The Weekend's "Big Flea" Finds

My husband and I went to the "Fredericksburg Big Flea", a once-per-year huge antique/collectibles show at the Fredericksburg Expo Center, on Saturday morning.  We took our time going up and down the aisles in the show room, but nothing seemed awesome enough to buy until we were in the last aisle.  Here is what we bought:

As soon as I saw the carefully-framed remains of this sampler from 1805, I knew that I HAD to have it.  Even in this condition, the precise stitches are a work of art.  To be honest, I think I love it MORE in this tattered state than I would have if it were whole.

Sarah Murray and her numbers and alphabets.

dated 1805

I have a huge collection of vintage and antique postcards.  My ones of sites in Fredericksburg are matted and framed, and I used to have them hanging in the family room in our past houses.  When I saw a dealer with postcards at the Big Flea on Saturday, I checked the Richmond, Virginia, section to see what he had from Hollywood Cemetery.

Three of the five postcards we bought were unused.

One of President Monroe's tomb, and two of the Jefferson Davis family lot.

One of the Davis postcards, copyright 1905, shows landscaping that appears to contain rose bushes!

The other two postcards are my favorite type to find, ones that were used and mailed and contain a message and an address.  This one shows President Monroe's tomb, and it was mailed to Miss Mollie Knight in Luray, Virginia, in 1907.

This last one shows a lily pond that once was part of the landscape near the entrance of Hollywood Cemetery.  I have never seen this image before, and I am thrilled to have it!  It was mailed to Miss Florence Riker in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1909.

Next time I go to Hollywood Cemetery, I will bring these along with me and I will try to photograph the same scenes.

There was other great stuff at the show, but this is all we brought home with us.  Being in the mood to downsize, declutter, and simplify puts a whole different mood on shopping at an antique show.  I look at things and appreciate them, and only items that I absolutely LOVE make the cut ... which, I guess, is how it should be all the time.

Bunk Room Details and Sources

Thank you, thank you for all of your lovely compliments about my efforts to tidy up and decorate our spare bedroom.  It was so much fun to put it all together with things that I had on hand, though the sifting and organizing part of the job was NOT fun ... necessary, but definitely not fun.

In this post, I offer to you as many details and sources as I remember for the items in the room ... in case anyone wants to try to duplicate part of the look or is just curious.  (Remember, the only new things in the room are the comforters and the bed skirts.  Everything else has been around the house for at least two years ... most things have been here for much longer.)  Highlighted text links to previous blog posts about those items.

Comforters:  Tommy Hilfiger down-alternative full-queen with microfiber cover, at T. J. Maxx
Red and White Quilts:  Plow and Hearth Outlet
Bed skirts:  18" long, bought at Bed Bath & Beyond
Antique Rope bed:  Lucketts Store, bought at least ten years ago.
Quilt on cedar chest:  Antique feed sack quilt, shown in THIS post
Rag rug beside the bed:  Rewoven antique RUG from Crazy as a Loom Weaving Studio.
Storage cabinet and white curtain panels:  Ikea
Bamboo Blinds:  Lowes, and I will show you how I installed these in another post soon.

Swing Arm Lamp:  Walmart
Shade:  Lowes
Wall color:  Benjamin Moore "Denim Wash" #838
Trim Color:  Farrow and Ball "Wimborne White"

Greyhound Sign:  eBay
Quilted pillow shams:  Salvation Army Store
Vintage school desk:  Class and Trash, Glen Allen, Virginia
Table lamp:  Goodwill lamp and shade, painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint
Framed Print:  Souvenir from Tater Red's in Memphis, Tennessee

Here is the lesson that I want to pass along by sharing this ... items don't have to match or even appear to coordinate in order for them to work together and create a welcoming space.  If you buy and collect only things that you love, any space you use them in will be a perfect reflection of your own taste and personality.

An Antique Surprise

The 'Just In' page on the Old Covesville Store web site is one of my favorite places to waste a few minutes of time online, drooling over the incredible pieces that arrive there during the week.  Many of the most special things are sold almost immediately ... this is no surprise, since Covesville's prices are just as amazing as their merchandise.  While scrolling through last week's offerings, this caught my eye:

It is a Hepplewhite cellarette (liquor safe) from the late 1700s.  Do you recognize the design in the inlay on each of the sides?

Roses!

This was one of the pieces that sold immediately, so I can't be tempted by it.  I can, however, marvel at the skill of the cabinet maker to cut and piece veneer into such an intricate design.

I guess someone 200+ years ago probably loved roses as much as I do ... and the lucky new owner of this must love them, too.

Sunday Snapshot: Cupboard Envy

Whenever we visit our friends Jim and Dan, I make sure to remind at least one of them that I will one day figure out a way to make off with the magnificent cupboard that is the centerpiece of their kitchen.  

It is an enormous thing, far too large for an average-sized room or home ... fully eight feet high and almost as wide, with a superb original painted finish in a fantastic, indescribable greenish-greyish-smoky ocher color.  Those of us who paint furniture can only hope to create a surface with this much character.

For yesterday's luncheon, with 70 people in attendance, "my" cupboard held a secret (that you may have already noticed, since I neglected to close the cupboard's door before I snapped the lousy iPhone photo that began this post) ... the cupboard was completely chock-full of pies!

Jim makes a grand performance of having an unsuspecting first-time guest throw open the doors of the cupboard at the beginning of the entree course (yes, the luncheon is done in courses!).  He does this to remind everyone to save room for dessert ... and what a dessert it was!!!

As we were preparing to leave, and were thanking Jim and Dan for their hospitality, Jim said the magic words ... "Would you like to take a Doggie Bag home with you?"

And we did!

Have a happy Sunday, Everyone.

Give Me a Flower -- Just One, Said He ...

I found this vintage book page as I sifted through a box of papers at one of my favorite shops yesterday.

The colorful image of the young couple appealed to me. 

It was the verse, however, that sealed the deal.  I had to have it!

I plan to mat it and frame it and add it to my motley collection of rose-related prints and paintings.  One day, I may even get around to hanging it on a wall ... I wouldn't hold my breath, if I were you.

Add Another One to the Collection

I love old trunks.  My very first antique purchase in 1979 was an embossed tin camel-back trunk.  I still have it.  My most recent is this doll trunk ... found at Goodwill a few weeks ago.

It looks like someone tried to use it as a stepstool, by the way the top is cracked.

The bargain-basement price of $6.99 won me over, and I tucked it under my arm and headed for the check-out station.

It was only once I had paid for it and was in the car that I realized what a treasure this little trunk turned out to be.  It still has its original fitted tray, though the bottom of the tray needs to be reattached.

 

 

Underneath the tray was a collection of someone's doll clothes.

These are about the right size for an 18" doll, and they were obviously made at different times.  First, we have an eyelet slip.  The waistband and seams appear to have been done at one time, and the slip was hemmed by someone else at a different time ... perhaps someone who doesn't sew well (a child?), judging by the all-over-the-place stitches.

 

This pink dress is probably the oldest and most-well-loved piece in the trunk.  It is made with very tight pin-tucks, and it shows a lot of mending and repair.

 

 

This little cotton shift and slip are smaller than the previous pieces.  They are cotton, well made, and well loved.

 

 

 

The last piece in the trunk was this dress.  It looks to be a lot newer than any of the other pieces, still handmade, though.  The fabric is different, the snaps look newer ... it is well made but it doesn't have the same detail that the other pieces do.

 

The last thing in the trunk was this key, but not the key to the lock on the trunk, though.  Just some random key ... perhaps used as a toy.

I'm kind of torn as to whether I should repair this trunk or leave it as it is.  I think I'm going to do both, if that makes sense.  One of the pieces of cracked fiberboard on the top of the trunk is loose, and I should glue that down so I don't lose it.  I should also replace the missing nails to reattach the hinges, and tack the loose piece of molding on the lid back into place.  I think that's where I'm going to stop, though.  This little trunk will certainly be displayed up high on a shelf, perhaps in my sewing room, so having a cracked top won't matter.

The doll clothes could use washing, but I am not going to do that.  They are what they are, and they will stay stored in this little trunk ... just like I imagine they were for little girls who played with them long ago.

Changing Direction in Midstream

In late October, I found a wonderful deal on a large Hoosier cupboard (a Sellers, if we want to be perfectly correct about it) on Craig's List.  Having a Hoosier is a Bucket List item for me, so I convinced The Husband to come along ... to Waynesboro, which is an hour and a half away from here. 

The cupboard was everything I hoped it would be, though it was filthy and tired.  The deal was completed, the Hoosier loaded up, and we brought it home.

We unloaded it into the driveway, and proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon with Simple Green cleaner and scrubbing pads and buckets of water, cleaning the filth off of it enough for us to be comfortable bringing it into the house.

"Much better, Mommy," says Alice.

I wanted so badly for this to look good in this one particular spot in our dining room, but it was not to be.  At only 72" tall, the Hoosier looked squatty and small against the 9 1/2 foot ceiling.  One day, I got a brainstorm and decided that this would be a wonderful cabinet for the sewing room (my cutting board fits perfectly on the enamel top) ... so up to the sewing room it went.  And it's been there ever since, waiting to be refurbished.

My initial plan was to match the original color of this cupboard, which is a dark greenish grey, and repaint it.  In its history, it's been grey, then white, then this awful aqua ... it's terrible if you see it in person, and I usually LOVE aqua and turquoise.

This side must have been up against a wall when the cupboard was painted green.

Yesterday, I was in the workshop and I decided to see if I could mix up a comparable grey using my Annie Sloan chalk paints.  I took equal parts of Olde White and Graphite, added a bit of Olive to green it up, and it looked pretty good.  Not perfect, but acceptable.

... and I proceeded to paint the side of the cupboard ... then I removed the upper doors and moved on to the front frame.

The color dried a little bit darker and it was not as green as I thought it would be, and the cupboard began to look a bit like a WWII era army desk.  I convinced myself that I could make it work, and I kept painting.

I removed the drawers and doors from the base, and I noticed that there was some loose paint that needed to be scraped off.  With my trusty carbide pull scraper in hand, I quickly realized that there must have been no surface preparation done before this piece was painted white, and I could easily scrape ALL the paint off ... down to the original, which was stuck on tight.

About half an hour of scraping later, I had the whole front of the base clean as a whistle.  I'm really liking this scraped, chippy, original look.

After I cleaned up my mess on the floor of the sewing room (tiny chips of paint EVERYWHERE), I took one of the doors outside to see if I could scrape it, too.  If I could, my plan to chalk paint this cupboard would be shelved in favor of scraping it down to the original finish and waxing it.

As I scraped the door, I found this ...

The original stencil was still perfectly intact!  That seals it ... there will be no chalk paint transformation for this beauty, and I will scrape off the little bit of chalk paint that I applied.

Now I just have to go to the paint store and get a new scraper blade, because the one I have is pretty dull.

This is a project that I can work on as I get the time and inclination  (which means, don't look for it to be finished any time soon).  That's okay ... with what little I have done, I can already see that I will love it.