the T-shirts have been voted into inventory! So I will have several of these in varying colors and sizes.

Saturday we made a trip up there and delivered a custom made harvest table to a beautiful place on Walloon Lake, not far from where Ernest Hemingway used to spend summers in his youth.

Our Booth @ Then & Now in Petoskey is really full right now with tons of Dans re imagined furniture.

And isn't this a wonderful vintage cottage armoire! So shabby chic!

Hope to see you ALL at the show!

Cool Stuff in the Mail

2011-06-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share with you a photo of some of the "cool stuff" I got in the mail this week! As you know Dan & I are getting ready for the antique show next weekend in Petoskey and I am starting to work on more jewelry this afternoon. I ordered "supplies" this week from ETSY. Esty is a wonderful resource for supplies as well as handmade an vintage. Check back later for photos of what I make with these goodies.

Dan has been busy with custom orders this week, which are so fun. There is amazing creative energy around something you KNOW someone wants.

OK sorry to chat and run but I am excited about making jewelry! Toodles!

PS. We are making a trip up north to Petoskey this weekend with more product. We have decided to not do any more Allegan antique shows this summer. We are just too busy and have decided to focus on what is working for us in Petoskey. Will will miss seeing those of you that come to see us at Allegan.

Preparing for Antique Shows

2011-06-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

This is the time of year that both Dan & I don our super hero outfits and really get to work!

We are preparing for several upcoming shows. First is the Antiques at the Fairgrounds show in Petoskey, July 1st and 2nd. This show is twice a summer, also August 5 & 6. We love this show & Petoskey!

So here's a look at some of what we have been doing to prepare for shows & to fill both of our spaces at Bluedoor and Then & Now .

Dan has been creating his magic with furniture, LOVE this latest harvest table! And don't you love these little sneak peaks inside his workshop :-)

Here is a sweet little old chair that we collaborated on. Dan of course did the painting,

and I made the slipcover. Thanks to our friend Lynda Boyd I learned to use painters drop cloth fabric for all kinds of things! I used it here to sew the slipcover. I pre wash it and it takes on the look of natural linen.

A few more up close detail. I love these little shabby chic ruffles!

I've also made a bunch more gardening aprons using vintage fabrics. These are also great for all of you antique dealers out there too. I love to wear one when we do shows - 3 great pockets for change, measuring tape, pens, lipstick etc!

I have also been working on jewelry pieces - here a few glass charms that I have been creating with vintage images from old sewing patterns, children's game pieces, vintage dictionary pages and ephemera. I also have been working with these awesome vintage chandelier crystals and old pearls to make pendents

I have been working on some amazing Interior Design projects too. I think that you all know that I love detail and COLOR, so enjoy these 2 top photos. The first is a wonderful Country French style home, using reds, French toiles, checks, stripes and the second is a remodel punching the colors up with purples and kiwi greens -so fresh and lively. Notice the purple Murano Style Glass chandelier - how cool is that!!!!!!!!!

Last I wanted to share with you a few photos of 2 things that I made recently for myself. I did this rug hooking a few years back with the intention of making it into a pillow, but I liked making it into a carry bag instead. I used some of the vintage French ticking that Dan has been collecting for me, vintage upholstery webbing, chambray lining and a scrap of English linen for an interior pocket.

I was so flipped out over a peace sign t-shirt that Sandy of Rhubarb Reign was wearing last weekend, that I wanted to try my hand at making one. So an Old Navy t-shirt that I hadn't worn and a scarp of my favorite Amy Butler fabric! What do you think should I make these to sell?

PEACE!

Tooth Update, Charlevoix, Maison Jardin

2011-05-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

I have to begin this blog with an update on my tooth. My trip to the dentist revealed a tooth cracked to the root thus no repair was possible. So I am now minus one tooth. As painful as that sounds I am learning that the removal of a tooth that is cracked to the root is far less painful than living with it.
Actually, in spite of a trip to the dentist is has been a very busy week. I have been busy in the shop repairing, painting, finishing and busy collecting some great items from about 3 auctions this week. CJ has been home working on some design projects that have turned up this spring. After having a couple of slow years we are grateful for all the work that finds it way to our door.
One of the things I have been wanting to blog about for some time are our trips we make up north. We often have times to make great side trips when we have left our load at Then and Now in Petoskey. One of our favorite places to visit is the wonderful little summer resort community of Chalevoix. It is about 20 minutes away from Petoskey, has a population of about 3000 people that swells to about 30,000 in the summer, and is located between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix

We love to drive around town and looks at Earl Young houses. Earl Young was a builder who built a number of houses in and around town out of mostly field stones and boulders found throughout northern Michigan. The houses are very whimsical and are often called mushroom houses, gnome houses, or hobbit houses because of their shapes.

However, one of our main reasons to visit downtown is usually to visit a wonderful store called Maison Jardin. We love the look of this store and of the building.

They carry a number of vintage items as well as new home decor items and in the last year really great clothes.

I have long wanted to share with you our love of this store and I hope a few of the pictures will entice a few of you to put this place on your list of places to visit if you are ever in northern Michigan.

We have a list of stores, antique shops and magazines/books that are an important sources of creative inspiration for us as we do our business and this little gem of a place always inspires us.

So if you are ever in Charlevoix please check this store which is located in a wonderful 100 year old plus building.

Now time for me to focus on making one more trip up to Petoskey this coming week and then back to Allegan Antique Market next weekend.

Follow Your Heart

2011-05-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday night and our weekend has not gone as planned. First,on Friday we had some truck problems that resulted in our need to cancel our trip to Ann Arbor this weekend. We were very excited about doing the Ann Arbor show so we were sorry to have to scrub our trip. We are realizing that as well as my truck has served me it is time for us to begin looking for a replacement. Second, a nagging sore tooth that I have been nursing for a couple of weeks took a turn for the worse yesterday and I ended up in the med center this morning looking for something to relieve the pain that had taken on epic proportions. A visit to the dentist is the first item on my list tomorrow.

As I am sitting here nursing my sore jaw I am thinking about this business that CJ and I do together and feel very grateful that I get to do something that I love so much. I believe more than ever that if you do what you love and follow your heart you have the foundation for building a great business.

First, I get to do this business with my creative partner and best friend, my wife CJ. That would be reason enough to do what we do but there is more.

Second, we both love history and collecting vintage items. There is a real rush in hunting and finding all the treasures we come across and getting those items into the hands of people that are as excited about them as we are. When you love to buy and collect vintage/antique items it is a natural to turn that love into a business.

Third, there is a hands on, restoration side to the business that is really appealing to me. The below pictured apothecary style cabinet I hauled home from an auction in many pieces.

Most of the drawers were in pieces and a number of them were missing. So I had to reassemble what drawers I had and than made up the ones that were missing to match the original. I than finished the cabinet in one of the new distressed white paint finishes I have been experimenting with the last few months.

Fourth, there is a creative side to the business that both of us love. There is the design work that CJ gets but there are also the items we get to create. Such as the pillows pictured below that CJ made out of a find I made of some antique French ticking.

There are also the various furniture items I get to create out of the vintage parts and piece that we find. This side of the business feeds our artistic side on so many levels.

Fifth, there are all the wonderful people we meet doing our business. We have been privileged to meet so me people who have been so interesting to get to know and have been so affirming of us and our many finds and creations.

So we have decided to continue to follow our hearts and look forward to whatever adventures and roads that may take us down. This year promises to be a big year for us so we will hopefully have some exciting news about our business as the year unfolds.

So having to sit home today did result in me being able to finish a great book I have been reading about Andrew Wyeth and the Wyeth family.

I really enjoyed reading this book about an American icon and creative artistic family. So if your looking for a good summer read I can not recommend this enough.

Ann Arbor Antiques Market this Sat & Sun, May 14 & 15

2011-05-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to have been accepted into the Ann Arbor Antiques Market. Our first show with them will be this Saturday and Sunday, May 14 &15. Saturday form 8-4 and Sunday from 10-4. Look for us outside under the big tent. This is their Garden Show - how fun is that!!!

I also wanted to share a few photos of the product that we off loaded in the SUN SHINE on Sunday in Petoskey for Then & Now.

I will join Dan for Sundays market in Ann Arbor, in the mean time I will be teaching a seminar at Kendall College of Art & Design , ETSY 101, on Saturday 11:00-5:00. There are sill openings in that class, it is a one day workshop for you to learn tips and tricks for selling your handmades, vintage and supplies on the popular e-commerce website of ETSY.

Country Living Fair!

2011-05-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

Dan & I couldn't be more excited! We just found out today that we have been accepted into the Country Living Fair in Columbus Ohio, September 16-18!!!!!!

Go to countryliving.com click on community & freebies for more info. As we find out more about it too we will share it ALL with you.

Dan has continued to work on his new specialty finish and now he has combined it with reverse painting on glass. Oh my stars! Blue even, my new favorite color.

Also thank you to everyone who attended the first Allegan Antiques Market this past weekend. The weather was perfect and we had our best Allegan show ever. However we missed our friends Joe and Sandy of rhubarb-reign.blogspot.com & Diane Passi. Several of you asked about them and they will be back in May.

We have much to be thankful for and have been doing a happy dance!

Allegan Antiques Market Sat/Sun

2011-04-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

Dan & I are excited, this weekend is the first Allegan Antiques Market of the season and the "Season Opener" is going to be realy special this year. It will be a 2 day show opening on Saturday (April 30) @ 10:00 am and closing @ 4:00 and open again on Sunday(May 1st) @ 8:00 am. Set up is Friday staring @ 1:00 so early buy starts then as well. Early buy is a worthwhile adventure if you are a serious antique buyer or junker. Early buy admission is $25.00 for on person or 2 for $35.00. See there are all kinds of deals to be had!

We had a wonderful opportunity to salvage in an old school that is being torn down. The school building was built in the 1890's. We will be bringing lots of treasures from there including a stack of vintage dictionaries, like the one pictured above. We will also have lots of garden. Oh ya, spring - summer, we are into it!

So consider shopping on Friday, or we will see you Saturday or Sunday!

Spring Re Purposed - Up Cycled Handmades On Their Way to Bluedoor

2011-04-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

Wow Spring is definitely in the air! We have been hanging out on the porch again, I planted seeds in the garden and have been creating with vintage finds. Shredded vintage paper nests filled with lavender, hand painted and glittered found wood eggs and vintage prints printed onto vintage sheet music - I think I hear the birds! All of these items on their way to bluedoorgr.com this morning.

Check out my ETSY site for more!

PETOSKEY!

2011-04-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to share with you some new photos of our space @ Then and Now in Petoskey. We were just there and added lots of product. Their season has started! and according to a recent report it is warm and very spring like and sales are strong. Dan's creations continue to amaze me. Here in Grand Rapids we are finishing up taxes planning our summer shows, with several new ones on the horizon (watch the side bar for upcoming shows), getting ready for the first Allegan Antiques Market, April 30th and May 1, readying the porch and digging in the garden.

Happy Spring to all!

You Give A Girl A Vintage Curtain and...........

2011-03-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

Dan brought home these fabulous vintage curtains last week that had lots of wear and I couldn't have been more excited! Working around the holes and wear spots is easy when you turn them into "other" projects. So far I have used some of it for the darling stool that Dan built using reclaimed feet and old door or window casing. So chic don't you think!

I also have made several of these charming gardening aprons using all kinds of different vintage and reclaimed fabrics. You may see both of us wearing these this summer at the shows. (I don't' think Dan's will have flowers!) Good also for any kind of creative project - garage sales etc. 3 pockets, one size fits all :-)

Next, is another fabric that I have been hording for quite some time. Vintage linen gray toile - be still my heart! I used some here to cover yet another stool and I stitched this great French style market bag using a pattern from Kaari Mengs French General Home Sew Book.

I also used bits of it and other great fabrics to cover these journals.

Instructions for the journals and the garden apron came from another French General book "The French Inspired Home" also by Kaari Meng.

RePurposed Up cycled Lamps @ Bluedoor

2011-03-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

Dan & I have had this notion to try lamp making, he having a background as an electrician and me well.........

Any way here is a look at our latest creation on it's way into Bluedoor here in Grand Rapids.

Dan also refurbished these wonderful old vintage goose neck desk lamps this week. The base of each one is different and unique. I personally love the pale dove gray one that has it's original old paint.

We also added lots of product to our space @ Bluedoor, including signs, oil paintings, stained glass windows, 3 beautiful Gothic windows, industrial, drawer and cubby cabinets. Lots of repurposed, up cycled and vintage charm.

You can also see lots of our product on ETSY - see the side bar here for a quick link.

Mary Randolph Carter

2011-02-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

We are always looking for new books or magazines. that cover our favorite subjects namely, interior design, antiques, old junk,and crafting or repuposing with vintage items. One of our favorite authors that seems to cover most of our interests is Mary Randolph Carter. We have featured one of her books before in our book reviews but recently we came across three more of her books that we were able to buy at a very affordable price. The first of the book pictured is entitled, A Perfectly Kept House Is The Sign Of A Misspent Life. How can you not like a book by this title? This is our kind of book!

The second book we got is called Garden Junk. This appealed to our love of garden and our love of vintage garden junk.

The third book we got is called American Junk. We can only recommend that if you love collecting vintage and "junking" you have to take a look at these books and any others you can find by this author. There are lots of great quotes and lots of great pictures. You will find that Mary Randolph Carter is truly the patron saint of the bad, the chipped and the distressed.

Distress Painted Furniture

2011-02-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

Pictured here is a wonderful vintage cabinet that we currently use in our house as a bookcase. We have always loved these primitive pieces of old painted furniture. I have long wanted to learn the process of distress painted furniture for some of the furniture I create or redo. So this week after weeks of research I started playing around with some techniques of painting that give me similar results on the newer pieces of furniture I have been working on. Pictured below are some of the first pieces of furniture that I have been working on that are still in the paint spray booth.

This night stand is one of a pair of night stands that will soon be available at Bluedoor. I have really enjoyed the process and hope to use this on more of our furniture.

The crackle and worn edges give this a beautiful time worn look. This photo was taken before I applied a glaze today and tomorrow I hope to clear coat the two night stands and a matching chest of drawers. This creative process has me very excited and my brain is now running with other furniture items that are currently in the shop that I hope to use some of the same techniques on. More pictures will follow.

Valentine's Day, Romance, and Other Thoughts

2011-02-13T16:42:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Valentine's day and so this week CJ and I thought we would share with you a few of our favorite romantic movies. Earlier this week we made a list and over the week we have added to our list as we remembered movies that didn't make our original cut. Our list is as follows- Chocolate, French Kiss, Love Story, You Have Got Mail, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Time Traveler's Wife, Message in a Bottle, Forest Gump, The Note Book, Casablanca, Dr. Zhivago, Havana, Titanic, City of Angels, The Way We Were, Somewhere in Time, and our most favorite movie of all is Out of Africa.

Out of Africa was our most favorite romantic story and our most favorite musical score. A bonus for us regarding this movie was the set and wonderful interior spaces.

Of the other movies we picked Somewhere in Time got our vote as having the second best musical score. This week we have spent a number of our supper hours listening to both musical scores and have been moved by them all over again. We love watching movies and never get tired of watching some of our favorites over and over again. So this week we will be watching a few of the movies we have listed and we invite you to do the same and enjoy the romantic holiday tomorrow.

This time of year is abit slower for us. We will not be doing any shows until Allegan this spring. We are however going to be putting some of our product at a new location that is planning on opening in May. A friend of our who's blog is on our blog list (Elements) is planning on opening up a store in a great old furniture factory warehouse location. We are planning on putting a lot of vintage industrial, primitives, and vintage architectural in her store. We are very excited about this for her as well as this opportunity to do a different expanded new look for us. So more on this as this all unfolds.

For the LOVE of learning!

2011-02-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

It's always a joy for me to teach - anything. But right now I have the privilege of teaching adult watercolor painting. It is amazing to see the progression as each student learns a little more each week and finds their way with the medium. The assignment pictured above was to draw repetitive shapes and paint them overlapping, touching and with space between, getting the feeling of what the paint does when overlapping another color or touching another color or simply by itself. There is such beauty in all of these experimentation's. Each students personality comes out so naturally.

I also loved all of these above mini paintings. The assignment here was to mix paint colors to duplicate the colors that they were seeing in the swatch of fabric. Again I was amazed and delighted with all of the outcome.

So I am not sure who's having more fun with this class, me (the teacher!) or them!

I also had the opportunity this past Saturday to sub for 2 youth drawing classes at Kendall College of Art & Design. I had 6-12 year old's and we drew cartoons. I got to be a kid again for a few hours - so FUN!

Lucky me :-)

A Wild Wonderful Weekend

2011-01-26T06:48:00.000-08:00

We had a wild wonderful weekend this past weekend. We drove to Petoskey with a large load of furniture to restock our space at Then & Now. We were so please to make this trip - our space was nearly empty. December/January sales were good for furniture as well as smalls. So restock we did! Above are a few images of how it looked when we left Sunday afternoon.

However it is winter in Michigan and we had a slight delay in getting there when we hit a patch of black ice and the trailer decided to drive the suburban. Dan did an excellent job of keeping us from rolling as we headed for the ditch. Can't say much for the "trailers" driving ability, it wanted to go another way.Needless to say we had quite a bit of triage to do to furniture once we got to Petoskey. But of course a carpenter is never without his tool and touch up kit.We were greeted by Tracy and Cindy @ Then & Now with with a glass of wine to calm our nerves - perfect!

Later that evening we tucked into my brothers house with his family for lots more destressing. The warmth of family and friends can never be over estimated.

We stayed at the Bay Inn and cannot way enough good about it. It is a wonderful inn overlooking Little Traverse Bay with an amazing view!

We woke Sunday morning to -15 degrees and the most beautiful clear sunny day.

And see now we have an exciting story!

Nothing To Do With Anything Else Other Than Me......

2011-01-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

I met with the director of continuing studies from Kendall College of Art and Design yesterday to talk about summer classes. I am fortunate to teach in their program, youth, young adults and adult classes. It was an amazing creative brainstorming meeting along with great coffee. It's also winter and not summer, but in the winter I seem to burrow in and create, so the timing is wonderful for me. We talked about that inspires us right now.

This is what is inspiring me right now.

There is a new magazine that I am crazy about that is published in Grand Rapids, called CraftSanity. A magazine for those who love all things handmade. Handmade storied, Q & A interviews, knitting, crochet, embroidery and sewing patterns (yes in the mag!), recipes, reviews and MORE! I am so inspired by this magazine and can't seem to get it very far away from me. I want to make everything in it!

Go to http://www.craftsanity.com/

to take a look!

I also am into my knitting again. My folks gave me this realy awesome Vogue knitting calendar that has a different stitch sequence pattern for every day. Here are a couple that have taken my eye. Not the "how to" is on the back. Let me know if you want me to scan the directions to you!

So we came up with an exciting line up of classes for this summer and the catalog will be out in the next month.

go to www.kcad.edu/youth-and-adults

for more info.

Tonight I start teaching The Fundamentals of Interior Design - and adult class. I can't wait to meet all of my new students!

Next week here at the house I am starting to teach watercolor painting. Monday mornings from 9:30-12:00, 5 classes for $100.00

And Knitting Monday evenings from 7:00-9:00 5 classes $60.00

cjvandaff@comcast.net

So tell me what inspires you right now?

A Girls Gotta Right To Brag!

2011-01-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

I've been a little behind on blogging lately, so now I am catching you up on a few of my "favorite things", just like Oprah! Dan made this amazing cubby cabinet for me for my birthday for use in my studio. It couldn't be more perfect for me for all my treasured "stuff" that I need close at hand. When it comes to organising I think there are two different kinds of people. Some people need it out of sight - no clutter at all, that is not me. I am the type that needs it to all have a place but be within sight to stir my creativity. I adore the color, the overall size that fits on my work table and the size of the cubbies.

The next little cabinet shown above on my desk made it's appearance last weekend at the DeVos Place show. I went crazy over it! Dan is forever off loading amazing cool things when we do a show and I of course want them all (just like you!). OK so this is a business and if we took it all home we would not be making a living so I just kept my eagle eye on it all weekend when it did not sell it of course was on it's way to one of the malls because the right person just did not come through the show to scoop it up. However it showed up inside our front door, to my great delight! Now my desk is way more organised and a better place to work with another one of Dan's creations.

This wonderful pile of vintage French ticking scraps arrived in the mail this week, also to my surprise. Dan had found it online and knew that I would be crazy about it and I was! You know me and ticking, and scraps and red! I think I may have to haord it for a while.................

Thank You!

2011-01-11T06:09:00.000-08:00

Thank you everyone who came out to the DeVos Place Antique Show this past weekend it was a great show! Thank you also to everyone who attended my lectures on cottage style furnishings and interiors it was a lot of fun. This is always such a wonderful show, all the dealers really work hard at making it special.

We sold furniture - Dan's creations and many smalls, including textiles, jewelry

and Valentines filled with lavender. Our booth smelled divine!

We are working hard this week to add more great product to our spaces at all of the malls and etsy.

Time to put away Christmas, rearrange your house, orgainize and create!

Grand Rapids Antique Market

2011-01-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

This weekend we are doing the Grand Rapids Antiques Market show in downtown Grand Rapids at the DeVos Place which is located at 303 Monroe Ave. NW. The show is Saturday from 9am to 7pm and Sunday from 10am to 4 pm. There are over 130 dealers signed up to do this show and CJ will be one of the featured speakers at the show talking about interior designing with antiques. As of this writing we are still working on numerous items for the show. We have some great antique, vintage finds as well as lots of repurposed items we will be bringing. Please stop and see us and introduce yourself.

Approaching New Years Eve

2010-12-30T12:58:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-24T13:43:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

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 !!!

2010-12-03T15:41:00.000-08:00

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.

HOHO HO!

2010-11-30T10:53:00.000-08:00

Dan has been looking for some elves to help him this week in his workshop. His re purposed furniture is selling faster than he can make it. It is a good problem to have.

We added Christmas magic last week to the 3 antique shops that we are in. Furniture, Christmas decor and gifts are all selling well. The Uptown Shop Hop is this Thurs. December 2nd from 4:00-9:00. It is always a good time with lots of food, drink and the best of the best holiday shopping. You will find us @ Eastown Antiques and then @ Bluedoor.

Please join us in ringing in the season!

As always Cj does a great job with our post but I have to add the above picture to her post. This was a file/map cabinet that I just got done repairing and have mounted it on a base made out of a kitchen table. We have just put this in at Bluedoor. It is one of many vintage items and re purposed pieces we are are trying to get into the malls before Thursdays shop hop.

Gratitude

2010-11-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

Dan & I have so much to be thankful for. We find ourselves overflowing with gratitude.

* We are thankful for our gifts of creativity

* We are so thankful that we have each other

* We are thankful for all of our customers

* For all of our antique dealer friends who have inspired and guided us

* For everyone who has "gifted" us with cast of materials and vintage treasures

* For everyone who works the antique malls, Then & Now in Petoskey, Bluedoor and Eastown in Grand Rapids, who help to sell our products

* For supportive family and friends

We hope that all of you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We now look forward to the joyous holiday time of year.

PEACE

Sunday Night Review

2010-11-21T16:36:00.000-08:00

We had a great open house this weekend. Everything we had sold well and we are very grateful for all who showed up and supported us. One of my favorite vintage items which sold was this great old original pink paint bead board door. The plaster dipped wreaths on the door, old picture frame turned caulk board, and the socks sewn from vintage ticking were just some of the many items we had at the sale. The response was so good that we are considering doing a spring garden theme open house as well.

Saturday - Today, the last day of the Open House 1-8:00

2010-11-20T07:21:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the last day of the Open House

from 1:00-8:00 today

We have been having a wonderful time and would like to share that with you too!

Dan & CJ

We Are Having a Great Time @ the Open House - Join Us!

2010-11-19T05:40:00.000-08:00

Please join us today Friday and tomorrow, Saturday @ our open house here

45 College NE

Grand Rapids

1-8

We are celebrating the warmth of the holidays!

Dan & CJ

The Open House Starts Tomorrow - Thurs!

2010-11-17T08:09:00.000-08:00

Dan & I are excited about this years Holiday Open House and we hope that you all can come.

This week Thurs, Friday & Saturday

1:00-8:00

@ our home

45 College NE

Grand Rapids, MI

parking on the street or @ Central Reformed Church lot

2 More Days Until the Open House!

2010-11-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

2 more days until the open house starts on Thurs!

Also Friday and Saturday

1:00 - 8:00

45 College NE

GR, MI

3 More Days Until The Open House

2010-11-15T06:20:00.000-08:00

Tease number 3!

3 more days until the open house

Thurs, Friday and Sat

Nov 18,19 20th

1:00-8:00

Just 4 More Days Until the Open House

2010-11-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

Another sneak peak!

Just 4 more days until the open house

Thurs, Friday & Sat

Nov 18,19 & 20th

1:00- 8:00

Just 5 Days Until The Start of The Open House!

2010-11-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

I little sneak peak.

Our Open House

Thursday

Friday

& Saturday

Nov. 18,19,20

1:00 - 8:00

Please join us and shop for unique gifts and holiday decorations.

Keep Calm and Carry On

2010-11-12T16:46:00.000-08:00

I had to laugh when I read this old sign we found on the graphics fairy. It is a good reminder these days when we are so very busy. We are busy getting ready for an open house next week at our home address on College st. . We have been trying to kept enough product in the local malls we are in. We also made a trip in the last week up to Then and Now in Petosky because in the few weeks we have been there we have sold almost all of our repurposed furniture. We are so busy that I haven't be find time to blog like I have wanted to. The end of this summer I also purchased a camera hoping to document more of our mnay finds but I haven't been very good at keeping up with that either. I seem to run out of hours every day. So I guess I just need to stay calm and carry on.

When up in Petoskey I also have the privilage of meeting Linda Longworth the owner of Lavender Hill Farms. The beautiful above picture is of the barn and lavender fields in mid summer. I had the privilage of creating a counter for her store out of old doors and pine flooring. We had an inspired conversation. One of the many perks of doing the business we do and meeting the many people we find on our journeys.

One of my most exciting find this past week was the acquisition of a number of large tin gothic arches that came off the steeple of a local church. I have always had a love of vintage architecural items. So I was very excited to find about eight of nine of these aches that vary in height. I am thinking about how to display and use these pieces.

In the mean time, tonight is friday date night with my wife. So we both get a break from our day and night work schedule. Tomorrow it is back to work. We just need to keep calm and carry on that is how we get it all done.

Being Published

2010-11-07T07:20:00.000-08:00

I had had the good fortune to have had my homes published by Meredith Books which is Better Homes and Gardens in Des Moines, Iowa several times. Once the photos have been taken by them they own then, so the images could appear at any time in any of their publications. So imagine my delight a couple of weeks ago on a trip to Joann Fabrics I discovered this book with a photo from my previous home on the cover. In the industry getting the cover is "a good thing"! This book is BH&G 300 Cottage Style Decorating Ideas. Photos from what has affectionately been called "the pink house" ( because it was pink! ) appear as idea #19, 39 & 74. I love so many other ideas in this book. I feel like I am in good company.

This is another fascinating book that my "pink house" was in. There is a chapter in the book starting on page 48 titled "Cottage Style" that is about me with images of the interior of the house. This was so fun to do, the editor of the book, a field editor and 2 photographers spent 3 days with me, we started early on Sunday morning going to the Allegan Antiques Market together and then 2 days of shooting the photos in the house. There also are several random photos throughout the book of me shopping the market and of items that either they or I purchased that day. It was so fun and a little embarrassing having all these people (with cameras) following me around.

These 2 other BH&G books have images from a previous home. "The New Decorating Book" has a chapter starting on page 237 titled "House Tour House Dressing" that features the Interior Design of my own apartment again and the "Cottage Style" book features the breakfast room on page 196.

All of these books are full of all kinds of other great ideas for decorating using vintage, re-purposed items and antiques as well as new furnishings.

I am always on the look out for inspiration, maybe you are too.

Counting Down the Days Untill the Open House

2010-11-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

Dan & I are counting down the days to the Open House event that we will be having here at the house. We are treating this like the most awesome "show" we will do all year! This is something that I have been doing for many years now in my Interior Design business. It is historically the weekend before Thanksgiving and always features hand made and vintage items. This year it will also include repurposed and up cycled items for holiday decorating and gifts.
So please plan to attend, we would love to see you.
Nov. 18, 19 & 20th 1:00- 8:00
Our new address is 45 College NE, Grand Rapids

13 days and counting! Can't wait to show you all of our creations and our new home!

OUR 5 FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT FALL

2010-10-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

#1 October is our wedding anniversary, Dan's birthday and several other family members birthdays.

#2 Autumn crafting, crating and re purposing.

#3 Pumpkin Pie!

Lynda Boyd gifted me with this pocket pie maker - so fun and yummy!

#4 Pumpkins, squash! Love all of the varieties.

#5 We agree with Joe and Sandy of rhubarb reign that we Love the bluest skies of Autumn.

Some of this weeks projects.

2010-10-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

From week to week I never know what comes my way for product. Occasionally, a local friend of mine calls who buys estate sales and lets me know that he has something that might interest me. This week was no exception. He called and said he had about half a dozen cupboards/cabinets in various state of disrepair that came from an estate.

Some of the cabinets I can piece back together, others get salvaged for parts and pieces to create new furniture pieces. I love doing this kind of work. The wood and cabinets I work with have a history that intrigues me. Many of these old cabinets were built very simple for a very utilitarian function. The wood has a quality about it that was found in lumber yards in the early 1900's but is no longer available. The hardware is often easy to work with and has a wonderful patina when restored. One can see and feel the history and lives that must have lived with these items for years.

One of the larger projects I finished this week that also must have had an interesting story to tell was this wonderful old workbench. This has actually been a workbench project that has been in my shop for a long time.

The various pieces were scattered around the shop and finial were put back together this past week.

It is a rather large maple top work bench with two working vises and a great old cabinet for a base. It reminds me of a beautiful workbench I saw in a Shaker village I saw some time ago. The top has a look of wood polished and well used. The base is a pumpkin red color. I just put it in at Bluedoor here in Grand Rapids two days ago. It would make a wonderful workbench again for someone or perhaps its new life will be that of a kitchen island. It still has more story left to tell.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN!

2010-10-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my hard working, loving, creative husband. Today is the day that Dan was born 55 years ago and I am so glad he was!

I am going to copy a blog post that Sandy of Rhubarb Reighn did this past year for Joe's birthday and list 5 things that you might not know about Dan.

#1 When Dan was a little boy he was fascinated with Indian lore and created a pair of moccasins for himself from salvaged leather from their dining room chair seats. His mother had recovered the chairs and that leather was just too intriguing. She taught him how to sew using the sewing machine and by hand. His first salvage project!

#2 Dan's favorite sandwich as a little boy was a ketchup sandwich!

#3 Dan's wood working shop is in a wonderful old industrial building on the second floor! with a huge old creaky elevator lift that all of the furniture goes up and down on. He refers to his work shop as Einstein's Hair! There are all kinds of wonderful salvaged pieces and parts just waiting to become "something".

#4 The antique shop that Dan owned a few years back was called Evergreen Lane, and Evergreen Lane was the name of his Grandfather Meyers farm in Minnesota. Grandpa Meyer was a German Immigrant and it was a beautiful farm. The only thing left standing today of that beautiful farm in the prairie are 2 huge wonderful cotton wood trees out at the road on either side of what used to be the driveway.

#5 Dan is the kindest, most loving, caring, creative, tender hearted man I have ever know and I love him dearly - OK maybe you already knew that!!!!

Fall Glorious Fall !!

2010-10-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

This is the view from our front steps today. Fall is truly in full swing. We have had such wonderful sunny days, great temperatures, and we are starting to see some great color. I always love the Virginia Creeper crawling up the telephone pole and wire in this picture.

This great pumpkin colored bin cabinet I just finish making out of old parts and pieces just got put in Eastown Antique Mall this weekend. Bin/Storage cabinets continue to be hot items for us. Any cabinets I can find or make sell quickly.

This wonderful cabinet I just picked up last week. It is a beautiful vintage storage cabinet that came out of a sewing repair shop. I think I already have it sold. Something about all those drawers and storage that seems to draw everyone in for a look.

I have included this picture because the two pieces of wood trim on the right are old vintage casing. The pieces on the left are tongue and groove bead board. The reason I have these piece of trim pictured is because I use alot of that kind of trim in my repuposing projects and I am running low on my shop supply of this kind of wood. If any of you out there reading this have this kind of trim and would like to part with it please contact me.

Now time to get back to the shop and enjoyment of this beautiful sunny fall day!!

Petoskey-Then and Now

2010-10-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

We are just loving the Fall feeling and Fall color this time of the year. We both find that October tends to be our favorite time of the year. So we look for any excuse to take drives this time of year. We are therefore pleased to announce that when in a few weeks we are going to be establishing some permanent space in Petoskey,Michigan at The and Now Antiques. For most of the summer we have had items there on consignment but now we will be establishing our own space which will give us a chance to create our own look at yet another location. So sometime in the next week or two we will be doing a drive up north to stock our product. Because the leaves are just starting to change we are anticipating experiencing some beautiful Fall color. Maybe we will even find some pumpkin pie along the way.

The Bluff's in St Joseph

2010-10-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we will be at the last antique show of the season for the Bluff's in St. Joseph, Michigan. We will be set up way at the southern end of the show. A few of the above treasures we purchased at the garage sale of a fellow antique dealer will be there with us. If you are in the area please stop in and say hi. It promises to be a nice Fall day.

More Tennesse State Fairgounds Fleamarket/ Fleamarkets in general, Nashville, Union Shaker Village

2010-09-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Flea markets are interesting places. They vary from your average antique show. Most antique shows are just antique shows. Flea markets can be abit of everything. You name it you can almost always find it at a flea market. Flea market are actually one of my favorite places to shop for antiques. Often, you find people who look like they have emptied out some basement or barn were it looks like their merchandise has been stored from the light of day for 30 years.

The Tennessee show we just went to was no exception. The above picture was one of those kind of booths. Although it was actual cleaner than most booths I like to paw through.

This booth keep changing all three days of the show. They would sell stuff and just kept bring more. The coolest thing I liked about this picture was the great rusty Indian motorcycle in the middle of the picture.

One of our many discoveries at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds was this great booth of outsider art by a woman by the name of T.R. White. We did decided that we loved her style so much that we decided to purchase a small canvas which is now hanging in our home.
The key to shopping any flea market is to get there early and don't be scare to dig. I find every flea market a grand adventure.

However, all of our discoveries were not just to be found at the fairgrounds. We spent one night visiting downtown Nashville.

There are lots of great old historic buildings.

Lots of nods to the thriving country music scene.

As well as one of our favorite Blues artists. The night life is truly something to be experienced with lots of great music and great food.

However, our favorite discovery was a visit we made on the way home to the South Union Shaker colony museum in Kentucky. We have both loved and studied the Shakers for years and both have visited a number of shaker museums.

There was a tranquil spiritual feeling to this place that we both felt and were deeply moved by.

There was a peacefulness we experienced as well as we walked through the buildings that had survived. The museum also houses one of the largest collections of shaker furniture made at South Union in North American

The simple philosophy of form following function was present everywhere.

After we walked through the buildings we walked down a lane on the westerly portion of the community and talked and reflected about our own lives and the show we had just participated in. It was a wonderful way to end our trip to the Nashville, Tennessee State Fair ground show.

Live is short. It is meant to be lived and experienced. Perhaps that is the best gift we can give those around us, to live our lives well. We certainly felt our weekend in Tennessee was well lived and time well spent.

Nashville

2010-09-29T05:49:00.000-07:00

We got back from the show in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday. Spent the day yesterday unloading and getting product back into the malls here in Grand Rapids. There is so much news to bring back from our trip that we hardly now were to begin. So we will start with a brief blog this morning and add more this week as we get time.

This was the first time we did this show. It is a very large flea market located on the fairgrounds in Nashville. We loved meeting the people and feasting our eyes on all the many sights and sounds. We can not say enough good about the gracious hospitality of Tennessee folk. People are so warm and friendly in this part of the country. We felt well received and also managed to pick up some really wonderful product. The mannequin in the above picture of our booth at the show we picked up from someone that walked it into our booth the opening day of the show. She is a real beauty.

We sold small items as well as large furniture. Small industrial items such as wire baskets and small metal storage containers completely sold out. Ephemera packets of small vintage items that CJ had assembled were very popular.

This show and the people we meet really won our hearts. However, whenever we do a new show like this we set a minimum financial goal that we have to meet in order to continue to do the show and we are sad to say that we did not meet our goal. So at this point we have decided to not do this show again. We are hoping that some of the people we meet will stay in touch with us and we hope that maybe we have given some of them a good excuse to come north and pay us a visit.

As we get time this week we will also post more pictures and thoughts about some of the people we meet, downtown Nashville, flea markets in general, and a surprise visit on the way home to South Union Shaker village.

Tennessee State Fairgrounds

2010-09-23T04:12:00.000-07:00

This has been such a busy week we have almost forgotten to blog before leaving town. This weekend we will not be at Allegan. We have decided instead to do a show in Nashville, Tennesse at the State Fairgrounds. If this turns out to be successful we will most likely do it all winter. The show begins this Friday and runs thru Sunday. As we get time we will post again this weekend and hopefully have more pictures.

St. Joe

2010-09-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time and great sales at last Sundays antique show, The Bluffs in St. Joe. We met so many wonderful new people and some familiar faces from other show that we do too.

We felt like our product mix was well received. It was a crowd into re purposed, upcycled antique and vintage items.

So we are back "at it" this week increasing our inventory and getting ready for our next show the end of the month in Nashville, Tenn.

In the mean time I am cleaning the house and making an apple crisp because we are being blessed with a visit today from my girlfriend, who now lives in Arizona and her Mom. I have know Mary for all of my life, as long and I remember being on this earth there was Mary. I can't wait to see her and her Mom!

It's a CELEBRATION!

The Bluff's in St. Joseph, Michigan

2010-09-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

We are doing The Bluff's Antique show tomorrow in St. Joseph , Michigan. This is a new show for us. The weather promises to be perfect. The show is in a park in downtown St.Joseph that overlooks Lake Michigan. We thought this would be a great way to spend a Labor day weekend sunday.

We are taking alittle bit of everything, Some furniture, industrial, some garden,ephemera, plus some halloween items that CJ has been working on so if you are in the area stop by and say hi. We are hoping to make some new friends and meet a few old ones.

Allegan this Sunday August 29!

2010-08-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air and we are loving it! It's been a little cooler here in Michigan and we have found our "heat lost" energy. So here is a little peak at what we have been working on for the upcoming Allegan Antiques Show at the Fairgrounds Dan & doors have a relationship that goes back a long way, from restoring his own old houses to expert restoration of others as a business, to building furniture out of old doors and now the deconstruction of old door panels for the above signs.

I have been creating again with recycled tee shirts for more of these cozy scarves. There are lots to choose from!

We'll also have some cool vintage industrial along as well as Halloween.

It's going to be a BEAUTIFUL weekend, can't wait to see all of you!

A Wonderful Busy Creative Time

2010-08-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

I am sorry that I haven't blogged much recently, but thanks to Dan for also keeping you all up to date. I wanted to share one more image from the last show that we did in Petoskey. We were so blessed that weekend with family, friends, great sales, even greater customers and weather. This darling gal was so happy with her vintage button necklace purchase that she just had to wear it right then! It looked so cute on her too. She was so pretty in orange, the new "hot" color!

Dan & I took an extra day to enjoy northern Michigan before heading back to Grand Rapids. We stopped at this picturesque farm on Camp Dagget Road for the north's BEST sweet corn. Johnecheck Farms. We now have lots of it in our freezer so we can still have that taste of summer in the winter.

We also tooled over to Harbor Springs to hit some of our favorite antique shops, this was in L'Esprit, such an inspiration!

We then took one of my favorite summer drives along the north shore of Little Traverse Bay from Harbor Springs. It is truly one of the most beautiful summer communities ever. The large elegant historic cottages go on for miles. A treat for us old house people!

As soon as we got back to the city I started in on this project for Tom & Kathy VanDaff of Greencrest Manor in Battle Creek. I made a set of 4 of these little cushions for this antique Woodard child size chairs. Kathy had this darling vintage floral fabric for me to work with, it was so sweet.

greencrestmanor.com is a wonderful historic French Normandy style house that they have lovingly restored and is now a B & B - one of the top 10 in the country. They were getting ready for a special wedding the day I delivered the chair cushions so I snapped some pictures that I thought you might like to see.

Dan has been busy battling the heat to work on projects in his shop, I finished teaching my last summer class this week on the business of Interior Design and I have been doing design work, including tile selections and layouts, plumbing selections, custom bedding design etc. So it has been a wonderful busy creative time here and now we ara getting ready for Allegan next weekend. No lazy hazy crazy days of summer here!

Petoskey Show

2010-08-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

This is how our space at Petoskey looked a few minutes after the show opened on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful day and we had lots of shoppers. As aways we had our corner right across from the parking lot and so we are fortunate to have most people start the show by going thru our booth first. We had a real mix of product with lots of furniture.

This wonderful blue bench made from a bed was the first furniture sale of the day and the wonderful whimsical white cabinet behind it only lasted a couple of hours longer. Don't you just love CJ's vintage feed sack pillows on the bench!

The yellow bed bench in this picture sold on the second day and most of the shelves/bookcases behind it all sold at the end of the first day.

This vintage Amish made harvest type table was admired by many but didn't sell so we will be putting it in one of our antique mall spaces. The two copper capitals on the table on the right came from some columns on a local church and got alot of attention.

All architectural items always get alot of attention and a pair of gable fretwork like the one above(from a local farmhouse) drew many admirers but didn't sell so they are still available.

The bent ash chair and sofa in the picture was a fun project that involving CJ's sewing talents and my woodworking and painting skills. We painted the furniture a soft white and recovered the cushions with blue ticking fabric. We didn't sell this item so it just got put into Eastown antique mall along with the spectacular pillows you see on the sofa made by CJ out of vintage patchwork fabric. The fun vintage stone urn hiding behind the rose picnic basket sold and went to a wonderful cottage on Lake Michigan.

As always we had lots of smalls and repurposed creations sale. We are grateful for all of the people that showed up to support us and purchase from us. Having done shows for the last year and half we are amazed at all of the friends and acquaintances we have made and we love visiting you all and seeing your familiar friendly faces at the shows we set up at.

The really stars of the weekend for us were CJ's parents. We were well fed and lodged. There was a get together with CJ's family to celebrate her Dad's birthday. So we even had cake and pie! Our experience was rich and right now we are feeling very tried but full of gratitude. Thanks to all with a special thanks to Mom and Dad Pluister.

Just a Few More "Tease" Items Ready for Petoskey!

2010-08-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

Just a sneak peak at a few more items ready for Petoskey.

Old door panel paintings, vintage floral oil paintings framed in Dan's awesome old casing frames, vintage grain sack pillows with way cool old patches and fabric wall flowers - so cute on your front door, wall - you decide where :>

OK back to work!

Toodles

Petoskey Antiques @ the Fairgrounds Show this Weekend Aug. 7 & 8

2010-08-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

Dan & I are busy getting ready for the 2nd Petoskey Antique Show of the summer @ the Emmet County Fairgrounds. The show is this weekend Aug. 7 & 8.

Dan grew up in Minnesota where PIE is king. Pie was an important part of his family gatherings and traditions. There is nothing more American than apple pie, right? So now it is an important part of: "our" tradition too. We had pie at our wedding reception, we made pie for Eric's birthday, we have several favorite movies with great pie scenes. Sweetland which was filmed not far from where Dan grew up - a beautiful moving movie of a mail order bride early in the 20th century. Michael staring John Travolta as the angel Michael - my all time favorite movie. Michael only has so much time here on earth left and has a list of things he wants to see and experience before he has to leave and of course he has a job to do too! So you can imagine my delight when Dan came home with his new creation, the PIE sign! and like always he asks me how much should I sell this for? My reply of course was $385.00. Well as it turns out you can buy this from him this weekend in Petoskey for less than that. There may be more.............

I have been tucked in my studio covering old cushions for this fab rattan furniture in ticking. What is it about ticking, I just love it and everything goes with it.

I've also been dreaming of what could become of this wonderful stash of fabric - so stay tuned for more!

We sure hope to see you this weekend in Petoskey!

From Grand Rapids to Allegan to Chicago and Back

2010-07-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time @ Allegan, the weather was great and the shoppers were out enjoying the show. Our sales were across the board, from painted to garden, small furniture, screen doors and CJ's created items - jewelry, flowers, signs and vintage wallpapered bottles.

We had such a fun visit Saturday night with Joe and Sandi from Rhubarb Reign, always an inspiration for us!

And then we were off to Chicago to the gift and Accessory Show at the Merchandise Mart.

We saw lots there to inspire us. Felted items were still hot, I loved the felted floral garland! Halloween was everywhere! From spooky to way cool. I loved this pumpkin creature creation. I always try to spot trends and at this show it was a little difficult, however we were both drawn to all things that glittered for Christmas especially the rather tarnished items. I find what we see made up from our fellow antique dealers to be way more unique and interesting than anything we saw at the mart. A fascinating trend to come out of this difficult economy. I am proud of all of YOU!

When the going gets tough we get Creative!! Even more so :>

Allegan Antique Market this Sunday July 25th

2010-07-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Dan & I have been getting ready for the Allegan Antique Market this Sunday. We will be bringing lots of exciting items. I have been concentrating on making jewelry from vintage finds.

More bottles covered in vintage wallcovering, vintage labels and bejeweled!

Dan also found these fab hand made tomato cages that we will be bringing along - however a few found homes already in OUR garden - just in time too I might add!

And I am not sure how these things happen but we will be bringing lots of jars. We also have lots of GARDEN a wonderful harvest table and some fun small pieces of furniture.

Also check out our ESTY site for tons of new vintage finds.

www.etsy.com/shop/hattiemae

SUMMER!

2010-07-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a fun week here in Michigan. Dan & I have worked hard at getting our spaces at both malls full of all kinds of "great stuff". I have been into vintage wallpaper, old prints, old bottles and jewelry findings.

Dan built this amazing sideboard from old doors etc

It is now at Bluedoor along with some other pretty sweet pieces,

along with some other summer inspired accessories and recent estate sale finds.

I finished teaching 12-17 year olds interior design and have started a new session of more 12 -17 year olds and adults wishing to indulge themselves in the arts.I love their curiosity and quest for knowledge.

You have to indulge me here, I am sure there is LOTS more to come from our garden but the first edibles that appear are the most exciting! They are loving the heat way more than I am!

I also wanted to share this photo of Hanna Bell exploring her new home that Olivia Passi made, complete with blue curtain with green ball fringe! It doesn't get much better than that! Olivia is Diane Passi's daughter who many of you know from attending the antique shows. Diane is amazingly creative and so is her daughter as you can see.

THANK YOU OLIVIA!

A Week In Review - Meeting Amy Barickman

2010-07-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

OK I should let you know right away this is going to be a "read", so grab yourself a drink and a snack!

Last weekend at the antique show in Petoskey I met the most fascinating woman, Amy Barickman. Amy is the founder and owner of Indygo Junction and the sister company Vintage Workshop. She is an author, fabric designer, trend setter and represents 25 designers and leading artists in the quilt and clothing pattern craft industry. Amy was selected as one of nine Women Entrepreneurs Honorees by Country Living magazine and featured in their March 2007 issue. Her book and patterns are frequently reviewed in magazines such as Threads and Cloth Paper Scissors. Her book Button Ware features 33 projects. I was privileged to preview her newest latest book Vintage Notions. We had such a fun chat back and forth. I was wearing my Amy Butler skirt, she of course recognised the fabric and knows Amy Butler personally. She was so gracious to mention me on her blog & I of course has preordered a copy of her newest book. Take a look!

amybarickman.com

There is a link on her site to her blog and on the left here of our blog.

On our way back and forth from Petoskey to Boyne City, my home town where my parents still live we passed a lavender farm is full bloom. Dan could not turn the truck around fast enough for me to get a better look at the purple fields!

It is such a pretty farm. A beautiful farm is cause for either of us to slow or pull over.

We had a fun time on the 4th celebrating with my family. We are so lucky to still have all of them and we embrace that.

Our raised bed gardens have been a community effort here @ 45 College and we got a few things planted this week. We already have tomatoes for our salad tonight. Dan has informed me that in my enthusiasm I have way too many squash, cucumber & pumpkin plants & that they will soon be in the driveway! Oh my :>

I have been teaching a Cottage Design Class @ Kendall College of Art & Design this week. I wrote the curriculum for this class and we had a blast! We have class time to design our dream cottage, learn the history of cottages in the US, identify styles, design outdoor living areas etc. A dear friend of mine from college and his wife allowed us access to their cottage in the city gardens to tour. They keep chickens, have the most darling chicken coop, the sweetest chickens - I got to hold one!! , the most beautiful flowers and vegetable gardens with a coy fish pond.

During the class we took several field trips and the last day we went to Holland to a couple of my favorite "cottage style" shops.

The first one we stopped at was FOUND & VAGABOND. I loved this patio set with different vintage fabric on each chair seat, this dresser with vintage wallpaper on the drawer fronts - I have always loved that idea so now I have to try it - stay tuned for that one!, and you know I love patch work and this set of chairs was so charming with all of the seats different. This shop is worth a stop as is Cottage Corner on River Ave.

Cottage Corner is packed with awesome cottage furniture in wonderful colors. Remember you don't have to have a cottage to love and live with this great "stuff"!

One of my dear friends has a cottage in Holland and we toured her cottage that is to die for! Afterwards we did a walking tour of other cottages in her area and here are a few that we fell in love with and I wanted to share them with you too.

Thanks for sharing my week with me. I'd love to hear about what all of you have been up to too.

Both of the malls that we are in here in Grand Rapids are loaded with great things - it's summer and we are loving it!

Post Petosky

2010-07-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

We have much news about our weekend in Petosky. The Antique show proved to be our most successful show to date. We more than meet out target goals for the weekend and broke all records for most merchandise sold in the first two hours, first day and total for the weekend. So we are grateful to all friends and customers that favored us with their presence and purchases.

We will elaborate a bit more later this week about our weekend when we get time. But, the first day of the show was a sunny beautiful day over looking Lake Michigan with lots of people. The second day was abit slower with the heat soaring and most likely driving people to the beaches but we still managed to find a few customers. We sold all items large and small so there was a good mix of sales. So, thank-you to all of you that came out. More later!

Antiques @ the Fairground Petoskey this weekend 7/3 & 4

2010-06-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

Many of you who know me know that I love color. I wear color, I design with color and I dream in color. I grew up in norther Michigan in Boyne City near Petoskey & I loved the summer shops in the Gaslight district. Lilly Pulitzer was one of the shops that I loved, her use of color is legendary and inspiring to me.

Dan & I are on our way up north this weekend to to the Antiques at the Fairground Antique Show in Petoskey over looking Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan. A beautiful spot and a beautiful antique show. As we prepare, and it's summer after all, I find myself draw to taking all things colorful!

Like these fanciful fish painted on old pickets from a fence.

We have furniture in great summer colors of coral pink, sea glass blues, greens, turquoise and of course the ever summer fresh white.

Those of you who know me also know my love of anything Amy Butler! I purchased this amazing AB fabric last week and I also hope to get this skirt made to wear this weekend. Stay tuned!

Everyone have a safe a wonderful 4th of July.

Blessings to all veterans, fallen veterans, wounded veterans and their families. We are forever grateful.