I hope you’ll join me on my never-ending search for beautiful pieces, with history, for your home. Find my curated treasures, in Booth #154, at the Antique Trove, in Roseville, CA. ~ Barbara
Well, the baby has arrived! The “nursery” isn’t quite ready, but that isn’t stopping me from shipping orders out! (you can see my cabinets are not quite finished!) If I’m as excited as I am, I can’t imagine how Marian, (Miss Mustard Seed) must feel! Oh, dang! Isn’t this a pretty sight? I’m checking and double checking, to make sure I don’t send Boxwood out, instead of Luckett’s Green, or some such thing! I have a few technical details to get through, or I’ll never leave the “mail room”. Nothing like a little operator error, to make me want to…
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I’m taking a mini vacation from cabinet painting, sine my son will soon be out at sea, on his Naval frigate, with a few hundred of his best buddies, for six months! So, Mr. Wonderful and I have flown down to San Diego for the weekend to celebrate the “holidays”, before he leaves. His wife, who I adore, had a wonderful idea! Her plan is to decorate their small apartment with little corners each decorated for all the different holidays he’ll be missing, over the next six months. (Andrew & Jessica, last Christmas) We brought down a small, pre-lit Christmas…
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One of the characteristics I most admire today, is that of empathy. Especially since so many in our world are getting by with less. Do you know what I mean? “In your face” conspicuous consumption doesn’t sit real well with me at this time, considering our economic conditions. It’s not as though I feel like I need to apologize for my own success and good fortune. It’s more about understanding that I don’t need to rub it in anyone’s face. I know that sympathy and empathy are some times confused. So I researched on line, to find a more accurate…
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It was time for “Monday Night Football”, last night, so I headed to the craft store. I found these really sweet mini grapevine wreaths for $2.99 each, at Joanne’s. Since I buy lavender in bulk, from a farm here in California, I had plenty of it on hand. For me, lavender is one of the most wonderful scents on earth! With my trusty glue gun fired up, I cut about three lavender stems down to just about a half inch below the flower and glued them into place. Once finished, I Used some jute twine, to hang it from. Yes,…
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Have you ever looked at the nutritional information on a bag of Quaker granola cereal? There is just about as much sugar in a bowl of their granola as there is in a chocolate sundae! Yet, I love granola, so I came up with a healthier version. There’s no sugar and no oil. Instead I use agave nectar. If you aren’t familiar with agave nectar, it’s a natural sweetener that comes from the agave plant. The best part is, that it’s low on the glycemic index. Where sugar is 100 on the glycemic index, agave nectar is in the 20’s.…
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Can you get carpal tunnel syndrome from painting? Or is this simply old age? I’m sticking with carpal tunnel syndrome. Sounds much more exotic! The shop looks more like a chemistry lab than an antique shop. Hopefully this will pass. Over the weekend, I painted the doors and drawers of the cabinets with a new brand of chalk paint. It’s called Maison Blanche and it comes from guess where? You guessed it! The U.K.! I think that making paint is all they do over there! No? I tested out the clear and dark wax application on the inside of one…
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I’ve been wanting a pair of porcelain Staffordshire terriers for some time. Here’s a little history I’ve found… Starting in the 1700’s, Stafford, England became known for its porcelain. The town was located close to the natural materials needed and by the late 1800’s, had become a world center for pottery. The dogs, made to resemble King Charles Cavalier Terriers, we’re found on fireplace mantels during Victorian times, from the 1840’s to the 1890’s. Queen Victoria and her husband brought the breed into popularity and had many in their own homes. These timeless accessories can be found in a variety…
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After friends and I converge at the Mes Amis Antique Fair in Old Roseville, Saturday morning, I will get back to painting my very long stretch of cabinets, at the shop. Just the drawers and doors are left to paint and wax (with chalk paint), but there are a lot of them! The wood laminate flooring was scheduled to be picked up today, for installation, but it’s still on a slow boat from China! Who knows when it will arrive! I’ll share more pictures soon, So stay tuned! All the best, Barbara Wish me luck!
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Whenever I get the chance, I visit The Nesting Place This week, she wrote a beautiful post, entitled Dear Me. She invited us to write our own letters of advice, to our 16 year old selves, in honor of her sister’s new book debut. Her sister writes the blog, Chatting at the Sky, and I see writing is a skill sharing by both of these young ladies! While I don’t have the great pictures to include in this post, as they have, I hope the words are sufficient. 1. NEVER let your mother give you a perm. No, you’ll never…
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Greetings, dear lovelies! You may or may not be interested to know that I slept like a boulder last night, thank goodness…without ibuprofen p.m., even! Just because I am obsessing over working on the new shop, I have no thoughts or energy to create Halloween masterpieces, like some of you…so why even try?! While I was blog hopping this morning, at the Farmhouse Porch, she had her Cowgirl Up! Party going on … …where I met Gwen, at the appropriately named Gwen Moss Blog! Now, Gwen and I haven’t really formally met yet, but I’d guess that she has two…
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