I had an amazing day.  It was busy, but I had a successful shopping trip and had dinner and a movie with my hubby.  That’s a great day.  I’ll share some pictures of some of my latest favorite finds in the next few days.  As some of you know, last Thursday Mini and I set out to paint my room on the third floor at The Lucketts Store.  After much patching, one coat of Satin True Value Easy Care in Owl Gray mixed at half strength on the walls and one coat of water borne semigloss Impervo paint in bright white on the trim, here is what it looks like…   The change isn’t too dramatic, but here is the before…      I actually really liked the color, but the walls and trim were so filled with holes that I really just needed to start over.  I wanted to use a

My space at The Old Lucketts Store is a big part of my business, so I have to share what it looks like every now and then, especially since it’s constantly changing.  Here’s how it looked last Thursday… I sold five furniture pieces over the past couple of days, so it doesn’t look like this anymore.  I guess that means some furniture painting and shopping is in order… 

One of my readers left a comment last week asking to see some more of Lucketts.  Here I am, selfishly snapping away pictures of my own room when there are so other many amazing spaces to share.  Well, I’m going to remedy that right now. For those of you who don’t know what The Old Lucketts Store is, it’s a very old general store/boarding house that was converted into an antique store.  It is the highlight of the one stoplight town that’s a few miles north of Leesburg, VA on Rt 15 and it’s about an hour outside of Washington, DC.  It’s not a traditional antique mall.  It’s a collection of about 30 dealers, designers and artists that flows easily from one room to the next.  It is packed with inspiration and furniture and goodies and one-of-a-kind quirky finds.  Here are some pictures I snapped on Thursday… I know..right?  Amazing. 

I received several calls from The Lucketts Store last weekend.  It seems that everyone decided to buy furniture out of my room and it was practically cleaned out.  So, I had to work like crazy for a few days and then I went down on Thursday to get it all filled up.  Here’s what it looked like when I was done… The dining set is an antique that belonged to my grandfather, but no one in the family wanted it. I refinished the top and painted the base in a washed gray.  The chairs are upholstered in a grain sack from Poland.  I built the oversized chalk board for a Cottages and Bungalows tutorial.  Look for that issue soon.  I found a huge ironstone set at an antique mall last week, so I used it to set the table.  Antique strawberry baskets are filled with bagged lavender buds and a starfish

On Thursday, my mother-in-law and I snuck away for an amazing lunch and a trip to Lucketts to restock my space.  If you’re ever in Gettysburg, PA, you must go to Herr Tavern and savor a bowl of their cream of crab with corn soup.  Oh my.  Velvet in a bowl.  Heaven in a bowl.  The very best shopping day ever in a bowl.  And crab.  AND cream.  I ordered my usual soup and 1/2 sandwich combo.  The sandwich, chips and pickle, while good, are sort of like a garnish on the plate.  Just an accoutrement to the soup.  So, after a good lunch, we drove down to Lucketts.  Remember this dresser? Yeah.  This is the one with the gouged top.  I was in a big rush at Lucketts, so I didn’t get pictures of how the top turned out, but it looks really rustic and cool.  (I just found out it sold

Today was a typical day in the life of an antiques dealer. Tag items, load the van, drive to the shop, clean, fluff and reload the room…just my normal weekly routine.  Here’s how the room looks now… (See the newly finished top on the dresser?) As I was leaving, I noticed a little message in the bottom corner of my magnetic chalk board.    I love a good sense of humor.  Is this a statement about my room?   Anyway, it made me smile as I was melting in the humidity and weary after hauling everything up to my third floor room.  It also reminded me that I need to make more “A’s.”  Yesterday I finished my Cottages & Bungalows photo shoot for the October issue.  Here’s a peek…   I rounded out the day by having dinner with my husband followed by public humiliation in a Zumba class.  I just kept telling myself it’s all about