Finished and Out the Door: The Grey Dining Hutch

This grey dining hutch was hanging around our house since early last year.  I bought it at Goodwill.  It was filthy and reeked of cigarette smoke, but it was in good condition otherwise ... perfect for a makeover and a quick resale ... or so I thought.

Dorothy and Alice think that they're helping.

The filth and stink was remedied with a good scrubbing and sitting it in the sunshine for a few days.

I discovered while I was working on the hutch last winter (in my dining room, using the dining table as a workbench, because it was too cold at the time to paint in my basement workshop), that it is a perfect match for our Blue Buffet ... except the hutch is oak and the buffet is maple.

The  hutch and buffet were both made by Cochrane.

The body of the hutch is Annie Sloan's 'Paris Grey', and the inside is 'Old White' ... very lightly distressed and clear waxed.  I stripped the oak top and refinished it with clear oil-based polyurethane for durability, and replaced the colonial-style fake brass hardware with brushed nickel knobs and bin-pull handles.

This hutch was one of the stars of my booth at the Lucketts Fair last May.  I wish I had kept count of how many people were lured into the booth and ooohed and aahhhed over it ... saying that the hutch was beautiful, my price was fantastic, then walking away.  My husband is an expert salesman, and even HE couldn't convince anyone to take it home with them.  At the end the weekend, the hutch came back home with us.  (To be fair, I wasn't the only one with this problem.  There was very little actual buying going on at last year's fair, according to the other vendors that I talked with, and a lot of us took home pieces that we had been certain would sell quickly.  Live and learn.)

That little vanity with the Bakelite handles is still available, too.

The hutch was stored in the living room before the Fair, and it returned to the same spot afterward ... and there it sat for months and months ... and I went on to other things.

Last month, in the spirit of continuing to work on finishing what I start, I listed the hutch on Craigslist to see what would happen.  In about a week, I received an email from a nice lady who was very interested in buying it.  Bad weather and scheduling conflicts got in the way for a while, but we remained in contact via email and telephone and we finally worked out a day when she could come by.  She loved it, of course, and she told me that it is exactly what she has been looking for!  It's a small world, because this little hutch now lives in the same neighborhood as my parents, around the corner and about two blocks away.

I still have a lot of leftover stuff in the basement and garage from when I was painting and selling.  Getting a large item like this hutch out of the house is an accomplishment ... baby steps, one thing at a time, finish what I start ... I'm working on it.

How Did It Go at Lucketts?

My battle cry for the past week has been, "Is it Monday yet?"  Preparations to vend at the Lucketts Spring Market, packing and setting up the booth and merchandise, and two very long days at the market itself took over my life.  (Monday represented the day when I would be finished with the market and back to whatever normal is.)  With the market behind me now, and a couple of good nights of sleep, I am ready for things to get back to normal.  Let's put Lucketts in the rear-view mirror and I will tell you all about it.

This was how the space looked when the Market opened.  The area under the canopy and the open space on the right are mine.

This year, I had to rent a small U-Haul truck to transport merchandise to the show ... picked up the truck on Thursday afternoon, and I borrowed the young man from next door to help me load the largest and heaviest pieces.  The rest of Thursday was spent consolidating smaller items and continuing to load things into the truck.  I was feeling good about my progress and I was confident that Friday (set up day) would go smoothly.

The first thing to sell was this black coffee table.  The rattan daybed in the background got a lot of attention, and it sold on Saturday afternoon.  None of the pillows did, though.

On Friday morning, I saw that I had missed a call and then received a text message from the person who was supposed to share the space and work the booth with me on Saturday.  She was unable to get things together and she was having to cancel, and she apologized profusely for the late notice.

Customers loved the bags and my husband's paintings, but none of them sold.

I tried hard not to panic.  My carefully laid plan had fallen completely apart, and I had to do what I could to put together a new plan.  Called my husband, who had already made arrangements to take an earlier flight home from his business trip in Phoenix ... new flight arrived at 3pm, instead of the original 9:30pm ... he would come straight to Lucketts from the airport to help me unload and set up.  I also would need him to help me run the booth during the show.  For this to happen, I had to arrange for someone to come to the house to let our dogs out in the afternoon ... my mom volunteered.  New plan in place, all I had to do was get to it.

This hutch didn't sell either.  Again, lots of comments and compliments, but no takers.

Friday afternoon set up at Lucketts was hectic, but fairly well organized.  The area had received an enormous amount of rain overnight, with floods and roads closed in the area.  Many of the vendors at the market were unable to drive their vehicles to their booth space to unload.  Mine was in a spot that was higher and dryer, thank goodness.  Pretty much as soon as I had parked the truck and set up the canopy over the space, my husband arrived and the rest of the unloading and set up went perfectly.

How could someone resist this vanity desk with its original Bakelite handles?  It came home with me.

Saturday morning, we arrived early to tweak the arrangement of merchandise and price the last few items before the show opened.  The sale day itself was very busy, with beautiful weather, steady traffic of customers, and brisk sales.  Both of us were so tired at the end of the day, but pleased with how it went.  The only hitch in the day was that Winnie doesn't know my mom too well yet, and she hid in her crate and quivered and wouldn't come out.  Mom did the right thing by reaching in and dragging Winnie out when it was time for her to potty.  (remember that Winnie only has one tooth, so Mom wouldn't have been hurt if Winnie had tried to bite her ... which she didn't.)  Ruby, on the other hand, LOVES her grandmother and she bounced and barked and was very happy to see her.

This was the booth on Sunday afternoon.  The Queen Anne ottoman, bucket of balusters and the little mirrors sold later, but nothing else.

Sunday sales were a bit quieter, mainly because we sold so much on Saturday and the booth was fairly empty.  Furniture was the toughest item to sell for everyone at the Market, and that's what we mostly had left on Sunday.  It was my nicest pieces, too, which were very well priced.  They just weren't what anyone was looking for.  Oh, well.

No takers for either of the compass rose tables.  Sales of the vintage flannel shirts went well, though ... and so did sales of my husband's books about how draw super heroes.

The Market closed at 5:00, and we were packed and loaded and pulling out of the lot at 6:30.  Breaking down the show was a bit hectic, as some vendors ignored the instructions on where to park and we didn't have access to our aisle to bring the truck next to the booth.  Fortunately, our space is near the parking field and we parked the truck as close as we could hand-carried our stuff over to it.

Expenses were higher for me this year, having had to rent a truck this time, but I still did okay with sales and made enough extra money so I felt okay about it.  Almost.  I have decided that I will not do this show again.  It's too far away from home, too much work that takes my attention away from my garden in the middle of rose season, and it's just not worth the stress and effort.

This is what the truck looked like after we packed up the booth on Sunday.  Large pieces are still here, but many of the smaller and more unique things went to new homes.

Did I buy anything while I was there?  With so many vendors with such great things for sale, I saw a lot of stuff that I wanted to bring home with me.  There was only one thing, though, that I loved enough to buy ... a pair of vintage 16-pane picture windows that will be a perfect addition to the north wall of my Shack.  

I am absolutely thrilled to have these, and I can't wait to repair the missing putty and give them a fresh coat of paint.

Now it's time to turn my attention back to my real love, my garden.  The early roses are starting to bloom, and the weeds are growing like, um, weeds.  I don't even mind, because now I have nothing standing in the way of continuing my work toward reclaiming my garden from the past years' neglect.  If you need me, you'll find me outside ... digging in dirt where I'm happiest.

(All of the items that survived the Market are available for sale.  If you're interested, let me know.)

Final Preparations for Lucketts

We are halfway through May, and I am still hanging in there.  Preparations for the Lucketts Spring Market this weekend have taken over my life.

French Provincial nightstand and a cottage-style upholstered ottoman made from part of an end table.

If I were a good blogger who uses this space wisely, I would have planned to do full posts to feature the items that I have renovated to take to the market.  Honestly, I count myself as fortunate that I'm not going absolutely insane preparing to load up, set up, and work the booth almost completely by myself.  

Chalk-paint dyed pillows, rustic Italian-style side table, Grey and white hutch, and Ruby.

The best I can do is offer a preview of some of my things, as shown in these photos of the current state of my living room.  No staging or supplemental lighting for these photos ... I don't have time for any of that.  Just a quick point-and-shoot with my iPad, and off I go to the next thing on my list.

Two Compass-Rose round tables, slipcovered Queen Anne ottoman, aluminum bread basket, chicken painting (by my dear husband), and Dorothy.

I am glad to be sharing booth space with someone I know, who is also working alone, so we will help each other and everything should work out fine.  I'm doing this thing alone because  (a) my husband is on a business trip this week, and  (b) my original help for the weekend is now nursing a broken foot ... stay off your feet and do whatever you can to heal, Deborah.

Slipcovered Rattan sofa/daybed (on its side and barricaded to keep the cats off of it), black drop-leaf coffee table, another view of the two round tables.  I may decide to take that slipcovered skirted ottoman with me ... we'll see.

I am honestly feeling pretty good about the status of everything right now.  I have a very comprehensive list of stuff to pack and things to do, to help avoid last-minute panic and to keep me on track.  The only variable left to confront is the weather.  We've been having storms for the past two days, with more predicted each day for the rest of the week ... culminating with a 100% probability of storms some time during Friday set up day.  

Two ornate side tables (gotta remember to get their drawers out of the workshop in the basement) 

and two framed pieces of Art Deco era stained glass.

The major variable will be the state of the ground on the field at the Market.  If the ground is too wet, no one will be allowed to drive on it to get close to our booths to unload ... I'm trying to think positive thoughts for solid ground and an uneventful set up.  The weather for the Market itself on Saturday and Sunday is supposed to be spectacular.  Sunny with temps in the 70s will be wonderful.  Liberal application of sunblock will be necessary ... I have already dropped a bottle of it into my tote bag, to have on hand for myself and for anyone else who needs it.

Finishing up with a gratuitous Winnie photo ... because this little dog makes me SO happy.

That's all for now.  My goal for today is to finish gathering all of my stuff into one place, and to pack as many of the smaller items as I can.  Tomorrow afternoon, I pick up a UHaul truck and I hope to get everything loaded to be ready to head to Lucketts early on Friday morning.

Scary to think that I probably have this under control ... think good thoughts for me.  If any of you come to the show, please stop in and say "Hi".

Staying Organized and Hitting My Marks

As we bid good-bye to April, I am keenly aware that the month of May will be a blur.

On Friday, I head to the airport in the wee hours of the morning to leave on a four-day trip to Rosedango, a weekend full of rose activities near Dallas, Texas.  I have been looking forward to this for months!  This is when I finally get to meet Anne Belovich in person ... she is one of my rose idols, and I am so excited.  (When you have a few minutes, you can see Anne's beautiful, inspiring garden through the photos of Carolyn Parker, HERE.)  

On Saturday, May 10, at 10am, I will be at Strange's on West Broad Street in Richmond to give a program about how to choose and care for roses.  It is free and open to the public.  Perhaps some of you local folks would like to come hear what I have to say?

The next weekend, May 17 & 18, is the Lucketts Spring Market.  I am working on preparations for this in between other things.  For example, this morning I made two more pillows out of the fabric that I dyed with chalk paint.

The hutch that the pillows are sitting on is another item that's destined for Lucketts.

Having a booth at Lucketts is a huge undertaking, and the effort needed to prepare will completely take over my life for at least the entire week beforehand ... considering there will certainly be finishing touches to things, and a LOT of pricing and loading to be done.  I am fairly well organized, and I'm good about writing things onto my To Do list (which is a mile long at this point), so I feel confident that things won't get too crazy.

I am leaving the next week and Memorial Day weekend open.  That is generally the beginning of full-bloom season for the roses.  Bloom season will probably be late this year, I think, by at least a week, maybe two.  It will be nice to have an unplanned week (if it stays that way) to work in the garden and get ready for Open Garden visitors.  (watch this space and the Hartwood Roses FB page for dates, posted as soon as I have a better idea of when the garden will be blooming.)

The next weekend is one that I have looked forward to since fall.  May 31 is the day of the Wine and Roses Open House at Monticello's Tufton Farm in Charlottesville.  This year, I am the rose speaker ... presenting a program on easy-care roses for Virginia gardens.  The event is free, with no registration required.  Plan to come see Tufton's beautiful gardens and, perhaps, learn a thing or two about how to grow roses in your own garden.  There will also be roses available for sale.

In order to keep all of this straight, and keep my sanity, I am having to be a total slave to my calendar.  By staying organized and working on things a little at a time when I have the opportunity, I hope that nothing during the month becomes a hair-raising emergency.  Wish me luck!

Getting Back to Painting Projects

It is difficult for me to muster up the energy to work on painting and furniture projects in the winter.  My workshop is in our basement, which only has heat in two of the four rooms ... one of which is not my workshop.  The temperature down there can get as low as the high-50s, and the floor always feels clammy and cold under my feet.  Those aren't great conditions for applying paint.  As a result, projects stack up and I end up putting stuff off till the last minute.

Add to this the fact that Winnie, our new dog, has only been here for two weeks and is still getting acclimated.  She follows me everywhere, whining when I'm not in sight.  We don't need to interact for her to settle in and relax, she just has to know that I'm close by.  (We don't allow the dogs and cats into the basement ... there is just too much stuff down there for them to be safe without supervision.)

On Monday, I had an idea ...

I covered our dining table with a clean moving blanket, and I'm painting things up here for now.  Winnie is here, though you can't see her there in her pink dog bed.  She has completely covered herself up with her flannel blanket ... it's her favorite way to sleep.  Maggie is here, too, in position on the table to be my quality control inspector.

This change of venue has been a great motivator.  I have already distressed and waxed and reassembled a vanity desk, that I started last month and was languishing in the basement.  A child's rocking chair and a director's chair frame are painted and ready for distressing and wax, and I am starting to paint the pieces of a large linen press (that's one of the doors that you see on the top of the table.)

All of this is in preparation for this year's Lucketts Spring Market in May.  May is a super busy month for me, always crammed full of rose events.  This is the case again for 2014, and I am trying to get as much done for Lucketts as I can ... well ahead of time this year.

Getting better organized, trying to work more efficiently, and clearing some of the stuff out of this place ... as Martha says, "It's a good thing."

Here Comes the Sun

My habit in the morning is to drink my first cup of coffee while standing at the end of the peninsula counter in our kitchen, checking the status of the world on my laptop, and staring at the view toward the barn through our dining room window.  This morning, the sunshine and fall colors made the countryside especially nice to look at ... made even sweeter by the return of the sun after so much wind and rain from Sandy.

 

 

I have to get moving and take my shower ... I'm hitting the road later this morning, meeting Deborah at her new booth at the antique shop in Leesburg ... then we are going to go to Lucketts to see what we can find.  This is my last mental-health day until after our Greyhounds Rock benefit this weekend.  I intend to enjoy it to the fullest.

 

Lucketts, Day One

This year, Lucketts Spring Market is fabulous as always.  The vendors have all brought great stuff.  The aisles were crowded with enthusiastic shoppers, and very few folks appear to be leaving the show empty handed. 

Sales in my booth were steady all day, with large pieces and small items selling equally well.  (The credit card ap on my iPhone has worked flawlessly.)  The weather was clear and warm ... bright blue sky, light breezes, and temps topping out at about 80 degrees.  I applied a coat of sunblock to my exposed parts every so often, and I offered it to customers and other dealers who looked like they needed it.  (It was definitely a "sunburn before you know it" type of day.)

I was on my feet nearly all day, and by the end of Day One, I felt a lot like this vase of flowers that I saw at a fellow dealer's booth ... tired and wilted.

The Husband is working the booth with me today, so I will have an opportunity to get out of the booth and really do some shopping ... instead of yesterday's quick look at the booths as I went to and from the ladies room or to grab a bite to eat (crabcake sandwich ... yum!)

One more day!

Off to Lucketts I Go!

The Husband and I spent all of yesterday afternoon setting up my booth at the Lucketts Spring Market.  We loaded up the truck and trailer on Thursday, piling in everything I had that would fit.  I never in a million years believed that I could cram all of that stuff into a 10 x 10 space (with a bit of overflow) ... but we did!

This is only a small fraction of it.  (Took this photo with my new iPhone!)

I'm sharing a double booth with Deborah (Confessions of a Craigslist Junkie), and our booth is right beside Susan (Uniquely Yours or Mine), so it almost feels as if I'll be hanging out with friends for the weekend.  All of us are first time Lucketts vendors, so we can learn the ropes together.

If you are planning to come to Lucketts this weekend to shop the Spring Market, be sure to stop by.

I have to hush now, so I can finish getting ready and get out of here.

See you in Lucketts!

Trying to Contain My Disappointment

Six months ago, I was so excited to sign the lease for my OWN space in an antiques mall.  The Minuteman Minimall in Culpeper, Virginia, seemed to be a perfect fit for me.  It wasn't.

(I had already packed the small items in the booth by the time I remembered to take these photos.)

I have been a shopper at the Minuteman for 20+ years.  It used to be a great place to shop ... but it fell into a spell where it was more like a crappy indoor flea market than an antique mall.  It looked to me like the quality of the dealers and their merchandise was on its way back up, and the management assured me that furniture and items like mine were in great demand.  It isn't.

Almost all of the furniture that I moved into the space over the past six months was still sitting there today when The Husband and I went to move it out.  In an effort to reduce the load, I offered a 25% discount for the past month ... only sold the small grey and white chest during the sale. 

All empty.

Was it price?  Merchandise?  Location?  Whatever it was, it took lots of sales of small items for this little venture of mine to cover expenses ... and I never got the impression that it would do anything more than that.  No matter how much I promoted myself in this location, the location itself seems to have worked against me.

Now it's time to rework the plan.  A short-term test will be the Lucketts Spring Market on Saturday and Sunday.  I'm really excited to have a booth there, since I have loved shopping this market in past years.  I wonder, though, how well my stuff is going to do in what I imagine will be a whole sea of competition.

It's not that I doubt that my stuff can compete ... quite the contrary.  I will put the quality of my items and my workmanship up against anyone else's.  I come at this enterprise from a carpentry and remodeling background, I know quality construction when I see it, and I only spend my time refurbishing pieces that are worth my time.

I have considered taking space in another antiques mall ... and I have a couple of recommendations for ones where I would probably do well.  I'm not convinced that this is what I should do.  I also have the crazy idea to have monthly sales HERE.  My little white workshop building would make a PERFECT shop space ... so would the greenhouse when it's empty of plants during the summer.

Both trucks are all loaded up and ready to go.

So, dear readers, I find myself standing indecisively at yet ANOTHER fork in the road.  If any of you have suggestions or advice to offer, please speak up.  I could use some words of encouragement ... or perhaps the voice of reason and experience.  Whatever you have, I'm listening.

How To Identify Your Silver Pattern

Last Friday, Janet and I met up and went to the Groundhog Sale at the Old Lucketts Store.  Lucketts is always a great place to shop, but it gets even better when they pull out all the stops for their Groundhog Sale ... adding merchandise in tents outside and marking down the prices for the weekend to terribly tempting levels.

While we were shopping outside, we came across a vendor with a table full of old mismatched silverplate flatware ... a particular weakness of mine.  At $1 per piece, it was too tempting and we dug in.  I hunt for floral designs (especially ROSES) and pieces that are monogrammed.  There were a lot of both on this table.

'Signature' 1950 ... 'Louis XVI' 1911...  unmarked (but with a really cool monogram).

When we finished digging, I had a cake server and a double handful of forks and spoons.  I gave the man a $20, he handed me some change, and both of us were happy.

When I got home, my curiousity got the better of me, and I began to search the Internet for a way to identify the patterns.  I already have a big collection of silverplate (for feeding folks when we have large parties ... I detest plastic silverware), and these newest additions made me more curious than ever to identify what I have.

These are a few of the patterns that I bought at Lucketts.  We'll get their identities below.

After searching for a while, I found the most wonderful web site!!  It's so helpful that I have to pass it along so all of you can use it too.

Sterling Flatware Fashions and Facts

If you can read the maker's mark on the back of your flatware, you can most likely identify the pattern using this site.  I set to work, and had the most wonderful few hours with a magnifying glass reading maker's marks, comparing patterns ... and I eventually identified almost all of the patterns in my collection.

'Princess Louise' 1880 ... 'Rosalie' 1938

'Bradford' 1915 ... 'Heraldic' 1916

'Cotillion' 1932 ... 'Royal Rose' 1939

'New Century' 1898 ... 'Signature' 1950

Now that I have identified most of the patterns in my collection, I'm not exactly sure what I can actually DO with the information.  It's not like I will search out more pieces in any given pattern, because the idea is to have a pleasing array of mixed patterns.  All I really accomplished was to waste a bit of time one afternoon, and to learn a lot about silverplated flatware.

When Janet and I had finished at the Groundhog Sale, and after I dropped her (and her treasures) at her house, I realized that she accidently left her silverware behind.  I will give it to her when I see her later this morning ... when she reads this, I'll bet she goes online to identify the patterns.

Thanks for wasting part of your day with me!

Lucketts Part 2, the Design House ... and a Surprise

While The Husband and I were visiting Lucketts, Virginia, on Labor Day, I took so many photos that I figured I should break our visit into two blog posts.  (If you missed Part 1, scroll down to the post from yesterday.)

Old Lucketts Store is three stories high, with booths and shops throughout the building.  As we reached to top of the stairs on the third story, I saw this:

We all read her blog and we are inspired by her story, but how many of us have actually run our hands over some of Miss Mustard Seed's fabulous pieces?  It was a treat to see these things in person.

One weekend per month, the folks at the Old Lucketts Store open their Design House, which is a separate building on the other end of their parking lot.  The items inside are high end, high style, and displayed beautifully.

There are items displayed outside the design house, too.  I wasn't able to convince The Husband that we NEEDED to have a life-size bull for the front of our house.

This display of industrial lockers, tables, and other stuff wasn't bothered at all by the steady rain.

This was my favorite of all of the signs we saw!

It would take a very large kitchen to make use of this island ... but what a statement piece it would be!

This little shed outside the door to the Design House is totally adorable!

I practically drooled all over this dry sink, and the double pendant light fixture above it.

I took a photo of this canvas "21" pillow for our friend Alison at The Polo House.

The styling in the Design House is perfection!

A white mantel in one of the rooms was decorated with silver and mercury glass accessories.

As we left Lucketts and headed for home, I felt energized and motivated to tackle a few more of the projects I have here at home.

Now for the surprise ... one lucky Hartwood Roses reader will win this hand-painted tile tray.  Details will be in tomorrow's post.  (this one is long enough already)

See you tomorrow!