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
Are you wondering what to do with Great Aunt Henrietta’s collection hand-made lace doilies? Well, it turns out that I repurposed a botanical print, (that wasn’t selling at the shop), into a dry erase board, using some bleached burlap and a gorgeous doily, that I had no other place for. And then I added one of my favorite quotes, and back to Veranda it goes! A while ago, I used this frame as my first Annie Sloan Chalk Paint project. (I like to start small!) I think this make-over turned out great! It was a busy day at the shop!…
Read the rest >>OK, so I’m not going on an Italian cruise, but what do you think about these shoes? Enjoy a relaxing weekend!
Read the rest >>Hello again! Thanks so much for stopping by! On a recent buying trip, I found this cute little foot stool, that someone had carefully recovered! The only trouble was, that it was missing its “poof”! There’s a simple fix, for poof-less foot stools or chair seats, covered in fabric. As you can see, in the photo, I took a 1″ piece of foam, that I cut at a diagonal angle with scissors, an inch smaller in diameter to the existing form, to help create a rounded edge. Then, I covered that with a layer of batting, followed by the final…
Read the rest >>It’s been such a fun-packed week, so far, that I haven’t even let the rain and grey skies bring me down. First of all, I always love a craft experiment project, so, I’ve had fun making little heart pillows for Veranda’s Valentine’s Day Party, this Sunday, 10:30 till 5:30. Due to some other commitments, I won’t be there until about 1:30, but don’t let that stop you from having a glass of champagne without me! These are some of my little heart pillows. The first batch was pretty hard to identify, so I call them my “Imperfect Hearts”! It turns…
Read the rest >>Greetings dear friend!, Today is one for the blog history books! At least my own personal blog history book! Everyone has one, don’t they? No? Well, I’m excited to be launching the first installment, of my first-ever blog series, entitled… Pretty fun, huh? There will be 8 weekly installments, written by 8 of us. These are women I’ve been following for quite a while; all of whom I’d like to know better. I’m talking about the real life joys and challenges, woven through our daily lives. By the way, I had to laugh, when coming up with the series title,…
Read the rest >>I hope you got here, this morning, after a restful night of sleepy dreams! Sometimes/often, I travel in my dreams. In fact, I have a wonderful time, when I dream! What a stress-free, inexpensive way to travel! Since I last wrote about the Paris Flea Market, I’ve continued to explore the idea of visiting Paris, next spring, if not soon after. It looks like other’s have thought of this idea before me…imagine that!…because there are lots of services in place, to assist travelers with the flea market in mind. First of all, there are a bunch of companies that take…
Read the rest >>I was re-stocking my shop at Veranda today and see that I’ve got lots of furniture, painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in inventory right now. These two matching bedroom/vanity chairs are very sweet, painted in Old White. I love how these two counter height bar stools turned out in Emperor’s Silk and lightly distressed. Not the best of pictures. Trust me, there are two stools! I think the little blue and silver table would be sweet, stacked with towels, next to a tub. There’s lots more, so if you need some wonderful old, rejuvenated pieces at great prices, i…
Read the rest >>Thanks to those wonderful little furniture moving pads, that I discovered as a home stager, I can make my living room sofa do a three-sixty, in nothing flat! So over the years, I’ve tried lots of variations, without measurable success. Early on, I had a slipcovered sofa (using my favorite painter’s drop cloths), carpeting…pretty simple. Then, I discovered a true love for draperies. These were made to order. They’re nice and heavy and hang beautifully from some wonderfully simple oil rubbed bronze rods. At this point, we had purchased a new Lee Industries sofa in a beautiful silk velvet, on…
Read the rest >>Do you ever wonder what motivates you? I do. What leaves many of us content, while others have to look for the next challenge? I wish I knew. Somewhere, I have to have this tattooed into my brain (ouch!). I won’t go through my list of what I’ve been doing to fill my days lately, but trust me, the list is long. I ask myself how I spent hours, with the help of Mr. Wonderful, trying to figure out what went wrong with my 20 year old sewing machine, over the weekend. Then, frustrated, we made the unpleasant trek to…
Read the rest >>Mr. wonderful gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers, for our anniversary, recently. While I am not a professional florist, my mother was a stellar entertainer. Having lots of dinner parties, and not a lot of money, she always made her own centerpieces. Her tables always looked like a wonderful celebration was about to take place. I learned a lot, just watching her. Years later, I always enjoy making my own centerpieces and if you haven’t tried it yourself, it’s easier then it might look. 1. First of all, find a bowl or pot that you want to use for…
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