Chesters and Critters

I recently painted a piece of furniture for a couple of ladies starting a new business here in Nashville. They bought a huge farm just outside of town, and are turning it into a beautiful yet rustic venue for outdoor weddings and events. It's called Mint Springs Farm. They are still constructing the huge, fabulous barns, etc., but it should be open by fall. The piece I did for them is going to be used in their display at Bridal Shows.




I showed a piece from this same bedroom suite on my Facebook page.




It's a deep gray with a dark stain on top. This piece was in such good shape, it was a little tough to distress it.




Aaaaw. Look at that cute baby...



My mom thought I was nuts when I chose that pose for my son's one year portrait. It was just so him, I couldn't help it. Hard to believe he's taller than me now.

Here's another chest of drawers that I had at a flea market in the fall.

And just FYI..don't ever say "chester drawers" when discussing furniture with me.

Unless you're under 10 years of age, you should know by now that's not right.

Doesn't the pile of tires add a bit of charm?



And speaking of charming, let's get to the flea critters.





Ha. Gotcha anyway.
And I also got a good shot of someone seemingly stuck in the back window of a van in the background.




"It's a bad hair day, I'll just throw on a hat."





This guy was a vendor across from me several times. He cleans out buildings and businesses in Alabama.
If he ever starts to tell you the story about the time he cleaned out a strip joint...RUN.

He always wears a nice fanny pack. Being a flea market vendor is about the ony time I can think of that I have thought a fanny pack might be useful. Your money is safe and handy.

However, it just doesn't have enough storage for this guy. He also wears a crocheted bag across his chest. (It's under the arm with the cigarette)

And...



He carries a Vera Bradley backpack.
I know it's Vera Bradley because I asked him, and he seemed proud of it.




This guy was another vendor.
He told a very long story about how this hat cost him $3,000.
It involved a woman, and his getting drunk one night during a market, and waking up with all his money missing and wearing this hat.
And, he costs $13.00.


And, finally, the pizza man.

Somehow, this hot sweaty guy in a pizza suit didn't make me crave pizza.

Flea Market Re-Wind

I think most of these things are from the July fm, but a few pieces are from May.

I skipped June to go to the beach.

This was the temperature according to my car at some point on day one.



Granted, my car could probably qualify for social security, but this is one thing on it that does actually work.

This antique fan was a man magnet.


I didn't know it was a man magnet when I bought it, I have a perfectly good man already.

I put it out front, and I think every man at the flea market stopped to look at it.

They would get a little giddy and glance at their wives (...and often life partners...) when I told them that it worked.

The cord was a little iffy, but it worked.

It was used in a factory, and the cage was around it was for obvious reasons.

It sold for my asking price - to a woman. Ha.


A king sized headboard in blue.



A couple of shabby chic sconces on top of a rustic blue bench.



A cool old school chair from the 50's ( I have more of these!), and a wooden box.






Side table in blue.

A girls desk/vanity, and a lamp I made.

A simple little rocking chair in white.

Pink gingham memo board, and a small chalkboard.

A mission oak buffet.

This thing was a beast to move.

A vintage blue highchair. I painted the tray with appliance paint so it would be really durable.

Twin size, soft pink bed.

I don't have a lot of flea critter pictures.

It was really hot.

Cindy and I were a bit lethargic. I wasn't up for much of a chase, so I had to wait for some to come to me.

I wasn't disappointed.

I remember seeing these in a cheesy little catalog full of junk my grandmother used to get.

Can you see it on the lady that looks like she's asking for directions?

Aaaah, yes.

The umbrella hat.

I will never be that desperate for shade.

And I have hands.

I did not use the "mirror image" tool in photoshop for this next one...

That is 2 grown women in matching dresses and hair-do's.

You may not be able to see in the picture, but their bra straps were even the same.

I don't know if they were twins, I was too lazy to chase them down to find out.

Not that being twins would make it any less weird...

And, just when I thought I had seen the only woman in town with the guts to pull this look off...

...here came another umbrella hat.

Kim

Monday Make-Over

I asked readers to ignore an ugly lamp in my last post.
I don't think it's ugly anymore...



The shiny brass bottom is gone.
Was shiny, shiny brass ever in style??




Sometimes you just have to look at things for their shape and potential.
I used an oil based primer so the paint would stick to the metal, then layered on 3 different colors, one coat at a time.
I finished it by sanding it, and adding a clear, matte glaze.






Can you see the little bits of french blue, and ecru peeking through?




I topped it with a simple linen drum shade.




Last year,I wrote a post here when my oldest son and I went to the flea market together.
He found these signs, and just had to have them for the new room he was imagining in his head.
They've been jammed between the freezer and wall in my garage for about a year now.
We decided to hang them this weekend, (his room's coming along at a snail's pace). The one way sign had a big bend in it that I couldn't get out, no matter what I tried.

But....I came up with a solution.




We ran over it with my husband's big truck.

Over, and over again.

Until it was flat.

Littlebits Designs

Coins and lost shakers

Here's a picture of a desk I recently finished.



It's from the 30's from what I can tell. It has all the original, brass hardware, and it weighs about 500 pounds.(well, it feels that heavy).

When I first got it home and cleaned it out, I found this.


A really weird coin with a swastika.
Well, it's supposed to be different from a swastika. I guess the lines are going in a different direction than the nazi symbol.
No matter which way the lines go, it still looks evil to me.
I looked it up, and these things are on ebay for $35 -50.
Guess it's going on ebay - backwards swastika and all.

Remember my enormous salt and pepper shakers from my recent post here?

As I was cooking tonight, I couldn't find the salt.



This is where I found it.



Why????

I wil never understand my children.



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Adios, Pedro

I'm writing this from my "safe place". We're having some pretty strong storms coming through our area, so I've been watching the local news, which is non-stop weather reporting.
They name towns or cities that I've never heard of.
Today they mentioned Hoodoo and Bugscuffle.
I did not make those up.


Between the rain, I've gotten ots of frames finished. I love the large white one. It's marked 'Ethan Allen 1910'. I don't know how acurate that is, but It'll make a great chalkboard.



Ignore the crazy ugly lamp, that makeover will be up soon.
The box it's sitting on is an old cheese box. They are typically all wood. This one had this great metal edging that has a sort of pie-crust effect.





Cool, huh? This is the lid. With a bit of sawing, I made the bottom into a twin. Not sure what to paint on it though...

I posted a piece on facebook last week, but thought I would show the before.



It was a plain, poorly stained, 5 drawer dresser.



I painted it in Porter Paint's ecru, and topped it with a wanut tinted glaze.

These croquet balls have nothing to do with the dresser, but I like the picture.

We'll say it shows the finish up close....

What are all the kiddos looking at so intently???

A super mean looking turtle.

He was NOT shy. He didn't go into his shell once.

I 'm no turtle expert, but he looked eager to bite a chunk out of a small finger.

The kids plyed with him for hours.

He wandered into our backyard.

I bet he'll never do that again....

If he does, we'll recognize him.

They named him Pedro, and begged me to write his name on his shell.

I hope Pedro likes blue, cause it's permanent.

Notice the live bug in his mouth??

Charming.

For once, I think they listened to me.

They look a little wary of losing a finger.

He ran away during the night.

Adios, Pedro.

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