White Ironstone

White ironstone was a hit at the Springfield Extravaganza this weekend.  Although I would have loved to have been at the Country Living Fair in Columbus just miles away, I did not have enough stock on this trip to warrant the cause.  However, we had a great show, and many buyers were also attending CLF, and working both shows into their schedules.  With beautiful weather, my husband to help me, and a huge turnout, it was a super weekend.

 This cute possum belly cupboard with galvanized drawer bins sold right away.  Our furniture buyers were mostly there on Thursday while we were setting up, but this piece sold on Friday morning to a young dentist's wife who was looking for a cupboard for her husband's office.

 I love old bottles, and had numerous great antique and vintage bottles that enhanced several collections.

My walnut wallshelf that used to hang in my bedroom also found a new home.  The antique shelf was custom made for a display in a Shelbyville, TN drug store in the early 1900's.  It is always fun to know the history of an antique.

My husband makes the dish racks that can be hung on the wall or set on a table or countertop.  I didn't sell it this trip, but I did sell the old blue glass kerosene dispenser in front of it, as well as the white wall cabinet down on the bottom right of this photo.

This vintage handmade cupboard also left us.  My huband assisted two young ladies loading it into a small suv with the backseat down.  It was over six feet tall, but amazingly just fit.  They still had numerous smalls they put in the bottom cabinet portion, and then a chair and several other items on top.  I always said a lady can pack it home if there is a will to do it!

I sold half of my ironstone pieces.  I love it, have so many pieces, and still hate to part with it.  Now that we are on our downsizing quest, I realize it time for some of my pieces to be loved by someone else. 

A cute young girl bought all my letters, and another young couple bought my vintage lamp.  If she hadn't, I had decided it was going to replace one in my house and go with me to the next house.

Many more smalls, a great industrial cart, two tables, two wonderful hanging lamps, and several of my crochet hats, a wagon, signs, and mancave items were sold.  We had less than a third left to put back into the trailer at the end of the show.  A big thank you to all of our buyers, the nice folks set up on either side of us, and to the many pleasant people we met on our 3 day weekend in Springfield.

All New Living Room



Old sofa with slipcover  in new living room



2011 brought new changes to our 1847 Carpenter Gothic southern home.  Often the layout of old houses entitles the modern owners to use the rooms in ways they were never intended.   I believe the only room in our home that is used as it originated is the master bedroom. 
Some of those changes took place before we aquired the house twelve years ago, but our greatest internal change was swapping the livingroom and diningroom in 2011.  During that swap we added hardwood floors to a portion of the house that had carpet, and put new hardwood in the kitchen after ripping up the original to reinforce the old bouncey joists.  The orignial floors were wormey chestnut, and i just loved them, but there was no subfloor.  Besides the bounce, winter drafts could be felt up to your knees.  Something had to be done, and the splintering boards were not usable for finished flooring after the joist project.  It is just part of old-house delimmas.


In an older post, I presented an album of the new diningroom, which also viewed the hallways to the bedrooms and the kitchen, all of which got the new hardwood.  By putting the diningroom in it's new location, it allowed for the arrangement of furniture so that we could pass through that room to our bedroom hall.  When we had the livingroom there, you would have to walk through the LR furniture and often in front of someone watching television.  No more.  Even though my husband and I do most of our TV watching on our sunporch, the visiting grands and family liked to use the LR for video games and DVDs.  I will try to show you how we found the remedy for this. 




New ceiling light replaced dining room light which I refurbished and moved into the new dining room.




Veiw of the wall oposite the sofa where I was finally able to display my Red Wing Pottery.  I've stacked a few more inside each other since this photo.




I brought two wingback chairs out of the bedrooms with intentions of slipcovering both, but still have not done it.




The former diningroom was painted peach with peach woodtrim including the fireplace, from the former owner.  All the years  we have been here I have longed to repaint this room.  White trim and white walls set off the hardwood floors and hardwood ceiling, and gave the room the vintage country  look I was seeking.




1800's handwrought copper pots make a simple statement on the mantel.




A primitive walnut table got a new home in the LR too.  This table was painted brown years ago, so I decided to strip it and found original old blue milk paint underneath.  I did my best to preserve what was left of the blue.




The walnut cupchair actually has a 3 foot walkway for access.  This cupboard was a TN estate find, with wavey glass door and plain crown molding.  I put  collection of blue swirl graniteware in the top.board behind the chair actually has a 3 foot walkway for access.  This cupboard was a TN estate find, with wavey glass door and plain crown molding.  I put  collection of blue swirl graniteware in the top.




A 12-tin pie safe that was formerly in the entry hall, now houses the stereo and cds and dvds.  On top is a vignette of old hunting items including antlers, old shot gun shells and box, Hopes gun cleaner and a taxidermy hawk.




My hubby's elk mount also found a new home here above a collection of antique black powder rifles.




An oil painting I did of my husband hunting with his Brittiany birddogs hangs below a 15pt buck.  I love the way the white crown molding looks against the natural beadboard ceiling.




The sofa also has a 3ft walkway behind it.  An old captains chair, a primitive sugar chest and a buggy seat line the wall and give plenty of room for the walkway from the kitchen to the front entry hall.  A stool that I had covered to match the wing chair from the masterbedroom, now makes a table in front of the sofa.




Love old ironstone and transfer.  This little ensemble makes a wall grouping.




Another favorite cupboard is this very old TN pine cornercupboard with wavey glass doors.




Tabletop includes an antique brass candlestick from my mother and hand needlepoint redbird coasters from my grandmother. 





My mother's sleeping kitten figure rests under the table.

 


I've added more redwing sizes to this grouping, but still love having a place to display them now.




One of my last oil paintings.  Need to get back into it, but making jewelry is some much easier to start and stop in our busy schedules.




The large platter is one of my favorites.




The top of the cornercupboard has a collection of blue transferware and ironstone.




The buggy seat has a vintage wool punch rug folded on the seat, which I have now put on the floor in front.




Love the one door top on the cornercupboard. 




A few transfer pitchers line the shelf with the graniteware





I was glad the ceilings
 had never been seen paint in here.  All of the interior doors have transomes.  A hint of the hall chandolier is seen behind the transome.




View from the kitchen door.




TV sits on an old wood shipping trunk.




Little kitchen entry hall between kitchen and livingroom.




Old beveled leaded glass kitchen door.

 Come back for a tour of the new entry hall and kitchen coming soon!! Thanks for visiting!!

Country Living Fair Followup

We had such a great time at the Country Living Fair - South at Stone Mountain Georgia.  My lovely daughter Carrie, worked like a Trojan the entire time, setting up, arranging, and rearranging all weekend.  We arrived on Wednesday with our 24' gooseneck horse trailer, and quickly found out how difficult it was going to be to get that trailer to our space around the twisting narrow paved pathway and forrest of huge pines.  The setting was wonderful, the access was horrendous.  A good Georgian friend, Victor, met us at the showgrounds and saved the day.  He got the trailer to our boothsite, helped us unload and set up tents, and got the trailer back out.  We had just enough time to cover everything up  before the setup time was over.  Thursday morning Carrie and I set to work, finishing the furniture arrangement by noon, and working all afternoon on smalls and decor.  We were dog tired by Thursday night, but were relieved to have help from my husband who came to join us.

Because of our schedule and busy day on Friday, I was not able to leave the booth for pictures until Sunday!  My camera got left in the truck so I used my husband's cell phone (mine was set up for credit card sales) and managed to get my first walk around the show.  I got several nice pictures and enjoyed a quick browse through, but lost all of my photos when my husband changed phones on Monday!  At least I still had my booth pictures on my camera which I had brought in for setup!    Sorry I could not share with you what all I saw, it was such a wonderful show, filled with such talented people who did miraculous things with jewelry, antiques, vintage, artwork, metal, pottery, glass, and you name it!   It was not your ordinary country fair by any means. 

Our booth space allowed us plenty of room to spread, and since we had a tree in our front yard which prohibited setting the tent up by the road, we opted to set the tents up by depth instead of width, and used the tree to set up a mancave display with the antique mantle, oars and paddles, lobster traps, log tables, old weathervane, lots of old barn and fishing items, and my husband's creation coffee table made from an antique drag(old mule-drawn cultivating equipment).   The glass-top table got lots of great comments, as well has his hand-hewn log tables.  

Our antique mission child's desk was a favorite with many lookers.  It has old green paint and built-in electric sconces.

It was nice to have the room to create an island of furniture.  The island dwindled over the 3 days, and had to be rearranged every day,

 Among other smalls, my handpainted Paris signs were a hit, and none came home with me.  Most of what is seen in this display went home with others!

 There was not much remaining of this grouping either.

Sold a bunch of my crocheted hats.

Inside the tents I had my big cupboards

 My husband hung this lamp and put all the crystals back on the rim of the shade.

 I still love my old Brimfield step-back cupboard.

 After selling several wood bowls, I sold the display out from under.

 I painted and antquied the white hamper and then added the fluer de lis, which sold on Saturday.

 My daughter caught a picture of me still in my coat from the morning chill on Friday.

My husband shot this of us two girls, my daughter and me.

 Our early plantation desk was not only a conversation piece, but went to a new home on Sunday.

 My potpourri was a hit and made a great earlybird special.

 My daughter even sold my crocheted spread that made the backdrop for my vintage linens.  We had to redo this area for Sunday.

This mustard yellow cupboard is one of four early stepback cupboards I displayed at the show.

Sold my little refinished hanging lamp on Saturday.

 The cherry rope beds also found a new home. They were unique in that there where two identical matching twin beds all intact.

 This is what was left of what was in the picture below after Fridays sale and after we rearranged for Saturday.

I love my husband's log tables and still got to bring them home.  They have another purpose, maybe in our log cabin.

 I

 I happily sold many pieces of my handmade jewelry, which made me happy since this is the first showing of it.

The old wavy glass door made a good backdrop to hang necklaces. My jewelry is available on Etsy.com

All in all, it was a very good show, and I hope all those that patronized our booth will come back to see us next year.  Thanks to each and every one of you for making our first Country Living Fair such a success!