When I was out shopping a couple of weeks ago, this piece caught my eye the minute I walked past it.  I leaned over to my mom, who is a great shopping companion, but doesn’t always like the things I’m drawn to, and said, “I’m buying it.” She whole-heartedly agreed that I should. It’s just such an interesting piece!  Clearly something that was handmade.  Perhaps built around those drawers?  Or a piece assembled out of other old pieces?  Whatever the history, it works and I love it. The paint was already perfect, but it needed a good wiping-down and a coat of Tough Coat to seal the chipping paint.  That was one of the projects Emily tackled for me when she was helping at the studio last week.  She was such a tremendous help! The drawers are definitely my favorite part.  The chippy paint, the bin-cup pulls, and the way

The days are ticking away and the Lucketts Spring Market is getting closer and closer.  Even though I am in pretty good shape, I do need to squeeze in shopping trips when I can.  So, Saturday, after my son’s soccer game, my mom and I hit an antique store to see if we could find anything.  It was a quick trip!  We were speed-walking through the aisles towards the end, but we did come away with some good stuff, including this gray-painted shoe cart… I’ve bought and sold several shoe carts over the years and I have a couple that I use in the studio, but I’ve never had one that is tall and skinny, like this one.  It is quite a functional size – offering a lot of storage without taking up a lot of floor space. And the gray paint is pretty awesome as well…  Chipped and worn to perfection.

I shared a preview of this find on Instagram and everyone thought I was talking about the marmalade jars. Those are awesome, but I was actually showing a preview of this antique mail sorter… The cubbies are the perfect size for all sorts of little goodies and the wire backing is the cherry on top. It was one of those pieces that I knew was special the moment I set eyes on it. I cleared it off right away and lugged it by myself to my “pile” by the register.  When the antique-score adrenaline kicks in, I could haul an entire hutch on my own, if need be. I loved it even more once I started styling it for this photoshoot.  Doesn’t everyone need an old mail sorter to store their French soaps and marmalade jars?  Right?!  I mean, they fit perfectly! This piece, along with all of the goodies

You know how you can plan out your week, but those plans don’t exactly work out? Well, this week is turning out to be one of those weeks.  My plan for a super-productive, get in a good rhythm on a few things (like exercise, organizing, etc.), knock a bunch of things off to-do list, etc. was derailed when Calvin came down with a tummy bug last night.  And, since he has type 1 diabetes, that turned into an all-night ER visit to get dehydration and ketones under control.  We finally got to sleep about 4:30 in the morning and, while I’ve gotten some work done, we spent most of the day resting and recovering. And just when we thought things might get back to normal, Marshall tosses his cookies this evening.  So, that’s just how things go sometimes. One bright spot is I learned you can hose off a braided jute rug,

Last fall, Marshall got a new mattress for his bed, so we had an extra twin mattress.  I’ve been hanging onto it in the hopes that I could find a great twin bed frame to match, so I can set up a comfy, fluffy bed at Lucketts.  I had one last year and it was such a nice touch of softness in the booth and a great place to display linens and pillows.  (And it was a pretty nice place to crash at the end of the first day!) I’ve been looking for a few months and I finally hit the craigslist jackpot with this beautiful, antique cottage-style bed… I mean, it’s pretty great, right?! Of course, I’m going to paint it a different color.  This one isn’t terrible in the pictures, but it looks a little “fleshy” in person. When I saw the listing, it only mentioned the headboard and