Today, I am sharing a gift one of my sweet readers sent me a few months ago… …these beautiful, little spoons with edelweiss on the handles.  For those who don’t know, I grew up in Germany and spent the first two years in Bavaria and I remember seeing edelweiss up close and in person on a few hikes. I actually did pick one (illegally, I might add), but I was a kid and didn’t know better.  I think my brother informed me and included that I would probably be arrested, which caused me a lot of angst! Anyway, it was such a thoughtful gift and I love them. And second, I wanted to share a preview of our yard sale.  We’re still adding to the pile, but I want to give potential shoppers a sense of what will be there.  First of all, the yard sale will be at my

No, we’re not having that conversation. I’m sharing another pre-Lucketts find that I ended up “shopping” from the pile before we packed it in the truck.  It’s a really lovely original oil painting I spotted in an antique store for a bargain… less than $20. It’s a bouquet of flowers with a bird next to it… …and a bee on one of the blossoms… When I shared this painting on Instagram, a few people commented that they have this print.  I looked up the artist and I didn’t find anything, so I’m thinking they are either similar or this artist painted a study of the work of a more famous artist, perhaps? (Update: Someone shared that it is a study of a painting called “Roses” by Jean Baptiste.  I actually like my copy better!) Well, whatever the case, I love it.  I did put a tag on it, but that

I shared one of my finds, that awesome birdcage, in yesterday’s post.  I thought I would share a couple more things I “bought for Lucketts” and then decided to keep at the last minute. This is a simple, little find, but one that I immediately loved.  It’s a blue and white metal picnic/lunch box with wood handles.  How cute is that? I seriously want to pack some sandwiches in it! And I might just do that one of these days. The other thing I kept is this pretty bucolic print in a gold frame. I love the softness of the colors and the overall style and subject of the print. Hopefully, I’ll have a perfect spot for both of these wherever we land!

With all of this talk about things that I’m selling, I thought I would share something that I am keeping! I have decided that one of the perks of buying and selling antiques is that I get first pick of my finds.  I sell far more than I keep, but sometimes there are pieces that are so special and I am so smitten with them, that I keep them. At least for a while. I found this antique French wall-hanging bird cage on my final shopping trip before Lucketts… (The tag listed it as “French” and that seller may be taking some liberties with a hot buzzword or it might actually be from France.  I don’t know, so let’s just pretend it’s from France, even though it may not be.) Soooo, usually I bounce larger purchases off of my shopping buddy (my mom on this particular day) just to make sure I’m

The studio has been a flurry of activity so far this week.  It’s our last full week before Lucketts and we’re making a push to get everything finished, photographed, priced and packed.  There are so many pieces that I haven’t even had the chance to share!  A market scale, a barrel scale, an amazing clock (that works) from a telegraph office, textiles, baskets, fans, totes, and lots of ironstone. I do find myself wrestling with the familiar doubts that always nag me before an event.  Am I bringing too much?  Not enough?  It really feels like overkill one moment and nowhere near adequate the next. Even though it’s all a little ridiculous, I think it’s a part of that nervous energy that balls up before something exciting.  I always felt it before a performance when I was into that sort of thing and it always drove me to do better.  I

One of my blog readers gave me the nicest compliment a couple of months ago.  She said something like, “I love that you love nice things, but you can let them go.”  I keep coming back to those words as I’m deciding what to keep and what to sell. Loving a piece isn’t enough.  Hoping I will have the perfect place for it isn’t enough.  If I use those two arguments as qualifiers, I would keep everything.  Those two arguments are factors, but I also have to think about versatility.  Can I use the piece in a variety of ways, in many different rooms, giving me lots of options as I set up in a new home and studio? I love this dry sink and I have been holding onto it in the hopes that some day, I could hook it up to a drain and wall-mounted faucet and love

If you are a scale-lover, as I am, you may have spotted the antique fan scale on the Farmhouse White buffet I shared on Friday… I don’t know what it is about scales that pull me in every time, but I love them and have been selling them in my retail space at the Lucketts Spring Market since my first year as a vendor.  I am bringing several this year, maybe about eight, including this beauty… That dial has all kinds of crazy numbers on it and I don’t even know why they are there, but beyond their practical purpose, they just look cool. Agreed? And I like that it’s big, but not too big.  You could realistically have this on a kitchen island without it looking grossly out of proportion. My new Lucketts helper, Debbie, and I worked on some furniture pieces today, but I don’t have anything finished to