The Grill Man

One of the events that I missed blogging  about last year was the business venture of the boy.  In May of last year he teamed up with his Dad and they bought out a vendor who was leaving Angel's.  He has his own booth.  Tommy works for him and I am his decorator!

We go pick up grills, smokers, fire pits and accessories at a Charbroil return/outlet.  Some of them are damaged, some are missing parts and some are perfect.  You just never know what you will get.

 Tyler builds the grills.  He can do it on his own schedule as long as his booth stays stocked.  Which works out well most of the time.  How many jobs can a high school senior get that will work around their social life??  He had a busy month in December so he had to build a lot of grills.  This month....not so much.  But spring and summer are coming...

I helped (did) the decorating in a John Deere theme.  We have sold several John Deere items that were really just there for decorating!

Baby, It's COLD Outside

         Alabama has had an unusually cold winter.  Last year we only had 6 days below freezing (which is more than enough for me)....this year we have already had 16.   I hate winter...the cold...the windy...the dark.  I am sure I have that seasonal depression  disorder.  And I think the dogs have it as well.

 

They slept like this for a couple of hours today.   Max was on my lap under a blanket so he didn't get in front of the camera.   Chug and Bitsey had the chair pushed up as close to the fireplace as possible so they were out from under the blanket!

How much longer until summer???

RUST AND DUST

 I gave a little preview of our new project and thought I would update in a couple of days when we got it complete.  It took longer than planned as usual....and it will never be complete, but here it is today.

 We decided to move one booth out of Hubby's corner of 3 booths to the opposite side of the building.  It seemed like the painted furniture projects were getting lost in the Flea Market look of the other booths.  One side of the building is more vintage/antique  and  the other side is more eclectic.  We are trying to keep this booth more neutral colors with a touch of aqua, green and blue.  And not quite so crowded.  Let's see how long that lasts!!


This booth had never been painted.  I decided to leave the pegboard as is for now because light colored things like frames show up well against it.  I did paint the lower walls since the mdf board had writing all over it which took 2 coats of primer and one coat of a taupe color (Lowe's mis-tint for cheap!).  Also hung a burlap ruffle around the top of the walls to dress it up.  The sign was made from a vintage screen purchased from another vendor, burlap flowers and scrapbook paper.

Some of the things came from the old booth and some are things we have made new in the last two weeks.  Tommy has been into furniture lately,  The  two step stool is so cute. The plans came from www.ana-white.com.   Painted with chalk paint.

We moved this giant chalkboard over from the other booth and gave it a face lift.  It was orange for Auburn but never sold so now it is more neutral.  The little drop leaf table has been in my dining room for a year waiting for a repair and paint.

Tommy saw and made this clock over the weekend.  Love pallet wood!

The shutter shelves  have been sitting around half finished for a year.  And the burlap topiaries moved from my booth to dress up this new piece.

Tommy also built this from plans in Ana White's book "Handbuilt Home."  I love the details of this piece and wish I could keep it.  He really distressed it and stained it before I painted it (again with chalk paint).  The knobs have maps so I lined the drawers with old maps to match.

 

 

 

New Year = New Project!!

The new year brings more new projects for us!  Here is just a little
preview:

 

 

 A lot of work means we are worn out!

Happy New Year!

Another Fixer-Upper

 
 
 

One of the projects that I have  missed blogging about is our new fixer-upper!   In May, for Mother's Day Tommy surprised   me with another  Victorian house.  I will never get done with our house and yet he decided we need a 2nd home??  Crazy??? Yes, but I love it!  And it is a dollhouse!  I am just an antique child and this is my ultimate toy.   I hope I get more done on it next year.  Here is a look at what I have done so far!

 I wish I had some before pictures.  This is the parlor/music room now decorated for Christmas.  In this room I had to removed horrible wallpaper.  It looked like it had been applied with rubber cement. Big gloppy globs that took a month to remove.  The walls were sanded and primed. They are now ready for paint....but I have wavered on color choice.  This is the only floor in the house that I kept.  I did sand and stain it a darker color.  The Baby Grand and the harp were Christmas gifts from the music teacher I work with in the violin program at school! The Victrola was a birthday gift from my Hubby.  I made the couch, ottoman, and pug pillow.  This is really the only room with furniture set up right now.

 I have worked a little in the master bedroom, also.  The whole house had to be primed and sanded.  The wall colors were outrageous- hot pink in here- purple, lime green, etc...  I also removed flooring like the shag carpet in this room!  The shag was so tall the furniture was hidden!!  The brass bed came from Angel's (also from Hubby)  and the quilt was made by a good friend who has worked with me on the Porch Tour. She also made sheets and pillows!  I made the bed skirt and the throw pillow.  I found the tiny suitcase and end table at a thrift store.  I will install hardwood floors and paint after my electrician runs the wires for lighting!  So you can see this will be a labor of love....just like our house  is.....never ending!

 First floor will be parlor and kitchen, second floor master and boy's bedroom, third floor bathroom, sewing room and girl's room,  and the attic in the turret!

Some of the trim had fallen off so I will have to replace that.  I have touched up the paint on the outside and added doorknobs!  I love my dollhouse!  He found it at a Community yard sale and when I saw it I cried!!

Christmas Decorating 2013

 

This year the Santas are on the dining room table. The one in the middle was a gift last year from my friend who headed up the Victorian Porch Tour.

 

 

The rest of the room is much the same.  (I was so glad to be able to look back on the blog to save time!)

In the parlor we have a new tree!  After fighting the monster tree for 12 years I gave up. This is  a 7 foot prelit tree that took less than an hour to put up. The old one took a whole day! It is on a short round table to give it a little more height.

 

 

 

 

The Nativity scene is on a table we got by accident at Angel's this year.  In spite of it's shaky start, it does look like it belongs in this house!

In the kitchen all of the elves got contained in this cabinet this year, which moved across the room to make a place for a project piece...

Earlier this year we bought 3 of these hutches at a yard sale.  The first one was a little smaller. It went straight to the booth with no changes and sold quickly.  The second one had many issues.  It was missing drawers and very scratched up.  It had a major makeover.  It is a very heavy 2-piece dresser and hutch...the back however was cardboard.  Hubby took that off and added real beadboard.  Then I painted the whole thing.  Brown beadboard and top of the dresser, tanish-gray for the rest of it.  And a brown burlap curtain where the missing drawers were.  It turned out nice but it was a lot of work! That one just sold this week after sitting in the booth 2 months.

 

This one we put in the kitchen until I could get to it...of course that was a mistake because I began to use it.  There is a lot of storage in that big boy and it is now full!  I would like to put beadboard on the back.... But I don't really want to sell it now.....

 

The only other change this year is in the hall... Again I had a piece that was a project.  An orphan hutch that I just stuck on top of the hall table and it turned on to be a pretty good fit.  It made setting up the village much easier....may keep this piece for a while, too!

Why I Miss My Blog.....

I have used my blog for years as a reference to decorate for Christmas!
My memory is not what it used to be.
Scrapbooking is expensive and costs more.
...and a million other reasons.....

   I did not intend to stop blogging.  First I had a virus on my computer so I was reading blogs on the ipad.  I was not able to coordinate the camera with the ipad and typing was awkward.  Then I was out of the habit when I got my laptop back.  And so on.  So I am going to try again. 

  I am still spending much time at Angel's Antiques.  My hubby spends even more time there.  He has an actual job there.  We have 5 booths and share a couple more,  I have mine, he has 3, and youngest son has one.  The Boy has a booth that sells grills.  He buys returns or dented grills and sells them at a great price.  He has to build the grills, fix and replace parts. It is a good way for a high school senior to schedule his working hours around his social life....

My next post will be all about Christmas....then I will get back on track in 2014!