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Fall Home Tour~2014 (part 1)

9/26/2014

22 Comments

 
            Welcome friends! As mentioned last week, I'm opening my old, imperfect doors to share a part of my home with you. 
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     Before you get too excited, please remember the house is almost 100 years old! We have lived here 2 years and worked our fingers to the bone and it is still a work in progress. In fact today, roofers arrived at 6:30 am, stripped off the irreparable slate, hauled it off, put on a new roof and cleaned it all up by 6pm.
      NOT the mess they made inside though! Yeah, that mess sifted throughout the house. So I added cleaning to my blogging/decorating schedule today. Happily it all got done, but  because of that schedule hiccup, I am separating the "tour" into 2 parts.
     Come on in!
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     For the first time, this year I chose to decorate in all neutral colors. Yup, no oranges, reds, or yellows. I'll let God do the beautiful, bold colors outdoors this year! All I bought for FALL decorating this year was lots of white pumpkins and white mums!
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Some details. Yes, the lampshade is tattered. That is how I love them...worn, torn, tattered silk is my favorite.
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     On to the kitchen! Most of these historical homes have small kitchens because they had servants do most of their work.
     I have no servants.
     I have a servant's entrance in the kitchen, but as I have no servants, the door stays closed and locked. I also have a servant's buzzer that I can press with my foot while at the dining table. I press it sometimes, but no one ever comes to assist me.
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      Just this week I added a small enamel farm table as an island (because there's SO much room in the kitchen). I put fresh mums and pumpkins, a basket and a bench under it to make it more "homey".
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Now, come grab a bite to eat and a drink of cider!
      During Fall, it's all about the comfort food!
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      Grab your cider and come into the living room to warm your toes. We have a fire almost every evening when it's cool outside...I wish you could smell the scent of the wood as it burns. The smell lingers in the house and I can still smell it the next morning when I make my coffee.
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     Mantle décor is always my favorite. I, of course, like a lot of stuff, so the mantle is always full (and I am forever changing it)!
        Here is my $20 sofa. Favorite sofa .EVER! 
     Those of you that are regulars in the store, know I use hedge apples every Autumn. Contrary to what people say, they do NOT repel spiders. I know this for a FACT.   
     I got the wooden box that holds the hedge apples and the drawer that holds the miniature pumpkins (in the foyer) from my dear friend from childhood Daphne at Just Enough Antiques. Go visit her and tell her I said hi!
https://www.facebook.com/JustEnoughAntiques
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     The candle, too, is a yearly tradition. So simple, but so pretty. Easy to copy and people will think you are a genius!
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I'm loving the white pumpkins!
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     So, that's it for now...I hope you enjoyed it and as always, I hope you've been inspired to decorate your home!
     Do you decorate for Fall?
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22 Comments

A Day in the Country

9/18/2014

4 Comments

 
     The returning Crisp Autumn air, turning leaves, and wood-burning fires have  all given me the decorating bug.
     Big surprise right?
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        This year though, instead of using the traditional colors of Fall, I decided to try decorating with neutrals; only shades of whites and beiges.
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      I did a little on the front porch and found I liked it, but I needed more stuff! So I ventured out to an old family friend's farm to see if they had any of my precious white pumpkins.
     Little did I know, the large potato farm/part time lil' punkin' farm of my childhood memories had morphed into a quite a grand affair!
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     I had no idea! It had been years since I visited. There used to be just the house, barns and potato silos(??)
     There is now a beautiful, new barn and acres of corn and straw mazes, activities, pumpkin patches, petting zoos and just beautiful wide-open spaces.
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There are Pumpkin People everywhere!
Everywhere....
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      .......OK...what did I come for? Oh yes! Do they have any pumpkins for sale? Specifically WHITE pumpkins???
      There were plenty of white pumpkins! I bought about 20, and white mums as well (I guess you'll see them in next week's blog).
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After I made my happy purchases, I wandered out back.
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Holy skamoly, this looks like fun!!
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My favorite were these funny guys
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The straw bale tunnels looked intriguing.
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NO, I didn't go through them! 
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     I really just went to get pumpkins, but I ended up enjoying the day in the fresh air, quiet and sunshine (they said there were busloads of school kids out in the mazes but I didn't even hear them). 
     Ramseyer Farms, thank you for working HARD to keep a thriving family farm and for sharing it with all of us. http://www.ramseyerfarms.com/
      And, of course, thank you for all the white pumpkins!!!


4 Comments

Crazy Grandma

9/11/2014

9 Comments

 
      I'm her!! The eccentric granny! I hadn't thought about it, but my young grandson has glaringly brought it to my attention lately. He notices and wants to play with all the crazy things in our house.
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     I didn't really think about it until I caught him doing THIS about a month ago!
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    The picture's blurry because I was laughing so hard when I took it! I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't even notice the girl's faces on the table, but HE found them. All three of them!
    Then last weekend this happened.
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And this.
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     I guess it makes sense because he's lived his whole little life playing around antiques and unique, quirky items. He's comfortable around them. He's hung out at the store since he was first born.
     Makes himself completely at home.
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     At the house, we let him play with just about everything. Only two areas are strictly off limits; the plants on the coffee table and the bar cart.  Everything else is fair game.
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      My kids have explained patiently to me that the house isn't exactly "child-proofed".
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     I don't bother to explain that child-proofing was barely in existence when they were young. 
     When they made these high chairs.......
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     So. How long until my grandkids realize not every Grandma has mannequins everywhere, umbrellas hanging in the living room, old smoking pipes in the library and silver platters to play on? Probably not long, but meanwhile, I hope they grow up with a sense of whimsy, fun and creativity! I hope they love and use antiques their whole lives. 
     How long until they think I'm crazy? Also, probably not long.
     You know what? I'm ok with that.








9 Comments

On the Road Again

9/4/2014

2 Comments

 
     After three years of being store bound, I have started to do one show a month again. 
     I wonder, do I still have "it"?
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      I think so!
     It really was like riding a horse; it all came back to me! We had the 4 a.m. loading the truck thing down to a science; though this time, while I was loading, my usually hard-working hubby disappeared for about a half hour. I went out to find him and he came back from chasing a would-be thief that was casing the neighborhood! YIKES. We called the cops, gave them the low-down and finally got on the road.
     Always something right?!
     Unloading the truck and setting up took us only about an hour and a half and the weather was perfect. No rain, and even more importantly, no WIND.
We weren't fully set up and customers were already shopping-a good problem to have.
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     Ah look; it is going to be a good day. See who pulled up and parked right beside us! Good for business and GREAT for lunch!!!
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      When we had a break, hubby held the fort down while I took a quick lap to see what I could see. As a rule, I don't buy at shows because we're there to sell. Sometimes I break that rule, but I didn't today (though there were some good things).
Birdcages and globes are things that make my heart go pitter-pat.
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This chair, too, was pretty awesome.
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I REALLY liked these tall candelabras too, but they were $400.
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     Of course I loved this luggage, but I got none of it. We were there to sell! And sell we did! It was a great day.
     Sunday, was another great; a day of rest (thankfully), but Monday we were up and at 'em by 6 and headed to the Hartville Flea Market to buy. It has become a yearly tradition.
      So many, many things to look at! We split up to shop some, but always end up together again, holding hands and laughing, meeting lots of friends and vendors we have met over the years. Then we split up again to buy more and carry things back to the truck .
     Oh I wanted this vintage hay rack! Imagine this hung in a corner of a living room filled with pillows, or at Christmas filled with sweet-smelling pine boughs. ....and the cupola for that matter..... What a great Autumn centerpiece that would make!
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It gets hung the other way!
     How about this! I saw it from AFAR and tried not to run to it.I'd love this in my foyer or my living room. I could pedal it to go get a few groceries! What could go wrong???!!!Completely practical and only $800.
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     All in all it was a great weekend for buying and selling! Want to see my favorite purchase? 
     I thought so.
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Bathing Beauty
     I love her.
What'd YOU do this Labor Day weekend?
2 Comments

    Author: Donna

    Wife, mother, decorator, shop owner, avid collector of beautiful, old, imperfect things.   

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